2. The Nineteenth-Century Roots of Theoretical Traditions in Global Political Economy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Watson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Nationalism ◽  
Global Political Economy ◽  
Classical Economics ◽  
Historical Relationship ◽  
Marxian Political Economy ◽  
Historical Origins

This chapter discusses the historical origins and the subsequent intellectual lineage of what many textbooks inform the beginning student are the three core theoretical positions within contemporary Global Political Economy (GPE): realism, liberalism, and Marxism. It first considers the use of textbooks in teaching GPE before analysing the historical relationship between realist GPE and the nineteenth-century nationalist political economy tradition, focusing in particular on the political economy foundations of nineteenth-century economic nationalism. It then examines the link between GPE liberalism and Smithian political economy, taking into account Adam Smith's political and moral critiques of mercantilism as well as his views on self-command. The chapter also assesses GPE Marxism's roots in the nineteenth-century Marxian political economy tradition and concludes by looking at GPE feminism and its relation to the nineteenth-century popularization of classical economics for women.

2. The Nineteenth-Century Roots of Theoretical Traditions in Global Political Economy

2020 ◽  
pp. 25-51
Author(s):  
Matthew Watson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Friedrich List ◽  
Global Political Economy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Origins

This chapter focuses on the historical origins and the subsequent intellectual lineage of the three core theoretical positions within contemporary global political economy (GPE): realism, liberalism, and Marxism. ‘Textbook GPE’ privileges nineteenth-century understandings of political economy when discussing the pre-history of its own field. This helps explains GPE's treatment of feminist scholarship within the textbooks; feminism remains largely marginalized from textbook GPE, presented as something of a postscript to avoid accusations of it having been omitted altogether rather than being placed centre stage in the discussion. The chapter then looks at how the nineteenth-century overlay operates in textbook GPE. To do so, it makes sense to concentrate in the first instance on the issue that did most to divide nineteenth-century economists: namely, the free trade policies resulting from the general ascendancy of laissez-faire ideology. The most celebrated of the critics, Friedrich List, is treated much more as a dependable authority figure in GPE than he is in the history of economic thought. Indeed, in textbook GPE, the disputes between realist and liberal positions is very often presented initially through an account of List's work, despite the pre-history of liberalism being much the longer of the two.

‘These Industrial Forests’: Economic Nationalism and the Search for Agro-Industrial Commodities in Nineteenth-Century Brazil

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-579 ◽  
Author(s):  
TERESA CRIBELLI
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Independence ◽  
Economic Nationalism ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Native Forests ◽  
Carl Linnaeus

AbstractIn the nineteenth century, members of the Rio de Janeiro-based Sociedade Auxiliadora da Industria Nacional promoted the development of new agro-industrial commodities from Brazil's native forests as substitutes for expensive foreign imports. Influenced by late colonial scientists and reformers who followed the political economy of Carl Linnaeus, the society turned a Portuguese imperial project of economic revitalisation into a vision for developing the nation's post-independence economy. For society members, Brazil's ‘industrial forests’ were essential for economic independence and defined the new nation's place in an emerging global capitalist system.

Empire without Sovereignty

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-71
Author(s):  
David Todd
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Free Trade ◽  
The Political ◽  
Territorial Expansion ◽  
Global Consciousness ◽  
Intellectual Origins ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Perception ◽  
Informal Imperialism

This chapter investigates the political economy of French informal imperialism, revealing a little-known facet of the intellectual origins of globalization, and confirming that the pursuit of empire and the emergence of global consciousness were inextricably linked. It highlights lesser known thinkers, which helps recover what the prevailing attitudes of the informed liberal-leaning public towards empire actually were. After 1815, once the word “liberal” entered the political lexicon, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, the Abbé Dominique de Pradt, and Michel Chevalier described themselves as liberals — with some justification, since they admired Britain's balanced constitution and were stalwart advocates of free trade. Recovering their views on empire therefore helps to suggest that French liberals did not become imperialistic in the mid-nineteenth century, but instead consistently harboured imperial ambitions, even if, for pragmatic reasons, they tended to shun territorial expansion after 1815. Focusing on these neglected but influential figures also helps correct the common perception of France as having withdrawn from the international stage after the fall of Napoleon.

scholarly journals Found in translation: the global constitution of the modern international order

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Jaakko Heiskanen
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Karl Marx ◽  
World Order ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
International Order ◽  
Global Political Economy ◽  
The Future ◽  
Historical Origins

Abstract This paper brings the notion of translation into dialogue with the growing literature on international hierarchies and the historical origins of the modern international order. Leveraging on the writings of Karl Marx, I draw parallels between the exchange of commodities and the translation of linguistic signs in order to unmask the inequalities and asymmetries that pervade the practice of translation. I then deploy these theoretical insights to illuminate the global constitution of the modern international order. In this Marx-inspired reading, the modern international order is cast as the ‘universal equivalent’ that has crystallized out of the asymmetries and contradictions that pervaded the global political economy of conceptual exchange in the long 19th century. As universal equivalent, the modern international order effectively functions as the socially recognized ‘metalanguage’ that undergirds the miracle of global translatability and makes international/interlingual relations possible on a global scale. The paper concludes by considering the implications of the analysis for the future of international/interlingual hierarchies and world order.

The Political Economy of Health: Revisiting Its Marxian Origins to Address 21st-Century Health Inequalities

2020 ◽  
pp. e1-e8
Author(s):  
Michael Harvey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
The Public ◽  
Critical Theories ◽  
Political Economy Of Health ◽  
Marxian Political Economy

The “political economy of health” is concerned with how political and economic domains interact and shape individual and population health outcomes. However, the term is variously defined in the public health, medical, and social science literatures. This could result in confusion about the term and its associated tradition, thereby constituting a barrier to its application in public health research and practice. To address these issues, I survey the political economy of health tradition, clarify its specifically Marxian theoretical legacy, and discuss its relevance to understanding and addressing public health issues. I conclude by discussing the benefits of employing critical theories of race and racism with Marxian political economy to better understand the roles of class exploitation and racial oppression in epidemiological patterning. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print December 22, 2020:e1–e8. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2020.305996 )

Institutions and the Global Political Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Economic Institutions ◽  
Global Political Economy ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

In a comparison of today’s global political economy with that of the last great era of globalization, the late nineteenth century, the most prominent distinction is be the high degree of institutionalization in today’s system. While the nineteenth-century system did have some important international institutions—in particular the gold standard and an emerging network of trade agreements—it had nothing like the scope and depth of today’s powerful international economic institutions. We cannot understand the functioning of today’s global political economy without understanding the sources and consequences of these institutions. Why were international organizations (IOs) such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) or International Monetary Fund (IMF) created? How have they gained so much influence? What difference do they make for the functioning of the global economy and the well-being of individuals around the world? In large part, understanding IOs requires a focus on the tension between the use of power, and rules that are intended to constrain the use of power. IOs are rules-based creatures. They create and embody rules for gaining membership, for how members should behave, for monitoring, for punishment if members renege on their commitments, etc. However, these rules-based bodies exist in the anarchical international system, in which there is no authority above states, and states continue to exercise power when it is in their self-interest to do so. While states create and join IOs in order to make behavior more rule-bound and predictable, the rules themselves reflect the global distribution of power at the time of their creation; and they only constrain to the extent that states find that the benefits of constraint exceed the costs of the loss of autonomy. The tension between rules and power shapes the ways in which international institutions function, and therefore the impact that they have on the global economy. For all their faults, international economic institutions have proven themselves to be an indispensable part of the modern global political economy, and their study represents an especially vibrant research agenda.

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