EReNSEP

08/02/2024

NEW LEFT BOOK REVIEW
The State of Capitalism: Economy, Society, and Hegemony.'
Ben Wray & Ranjan Balakumaran discuss a landmark new text of Marxist political economy.

We are living in a historical interregnum, as Antonio Gramsci famously described it, where the old order of global capitalism and American global hegemony is...

14/12/2023

The article that Nicolás Aguila and I wrote based on our book is "The state of capitalism" soon to be out in
Το άρθρο που γράψαμε με τον Nicolás Aguila βασισμένο στο βιβλίο "The state of capitalism" που γράψαμε με την ομάδα του EReNSEP, σύντομα στο περιοδικό Rupture.

06/12/2023

04/12/2023

Thinking beyond pandemic capitalism

The health emergency that broke out in 2020 is a landmark event in the development of capitalism, confirming the underlying change signalled by the Great Crisis of 2007-9. The Pandemic Crisis has catapulted the state to the centre of economic activity. However, a historic impasse is steadily becoming apparent at the core of the world economy

Productive accumulation is flaccid, as both profitability and labour productivity are weak. Financialisation has entered a new phase, as "shadow banking" grew relative to other banks but is entirely dependent on the state. The power of the state derives from command over fiat money and can certainly deliver enormous boosts to aggregate demand, but that is not enough to tackle the weakness of the productive sector.

The rise in inflation for the first time in forty years indicates the impasse. There is a transparent need for intervention on the supply side, directly challenging capitalist property rights. There is no evidence, however, that the ruling blocs in core countries would engage in such policies.

The Pandemic Crisis also brought to the fore fresh divisions of core and periphery across the world economy. Imperialism has assumed new forms, spurred by globally active financial capital and internationalised productive capital. A renewed contest for hegemony has emerged as US power declined. The economic challenge of China will unfold steadily in the years ahead, intensifying political tensions and military rivalries.

This book is the work of a research collective comprising authors from several parts of the world. It analyses these vital issues from the perspective of Marxist political economy and puts forth alternative anticapitalist proposals.

The health emergency that broke out in 2020 is a landmark event in the development of capitalism, confirming the underlying change signalled by the Great Crisis of 2007-9. The Pandemic Crisis has catapulted the state to the centre of economic activity. However, a historic impasse is steadily becomin...

28/11/2023

Join us at the launch of a powerful collective work on the political economy of contemporary capitalism.

28/11/2023

Financial subordination in this context manifests itself as intensified economic vulnerability and loss of policy space for governments, due in large part to the volatility of international capital flows. Join us in discussing the current state of the world economy by drawing on ‘The state of capitalism: economy, society, and hegemony’, a new book co-authored by Costas Lapavitsas - Κώστας ΛαπαβίτσαςCostas Lapavitsas and the EReNSEP Writing Collective. Wed 6 December, 5:30PM at SOAS (Brunei Gallery).

27/11/2023

The result of financial liberalisation was to intensify the subordinate integration of peripheral countries into the world economy. Join us in discussing the current state of the world economy by drawing on ‘The state of capitalism: economy, society, and hegemony’, a new book co-authored by Costas Lapavitsas and the EReNSEP Writing Collective. Wed 6 December, 5:30PM at SOAS (Brunei Gallery).