Quentin Bruneau in Phenomenal World:
How should we explain periods of profound global transformation? Since the late nineteenth century, historically-minded scholars have viewed socio-political change as a reflection of property relations and technological shifts in the productive process. Capitalism was positioned as the principal driver of the international state system, with states broadly operating in the interest of maintaining capitalist social relations. In recent years, however, a parallel tradition of thought has gained ground. In this tradition, the bureaucratic and military consolidation of states operates as the driver of economic relations. From this perspective, capitalist forms of exploitation appear as a means to finance the state’s coercive power and navigate competition between states internationally. The relation between states and markets underpins nearly every major challenge of our time, from climate change, to war, to austerity and sovereign debt. Should we understand these developments through the interests of Capital, or should we instead conceive of them as the product of inter-state competition and power? The question is not merely of analytical interest; where we place emphasis directly informs the sort of solutions we envision to global problems. If climate change and war are the result of inter-state competition, greater cooperation can lead to a solution. If they are the result of Capitalism, instead, they will remain unresolved until we do away with the economic system itself. In what follows, I survey this longstanding debate and introduce an important and overlooked turningpoint: the rise of Great Power politics. Ultimately, however, I argue that our global order cannot be understood outside of the complex social contexts out of which it emerges—contexts which cannot be reduced to any single dimension alone.
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