The Capitalist Mode of Power: Critical Engagements with the Power Theory of Value

202 Pages·2013·3.839 MB·English

by  Tim Di Muzio

The Capitalist Mode of Power
This edited volume offers the fi rst 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 fi nance and only fi nance. The
book also includes a detailed introduction to this novel thesis fi rst put forward by
Nitzan and Bichler in their C apital as Power .
Although endorsing the capital as power argument to varying extents, contrib-
utors to this volume agree that a new understanding of capital that radically
departs from Marxist and neoclassical theories cannot be ignored. Offering the
fi rst 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, method-
ology and empirical analysis throughout, this book is accessible to new readers,
whilst contextualizing 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.
Tim Di Muzio is Lecturer in International Relations and Public Policy at the
University of Wollongong, Australia.
RIPE Series in Global Political Economy
Series Editors: Jacqueline Best (U niversity of Ottawa , Canada ), Ian Bruff
( Loughborough University, UK ), Paul Langley ( Durham University, UK ) and
Anna Leander (C openhagen Business School, Denmark ).
Formerly edited by Leonard Seabrooke (C openhagen Business School, Denmark) ,
Randall Germain (C arleton University, Canada ), Rorden Wilkinson (U niversity
of Manchester, UK ), Otto Holman (U niversity of Amsterdam ), Marianne
Marchand ( Universidad de las Américas-Puebla) , Henk Overbeek (F ree
University, Amsterdam ) and Marianne Franklin ( Goldsmiths, University of
London, UK ).
The RIPE series editorial board are:
Mathias Albert (B ielefeld University, Germany ), Mark Beeson (U niversity of
Birmingham, UK ), A. Claire Cutler (U niversity of Victoria, Canada ), Marianne
Franklin (G oldsmiths, University of London, UK ), Randall Germain ( Carleton
University, Canada ), Stephen Gill ( York University, Canada ), Jeffrey Hart
( Indiana University, USA ), Eric Helleiner (T rent University, Canada ), Otto
Holman (U niversity of Amsterdam, the Netherlands ), Marianne H. Marchand
( Universidad de las Américas-Puebla, Mexico ), Craig N. Murphy (W ellesley
College, USA ), Robert O’Brien (M cMaster University, Canada ), Henk Overbeek
( Vrije Universiteit, the Netherlands ), Anthony Payne ( University of Sheffi eld,
UK ), V. Spike Peterson (U niversity of Arizona, USA ) and Rorden Wilkinson
( University of Manchester, UK ).
This series, published in association with the R eview of International Political
Economy , provides a forum for current and interdisciplinary debates in
international political economy. The series aims to advance understanding of
the key issues in the global political economy, and to present innovative
analyses of emerging topics. The titles in the series focus on three broad
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including resistance, dissent and social movements.
The series comprises two strands:
The RIPE Series in Global Political Economy aims to address the needs of
students and teachers, and the titles will be published in hardback and paperback.
Titles include:
Transnational Classes and Global Institutions and
International Relations Development
Kees van der Pijl Framing the world?
Edited by Morten Bøås and
Gender and Global Restructuring Desmond McNeill
Sightings, sites and resistances
Edited by Marianne H. Marchand Global Institutions,
and Anne Sisson Runyan Marginalization, and Development
Craig N. Murphy
Global Political Economy
Contemporary theories
Critical Theories, International
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Relations and ‘the
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Edited by Catherine Eschle and
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confl icts
Ronnie D. Lipschutz, with
Dieter Senghaas
James K. Rowe
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Critical Perspectives on Global
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Governance
labour in the global political economy
Rights and regulation in governing
Edited by Jeffrey Harrod and
regimes
Robert O’Brien
Jean Grugel and Nicola Piper
Political Economy of a Plural
World Beyond States and Markets
Critical refl ections on power, The challenges of social
morals and civilizations reproduction
Robert Cox with Michael Schechter Edited by Isabella Bakker and
Rachel Silvey
A Critical Rewriting of Global
Political Economy The Industrial Vagina
Integrating reproductive, productive The political economy of the
and virtual economies global sex trade
V. Spike Peterson Sheila Jeffreys
Contesting Globalization Capital as Power
Space and place in the world A study of order and creorder
economy Jonathan Nitzan and
André C. Drainville Shimshon Bichler
The Global Political Economy of Gender and Global Restructuring,
Intellectual Property Rights, Second Edition
Second Edition Sightings, sites and resistances
The new enclosures Edited by Marianne H. Marchand
Christopher May and Anne Sisson Runyan
Corporate Power and Ownership
Transnational Financial
in Contemporary Capitalism
Associations and the Governance
The politics of resistance and
of Global Finance
domination
Assembling wealth and power
Susanne Soederberg
Heather McKeen-Edwards and
Savage Economics Tony Porter
Wealth, poverty and the temporal
walls of capitalism The Making of Modern Finance
David L. Blaney and Liberal governance and the
Naeem Inayatullah gold standard
Samuel Knafo
Cultural Political Economy
Edited by Jacqueline Best and
Matthew Paterson
Routledge/RIPE Studies in Global Political Economy is a forum for innovative
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available in hardback only. Titles include:
1. Globalization and Governance* 5. Capitalist Restructuring,
Edited by Aseem Prakash and Globalisation and the Third Way
Jeffrey A. Hart Lessons from the Swedish model
J. Magnus Ryner
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The past, present and future 6. Transnational Capitalism and
of national currencies the Struggle over European
Edited by Emily Gilbert and Integration
Eric Helleiner Bastiaan van Apeldoorn
3. The Global Political Economy 7. World Financial Orders
of Intellectual Property Rights An historical international political
The new enclosures? economy
Christopher May Paul Langley
4. Integrating Central Europe 8. The Changing Politics of Finance
EU expansion and Poland, in Korea and Thailand
Hungary and the Czech Republic From deregulation to debacle
Otto Holman Xiaoke Zhang
9. Anti-Immigrantism in 16. Governing Financial
Western Democracies Globalization
Statecraft, desire and the International political economy
politics of exclusion and multi-level governance
Roxanne Lynn Doty Edited by Andrew Baker, David
Hudson and Richard Woodward
10. The Political Economy of
European Employment 17. Resisting Intellectual Property
European integration and the Debora J. Halbert
transnationalization of the
(un)employment question 18. Neoliberal Hegemony
Edited by Henk Overbeek A global critique
Edited by Dieter Plehwe,
11. Rethinking Global Political Bernhard Walpen and Gisela
Economy Neunhöffer
Emerging issues, unfolding
odysseys 19. Global Standards of Market
Edited by Mary Ann Tétreault, Civilization
Robert A. Denemark, Kenneth P. Edited by Brett Bowden and
Thomas and Kurt Burch Leonard Seabrooke
12. Rediscovering International 20. Beyond Globalization
Relations Theory Capitalism, territoriality and the
Matthew Davies and international relations of modernity
Michael Niemann Hannes Lacher
13. International Trade and 21. Images of Gramsci
Developing Countries Connections and contentions in
Bargaining coalitions in the political theory and international
GATT and WTO relations
Amrita Narlikar Edited by Andreas Bieler and
Adam David Morton
14. The Southern Cone Model
The political economy of 22. Global Public Policy
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in Latin America powers of civil society
Nicola Phillips Edited by Karsten Ronit
15. The Idea of Global Civil 23. The Transnational Politics
Society of Corporate Governance
Politics and ethics of a Regulation
globalizing era Edited by Henk Overbeek,
Edited by Randall D. Germain Bastiaan van Apeldoorn and
and Michael Kenny Andreas Nölke
24. National Currencies and 31. Variegated Neoliberalism
Globalization EU varieties of capitalism and
Endangered specie? international political economy
Paul Bowles Huw Macartney
25. Confl icts in Environmental 32. The Politics of European
Regulation and the Competition Regulation
Internationalization A critical political economy
of the State perspective
Contested terrains Hubert Buch-Hansen and
Ulrich Brand, Christoph Görg, Angela Wigger
Joachim Hirsch and
Markus Wissen 33. The Political Economy of
Global Remittances
26. Governing International Gender and governmentality
Labour Migration Rahel Kunz
Current issues, challenges and
dilemmas 34. A Critical History of the
Edited by Christina Gabriel Economy
and Hélène Pellerin On the birth of the national and
international economies
27. The Child in International Ryan Walter
Political Economy
A place at the table 35. The International Political
Alison M. S. Watson Economy of Transition
Neoliberal hegemony and
28. Global Citizenship and the eastern Central Europe’s
Legacy of Empire transformation
Marketing development Stuart Shields
April Biccum
36. The Global Political Economy
29. Development, Sexual Rights of Trade Protectionism and
and Global Governance Liberalization
Resisting global power Trade reform and economic
Amy Lind adjustment in textiles and clothing
Tony Heron
30. Cosmopolitanism and Global
Financial Reform 37. The Capitalist Mode of Power
A pragmatic approach to the Critical engagements with the
Tobin Tax power theory of value
James Brassett Edited by Tim Di Muzio
* Also in paperback
The Capitalist Mode
of Power
Critical engagements with the power
theory of value
Edited by Tim Di Muzio
First published 2014
by Routledge
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by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business.
© 2014 Tim Di Muzio for selection and editorial matter; individual
contributors their contribution.
The right of Tim Di Muzio to be identifi ed as the author of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
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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
The capitalist mode of power: critical engagements with the power theory
of value / edited by Tim Di Muzio.
pages cm. — (RIPE series in global political economy; 37)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Capitalism–Political aspects. 2. Capital–Political aspects.
3. Economics–Political aspects. I. Di Muzio, Tim.
HB501.C242745 2013
338.5’21—dc23 2013004660
ISBN: 978-0-415-66199-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-203-79876-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
By Deer Park Productions