Historical Capitalism

UNPUBLISHED PAPER. Full text of the guest lecture on World-System Analysis, globalisation and the work of the American sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein given by Dr. Patrick De Vos in the MA-course 'Conflict and Cooperation' at the Department of Political Science of the Maastricht University (The Netherlands) on November 28, 2005.

En el libro, la Transición Histórica es abordada a través de un conjunto de elementos fundamentales que vienen expresados por las temáticas de los  capítulos, todos los cuales son transversales y se cruzan entre sí. A lo largo de todo el texto la lógica va de lo global a lo local y viceversa, así como de lo abstracto a lo concreto, de lo simple a lo complejo, y el enfoque adoptado combina varias dimensiones. Entre los elementos fundamentales la transición y el autocentramiento están concebidos como componentes centrales/principales de la estrategia de transformación.

El libro puede ser leído siguiendo el mismo orden de los capítulos, o –si se prefiere— invirtiendo este orden y comenzando desde el último (el VI), siguiendo –desde una lógica ascendente— con el V hasta cubrir el I (la cumbre). La primera lectura (de arriba hacia abajo) implica una ruta que viene desde lo global (capítulos I, II y III), arribando al plano de lo local (capítulos IV, V y VI). El segundo tipo de lectura que proponemos conlleva un vuelco, ya que el recorrido es inverso: desde abajo y desde adentro hacia arriba y hacia fuera, en este caso desde la situación de un país andino, latinoamericano, dependiente y periférico como el Perú.  En esto mismo consiste el autocentramiento como estrategia y praxis política, a fin de coadyuvar a la transformación de los distintos planos (local, regional, nacional e internacional) del contexto. Si hablamos de Socialismo la escala, obviamente, tiene que ser aun mayor, de más vasto alcance en espacio y tiempo históricos. El lugar que ocupan los capítulos III y IV no es gratuito, ya que con relación al conjunto de la obra permiten transitar de las cuestiones globales y generales (globalización capitalista, crisis mundial, revolución anti-capitalista, socialismo) a cuestiones más “específicas” (desarrollo primario-exportador, dependencia, Estado plurinacional) y viceversa.

Independientemente de la ruta que escoja el lector(a), todos los elementos fundamentales que ofrecemos, sin excepción, son relevantes para el debate sobre las alternativas, cualquiera sea el nivel o escala territorial que se esté contemplando (nacional, latinoamericano, sistema-mundo) frente a la hegemonía neoliberal y del capitalismo globalizado que aún se aprecia ampliamente en un haz que va desde la vida cotidiana hasta el plano de las ideas y las políticas públicas, incluyendo las políticas económicas.

Wallerstein, hukukun egemenliğini Aristoteles’in Üçüncü Halin İmkansızlığına dayandırdığını söyler. Buna göre devletin birden fazla yargı gücü olamaz. Fakat günümüzde üçüncü halin imkansızlığı bulanık mantık ve kuantum fiziğiyle aşıldığını göz önünde bulundurursak aynı topraklar üzerinde birden fazla yargı gücünün olabileceğini söyleyebiliriz. Kleros gibi devletsiz ve merkeziyetsiz hukuk sistemlerini belirli topraklar üzerinde kapitalistlerin hukuk sistemi yerine inşa edebiliriz. Sadece Kleros değil birden fazla merkeziyetsiz hukuk sistemi kurabiliriz. Hukuk böylece tekrar özüne dönerek halkın çıkarlarını savunacak hale gelebilir. Eğer Kleros gibi hukuk sistemleri egemen olmazsa insanların verilerini satarak demokrasiye darbe vuran Mark Zuckerberg gibi suçlular kapitalist hukuk sisteminde ceza almadan hayatlarına devam eder.

The historical analysis presented in this chapter refutes the claims of the neo-modernization theories on empirical grounds. By examining trends of global inequality from the sixteenth century to the present, the chapter documents major problems with arguments claiming that global inequality trends have started to radically decline for the first time since the industrial revolution. What we call as globalization today is neither a recent nor a linear phenomenon, but historically recurrent and cyclical feature of historical capitalism. By analyzing the trends of global inequality during periods of financial globalization, the analysis presented in this chapter shows that from the sixteenth century to the present, the world economy has experienced further polarization between the rich and poor countries during periods of financial globalization. While global inequality trends temporarily declined in the short run during what Arrighi named as "financial expansion" periods of the world economy, they tended to increase in the long run, producing "divergences" in the periphery. Moreover, changes in the global hierarchy of wealth have been characterized by not one but a series of great divergences in the longue duree, from the sixteenth century to the present, all of which have taken place during periods of financial expansion and globalization.

Овај текст представља покушај луцидног приказа интелектуалне биографије и теоријског рада Имануела Волерстина (Immanuel Wallerstein), главног архитекте и представника анализе светских-система. С обзиром да је целокупно Волерстиново дело посвећено разумевању стварности модерног светског-система као темеља сваке промишљене праксе, овај рад истовремено треба посматрати и као омаж једном од највећих имена социологије XX века и као рефлексију о хаотичној садашњости и неизвесној будућности света у којем живимо. Имајући у виду широк дијапазон научних интересовања и гаргантуовски опус који је оставио као свој легат, издвојене су четири проблемске целине којима се Волерстин бавио у својим радовима. Након сажетог приказа Волерстинове интелектуалне биографије у уводу, први део се фокусира на методолошке и епистемолошке постулате теорије светских-система. Други део је посвећен теми познатој по на- зиву „дуги шеснаести век“, односно генези капиталистичке светске-економије, која уједно чини тему првог тома Волерстинове најзначајније студије Модерни светски-систем. Трећи део представља преглед историјске трајекторије антисистемских покрета, од Старе левице у XIX веку и у првој половини XX века, преко светске револуције 1968. као преломног тренутка у њиховом развоју, до модерних варијетета ових покрета. Четврти део се бави темом успона и пада Сједињених Америчких Држава као хегемоне силе у светском-систему. Аутор у закључку апострофира Волерстинова гледишта која су кључна за разумевање раздобља кризе у којем се налазимо, као и његово гледиште о моралној обавези друштвених научника да активно учествују у решавању кризе, што подразумева непрекидан дијалог теорије и праксе и одбацивање вредносне неутралности као јалове илузије.

Кључне речи: Имануел Волерстин; анализа светских-система; капиталистичка
светска-економија; теоријска парадигма; историјски друштвени систем

Since the 1990s, the mainstream of the social movement literature has largely dismissed the concept of "capitalism" from its toolkit for understanding social movements, while at the same time placing "labor movements" outside its field of inquiry. This chapter argues in favor of returning both capitalism and labor/class- based movements to a prominent position in the social movement literature. Labor movement upsurges remain an important but under-recognized phenomenon today. In order to understand the changing character of these labor movement upsurges, we argue that it is important to embed the analysis of labor movements in a theory of "historical capitalism". We outline seven elements for constructing such a theory including: (1) the fictitious nature of labor as a commodity and the endemic nature of labor unrest in capitalism; (2) the recurrent transformations in the organization of production and consumption and the recurrent making, unmaking and remaking of working classes on a world-scale; (3) the link between these transformations and the changing forms of workers' struggles; (4) the growing weight of the unemployed and underemployed in the global labor force and labor unrest; (5) the uneven geographical development of capitalism and the tension between profitability and legitimacy; (6) the related intertwining of class-based and status-based movements; and (7) the ways in which profit-making and war-making have been intimately intertwined throughout the history of capitalism, and therefore the ways in which workers' movements have been and will continue to shape (and be shaped by) the dynamics of geopolitics and interstate war.

Since the 1990s, the mainstream of the social movement literature has largely dismissed the concept of "capitalism" from its toolkit for understanding social movements, while at the same time placing "labor movements" outside its field of inquiry. This chapter argues in favor of returning both capitalism and labor/class- based movements to a prominent position in the social movement literature. Labor movement upsurges remain an important but under-recognized phenomenon today. In order to understand the changing character of these labor movement upsurges, we argue that it is important to embed the analysis of labor movements in a theory of "historical capitalism". We outline seven elements for constructing such a theory including: (1) the fictitious nature of labor as a commodity and the endemic nature of labor unrest in capitalism; (2) the recurrent transformations in the organization of production and consumption and the recurrent making, unmaking and remaking of working classes on a world-scale; (3) the link between these transformations and the changing forms of workers' struggles; (4) the growing weight of the unemployed and underemployed in the global labor force and labor unrest; (5) the uneven geographical development of capitalism and the tension between profitability and legitimacy; (6) the related intertwining of class-based and status-based movements; and (7) the ways in which profit-making and war-making have been intimately intertwined throughout the history of capitalism, and therefore the ways in which workers' movements have been and will continue to shape (and be shaped by) the dynamics of geopolitics and interstate war.

Government response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic promises to entrench austerity politics deeper into the organization of academic life, and audit regimes are the likely means of achieving this. Redoubled efforts to understand the operation of audit as a strategic technology of control are therefore clearly a priority. A distinctly anthropological literature has emerged over recent years to analyse and understand audit culture in academia, but what seems to be missing are analyses capable of bringing the disparate techniques experienced in academic audit together into coherent technologies, and identifying how these technologies thereby constitute a distinct audit regime within the broader audit culture. While the anthropological literature implicitly calls for further historical and conceptual exploration of the rationality to these techniques, what is required is the translation of our understanding of audit rationality into a presentation of the concrete techniques of control as they are experienced, so that more effective counter-conducts and resistances can be conceived. This article indicates how an excursion into the Soviet Gulag, and the political technology of the 'camp' that is its principal apparatus, can reveal not merely how the techniques of audit operate, but also indicate how those techniques might be engaged tactically in the academic setting. This kind of analogic analysis can allow us to understand audit in ways more promising for resistance to its idiomatic power, replacing demoralized and helpless resignation with inspirational exempla. Politically, the article argues that 'techniques of the self' are not only necessary to engage audit techniques through particular kinds of counter-conduct, but how these counter-conducts are contributory to the

Illustrating why and how James Boggs and Karl Marx
understood capitalism and revolution differently, this essay
examines the historical development of capitalism within
the United States, specifically in Detroit. Showing that many
constituting aspects of what Marx understood as the historical
tendency of capitalist accumulation existed within the
United States, I also show that racism has been a constituting
element of accumulation’s historical tendency in the United
States. Consequently, the explanatory usefulness of Marxist
praxis toward historically understanding capitalism and revolution within the United States is limited. James Boggs
understood this racial limitation of Marxism and produced
a theory of revolution responding to Marxism’s limitations.
Because James Boggs wrote The American Revolution in a
period designated by U.S. hegemony over the world-system,
he observed that capitalist accumulation exhibited a very different historical tendency than that observed by Marx. While
the period of capitalism described by Marx demonstrated an
historical tendency toward increasing levels of misery amongst working people, increased numbers of production
workers, and proletarian revolution, in what I refer to as
the period of U.S. hegemony, according to Boggs, capitalism
demonstrated a historical tendency toward increased
consumption by working people, decreasing numbers of
production workers, and black revolution.

Since the 1990s, the mainstream of the social movement literature has largely dismissed the concept of "capitalism" from its toolkit for understanding social movements, while at the same time placing "labor movements" outside its field of inquiry. This chapter argues in favor of returning both capitalism and labor/class- based movements to a prominent position in the social movement literature. Labor movement upsurges remain an important but under-recognized phenomenon today. In order to understand the changing character of these labor movement upsurges, we argue that it is important to embed the analysis of labor movements in a theory of "historical capitalism". We outline seven elements for constructing such a theory including: (1) the fictitious nature of labor as a commodity and the endemic nature of labor unrest in capitalism; (2) the recurrent transformations in the organization of production and consumption and the recurrent making, unmaking and remaking of working classes on a world-scale; (3) the link between these transformations and the changing forms of workers' struggles; (4) the growing weight of the unemployed and underemployed in the global labor force and labor unrest; (5) the uneven geographical development of capitalism and the tension between profitability and legitimacy; (6) the related intertwining of class-based and status-based movements; and (7) the ways in which profit-making and war-making have been intimately intertwined throughout the history of capitalism, and therefore the ways in which workers' movements have been and will continue to shape (and be shaped by) the dynamics of geopolitics and interstate war.