Obsolescent Capitalism

Obsolescent Capitalism
Author: Samir Amin
Publisher: Zed Books
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2003-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 9781842773215

A political autobiography from one of the 21st century's most prominent radical intellectuals, this title provides unique insights into how radical movements have evolved in response to global capitalism.

Ending the Crisis of Capitalism Or Ending Capitalism?

Ending the Crisis of Capitalism Or Ending Capitalism?
Author: Samir Amin
Publisher: Fahamu/Pambazuka
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2010-11-25
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 190638780X

The factors that brought about the 2008 financial collapse are examined in this analysis that explores the systemic crisis of capitalism after two decades of neoliberal globalization. Samir Amin lays bare the relationship between dominating oligopolies and the globalization of the world economy and argues that the current crisis is a profound crisis of the capitalist system itself, bringing forward an era in which wars--and perhaps revolutions--will once again shake the world. The author examines the threat to the plutocracies of the United States, Europe, and Japan from decisions of recent G20 meetings and analyzes these powers' attempts to get back to the pre-2008 system and to impose their domination on the peoples of the South through intensifying military intervention by using institutions such as NATO. An alternative strategy which, by building on the advances made by progressive forces in Latin America, would allow for a more humane society through both the North and the South working together is proposed.

Obsolescence

Obsolescence
Author: Daniel M. Abramson
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 203
Release: 2016-02-12
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 022631345X

Things fall apart. But in his innovative, wide-ranging, and well-illustrated book, Daniel Abramson investigates the American definition of what falling apart entails. We build new buildings partly in response to demand, but even more because we believe that existing buildings are slowly becoming obsolete and need to be replaced. Abramson shows that our idea of obsolescence is a product of our tax code, which was shaped by lobbying from building interests who benefit from the idea that buildings depreciate and need to be replaced. The belief in depreciation is not held worldwide which helps explain why preservation movements struggle more in America than elsewhere. Abramson s tour of our idea of obsolescence culminates in an assessment of recent tropes of sustainability, which struggle to cultivate the idea that the greenest building is the one that already exists."

Global Disorder

Global Disorder
Author: Robert Harvey
Publisher:
Total Pages: 504
Release: 2003
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

In 1995 Robert Harvey published The Return of the Strong: The Drift to Global Disorder. In the wake of the wake of the terrorist attacks on the 11th of September 2001, he has revised the analysis of the dangers facing the world that he presented in this title. In Global Disorder: The New Architecture of Global Security he has added far-reaching proposals for the reform of global security. In the first three parts he outlines the rise of the USA to its dominant position as the world's first megapower, describing the sources of instability that create global disorder and threaten world peace, and the dangers in the globalization of capitalism free from political control. The final part outlines reforms and actions that Western democracies, particularly the USA, must undertake.

Fifty Key Thinkers on Development

Fifty Key Thinkers on Development
Author: David Simon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2006-05-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1134304897

The essential guide to the world’s most influential development thinkers, this authoritative text presents a unique guide to the lives and ideas of leading contributors to the contested terrain of development studies. Reflecting the diverse, interdisciplinary nature of the area, the book includes entries on: * modernisers like Hirshman, Kindleberger and Rostow * dependencistas such as Frank, Cardoso and Amin * progressives like Prebisch, Helleiner and Streeten * political leaders enunciating radical alternative visions of development, such as Mao, Nkrumah and Nyerere * progenitors of religiously or spiritually inspired development, such as Gandhi and Ariyaratne * development-environment thinkers like Blaikie, Brookfield and Shiva. This is a fascinating and readable introduction to the major figures that have shaped the field, ideal for anyone studying or working in the area.

Key Thinkers on Development

Key Thinkers on Development
Author: David Simon
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2019-04-02
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1351026283

Since its publication in 2006 as Fifty Key Thinkers on Development, this invaluable reference has established itself as the leading biographical handbook in its field, providing a concise and accessible introduction to the lives and key contributions of development thinkers from across the ideological and disciplinary spectrum. This substantially expanded and fully updated second edition in the relaunched series without the numerical constraint includes an additional 24 essays, filling in many gaps in the original selection, greatly improving the gender balance and diversifying coverage to reflect the evolving landscape of development in theory, policy and practice. It presents a unique guide to the lives, ideas and practices of leading contributors to the contested terrain of development studies and development policy and practice. Its thoughtful essays reflect the diversity of development in theory, policy and practice across time, space, disciplines and communities of practice. Accordingly, it challenges Western-centrism, Orientalism and the like, while also demonstrating the enduring appeal of "development" in different guises. David Simon has assembled a highly authoritative team of contributors from different backgrounds, regional settings and disciplines to reflect on the lives and contributions of leading authorities on development from around the world. These include: Modernisers like Kindleberger, Perroux and Rostow Dependencistas such as Frank, Furtado, Cardoso and Amin Progressives and critical modernists like Hirschman, Prebisch, Helleiner Sen, Streeten and Wang Political leaders enunciating radical alternative visions of development, such as Mao, Nkrumah and Nyerere Progenitors of religiously or spiritually inspired development, such as Gandhi, Ariyaratne and Vivekananda Development–environment thinkers like Agarwal, Blaikie, Brookfield, Ostrom and Sachs International institution builders like Singer, Hammarsköld, Kaul and Ul Haq Anti- and post-development thinkers and activists like Escobar, Ghosh, Quijano and Roy Key Thinkers on Development is therefore the essential handbook on the world’s most influential development thinkers and an invaluable guide for students of development and sustainability, policy-makers and practitioners seeking an accessible overview of this diverse field and its leading voices.

Theory is History

Theory is History
Author: Samir Amin
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 150
Release: 2013-12-12
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3319038168

This book focuses on a central concept that “Theory is History”, as the theory of capitalism can only be formulated on the basis of an analysis of its history. In contrast, bourgeois thinking replaces the analysis of historical capitalism with an abstract theory without any links to reality. “Economics”, which is the theory of an imaginary system, then becomes an apologia intended to give legitimacy to the behaviour of the owners of capital. The author pays special attention to the globalization of the law of value. The individual chapters illustrate the author’s thesis by focusing on the links between capital and land ownership, between modernity and religious interpretation, and on questions of the global expansion of capitalism, particularly the ways it has evolved in certain countries, in this case Russia and China. This anthology supplements the author’s previous work, centred on the rise of the South—his reading of capitalism focusing on its imperialist nature.

Beyond US Hegemony

Beyond US Hegemony
Author: Samir Amin
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2013-04-04
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 184813617X

In this major new work - the result of a lifetime of intellectual engagement - one of the developing world's most famous thinkers reflects on the times we live in. He argues that US hegemony has reached a dangerous new level under George Bush Jr, and that the US President's hubristic militarism will both lead to a never-ending cycle of wars and block all hopes of social and democratic progress, not just in developing countries, but in the North as well. Samir Amin also rejects the highly ideological notion that the current form of neoliberal capitalism - 'really existing capitalism' in which imperialism is an integral and permanent part - is an inevitable future for humanity, or in fact socially or politically tolerable. At the same time, he is not opposed to globalization as such; indeed he believes the whole world today is irrevocably connected, and that solidarity in diversity is the key to the struggle for a better world. In the body of the book, Amin provides a perspicacious analysis of tendencies within the rich countries - the US, Europe and Japan; the rising powers - China and India; the likely future trajectory of post-Soviet Russia; and the developing world. The central question he pursues is whether there are other hegemonic blocs that may emerge in time to circumscribe American power, and constrain free market capitalism and force it to adjust to demands other than its narrow central economic logic. This important and thought-provoking book identifies the key global campaigns Samir feels progressives should launch around the world. 'Another world is possible.' But, he warns, the diverse citizens' movements loosely gathered together in the World Social Forum must bite the political bullet and recognise that they can only transform the world if they seek political power.

Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx's Law of Value

Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx's Law of Value
Author: Samir Amin
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2018-02-22
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1583676570

The complete collection of Samir Amin's work on Marxism value theory Unlike such obvious forms of oppression as feudalism or slavery, capitalism has been able to survive through its genius for disguising corporate profit imperatives as opportunities for individual human equality and advancement. But it was the genius of Karl Marx, in his masterwork, Capital, to discover the converse law of surplus value: behind the illusion of the democratic, supply-and-demand marketplace, lies the workplace, where people trying to earn a living are required to work way beyond the time it takes to pay their wages. Leave it to the genius of Samir Amin to advance Marx's theories—adding to them the work of radical economists such as Michal Kalecki, Josef Steindl, Paul Baran, and Paul Sweezy—to show how Marxian theory can be adapted to modern economic conditions. Amin extends Marx's analysis to describe a concept of “imperialist rent” derived from the radically unequal wages paid for the same labor done by people in both the Global North and the Global South, the rich nations and the poor ones. This is global oligopolistic capitalism, in which finance capital has come to dominate worldwide production and distribution. Amin also advances Baran and Sweezy’s notion of economic surplus to explain a globally monopolized system in which Marx's “law of value” takes the form of a “law of globalized value,” generating a super-exploitation of workers in the Global South. Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx's Law of Value offers readers, in one volume, the complete collection of Samir Amin’s work on Marxian value theory. The book includes texts from two of Amin's recent works, Three Essays on Marx’s Value Theory and The Law of Worldwide Value, which have provoked considerable controversy and correspondence. Here, Amin answers his critics with a series of letters, clarifying and developing his ideas. This work will occupy an important place among the theoretical resources for anyone involved in the study of contemporary Marxian economic and political theory.

The Implosion of Contemporary Capitalism

The Implosion of Contemporary Capitalism
Author: Samir Amin
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 160
Release: 2013-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1583674217

Renowned political economist Samir Amin, engaged in a unique lifelong effort both to narrate and affect the human condition on a global scale, brings his analysis up to the present—the world of 2013. The key events of our times—financial crisis, the emerging nations, globalization, financialization, political Islam, Euro–zone implosion—are related in a coherent, historically based, account. Changes in contemporary capitalism require an updating of definitions and analysis of social classes, class struggles, political parties, social movements and the ideological forms in which they express their modes of action in the transformation of societies. Amin meets this challenge and lays bare the reality of monopoly capitalism in its general, global form. Ultimately, Amin demonstrates that this system is not viable and that the implosion in progress is unavoidable. Whether humanity will rise to the challenge of building a more humane global order free of the contradictions of capital, however, is yet to be seen.