Transnational Capitalist Class Research Articles

Transnational Capitalist Class Theory: An Assessment

Transnational Capitalist Class Theory: An Assessment

Is China an imperialist power?

Among the mainstream press, western political elites and sections of the Left, China is accused of exploiting the Global South and even being an imperialist power. China argues it is pursuing a ‘win-win’ policy. To explore this question, this article looks at several factors, including labour exploitation, debt, environmental damage and military activity. Imperialism today operates through a vast network of integrated transnational investments and expansive global assembly lines, overseen by a transnational capitalist class. China’s position in the global capitalist system needs to be assessed in this context. It is certainly a major power within that system and its capitalists engage in the super-exploitation of labour, for example in Africa. At the same time, Chinese development loans have so far helped countries in the Global South build infrastructure and reduce neoliberal austerity, even as associated projects have been beset by corruption and environmental harms. China has not yet used its military in imperialist adventures, but it does apply regional pressure and cultivates military relationships with countries where it has investments. Overall, the picture that emerges is complex and contradictory.

Imperialism and Contemporary Transnational Capitalism

Imperialism was closely studied by Marxists in the early twentieth century. Lenin’s work had the greatest impact, but while some elements remain, important changes have occurred. The specific national character of finance capital has transformed to integrated global capital, as has production. These changes were structured by reengineering the state and rewriting the rules for trade and cross-border capital flows, while at the same time deconstructing the Keynesian social contract. The economic and political changes were led by the emergence of a transnational capitalist class. The resulting social upheavals caused by greater inequality have been accelerated by the crisis of COVID-19, which created new contradictions between and within China and the United States. Technological changes have only added to the problems of global capitalism. Massive speculation was made possible by the speed and reach of the new information and communication technologies, resulting in repeated economic crises. A planetary Green New Deal may offer the best hope to rebuild the economy around productive capital and lay the basis for greater social justice.

Fine Balance: Empire, Neoliberalism, and the Fair and Equitable Treatment Standard in International Investment Law

Abstract In this article, I show how the framework of empire remains central for analyzing contemporary international investment law. Moving beyond criticisms about the domination of global South polities by the West, or by a transnational capitalist class, I suggest instead that ‘empire’ can help us analyze the protocols of reasoning in investor-State arbitrations. Through a close reading of scholarship on the fair and equitable (FET) clause, and a recent arbitral award arising out an FET claim, I show that the field is characterized by an imperial mode of legal reasoning. This mode was reason was produced by a foundational distrust of postcolonial developmental States. It involves judging concrete State action against a fictional universal baseline that represents the ordoliberal utopia of an austere rule of law bound State. Crucially, in investor-State dispute settlement, this form of reasoning remains discernible even when foreign investors do not succeed.

Beleaguered City, Beleaguered Planet

Abstract This article sets out to analyze the connections between three different but related phenomena (capitalist globalization, the Anthropocene, and the coronavirus epidemic) through the lens of iconic buildings and spaces and the cities in which they are mostly found. I argue that the transnational capitalist class uses cities as competitors in a global system of lucrative investment opportunities. Capitalist globalization is widely implicated in the Anthropocene (signifying human impacts on the Earth system, usually destructive) and together they facilitate the spread of the coronavirus. The concept of “administrative evil” is mobilized to highlight the ethical dimensions of city planning, and the increasingly “beleaguered city.”

Understanding the Modern World with Marx's Political Economic Critical Thinking

How relevant is Marxist economic theory to the problems of today’s world? Did those contradictions that Marx analyses in his Das Kapital disappear? The answer is clear: no, but they have now acquired a larger scale involving some new actors. The faster pace of economic globalisation at the end of the last century has been accompanied by the cross-border development of class relations. Resting on large-scale cross-border operations of transnational corporations, capital is now contributing to the formation of a transnational capita­list class. In today’s world there are new, contradictory relations based on a multitude of inherent contradictions, rendering the world situation more complex: the rich-poor gap brought about by the formation of the transnational capitalist class; the transnational capitalist class and the question of its global hegemony; and the relationship between the transnational capitalist class and the world system. All these factors are of economic nature but their impact goes beyond the economic sphere. The resulting hegemony of the transnational capita­list class pushes the world situation in the direction of economic politicisation and further political militarisation. It is clear that our world is still dominated by the capital, which was discussed by Marx in his critique of political economy. This approach still provides the basic framework for understanding and examining our era.

A theory of dialectical transnational historical materialism for China’s state capitalism and the China–US rivalry

A new cold war seems to be looming between China and the United States. The escalating China–US rivalry calls for a more dialectical theory of international political economy that captures conflict and disintegration as an integral part of capitalist globalisation. Kees van der Pijl’s and William Carroll’s critical realist approach towards the study of transnational corporations (TNCs) and transnational capitalist class (TCC) formation has incorporated the classical theory of uneven capitalist development and inter-imperialist rivalry into the scholarship of transnational historical materialism, which I argue is apt for explaining the China–US conflict: One is positioned as a Hobbesian contender and the other as the Lockean hegemon. To provide empirical grounding for my argument, I conduct a corporate network study to examine the interlocking directorates of 40 Chinese TNCs. In concordance with Carroll and colleagues’ studies, I find that the globalisation of Chinese TNCs and Chinese corporate elite has been modest and has not undermined or replaced the national base, nor does it signify a homogeneous TCC formation. My findings have also revealed an inextricable relationship between the Chinese TNCs and China’s party-state, or a Hobbesian character of state-organised capitalism.

J. Sprague. Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class

J. Sprague. Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class

Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change and the Transnational Capitalist Class by Jeb Sprague

Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change and the Transnational Capitalist Class by Jeb Sprague

Global Capitalism and Transnational Class Conflict

Abstract Integrated global capitalism has emerged over the past forty years as the dominant economic system. This world system was constructed by the transnational capitalist class, which established hegemonic political and cultural power in both the Global North and South. Nevertheless, competition and contradictions characterize global capitalism, within and between classes as well as nation states.

‘Guarding the gate’: the hidden practices behind admission to an Elite Traditional International School in Japan

ABSTRACTThis paper explores the admissions practices of an ‘Elite Traditional International School’ (ETIS) in a large city in Japan. The school is seeing falling enrolment from its traditional clients e.g.‘transnational capitalist class’ families working for Embassies and its alumnus, whilst attracting an emergent aspiring locally-based body of parents representative of a ‘global middle class’ likely seeking advantages, and a new, distinct identity. The resultant tension, between dealing with market-led change (reflecting the reality) and trying to maintain and protect legitimacy as an ideologically driven institution serving the privileged ‘international community’ (reflecting the vision), creates a platform (the nomos) for admission practices that are potentially biased and largely hidden. Utilising a methodology grounded in the work of Pierre Bourdieu we identify how the school adopts a number of ‘unwritten rules’, to ‘guard the gate’. Moreover, the imagined ‘international community’ emerges as a major field of power.

Global Capitalism and the Battle for Hegemony

Facing a crisis of legitimacy, the capitalist class is constructing new hegemonic projects to stabilize their global system. This article will examine competing fractions of the transnational capitalist class (TCC), how these fractions are confronting the crisis of global capitalism, and how TCC theory analyzes the current state of conflict. TCC theorists see the development of two hegemonic projects, one based on militarized accumulation and authoritarian politics and that of green capitalist reformism. But differences exist on the evaluation of the strength and formation of these emerging blocs. The article also pays attention to the relationship between the United States and China as a battleground between globalizing projects, rather than nations.

Global Capitalism and the Caribbean - Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class. By Jeb Sprague. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2019. Pp. 322. $74.50 cloth.

Global Capitalism and the Caribbean - Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class. By Jeb Sprague. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2019. Pp. 322. $74.50 cloth. - Volume 78 Issue 2

Power and Globalization in Africa: Perceptions of Barriers to Fair Economic Development in Kenya

Abstract This article seeks to reveal the primary barriers to fair economic development based on Kenyans’ perceptions of power and globalization. This search was initially sparked by the seeming disinterest of First World scholars to understand the reasons why poor countries benefit so little from the global market as reflected in a subsequent lack of a wide-ranging existing literature about the subject. The literature suggests that global capitalism is dominated by a powerful small elite, the so-called Transnational Capitalist Class (TCC), but how does this relate to Kenya and Africa in general? We know that the TCC has strong connections to financial capital and wealthy transnational corporations. It also pushes neo-liberalism, which becomes the taken-for-granted everyday language and culture that justifies state policies that result in a further class polarization between the rich and poor. Using Kenya as a case study, this article draws on original qualitative research involving face-to-face interviews with Kenyan residents in different sectors who spoke freely about what they perceive to be Kenya’s place in the world order. My interview results show that, on top of the general lack of economic power in the world order, the main barriers to Africa’s performance are neo-colonial and imperialist practices, poor technology, poor infrastructure, general governance issues, and purchasing power.

Reflections of the transnational capitalist class on the global health: The case of India

Abstract Objectives This study aims to explore the transformations in the relation of global health and capitalism during the last three decades and its reflections on the nature of power relations between the state, local and transnational capital in the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Methods In this study, the effects of the developments in the international political economy after TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) in the global pharmaceutical sector and in the Indian local sector are examined within the framework of the International Relations discipline. In this sense, a historical review of the Global Patent Regime has been made and a literature review has been conducted on the global pharmaceutical industry, drug patents and post-TRIPS agreements. Qualitative research method is used in the study in which the literature review is evaluated in an empirical and theoretical framework. Key findings The Global Patent Regime has been constructed for the interests of the transnational capitalist hegemon and in this sense has increased inequality in the global health. However, when the changes created by the global economy in the pharmaceutical sector, cooperation between the Southern countries and state policies are analysed, it is seen that a struggle area has been formed. This struggle adds value to global health in terms of access to medicine. Conclusions In transnational capitalism, the emergence of the state in strategic sectors such as the pharmaceutical sector in India indicates a new political and economic power.

Rethinking Globalization and the Transnational Capitalist Class: China, the United States, and Twenty-First Century Imperialist Rivalry

The arrest of Meng Wanzhou and the Huawei prosecution have revealed a mounting battle for high-tech supremacy between the United States and China. The ongoing technology war and the trade war are merely one dimension of a far-reaching and accelerating imperialist rivalry. The changing reality on the world stage has urged a reconsideration of the transnational capitalist class (TCC) thesis and the theory of globalization in general. By reviewing the historical debate between the globalist and critical realist schools, I argue that William Carroll's theoretical frame of global capitalism grounded in corporate network research through emphasizing a dialectical process of the “making” of the TCC is better equipped to explain the unfolding Sino–U. S. conflict. Corporate network research has unveiled a highly regionalized and uneven TCC network: the transnational interlocks of both Chinese and Western corporate directorates are relatively sparse while regional and national ties dominate. It affirms the fragility of the TCC, its internal friction and potential decomposition. It also provides the material ground for analyzing the Sino–U. S. imperialist rivalry as a structural development out of global capitalism and its class relations.

Sprague, Jeb (2019) Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), xiii + 322 pp. $74.50 hbk.

Sprague, Jeb (2019) Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class, Temple University Press (Philadelphia, PA), xiii + 322 pp. $74.50 hbk.

Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class

Globalizing the Caribbean: Political Economy, Social Change, and the Transnational Capitalist Class

Незападные теории развития в эпоху глобального капитализма

Received 31.08.2020. This article is devoted to the evolution of non-Western theories of development in the epoch of global capitalism, i. e. after 1990. It describes in detail what is meant by this concept – models of socio-economic development, alternative to the Western neoliberal paradigm and associated with the modernization of non-Western countries, primarily in the “Global South”. Periodization of these approaches is given in connection with the process of decolonization (early 1960s), the end of the bipolar world, and the strengthening of China (since 2010s). Two main directions of such theories – neo-Marxian tradition, as well as post-colonial and anti-colonial studies – are shown. The author concludes that the “non-Westernness” of post-colonial studies is conditional, while anti-colonial and neo-Marxian studies are very much intertwined. The article shows the role of such organizations as CODESRIA and Third World Network in shaping the intellectual development agenda of the Global South. It traces the evolution of neo-Marxist approaches to development of the poorest countries, which originated in Latin American structuralism, American neo-Marxism, the works of J. Galtung and W. Rodney. By the early 1980s, the world-systemic approach was already dominant, its representatives were relatively capable to explain the collapse of the socialist system, and also made attempts to describe the growing influence of China. Nevertheless, the theory of the transnational capitalist class that emerged in the 1990s and 2000s was more successful from this point of view. The article investigates the phenomenon of an emerging confrontation between China and the United States in the ideological field – for the influence on leftist intellectuals around the world, and shows the main resources of both sides in this conflict. Special attention is paid to Postdevelopmentalism that developed in the 1990–2000s in line with postmodernist approaches; both strengths and weaknesses of this concept are presented. In conclusion, the author summarizes that neo-Marxist approaches play a key role as the major alternative to neoliberal capitalist development in the countries of the “Global South” while national modernization theories are lacking in the non-Western countries. Acknowledgements. The article has been prepared at RUDN University and supported by a grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR). Project no. 19-111-50655 (Expansion) “Non-Western Theories of Development in the Age of Global Capitalism”. The author also expresses his sincere gratitude to P. Bond (University of the Western Cape, South Africa), T.M. Gavristova (YarSU), E.N. Grachikov (RUDN University), Li Yan (CASS, China) and V. G. Shubin (Institute for African Studies, RAS) for their valuable comments.

The clustering in ‘global universities’ of graduates from ‘Elite Traditional International Schools’: a surprising phenomenon?

ABSTRACT Our paper reveals a significant under-reported emergent phenomenon: the graduates of the well-established ‘Elite Traditional International Schools’ worldwide are beginning to cluster in certain universities, in certain ‘global cities’. As one might expect, New York and London are central to this clustering, alongside Boston, Toronto and Vancouver. Surprisingly, these destinations are not the world’s top, elite universities, showing that the forms of class reasoning which we might expect of the ‘Trans-National Capitalist Class’ do not seemingly apply to this model of elite education. We explore the emerging evidence, and discuss its character and implications.