Tag Archives: power

Capitalism: A Journal of History and Economics

Posted on January 3, 2020 by

As we are living in the present when tragedy and farce mix and make the past look oracular, a new history of Capitalism must be introduced for the sake of the future. The new year brought with it a much-needed … Continue reading →

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Is the United States the Champion of Global Finance or its Victim? A New Look at the Fed’s Low-inflation Policy

Posted on November 22, 2019 by

By Arie Krampf* My article “Monetary Power Reconsidered: The Struggle between the Bundesbank and the Fed over Monetary Leadership”, recently published in International Studies Quarterly, contributes to the burgeoning literature that challenges the US-hegemony hypothesis in the global financial sub-order. It … Continue reading →

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Democratizing Finance: Reducing Inequalities of Income, Wealth and Power

Posted on November 13, 2019 by

Politics & Society has just published a thought-provoking special issue titled “Democratizing Finance”. This interesting collection of papers resulted from a workshop organized in July 2018 by the late Erik Olin Wright as part of his inspiring Real Utopias Project. This … Continue reading →

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Gramsci on the State, the Proprietorial Class, and the Sovereign Laws of Capitalism

Posted on May 22, 2018 by

“In the sphere of general capitalist activity, even the worker operates on the plane of free competition, is a citizen-individual. But the starting conditions of the struggle are not equal for all, at the same time: the existence of private … Continue reading →

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The Role of Money in Social Life: Morality and Power in the World of the Poor

Posted on January 7, 2018 by

by Ariel Wilkis* “Perhaps behind the coin is God.” — Jorge Luis Borges, The Zahir (1949)  My book The Moral Power of Money: Morality and Economy in the Life of the Poor (Stanford University Press, 2017) offers a new focus for … Continue reading →

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Framing Value of Things and Making Things Valuable

Posted on April 4, 2017 by

My experiences at Asian floating markets have included constant conversations between me and merchants, and thereafter between me and myself, such as: “How much is it?”  — “How much do you want to give me?”, he replies. “How much was … Continue reading →

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What is Money?

Posted on March 29, 2017 by

“Money is not a “mere voucher for unspecified utilities”, which could be altered at will without any fundamental effect on the character of the price system as a struggle of man against man. “Money” is, rather, primarily a weapon in … Continue reading →

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The Burden of Nations: Debt and Compound Interest

Posted on March 21, 2017 by

The disappointing outcome of the G8 Okinawa summit regarding the initiative for debt relief for impoverished and indebted countries of the Global South, led President of Nigeria Olusegun Obasanjo to proclaim in August 2000: “All that we had borrowed up to 1985 or … Continue reading →

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Global Political Economy and Its Discontents: Power, Politics and Investment Treaties in Developing Countries

Posted on September 8, 2016 by

There is a widely accepted opinion among a general public, policy makers and economists that investment treaties between the West and developing countries greatly benefit the latter. But is this view correct? Well, for sure the story is far more complex than it seems. An interesting … Continue reading →

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The European corporate elite on trial: the foundation of the Eurozone and the navigation of its crisis

Posted on June 11, 2016 by

“Europe’s industrial bosses oscillate between fear, anger and disbelief…. Company bosses long to yell “You’re fired!” at any number of European politicians… But a majority of Europe’s businesspeople definitely wants politicians to do more to hold the euro zone together.” (The … Continue reading →

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Capital as power and class struggle explained by… Adam Smith?!

Posted on October 10, 2015 by

In any given society, there is no freedom of contract between capitalist and worker, whose interests are essentially opposite. The power of a landlord, a manufacturer, a merchant resides in his wealth, explaining the inherent subjection of laborers, which lack almost any … Continue reading →

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Remember the Golden Rule! Whoever has the gold, makes the rules!

Posted on August 28, 2015 by

Remember the Golden Rule! Whoever has the gold, makes the rules!! *** This sharp cartoon is from The Wizard of Id – a classic daily newspaper comic strip created by Brant Parker and Johnny Hart in 1964 to satirize modern American culture … Continue reading →

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Herbert Marcuse: Power of Repressive Tolerance

Posted on April 11, 2015 by

Herbert Marcuse‘s resonant and insightful words: “In the contemporary period, the democratic argument for abstract tolerance tends to be invalidated by the invalidation of the democratic process itself. The liberating force of democracy was the chance it gave to effective dissent, … Continue reading →

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Credit makes you free! Neoliberalism, politics of debt and the subjugation of the working poor

Posted on February 22, 2015 by

Under the rubric of ‘financial inclusion’, lending to the poor – in both the global North and global South – has become a highly lucrative and rapidly expanding industry since the 1990s. A key inquiry of Susanne Soederberg’s penetrating and … Continue reading →

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“… Until Debt Tear us Apart”: Debt is a Product of Power Relations

Posted on December 6, 2014 by

Debt is a product of power relations which inherently exhibits capturing and dominating mechanisms of subordination, appropriation and exploitation in various societal, political and economic fields. Debt is a degrading institutional tool which not merely controls and masters labor in advance, it also self- … Continue reading →

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