This edited volume offers the first critical engagement with one of the most provocative and controversial theories in political economy: the thesis that capital can be theorized as power and that capital is finance and only finance. The book also includes a detailed introduction to this novel thesis first put forward by Nitzan and Bichler in their Capital as Power. Although endorsing the capital as power argument to varying extents, contributors to this volume agree that a new understanding of capital that radically departs from Marxist and Neoclassical theories cannot be ignored. Offering the first application and appraisal of Nitzan and Bichler’s theory, chapters examine the thesis in the context of energy and global capitalization, US Investment Banks, trade and investment agreements between Canada, the US and Mexico, and multinational corporations in Apartheid South Africa. Balancing theory, methodology and empirical analysis throughout, this book is accessible to new readers, whilst contextualising and advancing the original theoretical debate. The Capitalist Mode of Power will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, Political Economy, Globalization and Critical Theory.

This book builds on the recent revival of interest in Marx and Marxism, calling for a renewal and refinement of Marxist state theory. It aims to provoke and encourage new debates and critiques that build on—but also update and extend—the rich tradition of Marxist analyses of the capitalist state, including the well-known debates of the 1970s. The chapters present a dynamic and diverse constellation of arguments and perspectives on a range of topics, from general re-appraisals of the capitalist state to investigations of contemporary challenges—including digitalisation, the ecological crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, social reproduction, and critical political economy. What they share is a commitment to an understanding of the specifically capitalist character of the modern state and its significance for any serious discussion of the causes of our current age of global catastrophe and the overcoming of capitalist social relations.

As economic, social and environmental connections among states have grown stronger and denser in the last decades, new levels and types of governance have emerged. The process of globalization, while not entirely new, has created new challenges for policymakers attempting to reap its benefits and manage its effects. This volume pulls together work on global governance that examines these challenges and looks at the patterns of governance that emerge. The work is organized into six sections. The first introduces concepts crucial to the analysis of global governance, including representation, efficiency, and hierarchy. The next two sections turn to specific patterns of governance in two realms, security and economic affairs respectively. The fourth section examines legal dimensions of governance. The fifth section concentrates on the impact of global governance on domestic politics, while the sixth looks at how concepts of norms and legitimacy structure our understanding of governance. Overall, this collection reveals a rich scholarly understanding of globalization, governance, and institutions that builds on deep theoretical roots while shedding light on major policy issues.

Challenging mainstream nation-centred theories of economic development, Nicolás Grinberg examines the specificities of capitalist development in Brazil and South Korea by starting from their modes of participation in the international division of labour and hence in the production of surplus value on a global scale. Contrary to those theories, he does not consider these as resulting simply from the economic policies of nation states and their associated political institutions; nor from local class-struggle dynamics or geopolitical developments. Rather, drawing on key insights from Marx’s critique of political economy, his analysis begins by recognising that the process of capitalist development is global in terms of its economic dynamics and historical trends, and national only in its political and institutional forms of realisation. State-mediated patterns of economic development and institutional change in Brazil and Korea, as well as the intra- and inter-state political processes through which these have come about, are then considered mediations in the conformation and reproduction of the nationally differentiated, uneven process of capital’s valorisation on a global scale.

In this book, Kalyan Sanyal reviews the traditional notion of capitalism and propounds an original theory of capitalist development in the post-colonial context. In order to substantiate his theory, concepts such as primitive accumulation, governmentality and post-colonial capitalist formation are discussed in detail. Analyzing critical questions from a third world perspective such as: Will the integration into the global capitalist network bring to the third world new economic opportunities? Will this capitalist network make the third world countries an easy prey for predatory multinational corporations? The end result is a discourse, drawing on Marx and Foucault, which envisages the post-colonial capitalist formation, albeit in an entirely different light, in the era of globalization.

Despite a resurgence of interest in Lacanian psychoanalysis, particularly in terms of the light it casts on capitalist ideology-as witnessed by the work of Slavoj Zizek-there remain remarkably few systematic accounts of the role of Marx in Lacan's work. A major, comprehensive study of the connection between their work, The Capitalist Unconscious resituates Marx in the broader context of Lacan's teaching and insists on the capacity of psychoanalysis to reaffirm dialectical and materialist thought. Lacan's unorthodox reading of Marx refigured such crucial concepts as alienation, jouissance and the Freudian 'labour theory of the unconscious'. Tracing these developments, Tomsic maintains that psychoanalysis, structuralism and the critique of political economy participate in the same movement of thought; his book shows how to follow this movement through to some of its most important conclusions. Finalist for the American Board and Academy of Psychoanalysis Book Prize.

First Published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

At a time when the practices of technology companies continue to attract fierce criticism, this book asks what it actually means to hold a 'monopoly' in the tech world and how it might affect the way in which an organization operates. Combining new and traditional Marxian perspectives, the authors offer an in-depth analysis of how these technology giants are produced, financialized, and regulated. As technology firms continue to shape our political and socio-economic landscape, this book will be an invaluable resource for scholars and students who seek to understand the function of technological monopolies in contemporary capitalism.

Social and cultural anthropology and archaeology are rich subjects with deep connections in the social and physical sciences. Over the past 150 years, the subject matter and different theoretical perspectives have expanded so greatly that no single individual can command all of it. Consequently, both advanced students and professionals may be confronted with theoretical positions and names of theorists with whom they are only partially familiar, if they have heard of them at all. Students, in particular, are likely to turn to the web to find quick background information on theorists and theories. However, most web-based information is inaccurate and/or lacks depth. Students and professionals need a source to provide a quick overview of a particular theory and theorist with just the basics—the "who, what, where, how, and why," if you will. In response, SAGE Reference plans to publish the two-volume Theory in Social and Cultural Anthropology: An Encyclopedia. Features & Benefits: Two volumes containing approximately 335 signed entries provide users with the most authoritative and thorough reference resource available on anthropology theory, both in terms of breadth and depth of coverage. To ease navigation between and among related entries, a Reader's Guide groups entries thematically and each entry is followed by Cross-References. In the electronic version, the Reader's Guide combines with the Cross-References and a detailed Index to provide robust search-and-browse capabilities. An appendix with a Chronology of Anthropology Theory allows students to easily chart directions and trends in thought and theory from early times to the present. Suggestions for Further Reading at the end of each entry and a Master Bibliography at the end guide readers to sources for more detailed research and discussion.

First published in 1975, this book investigates the various pre-capitalist modes of production briefly indicated in the works of Marx and Engels, and gives an examination of the conditions of the transition from one mode of production to another. The fundamental concepts used in these investigations, including those of mode of production, of necessary labour and surpass labour, of politics and state, are derived from Capital and from other works of Marxist theory. The primary aim of the analysis is to raise the conceptualisation of pre-capitalist modes of production and of transition to a more rigorous level. This book will appear controversial to both Marxists and non-Marxists alike.