Deutsch
Course Overview
The Political Economy of Modern Capitalism
Contents of the subject
The course will begin by examining the emergence of industrial capitalism, and the debate about its origins. It will then look at how the development of capitalism can be divided into phases by considering the organisation of work, the structure of the firm, the functions of the state, the nature of the monetary and financial system, and the role of trade and the world market. A major part of the course will be concerned with the specific features of the new phase of capitalism which began to emerge in the 1980s. This includes the role of global financial markets, the importance of multinational corporations, and the emergence of major economic powers in the developing world. It will also consider whether the impact of the major international crisis in 2007-2008, and the massive response to the Covid-19epidemic augur a significant shift away from the neoliberal phase of capitalism. A key concern throughout the course will be to identify the interaction between economic and political factors in driving capitalist development.
Provisional programme:
1. The origins of capitalism in European feudalism
2. The principal phases of capitalism since the industrial revolution
3. Money & capital: a brief introduction to Marxian political economy
4. The capitalist labour process: from manufacture to post-Fordism
5. The rise and fall of the post-war 'Golden Age'
6. Finance led capitalism and the re-emergence of financial instability
7. The capitalist firm, multinational companies and international value chains
8. The role of the state in modern capitalism
9. Privatisation and the creation of new spheres of private accumulation
10. The world market & modern imperialism
11. The polarisation of income and wealth
12. Energy, raw materials and climate change
13. The economic and environmental crisis
14. Models of capitalism; alternative social models
Qualification aims of the subject
To understand how capitalism has developed and changed since the time of the industrial revolution and to examine in detail the economic and political characteristics of the new phase of capitalism that began in the 1980s.
Students will gain an understanding of the specific ways in which politics and economics interact in a capitalist economic system, of how this system is in a process of continual change, and the role that conflict plays, both within and between countries, in driving economic and social development.
Applicability of the subject
Preparation for the Master Thesis
Programme: MA International Economics and MA Political Economy of European Integration; MA LPG
The nature of the examination / requirements for the award of credit points
Written assignment (4,000 words).
Literature and learning resources
Selected introductory reading:
Gerald Epstein (ed.), Financialisation and the World Economy, 2005
David Harvey, The Enigma of Capital and the Crises of Capitalism, 2010
Rodney Hilton (ed.), The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism, 1976/2006
Charles P. Kindelberger, Manias, Panics and Crashes, A History of Financial Crises, 2005
Literaturempfehlung
Specific readings:
Karl Marx & Friederich Engels, The Communist Manifesto, 1848, chapter 1
Michel Aglietta, "Accumulation in the US", The Theory of Capitalist Regulation, 1979, pp. 73-87
David Harvey, The Limits to Capital, 1982, chapter 1
Andrew Glyn et al, "The rise and fall of the Golden Age", in Stephen Marglin and Juliet Schor (eds), The golden age of capitalism. Reinterpreting the Postwar experience, 1990, pp. 39-125
Harry Braverman, "Scientific management", Labour and Monopoly Capital, 1974, pp. 85-123
UNCTAD, "Global investment trends", World Investment Report, 2019, chapter 1
Bob Jessop, "Hollowing Out the ‘Nation State’ and Multi-Level Governance", mimeo
Trevor Evans, "Money and finance today" in John Grahl (ed.), Global finance and social Europe, 2009, pp. 1-28
John Smith, ‘Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century, Monthly Review, vol. 67, no. 3, July-August 2015
John Bellamy Foster, "The new imperialism", Monthly Review, July-August 2015
International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2018, Executive summary
Diane Elson, "Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policy from a Gender perspective", Globlisation of the World Economy - Challenges and Respones, Deutsche Bundestag, 18 February 2002
International Labour Organisation, Global Wage Report, 2018/2019
Peter Frase, "Four futures", Jacobin, Isssue 12, 2011
Teaching and learning forms
Lecture & discussion plus group worked based on pre-circulated texts.
Participation requirements
All courses of the 1st semester of the MA International Economics or the MA Political Economy of European Integration or MA LPG
Next events
| lecture, series | Th, 04.04.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 11.04.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 18.04.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 25.04.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 02.05.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 16.05.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 23.05.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 30.05.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 06.06.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 13.06.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 20.06.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 27.06.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 04.07.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |
| lecture, series | Th, 11.07.2024 | 16:00 Uhr | 20:00 Uhr | B 1.01 |