Geopolitical Economy: After US Hegemony, Globalization and Empire

371 Pages·2013·1.88 MB·English

by  Radhika Desai

You are not likely to find a better contemporary history of the world’s economy
than this one. It is hard to put down, but the greater joy is that it undoes myth
after myth about neoliberalism’s inevitability and the neoclassical abstractions
that economic history has little to do with the state any longer. The state and
class battles will continue, and had better, argues Professor Desai.
—Jeff Madrick, Editor, Challenge
Radhika Desai’s book shatters the stale notions that characterise traditional
international political economy. Just as the world economy is crumbling before
us, she has provided scholars with a fresh, compelling and forceful account of
the US’s failed efforts to dominate the world order order.
—Professor Ilene Grabel, Josef Korbel School of International Studies,
University of Denver, USA
This impressive book powerfully questions the conventional wisdoms of both
the right and the left about U.S. hegemony, globalization, and the “new
American empire.” Professor Desai takes us back to Marx and Engels and
forward to Keynes, Polanyi and Brenner to give us a coherent narrative of
capitalism’s history and its future prospects. The nation-state, it turns out, is not
withering away. This is radical scholarship at its best.
—Mel Watkins, professor emeritus of economics and political science,
University of Toronto
This is a refreshing book with a punch. Desai not only charts the end of an era in
global political economy, she offers us a stimulating framework for
understanding the coming multipolar period, one full of promise if only we
recognize its key features. Catholic in scope, Geopolitical Economy draws on a
rich diversity of scholarly traditions to fashion a new outlook on political
economy, one which combines the global thrust of capitalist dynamics with what
she calls the fundamental materiality of the nation-state. It promises to have a
significant impact on scholarship, and I recommend it to anyone interested in
comprehending the changing political, economic and social contours of our
world.
—Randall Germain, professor of political science, Carleton University, Canada
This is a bold and imaginative book. At a time when many see the United States
This is a bold and imaginative book. At a time when many see the United States
consolidating its position as the leading imperialist power because of the travails
of Europe and Japan, Radhika Desai sees a contrary tendency towards a
weakening of U.S. hegemony and the emergence of multipolarity. At a time
when the uncertainty surrounding the fate of the Euro makes many see the US
dollar as strengthening its position as the most favoured medium of wealth-
holding, Desai sees a tendency towards a decline of dollar hegemony. At a time
when many, including important voices on the Left, see "globalization" as an
irreversible process, Desai argues the need for a re-activation of the
development-promoting role of the nation-State. And she argues her case with an
analysis of history that has both sweep and rigour. Whether one agrees with her
or not, this is a highly stimulating piece of work.
—Prabhat Patnaik, professor emeritus, Department of Economic Studies and
Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University, former chairman of the Kerala State
Planning Commission, member of the UN taskforce on the reform of the world
financial system.
A penetrating account of the complex interrelations between US hegemony and
the transnational sweep of capital. Firmly planted in the long tradition of
historical materialist analysis of imperialism, Desai breaks new ground in taking
forward some of the most incisive theorisations from this lineage, critically
dissecting theories that have for too long assumed that interstate rivalries were a
thing of the past.
—Kees van der Pijl, professor emeritus, Department of International Relations,
University of Sussex
Radhika Desai’s book challenges several widely accepted ideas. The first of that
is that hegemony of a nation provides stability to the world economy. The
second is that the USA really enjoyed hegemony in any real sense during the
second half of the twentieth century. The third is that the kind of globalization
favoured by the financial industry and transnational corporations and their client
states was a purely economic affair and witnessed the demise of the nation state.
In support of her argument she undertakes a detailed biography of the US dollar
as a hegemonic currency, showing how insecure that supposed hegemony was.
In all this she deploys the Marxist notion of uneven and combined development
as a strategic tool. Even if one disagrees with some of the details of the
argument, anybody who is interested in understanding today’s multipolar,
contentious capitalism will have to read this book. I have every confidence that
every student of the global economy and polity will greatly benefit by studying
this outstanding monograph.
this outstanding monograph.
—Amiya Kumar Bagchi, founder-director of the Centre for Studies in Social
Sciences, Kolkata and former Reserve Bank Professor at the Centre for Studies
in Social Sciences, Calcutta
[This] is a timely work. Radhika Desai offers a critical and vivid analysis of
what she aptly calls the geopolitical economy of capitalism which will be
attractive as a textbook for international political economy courses at both
undergraduate and graduate levels and a thrilling read for readers at large.
—Makoto Itoh, professor emeritus of the University of Tokyo.
Radhika Desai provides a clear-eyed and incisive look at some of the central
concerns in the world today. Her main proposition is that a long period of actual
or attempted dominance by one power is now effectively over, at least for a time
—and this has significant implications for global capitalism’s trajectory of
“uneven and combined development”. This book will persuade and engage you,
it will make you think and want to discuss many of these issues further. So it
must be read by anyone seeking to make sense of the rapidly changing global
environment.
—Jayati Ghosh, professor at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, executive secretary of the International
Development Economics Associates (IDEAS)
Geopolitical Economy painstakingly confronts fashionable notions of US
hegemony, globalization, and empire with a steady stream of discordant facts.
Desai shows that the US was never actually hegemonic, that states were and
remain central to capitalism, and that the aims and outcomes of policy have been
shaped crucially by capitalism’s endogenous crisis tendencies. She resituates the
evolution of the global political economy within a new version of the theory of
combined and uneven development. Highly recommended.
—Andrew Kliman, professor of economics, Pace University, author of A Failure
of Capitalist Production (Pluto, 2011)
Radhika Desai has, with her brilliant Geopolitical Economy, given us an
essential work on global political economy. This volume exquisitely weaves
together a critical history of the US dollar, a devastating critique of global
hegemony theory, and a rethinking of Marxian and Keynesian ideas about global
economic crisis. ... Anyone seeking to understand the future of the global
economy will draw wisdom, if not comfort, from this scintillating text.
—Gary Dymski, professor of economics, Leeds University Business School and
University of California, Riverside
University of California, Riverside
The Future of World Capitalism
Series editors: Radhika Desai and Alan Freeman The world is undergoing a
major realignment. The 2008 financial crash and ensuing recession, China’s
unremitting economic advance, and the uprisings in the Middle East, are
laying to rest all dreams of an ‘American Century’. This key moment in
history makes weighty intellectual demands on all who wish to understand
and shape the future.
Theoretical debate has been derailed, and critical thinking stifled, by
apologetic and superficial ideas with almost no explanatory value,
‘globalization’ being only the best known. Academic political economy has
failed to anticipate the key events now shaping the world, and offers few useful
insights on how to react to them.
The Future of World Capitalism series will foster intellectual renewal,
restoring the radical heritage that gave us the international labour movement, the
women’s movement, classical Marxism, and the great revolutions of the
twentieth century. It will unite them with new thinking inspired by modern
struggles for civil rights, social justice, sustainability, and peace, giving
theoretical expression to the voices of change of the twenty-first century.
Drawing on an international set of authors, and a world-wide readership,
combining rigour with accessibility and relevance, this series will set a reference
standard for critical publishing.
Also available:
The Birth of Capitalism:
A Twenty-First-Century Perspective
Henry Heller
Remaking Scarcity:
From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy
Costas Panayotakis
To Live and Die in America:
Class, Power, Health, and Healthcare
Robert Chernomas and Ian Hudson