Minqi Li: The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World-Economy (2008)
Filed under book | Tags: · capitalism, china, economics, economy, hegemony, marxism, neoliberalism, political economy, politics
China’s increasing power in the global economy is destabilizing the established system. This book analyses the possible historical trajectories of China and the capitalist world-economy in the twenty-first century.
Minqi Li examines the future global prospects from the perspectives of Marxism, world-system theories, and ecological limits to growth. He argues that China is likely to exacerbate many of the major contradictions of world capitalism, which could lead to the demise of the existing world-system.
This is an essential text for students of political economy, economics and global politics.
Publisher Pluto Press, 2008
ISBN 0745327729, 9780745327723
208 pages
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Derek Wall: Babylon and Beyond. The Economics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements (2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · activism, anarchism, anti-capitalism, autonomy, capitalism, ecology, economics, economy, marxism, social movements, socialism
Babylon and Beyond provides the first clear and accessible guide to the economics of anti-capitalism. Anti-capitalism is a diverse movement: critics accuse it of knowing what it is against, but not knowing what it is for. Anti-capitalists want radical change, but what shape should that change take? The truth is that different sections of the movement advocate distinct—sometimes complementary, sometimes contradictory—programmes for change. This book concentrates on perhaps the most divisive issue of all in the anti-capitalist struggle: how to transform the economy. There are greens who think we must hold back economic growth and Marxists who believe the economy must move forward along capitalist lines before there can be revolutionary change; there are those who remain faithful to notions of collective or state ownership of all aspects of the economy, and those who think various kinds of reform or regulation of capitalist practice is more appropriate. Babylon and Beyond is a modern guidebook to the complicated terrain of alternatives to global capitalism. Derek Wall explains and summarises the rich variety of theories available within the anti-capitalist movement. Chapters cover Marxism, Autonomism, Anarchism, Ecosocialism, Capitalist reformers (like George Soros and Joseph Stiglitz), Green localists (like Colin Hines), and others. Unique in its coverage, clear and accessible, the book is ideal for activists, and anyone who is trying to find a useful way forward. This book is published in association with the Green Economics Institute.
Publisher Pluto Press, 2005
ISBN 074532391X, 9780745323916
232 pages
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Comment (0)Nigel Thrift: Knowing Capitalism (2005)
Filed under book | Tags: · actor-network theory, anthropology, capitalism, complexity theory, computing, cultural economy, economics, economy, genetic algorithms, geography, information technology, rfid, social theory
Capitalism is well known for producing a form of existence where `everything solid melts into air’. But what happens when capitalism develops theories about itself? Are we moving into a condition in which capitalism can be said to possess a brain?
These questions are pursued in this sparkling and thought-provoking book. Thrift looks at what he calls “the cultural circuit of capitalism,” the mechanism for generating new theories of capitalism. The book traces the rise of this circuit back to the 1960s when a series of institutions locked together to interrogate capitalism, to the present day, when these institutions are moving out to the Pacific basin and beyond. What have these theories produced? How have they been implicated in the speculative bubbles that characterized the late twentieth century? What part have they played in developing our understanding of human relations?
Building on an inter-disciplinary approach which embraces the core social sciences, Thrift outlines an exciting new theory for understanding capitalism. His book is of interest to readers in Geography, Social Theory, Antrhopology and Cultural Economics.
Publisher SAGE Publications, 2005
Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society
Theory, culture & society
ISBN 141290059X, 9781412900591
Length 256 pages