Setting
itself up for an analysis of three of the most encompassing trials facing
mankind, “Global Capitalism, Global War, Global Crisis” is remarkably
comprehensive, readable, and well argued.
The
book opens with two chapters in Part I dedicated to the theoretical setting of
the authors, the first dedicated to arguing in defence of a historical
materialistic approach to the study of both International Relations (IR) and
International Political Economy (IPE). This is an essential stepping stone for
Bieler and Morton’s construction of their own analytical model; however, it is
also symptomatic of the necessity that authors who depart from Marxist analysis
face in having, since time immemorial, refute the vulgar and indolent
accusations of scholastic economism. Nonetheless, in this exercise, Bieler and
Morton produce not only a vigorous argument for their method but also an exhaustive
dissection of the impact of historical materialism in the analysis of
contemporary capitalism and political economy, which does not differ
substantially from a literature review. This makes the exercise a useful
introduction to familiarize the reader with not only the authors’ approach but
also with the most common criticisms it might face.
The
second chapter of the theoretical setting focuses more narrowly on the task of
crafting the authors’ analytical framework. Drawing on Bertell
Ollmann (1976), the authors argue that the concept of internal relations is
key to understanding the dynamics of international relations. A move away from
the “billiard ball” analogy, dear to many contemporary theorists, or the
ontological debate between agency and/or structure that has consumed much of
the constructivist and post-modern debate. The starting point is the premise
that the state is not an entity or actor in and of itself but rather a product
of the interactions between social forces. It is not something that exists
outside society but a product of the social relations that constitute it. The
internal relations approach is laid out as a way of understanding how these
social forces interact to produce the state, comprising both capitalist
relations of production and political institutions that run them and the
international system. This allows for an examination of the ways in which these
social forces are structured and how they interact to produce certain outcomes.
The state, even in the form of “international” institutions, becomes the
“material condensation” of class relations, close to Nikos
Poulantzas (1978), an influence that will be assumed in Part II, which is
dedicated to thematic considerations.
Internal
Relations are then crowned with the Gramscian concept of passive revolution,
which, looking at the transition to modernity in Europe, identified a
conservative reaction to the pressures for radical transformation developing
from below, while simultaneously, some concessions take place to placate
popular demands in a series of compromises made by the ruling classes.
The
use of passive revolution is a proposal of Morton’s
(2007), as a theory of state formation that bridges the internal within the
causal conditioning of “the international”. It explains how the internal
relations: such as productive relations, coercion, political parties, and all
the elements that constitute the hegemonic system of the “national” state, will
condition, and be conditioned by, aspects such as sovereignty, power status,
and transnational capital, that will create state arrangements in hegemonic
systems.
The
first two chapters of Part I provide a strong foundation for the rest of the
book although they are also complex and difficult to follow for those not
already versed in Marxist theory. The book does not ease readers into its
arguments; it departs from the idea that readers will be familiar with a large
swathe of literature and some of the previous theoretical productions of the
authors. Nevertheless, structuring the book in a different way would be a
mammoth task.
Part
II of the book is dedicated to the deployment of the theoretical arsenal to a
thematic analysis of capitalist expansion (Chapter 4), geopolitics (Chapter 5),
and resistance (Chapter 6).
It
begins with an account of the structuring conditions of global capitalism,
particularly the uneven and combined development of capitalism as a driver of
imperialism. The argument is that uneven development is a structural necessity
for capitalism’s reproduction. This unevenness produces a series of
contradictions that give rise to imperialism as a way of managing these
conflicts. This chapter examines the role of the state in this process, through
intervention in the economy to promote capitalist expansion, and the new social
forces that conflict with the old that rise from it.
Chapter
5, “Geopolitics of Global Capitalism,” is more classic in that it addresses the
way in which the state intervenes in the international system to secure its
interests, from different forms of geopolitics, traditional forms of diplomacy
and war, to the more recent forms of neoliberalism and globalization, where the
state is not a passive actor in the international system but is constantly
engaged in the process securing its interests.
“Exploitation
and Resistance” looks at the ways in which social forces resist the hegemony of
the state. From traditional forms of struggle, like strikes and protests, to
more recent forms of resistance, like social movements and terrorism. It argues
that resistance is a necessary part of the process of social transformation,
and that the state will always attempt to repress it.
This
section of the book is as rich and eclectic in its engagement with a myriad of
authors as the opening one, while simultaneously establishing the theoretical
framework under which the authors are operating more explicitly.
Part
III is dedicated to case study analysis. It first addresses the BRICS (Chapter 7),
with a heavy focus on China, followed by the Iraq War (Chapter 8), and finally
the Eurozone (Chapter 9).
The
BRICS case study is particularly insightful, as it delivers a detailed account
of the rise of these countries and the ways in which they have challenged the
hegemony of the United States and Western capitalism, such as through the
growth of the global working class, the development of new technologies.
The
case study of the Iraq War provides a comprehensive account of a war that is
often seen as a failure of Western imperialism, but also as a success for the
United States, in terms of its strategic objectives and class-driven
expansionary tendencies.
The
final analysis is reserved for the current crisis in the Eurozone, and the ways
in which the Troika has responded to it, which has produced mass unemployment
and social inequality due to uneven and combined development.
The
concluding chapter reifies the three core themes of the book and their global
dynamics as object of contestation and push back, wrapping up the analysis with
contemporary forms of resistance and a call for the ruptures that only emerge
from class struggle.
Walking
back through the book on some of its most striking aspects, the opportunities
for system rupture emphasized by Bieler and Morton are an excellent pointer for
potential study for those interested in this area of social science. So much so
that the three empirical chapters could be replaced by analysis of the war in
Ukraine, post-COVID austerity or cost of living crisis, or the energy crisis
currently rippling through the Eurozone, and it would still retain its explanatory
value. In its analysis of the Eurozone, the book makes one of its less understated
contributions: the application of the concept of passive revolution to the
analysis of region-wide processes, opening an avenue for the deployment of this
theoretical framework beyond IR and IPE and into the realm of area and regional
studies.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments welcome!