Re-Envisioning Global Development: A Horizontal Perspective

326 Pages·2013·2.221 MB·English

by  Sandra Halperin

Re-Envisioning Global
Development
Re-Envisioning Global Development elaborates an alternative ontology
and way of thinking about global development during recent centuries
– one linked, not to nations and regions, but to a set of essentially trans-
national relations and connections. This angle of vision provides the basis
for an original perspective on capitalist development from its origins to the
present day.
Most approaches to understanding contemporary development assume
that industrial capitalism was achieved through a process of nationally
organised economic growth, and that in recent years its organisation has
become increasingly trans-local or global. However, Halperin shows that
nationally organised economic growth has rarely been the case – it has only
recently come to characterise a few countries and for only a few decades.
Halperin argues that capitalist development has, everywhere and from
the start, involved – not whole nations or societies – but only sectors or
geographical areas within states. By bringing this aspect of historically
‘normal’ capitalist development into clearer focus, the book clarifies the spe-
cific conditions and circumstances that enabled European economies to pur-
sue a more broad-based development following World War II, and what pre-
vented a similar outcome in the contemporary ‘third world’. It also clarifies
the nature, spatial extent and circumstances of current globalising trends.
Wide-ranging and provocative, this innovative text is required reading
for advanced level students and scholars in development studies, develop-
ment economics and political science.
Sandra Halperin is Professor of International Relations and Co-Director
of the Centre for Global and Transnational Politics at Royal Holloway, Uni-
versity of London. Her research interests include global development and
the historical sociology of global relations.
Critical Issues in Global Politics
This series engages with the most significant issues in contempo-
rary global politics. Each text is written by a leading scholar and
provides a short, accessible and stimulating overview of the issue
for advanced undergraduates and graduate students of international
relations and global politics. As well as providing a survey of the
field, the books also contain original and groundbreaking thinking
which will drive forward debates on these key issues.
1. Global Ethics
Anarchy, freedom and International Relations
Mervyn Frost
2. International Statebuilding
The rise of post-liberal governance
David Chandler
3. Governmentality
Critical encounters
William Walters
4. Re-Envisioning Global Development
A horizontal perspective
Sandra Halperin
Re-Envisioning
Global Development
A horizontal perspective
Sandra Halperin
First published 2013
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2013 Sandra Halperin
The right of Sandra Halperin to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted by her in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Halperin, Sandra.
Re-envisioning global development : a horizontal perspective /
Sandra Halperin.
pages cm. – (Critical issues in global politics ; 4)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Economic history. 2. Economic development–History.
3. Capitalism–History. I. Title.
HC51.H35 2013
338.9–dc23
2012039850
ISBN: 978–0–415–46765–0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–415–46766–7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–62903–1 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon
For Bill
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
List of tables and figures xi
Preface xiii
1 Global development 1
Introduction: The ‘Victorian Edifice’ of conventional
European historiography 1
I. Global development as western modernity:
Foundation myths 4
European expansion 5
The European discoveries 7
The European revolutions 8
II. Post-World War II ‘development’ theory: variations
on the themes of western modernity and national
development 11
Core and periphery 12
World systems theory 15
Post-colonial theorie sand subaltern studies 19
III. Re-envisioning global development 23
The transnational elite 26
The organization of the study 29
2 The origins and development of capitalism 32
I. Origins 33
Feudal ‘crisis’ and transition 34
viii Contents
II. Agrarian revolution (the ‘Brenner Thesis’)? 39
1. Large farms and ‘free labour’ 41
2. Relative versus absolute surplus value
production 42
3. Increased labour productivity and
industrialization 44
III. The integration of Europe into the Asian-centred
trading system 46
The long sixteenth century (1450–1600) 47
Capitalism and mercantilism 50
The domain of capitalism 51
Monopoly versus markets 52
The last frontier: freeing capital from local
economies 53
The end of the ‘moral economy’ 56
Conclusions 59
3 Industrialization and the expansion of capital: core
and periphery redefined 61
I. The ‘Industrial Revolution’ 62
What was the Industrial Revolution? 64
The deregulation of markets 64
Industrial concentration and production for
export 66
The increased exploitation of labour 68
II. Industrial production and the expansion of capital 72
Mass mobilization for war and its implications for
industrial production 73
The social logic of industrial capitalist expansion 76
III. Core and periphery redefined 79
The ‘class succession’ thesis and the capitalist
bourgeoisie 79
Dependent and independent development 83
Conclusions 90
Contents ix
4 City states and nationalism 91
I. The nation state and the city state: a comparison 92
City states 97
II. The aristocratic/urban alliance 101
III. State formation in Europe I: imperial expansion at
home 103
Imperial, colonial and national states 106
IV. Imperial expansion abroad 108
V. State formation in Europe II: nationalism 112
Conclusions 115
5 The imperial ‘historic bloc’ of the nineteenth
century 117
I. Eurasian expansion, crisis and war 118
Sixteenth century Eurasian expansion and global
integration 119
Seventeenth and eighteenth century crises and wars
in Europe and Asia 121
II. The imperial ‘historic bloc’ 123
Military power 129
Collaboration 131
Transnational classes 135
III. Core and periphery 138
Turning points 139
Conclusions 146
6 The system unravels: contraction, conflict and
social revolution 147
I. Social conflict, 1815–1914 148
The Great Depression, 1873–1886 151
Strikes 153
Imperialist rivalries 159
II. The system unravels, 1914–1945 160
The Cold War begins, 1917–1945 162
Retrenchment and counter-revolution 165