Comparative Capitalisms

2014 ◽  
pp. 199-229
Author(s):  
Ben Clift
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Capitalisms

Varieties in Comparative Capitalisms Research: A Critical Juncture

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-156
Author(s):  
Daniel Šitera
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Theoretical Discussion ◽  
Critical Research ◽  
Critical Juncture ◽  
Prior Review ◽  
Comparative Capitalisms ◽  
Initial Survey ◽  
The Many

This article addresses Richard Westra, Ian Bruff and Matthias Ebenau's responses to my prior review essay on their edited volumes. In my initial survey, I concluded that both volumes reinvigorate the radical potential of contemporary Comparative Capitalisms (CC) literatures, but warned against the tendency in critical research to trace capitalism solely at its worst. I posited that this pessimism undermines the volumes’ pedagogical potential and threatens to bring us to intellectual cul-de-sacs. The authors respond in different ways to this critical engagement: Westra provides a guideline to trace such an intellectual pessimism in the (neo-)Marxist political economy and points to the so-called ‘Uno approach’ as an alternative direction that opens our intellectual horizons to social change in (post-)capitalism. In contrast, Bruff and Ebenau regard my review as less monochromatic than other discussions of their research project but nevertheless assertively retort to my critique. This reply seeks to engage the aforementioned scholars in a discussion, while reconsidering the alleged pessimism of critical CC research as informed optimism. Such informed optimism must be found in a critical research that (i) is based on a deeper reflexive theoretical discussion rather than a one-sided deconstruction of mainstream scholarship; and (ii) derives from a holistic approach broadened by a human-centred perspective, which also exposes us to actually existing alternatives within as well as to (post-)capitalism. Given that such approaches are currently only implicit, the many ongoing crises of contemporary capitalism represent a critical juncture not only for mainstream, but also for critical CC research.

scholarly journals Comparative Capitalisms and Energy Transitions: Renewable Energy in the European Union

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Allen ◽  
Matthew M.C. Allen ◽  
Douglas J. Cumming ◽  
Sofia A. Johan
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Energy Transitions ◽  
Comparative Capitalisms

The UK: Less a liberal market economy, more a post-imperial one

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Coates
Keyword(s):  
Market Economy ◽  
Detailed Examination ◽  
Varieties Of Capitalism ◽  
The Us ◽  
Global Understanding ◽  
Comparative Capitalisms ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Distinguishing Features ◽  
Liberal Market Economy

This article adds a new element to the growing critique of the original varieties of capitalism (VoC) distinction between liberal and coordinated market capitalisms by questioning the usefulness of the liberal market economy (LME) category itself. It demonstrates that many of the distinguishing features of the LME category are – in the US and UK cases at least – best explained by those economies’ external global and hegemonic role, rather than by their internal institutional complementarities. Imperialism holds the key to liberalism – a key demonstrated here by a detailed examination of the UK case. The lessons for the study of comparative capitalisms are major: a total setting aside of the LME/CME distinction, and a return to the building of a global understanding of capitalism which is more than the sum of its individual parts. In order to understand LMEs, you need to understand imperialism; and to understand imperialism, you have to engage again with a revitalised Marxism.

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