erc/metu
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN ECONOMICS  IV
September 13-16, 2000, Ankara

The Illogic(s) of Globalization and Problems of Economic Governance

Robert Jessop (Lancaster University, UK)

Abstract

This paper re-introduces Marx's analysis of the inherent contradictions of the value form into the analysis of globalization from a regulationist perspective, extends this analysis in a Polanyian direction, and shows how the forms of appearance and the handling of these contradictions is shaped by the specific spatio-temporal fixes within which accumulation regimes and their modes of regulation get constructed. Thus the paper explores the contradictions in the capital relation (the commodity, labour-power, money, the state, knowledge as a fictitious commodity, nature-land, etc.); relates the different use- and exchange-value aspects of these contradictions to the problems addressed in different accumulation regimes and modes of regulation; and argues that each accumulation regime and mode of regulation is associated with specific spatio-temporal frameworks of action. In this context globalization (at least in its predominant neo-liberal form) has disrupted the spatio-temporal fixes inherited from the postwar boom (based on Atlantic Fordism) but has not (yet) seen the establishment of a new spatio-temporal fix with its own institutional architecture within which accumulation could be re-regularised. The paper then explores some implications of these contradictions and dilemmas for the state and for alternative strategies for economic governance on a global scale.

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Middle East Technical University
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