GPE lecture 4: structuralism

capitalist system

based on a class society, where the one class exploits the other and rules over society. Markets are only the outer shell of this capitalist system, as the real mechanisms are rooted in production and production relations.

Historical Materialism

history is driven by material conditions and the economic structure forms the basis for society.

Labour theory of value

Real value comes from the labour that workers perform. Workers create more value than they seem to make, and thus are exploited and the surplus are kept as profits by the owners of production.

Feudalism

Surplus extraction from peasant labour by nobility on the basis of ‘political coercion’

economic coericion

Workers are not slaves, but are trapped in a system where they have nothing sell except their labour. They need to fulfill their material needs and that is only possible through earning capital. Due to unequal relations they are actually unfree.

‘The secret of capitalist profit’

The secret of capitalist profit is that profit does not come from exchange but from exploitation in production. Workers create more value than they receive in wages, and the unpaid labour (surplus value) becomes profit for capitalists.

The process of ‘endless capital accumulation’

the built-in capitalist pressure for firms to continually reinvest profits to expand production and remain competitive. Capital must constantly grow, or it collapses. This inherently is a contradiction and thus capitalism will be the cause of its own destruction.

capitalist crisis theory

Capitalism repeatedly generates crises due to internal contradictions like overproduction, falling profits, inequality, and speculative bubbles. These crises are built into the system, not accidents. Capitalism is literally designed to exploit.

Marxism as a theory of capitalism

1. Commodities gain value from labor.
2. Workers are formally free but forced to sell labor; capitalists are forced to accumulate.
3. Profit comes from exploitation, not market exchange.
4. Capital is a social relation shaping behavior.
5. The market compels endless accumulation.
6. Crises are built into capitalism’s contradictions.

Lenin’s ideas

1. Imperialism: the highest stage of (1917)

2. Capitalism leads to imperialism, as national market monopoly export their suplus capital, as it is not profitable to invest in the domestic field.

3. As each country reaches outward to expand, inter-imperial rivalry’s start to form.

4. When all the territories in the world were already conquered, this also led to clashes between competing imperial powers for resources and influence.
   —> Since capitalism must expand, and expansion can only happen by taking from others, conflict becomes inevitable.

Two ways to view the state

1. State is seen as in the hands of the capitalist class and it just executes the will.
2. State has relative autonomy; it does not do exactly what the capitalist class says what to do but works on behalf of the whole capitalist system. Why? They are forced by the system, they have to make the system work and ensure there is economic growth and endurable against crises. If it doesn’t do so states will lose legitimacy and the system will break down.  

contemporary theories of imperialism

1. capitalism has the constand need to expand (new markets, new consumers, more profit, more innovation, cheaper labour).

2. non-territorial/economic expansion (Influence over trade rules, investment flows, TNC dominance, institutions like IMF/World Bank).

3. David Harvey (2003): The New Imperialism (of the US)
   a. In times of crises caused by capitalism, ‘Spatial fixes’ are used. By moving capital abroad, outsourcing production or finding new markets, the crisis is postponed and capitalism is spread even more globally.
   b. Capitalism does not seem to spread evenly and thus leads to unequal geographic development. > leads to creation of new great powers, weakning of old ones, geopolitical rivalry and shifts in global power.

4. Capitalists always look to new sources and projects to stay ahead of competition of possible profibable markets. You must stay competitive.

1. David Harvey (2003): The New Imperialism (of the US)

a. In times of crises caused by capitalism, ‘Spatial fixes’ are used. By moving capital abroad, outsourcing production or finding new markets, the crisis is postponed and capitalism is spread even more globally.
b. Capitalism does not seem to spread evenly and thus leads to unequal geographic development. > leads to creation of new great powers, weakning of old ones, geopolitical rivalry and shifts in global power.

world system theory

It sees the world as a single capitalist system divided into core, semi-periphery, and periphery, where the core exploits the periphery through unequal exchange. Global inequality is structural, not accidental, and hegemonic powers rise and fall within this world-system.

three historical capitalist hegemonies

Dutch > British > American

Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937)

1. A non-economistic / non-deterministic historical materialist

2. Attention to the role ideology, culture & agency

3. Concept of hegemony: ‘intellectual and moral leadership’ --> a form of (class) rule based on consent, with coercion in the background.

Gramsci’s puzzle

Why don’t the working class vote socialist? Well they are under coericion by the ruling class which has control over culture, ideas and make the working class believe that this system is unchangeable.

Neo gramscianism

Neo-Gramscianism applies Gramsci’s ideas to the global economy. It argues that globalization has produced a transnational capitalist class that shapes global rules and institutions. This creates a form of transnational hegemony, where neoliberal ideas and institutions gain global consent and help stabilize the world capitalist system.

Robert Cox

1. Global order reflects the interests and worldview of the dominant class of the dominant state.

2. Hegemony = leadership + consent, not pure domination. States consent to it, often because they benefit a little or because the order seems legitimate.

3. Hegemony creates global classes who share interests and maintain the system.