Reframing geopolitics from a Marxist perspective
Reframing geopolitics from a Marxist perspective
Economist Radhika Desai and Ben Norton discuss the neoliberal myth of "globalization", the contradictions of US hegemony, and the crisis of capitalism. This is part 1 in a series discussing Radhika's new book "Capitalism, Coronavirus, and War: A Geopolitical Economy". Other episodes in the series:...
A banger conversation where Radhika Desai challenges common narratives regarding world development communistly. She made a lot of interesting arguments and I took some notes that I'm gonna share here:
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imperialism is when nationstates manage capitalism's contradictions at the expense of subordinate territories
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once capitalism develops in one country, other countries are forced to either become subordinate (buy their excess commodities, surrender resources) or develop themselves (protectionist, state-directed industrialization)
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maintaining unevenness is imperialism, resisting this underdevelopment is anti-imperialism
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global development is not the spread of markets, not the rule of successive hegemonies, but the spread of multipolarity
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golden age of capitalism was after WWII and was actually ruined by capitalism, not caused by it
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- it came about from socialist policies that wringed monopolies: regulations, full employment, welfare, universal education, healthcare, price controls
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- neoliberalism is the rolling back of these measures to protect capitalism, prevent further socialist development
Highly recommend you guys listen in! This video made a lot of ideas click for me.