Problems of the Evolution of the Comparative Capitalism Theory from the mid‑20th Century (On the Example of the Developed Countries)

Abstract

In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the problem of theoretical substantiation of transnational differences in the forms of capitalist relations became the subject of a broad scientific discussion. Given article deals with the ideas about the causes and consequences of the differentiation of the principles of capitalist society organization, and the authors consciously limit its geographical coverage to developed countries. It was the states of the Core of World economy that were in the focus of publications of the second half of the 20th centurywhich used the methods of comparative analysis within the framework of the theories of regulation, developmentalism, dependent capitalism, neo-corporatism, post-Fordism, etc. Modern concepts of comparative capitalism, especially focusing on emerging markets, are based on a variety of approaches to distinguish national models of capitalist relations. Despite the pluralism of typological criteria, many of these approaches basically contain provisions of the “varieties of capitalism” theory (VoC) developed in the early 2000s. Relying on its key postulate on the existence of various types of institutional complementarity, the authors of given article explain the principles of divergence of liberal and coordinated market economies, as well as analyze the groundings for identifying a mixed type of capitalism. It should be noted that the prospects for the adaptation of provisions of “varieties of capitalism” binary theory to analyze the experience of countries with emerging markets, including post-socialist states, remain vague. It’s noteworthy, that during the post-crisis recovery period of the late 2000s the VoC approach has undergone a certain transformation under the influence of new conditions of global economy functioning, having opposed its own methodological flexibility to the spread of alternative theories of the organization of capitalist systems.