The Making Of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy Of American Empire:
Sam Gindin, Leo Panitch
The all-encompassing embrace of world capitalism at the beginning of the twenty-first century was generally attributed to the superiority of competitive markets. Globalization had appeared to be the natural outcome of this unstoppable process. But today, with global markets roiling and increasingly reliant on state intervention to stay afloat, it has become clear that markets and states aren’t straightforwardly opposing forces.
In this groundbreaking work, Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin demonstrate the intimate relationship between modern capitalism and the American state. The Making of Global Capitalism identifies the centrality of the social conflicts that occur within states rather than between them. These emerging fault lines hold out the possibility of new political movements that might transcend global markets.
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Review
"Lucid and indispensable guides to the history and practice of American Empire."—Naomi Klein, award-winning journalist and author of The Shock Doctrine
"A must read for everyone who is concerned about where the future of capitalism might lie."—David Harvey, CUNY Graduate Center, author of A Brief History of Neoliberalism
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About the Author
Sam Gindin is the former Research Director of the Canadian Autoworkers Union and Packer visiting Chair in Social Justice at York University. Among his many publications, he is the author (with Greg Albo and Leo Panitch) of In and Out of Crisis: The Global Financial Meltdown and Left Alternatives.
Leo Panitch is Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University.
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Editor of The Socialist Register for twenty-five years, his many books include Working Class Politics in Crisis; A Different Kind of State; The End of Parliamentary Socialism; and American Empire and the Political Economy of Global Finance.
Product details
Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Verso (October 8, 2013)
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4.0 out of 5 starsSober, Jargon-free, Middle of the Road
ByGlobalChangeSupercenter5on January 27, 2013
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
One of the curiousities of the death of our beloved Left has been the ascription, and often self-identification, of "Marxism" to middle-aged scholars who might have read a Kapital or three in their youth, but now are virtually Marx-free in their waking hours.
Panitch and Gindin have written an exhaustive (keep the coffee mug nearby) journalism of our times, scrupulously researched and fair to the majordomos and cap di tutti capi of our corporate state supersystem, which is not the greatest of compliments - do we really need to be so kind to Timmie Geithner, to Larry Summers, to the whole host of scoundrels and mountebanks that have shepherded the global financial fraud? If you want that kind of sober information, which documents the stranglehold the American capitalist governance structure has upon the world, this is a fine place, but it is laughable to suggest that there is any "promise" or "solution" that will come out of these ashes. Aside from a "class relations" or two, this radical writing will not tax the nominal academo-liberal trained to spit derision when within eye-blink of Grundrisse or "use-value."
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Powerful Political Economy
ByHans G. Despainon October 7, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Panitch and Gindin argue that market economies have never existed independent of nation states. The state was necessary for the genesis of capitalism, and the state was, and still is, necessary for its historical development and continuous reproduction. Nonetheless, Panitch and Gindin argue there is significant autonomy, or historical "differentiation," between the economy and the nation state. There are economic structural tendencies manifest from the logic of capital and the functioning of the market-system. At the same time nation states can affect these structural tendencies in remarkable ways.
In this sense, there has never been "separation" between capitalist reproduction/development and the state, but there is "differentiation" which has radically significant effects. There is a symbiotic relationship between the state and capitalistic reproduction/development.
This is a book of economic history. But is also a book of economic theory. The economic history is rich and interesting, aimed at explaining the historical emergence of global financial capitalism. While the history Panitch and Gindin offer is rich and interesting, the theory is still richer and even more intriguing.
Their history is primarily aimed, (1) at explaining the emergence of the "informal American empire" (what makes this empire "informal" is the hegemony is accomplished primarily through economic strategy, policy, and diplomacy; and less through military might and political coercion) and (2) demonstrating the historical shifting relationship (from decade to decade since the World War I) between workers, business, finance, and the state.
Their theoretical concern is threefold; (1) offer a theoretical explanation of the crisis of 2007-8; (2) offer guidance toward the direction the future the "informal American empire" has for guiding the economies of world; and (3) to understand the "informal American empire" as a set of beliefs, doctrine, and ideology of how to organize modern societies (workers, business, finance and the state) and the global order (both political [e.g. UN, NATO, etc.] and economical [World Bank, IMF, WTO) for the (ideological) common good.
Although Panitch and Gindin accept that capitalistic development is uneven and unstable, it is crucial to their thesis that each crisis is unique depending upon the particular relationships and alliances forged between workers, business, finance, and the state. In this sense, the crisis of 2007-8 is necessarily unique and the solutions or economic fiscal policies necessary for recovery necessarily different from previous crises.
The highlights of their economic global history include that there have been four! major historical global crises, the long depression in the 1870, the Great depression of 1930, the Great recession of 1970s, and the Great financial crisis of 2007-09.
According to Pantich and Gindin, the 1970s is an economic watershed moment which separates "two Golden ages" of American capitalism. The first Golden Age is from 1947 - 1973; the Great recession and various political crises ensue (1973 - 1983), there is a reconfiguration of both the organization of society (workers, business, finance, and state; along with the role of the IMF, World Bank, and global trade); then the second Golden Age from 1983 - 2007.
It may be quite strange to many readers to call 1983 - 2007 a Golden Age. But in fact when looking at the economic data of the period it was quite literally a Golden Age, with millions of Americans and Global financiers and business leaders becoming impressively wealthy. Moreover, the levels of production (GDP) and productivity during the second Golden Age generally outperform the levels of production and productivity during the first Golden Age. Nonetheless the distribution of this wealth is radically narrow and concentrated within primarily finance, while political power concentrated toward "free-trade" orientated states, and away from workers and industrial production. Moreover, Pantich and Gindin maintain that workers are generally weaker during the second Golden Age, finance is strengthen and trumps over production processes, which is more or less conventional wisdom of this period of modern history. Less conventional is their thesis that the state, in particular the American domestic fiscal state and global "informal American empire," greatly strengthened post-1973-83 crisis.
It is not clear the direction the post-2007-09 crisis will take the global economy and American capitalism. What is clear is that the symbiotic relationship between workers, business, finance, and the state, and the global order (U.S. Treasury, IMF, World Bank, WTO, UN) is once again shifting. Pantich and Gindin's book offers to the reader a far clearer picture of what is at stake and who are the main institutional actors in the historical drama and capitalistic tragedy we call modern human history.
Comment| 78 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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4.0 out of 5 stars
ByHans G. Despainon October 7, 2012
Format: Hardcover
Panitch and Gindin argue that market economies have never existed independent of nation states. The state was necessary for the genesis of capitalism, and the state was, and still is, necessary for its historical development and continuous reproduction. Nonetheless, Panitch and Gindin argue there is significant autonomy, or historical "differentiation," between the economy and the nation state. There are economic structural tendencies manifest from the logic of capital and the functioning of the market-system. At the same time nation states can affect these structural tendencies in remarkable ways.
In this sense, there has never been "separation" between capitalist reproduction/development and the state, but there is "differentiation" which has radically significant effects. There is a symbiotic relationship between the state and capitalistic reproduction/development.
This is a book of economic history. But is also a book of economic theory. The economic history is rich and interesting, aimed at explaining the historical emergence of global financial capitalism. While the history Panitch and Gindin offer is rich and interesting, the theory is still richer and even more intriguing.
Their history is primarily aimed, (1) at explaining the emergence of the "informal American empire" (what makes this empire "informal" is the hegemony is accomplished primarily through economic strategy, policy, and diplomacy; and less through military might and political coercion) and (2) demonstrating the historical shifting relationship (from decade to decade since the World War I) between workers, business, finance, and the state.
Their theoretical concern is threefold; (1) offer a theoretical explanation of the crisis of 2007-8; (2) offer guidance toward the direction the future the "informal American empire" has for guiding the economies of world; and (3) to understand the "informal American empire" as a set of beliefs, doctrine, and ideology of how to organize modern societies (workers, business, finance and the state) and the global order (both political [e.g. UN, NATO, etc.] and economical [World Bank, IMF, WTO) for the (ideological) common good.
Although Panitch and Gindin accept that capitalistic development is uneven and unstable, it is crucial to their thesis that each crisis is unique depending upon the particular relationships and alliances forged between workers, business, finance, and the state. In this sense, the crisis of 2007-8 is necessarily unique and the solutions or economic fiscal policies necessary for recovery necessarily different from previous crises.
The highlights of their economic global history include that there have been four! major historical global crises, the long depression in the 1870, the Great depression of 1930, the Great recession of 1970s, and the Great financial crisis of 2007-09.
According to Pantich and Gindin, the 1970s is an economic watershed moment which separates "two Golden ages" of American capitalism. The first Golden Age is from 1947 - 1973; the Great recession and various political crises ensue (1973 - 1983), there is a reconfiguration of both the organization of society (workers, business, finance, and state; along with the role of the IMF, World Bank, and global trade); then the second Golden Age from 1983 - 2007.
It may be quite strange to many readers to call 1983 - 2007 a Golden Age. But in fact when looking at the economic data of the period it was quite literally a Golden Age, with millions of Americans and Global financiers and business leaders becoming impressively wealthy. Moreover, the levels of production (GDP) and productivity during the second Golden Age generally outperform the levels of production and productivity during the first Golden Age. Nonetheless the distribution of this wealth is radically narrow and concentrated within primarily finance, while political power concentrated toward "free-trade" orientated states, and away from workers and industrial production. Moreover, Pantich and Gindin maintain that workers are generally weaker during the second Golden Age, finance is strengthen and trumps over production processes, which is more or less conventional wisdom of this period of modern history. Less conventional is their thesis that the state, in particular the American domestic fiscal state and global "informal American empire," greatly strengthened post-1973-83 crisis.
It is not clear the direction the post-2007-09 crisis will take the global economy and American capitalism. What is clear is that the symbiotic relationship between workers, business, finance, and the state, and the global order (U.S. Treasury, IMF, World Bank, WTO, UN) is once again shifting. Pantich and Gindin's book offers to the reader a far clearer picture of what is at stake and who are the main institutional actors in the historical drama and capitalistic tragedy we call modern human history.
Comment| 78 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
-----------
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not an easy read
ByKDelphion January 11, 2013
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
The first review presents most points of the book much better than I could. But, if you do not know much about Economics, historically speaking, it is not a "fun" read. But it is a good read.
Comment| 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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4.0 out of 5 stars
ByKDelphion January 11, 2013
Format: Hardcover|Verified Purchase
The first review presents most points of the book much better than I could. But, if you do not know much about Economics, historically speaking, it is not a "fun" read. But it is a good read.
Comment| 4 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A Tale of Tall Dollars
ByJeffrey Rubardon March 31, 2017
Format: Paperback
*The Making of Global Capitalism* is a good, if flawed, introduction to the "American Century" of the world economy and its tumultuous consequences in this one. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin are veteran socialist scholars and activists, so their treatment will understandably appeal to those who want to understand the world *and* those who wish to change it; their Canadian vantage point puts them close to the heart of the global economic machine, but far enough away to have some perspective. The strength of this meticulous history of world trade in the 20th and 21st centuries, and America's growing "hegemony" in the international efforts to foster it, lies in its exploration of a "deep structure" of capitalist expansion that existed before, during, and after Keynesianism; the "Great Society" and other seemingly interventionist efforts to improve life in "First World" countries, and the "developing" world's desperate attempts to chart another course, matter less than you might think.
Probably more than Panitch and Gindin think, though. Their "Deep State trance grooves" for the post-Keynesian world focus on the special importance of the US Treasury Department in the last fifty years of trade agreements and capital flows; certainly the role of the US government in "globalization" was grossly underestimated when the phenomenon first became a topic of consideration, but their over-reliance on the "master narrative" of the "Washington Consensus" up to and including the global implosion in the 2000s over-simplifies the avaricious side of life worldwide - a sort of "Marxist Hegelianism", if you will. If ever there was cause to embrace a pluralism of "frog perspectives", the modern capitalist system bids it; more detailed and less one-sided research is surely needed. (This is a good starting point for it, though.)
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
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4.0 out of 5 stars
ByJeffrey Rubardon March 31, 2017
Format: Paperback
*The Making of Global Capitalism* is a good, if flawed, introduction to the "American Century" of the world economy and its tumultuous consequences in this one. Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin are veteran socialist scholars and activists, so their treatment will understandably appeal to those who want to understand the world *and* those who wish to change it; their Canadian vantage point puts them close to the heart of the global economic machine, but far enough away to have some perspective. The strength of this meticulous history of world trade in the 20th and 21st centuries, and America's growing "hegemony" in the international efforts to foster it, lies in its exploration of a "deep structure" of capitalist expansion that existed before, during, and after Keynesianism; the "Great Society" and other seemingly interventionist efforts to improve life in "First World" countries, and the "developing" world's desperate attempts to chart another course, matter less than you might think.
Probably more than Panitch and Gindin think, though. Their "Deep State trance grooves" for the post-Keynesian world focus on the special importance of the US Treasury Department in the last fifty years of trade agreements and capital flows; certainly the role of the US government in "globalization" was grossly underestimated when the phenomenon first became a topic of consideration, but their over-reliance on the "master narrative" of the "Washington Consensus" up to and including the global implosion in the 2000s over-simplifies the avaricious side of life worldwide - a sort of "Marxist Hegelianism", if you will. If ever there was cause to embrace a pluralism of "frog perspectives", the modern capitalist system bids it; more detailed and less one-sided research is surely needed. (This is a good starting point for it, though.)
Comment|Was this review helpful to you?
------------------
4.0 out of 5 stars
Deeply Serious and Progressive Explanation of Capitalism in a World Economy
ByGerald Parkeron January 19, 2014
Format: Paperback
Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin have collaborated on a book, "The Making of Global Economy: the Political Economy of American Empire" (i.e. of U.S. neo-colonialism) that combines the virtues of deep analysis and clear language (and clear thinking, too). They do not deal in persiflage that sounds impressive but which ill serves a wide readership; Panitch and Gindin avoid unnecessary resort to jargon. It is refreshing to have a Canadian perspective upon the phenomena which they examine, all the more so since the authors are genuinely progressive, even socialist, in their analysis, without being hide-bound or doctrinaire.
That said, while the public for which they intend their book is wide, it still is for one that has the resolve to take on dense argument and uncompromising depth. The work is not a "quick read" by any stretch of the imagination. The rather small print and profusion of back-references, the latter too replete with much that is substantive and important to the case which the book makes to ignore, can tire the reader, making the volume arduous to handle navigating back and forth within it.
The hardback edition is well and fully bound, ruggedly and durably, with reasonably spaced margins to left and right of pages, but the binding is a tighter than ideal, requiring some effort on the reader's part to hold the pages flat enough for viewing the pages while going forward and back nimbly (and continually) between the main text and the notes. The reader will need two bookmarks while using the book; this reader added two slender coloured ribbons for the purpose to the binding spine of his own copy; that, of course, is not an option for this or most books' paperback editions.
For those who can persevere in reading it through, this mighty work bears great rewards for those who assay it. For others, too, those who use it as a resource and a reference, rather than read it in entirety, the book also is eminently worth having in one's personal collection and, fortunately for those users, the book is indexed. There is no separate bibliography in the book, but if one patiently mines the bibliographical citations in the notes, the book provides an excellent key to the best literature, rather than just to to a lot of the neo-conservative and emptily theoretical tripe that so many other books on economics mention too exclusively.
Comment| 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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ByGerald Parkeron January 19, 2014
Format: Paperback
Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin have collaborated on a book, "The Making of Global Economy: the Political Economy of American Empire" (i.e. of U.S. neo-colonialism) that combines the virtues of deep analysis and clear language (and clear thinking, too). They do not deal in persiflage that sounds impressive but which ill serves a wide readership; Panitch and Gindin avoid unnecessary resort to jargon. It is refreshing to have a Canadian perspective upon the phenomena which they examine, all the more so since the authors are genuinely progressive, even socialist, in their analysis, without being hide-bound or doctrinaire.
That said, while the public for which they intend their book is wide, it still is for one that has the resolve to take on dense argument and uncompromising depth. The work is not a "quick read" by any stretch of the imagination. The rather small print and profusion of back-references, the latter too replete with much that is substantive and important to the case which the book makes to ignore, can tire the reader, making the volume arduous to handle navigating back and forth within it.
The hardback edition is well and fully bound, ruggedly and durably, with reasonably spaced margins to left and right of pages, but the binding is a tighter than ideal, requiring some effort on the reader's part to hold the pages flat enough for viewing the pages while going forward and back nimbly (and continually) between the main text and the notes. The reader will need two bookmarks while using the book; this reader added two slender coloured ribbons for the purpose to the binding spine of his own copy; that, of course, is not an option for this or most books' paperback editions.
For those who can persevere in reading it through, this mighty work bears great rewards for those who assay it. For others, too, those who use it as a resource and a reference, rather than read it in entirety, the book also is eminently worth having in one's personal collection and, fortunately for those users, the book is indexed. There is no separate bibliography in the book, but if one patiently mines the bibliographical citations in the notes, the book provides an excellent key to the best literature, rather than just to to a lot of the neo-conservative and emptily theoretical tripe that so many other books on economics mention too exclusively.
Comment| 6 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?
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