Professor of International Relations at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where I have been active since 1999. My alma mater was the University of Amsterdam, where I obtained my degrees (Master 1976, PhD 1988) and taught and researched from 1974 (as TA) until 1998.My research interests are international political economy, neoliberalism and rise of China. I situate my work within the tradition of historical mnaterialism
This book deals with the crisis of neoliberalism and the forces determining its future trajectory... more This book deals with the crisis of neoliberalism and the forces determining its future trajectory. One of those forces seen in the early days of the crisis, or so it seemed, was the rise of government-owned invest-ment funds or ‘sovereign wealth funds’ (SWFs) from China, Singapore and the Arab Gulf countries. These countries invested billions of dollars in failing Western financial institutions such as Citicorp, UBS, Merrill Lynch and Barclays Bank (Farrell, Lund and Sadan 2008: 10). Ironically, the billions of Communist China were called in to save some of the most prominent icons of Western financial capitalism. Headlines in the international press increasingly referred to ‘the return of the state’ and the rise of ‘state capitalism’ (e.g., Bremmer 2008, Lyons 2007). Where these SWFs originate in what Van der Pijl has called Hobbesian contender states (see Van der Pijl 1998, 2006) such as China, their increasing prominence has gone hand-in-hand with an emerging geopolitical and geoeconomic rivalry. In this chapter, we will analyse the role of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the Chinese SWF established in 2007, from a comparative perspective.
This book deals with the crisis of neoliberalism and the forces determining its future trajectory... more This book deals with the crisis of neoliberalism and the forces determining its future trajectory. One of those forces seen in the early days of the crisis, or so it seemed, was the rise of government-owned invest-ment funds or ‘sovereign wealth funds’ (SWFs) from China, Singapore and the Arab Gulf countries. These countries invested billions of dollars in failing Western financial institutions such as Citicorp, UBS, Merrill Lynch and Barclays Bank (Farrell, Lund and Sadan 2008: 10). Ironically, the billions of Communist China were called in to save some of the most prominent icons of Western financial capitalism. Headlines in the international press increasingly referred to ‘the return of the state’ and the rise of ‘state capitalism’ (e.g., Bremmer 2008, Lyons 2007). Where these SWFs originate in what Van der Pijl has called Hobbesian contender states (see Van der Pijl 1998, 2006) such as China, their increasing prominence has gone hand-in-hand with an emerging geopolitical and geoeconomic rivalry. In this chapter, we will analyse the role of the China Investment Corporation (CIC), the Chinese SWF established in 2007, from a comparative perspective.
Transnational Capital and Class Fractions: The Amsterdam School Perspective Reconsidered, London/New York: Routledge, 2019
Emerging in the late 1970s, the Amsterdam School’s (AS) most distinctive contribution to internat... more Emerging in the late 1970s, the Amsterdam School’s (AS) most distinctive contribution to international political economy was the systematic incorporation of the Marxian concept of capital fractions into the study of international politics. Contending that politics in advanced capitalist countries takes place in a fundamentally transnationalized space in which the distinction between ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ has blurred, it shows how in this space, politics is structured by competing comprehensive concepts of control. Presenting a concise and instructive introduction to the origins, development and significance of this distinct approach, this book provides a unique overview of the School’s contemporary significance for the field. Offering a new generation of critical scholars the opportunity to become acquainted at first hand with some of the contributions that have shaped the work of the AS, the contributions present critical commentaries, discussing the merits and shortcomings of the AS from a variety of perspectives, and undertake a (self-)critical evaluation of the current place and value of the AS framework in the broader landscape of approaches to the study of contemporary capitalism. Written for scholars and students alike, it will be of interest to those working in international political economy, international relations and political science, political sociology, European studies and branches of academic economics such as regulation theory and institutional economics.
El ascenso de China constituye uno de los acontecimientos más importantes de los últimos 15 años ... more El ascenso de China constituye uno de los acontecimientos más importantes de los últimos 15 años en las relaciones internacionales. Desde la década de ’70, el gobierno chino se propuso impulsar el desarrollo nacional. En el 2001, después que China ingresó a la OMC el PCC inauguró oficialmente su política de “Going out”, estimulando el comercio y las inversiones externas, en un proceso acelerado de internacionalización de sus empresas. En 2009, la RPC formuló una estrategia de política externa que identificaba a las relaciones con el Sur Global como prioritarias. A partir de este escenario, el objetivo principal de la obra es abordar este proceso de ascensión de la RPC en múltiples dimensiones: a) Implicaciones del concepto chino de Tianxia para las relaciones internacionales; b) la relación de China con Estados Unidos; c) los crecientes vínculos económicos con Europa; d) las relaciones con América Latina y el Caribe; e) y con África; f) las cuestiones sobre la soberanía en el mar del Sur de China; g) La estrecha y estratégica relación económica entre Brasil y China; h) los desafíos de las políticas monetarias internacionales y el Renminbi y i) las cuestiones en torno al modelo de desarrollo económico chino.
This ambitious volume explores the politics of recent changes in corporate governance regulation ... more This ambitious volume explores the politics of recent changes in corporate governance regulation and the transnational forces driving the process.
Corporate governance has in the 1990s become a catchphrase of the global business community. The Enron collapse and other recent corporate scandals, as well as growing worries in Europe about the rise of Anglo-Saxon finance, have made issues of corporate governance the subject of political controversies and of public debate.
The contributors argue that the regulation of corporate governance is an inherently political affair. Given the context of the deepening globalization of the corporate world, it is also increasingly a transnational phenomenon. In terms of the content of regulation the book shows an increasing reliance on the application of market mechanisms and a tendency for corporations themselves to become commodities. The emerging new mode of regulation is characterized by increasing informalization and by forms of private regulation. These changes in content and mode are driven by transnational actors, first of all the owners of internationally mobile financial capital and their functionaries such as coordination service firms, as well as by key public international agencies such as the European Commission.
The Transnational Politics of Corporate Governance Regulation will be of interest to students and researchers of international political economy, politics, economics and corporate governance.
Gradually over the past two decades, the critical study of international political economy has ga... more Gradually over the past two decades, the critical study of international political economy has gained for itself a certain autonomy within the larger discipline of international relations. The efforts to understand the dynamics of change in the global economy since the early 1970s ...
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Papers by Henk Overbeek
Presenting a concise and instructive introduction to the origins, development and significance of this distinct approach, this book provides a unique overview of the School’s contemporary significance for the field. Offering a new generation of critical scholars the opportunity to become acquainted at first hand with some of the contributions that have shaped the work of the AS, the contributions present critical commentaries, discussing the merits and shortcomings of the AS from a variety of perspectives, and undertake a (self-)critical evaluation of the current place and value of the AS framework in the broader landscape of approaches to the study of contemporary capitalism.
Written for scholars and students alike, it will be of interest to those working in international political economy, international relations and political science, political sociology, European studies and branches of academic economics such as regulation theory and institutional economics.
Corporate governance has in the 1990s become a catchphrase of the global business community. The Enron collapse and other recent corporate scandals, as well as growing worries in Europe about the rise of Anglo-Saxon finance, have made issues of corporate governance the subject of political controversies and of public debate.
The contributors argue that the regulation of corporate governance is an inherently political affair. Given the context of the deepening globalization of the corporate world, it is also increasingly a transnational phenomenon. In terms of the content of regulation the book shows an increasing reliance on the application of market mechanisms and a tendency for corporations themselves to become commodities. The emerging new mode of regulation is characterized by increasing informalization and by forms of private regulation. These changes in content and mode are driven by transnational actors, first of all the owners of internationally mobile financial capital and their functionaries such as coordination service firms, as well as by key public international agencies such as the European Commission.
The Transnational Politics of Corporate Governance Regulation will be of interest to students and researchers of international political economy, politics, economics and corporate governance.