Abstract
We may be witnessing the emergence of a new ‘state capitalist’ normal, a term this Forum proposes to problematise in its geopolitical dimensions. The growing prevalence of state-sponsored entities (encompassing state enterprises, policy banks, and sovereign wealth funds) as leading vehicles of economic activity is a defining feature of our times. This reassertion of state authority is altering configurations of state and corporate power across the world economy while generating a multiplicity of geopolitical tensions. This Forum reflects upon what it means, theoretically, methodologically, and politically, to articulate a geopolitics of contemporary state capitalism. It brings together interventions which draw on various theoretical approaches, including critical political geography, historical materialism, geographical political economy, and power structure research, in order to probe into the multiple spatialities at the core of contemporary state capitalism. The contributions aim to destabilise the assumptions and taken-for-granted ideas which have largely framed the debate thus far, including problematic binaries such as liberal/illiberal, state/market, commercial/geopolitical logics, and realist narratives of interstate power-maximising behaviour. Studying the (geo)political re-organisation of global capitalism requires moving beyond the castigation of a ‘rogue’ state capitalism as well as narratives of a clash between rival political-economic models, and disassembling the category state capitalism.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 995-1023 |
Number of pages | 29 |
Journal | Geopolitics |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | 3 |
Early online date | 29 Jul 2021 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Funding
This work was supported by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement n° 758430). Thanks are due to the Geopolitics Forum editor Chenchen Zhang and an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments and constructive feedback.
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
Horizon 2020 Framework Programme | 758430 |
European Research Council |