Review Essay: The Politics of History and the History of Economic DevelopmentThe Evolution of Modern States. Sweden, Japan, and the United States. By Sven Steinmo. (Cambridge University Press, 2010).The Political Construction of Business Interests: Coordination, Growth, and Equality. By Cathie Jo Martin and Duane Swank. (Cambridge University Press, 2012).Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil. By Timothy Mitchell.

Abstract

This essay examines four recent works that look to the history of economic development with an eye to understanding the current moment of global instability as well as shedding light on what the future of economic development may hold. They do so by deconstructing the models of economic development that have implicitly and explicitly informed our theoretical frameworks, They represent important advances in historical research not only for the empirical correctives they offer, but because in deconstructing historical models, they in fact undermine the very idea of a model, instead introducing dynamic processes with indeterminate outcomes. The result is a reading of the history of economic development that offers new opportunities for scholarship and for politics.