Capitalism,Markets and Politics

The term ‘capitalism’ is no longer a relevant way in which to describe or to understand a modern economy. Ownership of capital is not the source of economic power that it once was. Business leaders of today do not own the factories and the machines, nor do they need to. Let us consider instead, markets. Not the markets for financial products that we see depicted on rows of flickering screens in Canary Wharf, but real markets. Market economies have proved to be chaotic, and imperfect and yet they are the most successful way we know to allocate goods and services. Through a process of experimentation, much failure and some success they evolve. Their development is necessarily uncertain, but that is also their greatest strength.     

David Eden,Autonomy: Capitalism,Class and Politics

The urban street is a significant canvas within the material cartography of the nation-state's spatial frontier. Between March and May of 2010, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, also known as the “Red Shirts,” painted Bangkok red as one of the most cohesive assemblage of street protests in Thai political history. Each protestor donated ten cubic centimeters of blood to be poured at several sites, including the Government House of Thailand, the ruling Democrat Party headquarters, and the Prime Minister's residence. Other vials were used to paint murals along the walls of the Old City. The intensified aesthetic presence of Thailand's rural voting majority challenged a historic marginality in the Thai polity, and was one of many semiotic tactics that foreshadowed the violence of the eventual military intervention under the name “Operation Reclaim Space.” The city itself was projected as a wounded body, while the Red Shirts—as Thongchai Winichakul [“The ‘Germs’: The Reds' Infection of the Thai Political Body,” New Mandala, May 3, 2010, available online at < http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2010/05/03/thongchai-winichakul-on-the-red-germs/#more-9382>] so observed at the time—were heavily objectified as germs invading the sanitary walls of the city. This approach to protest in Bangkok treats the development of the contemporary polis as an urban physiology, simultaneously driven by an intensification of presence and the “good health” prerogatives of acceptable citizenship in the global city.     

The Political Frame for Negotiated Capitalism: Electoral Reform and the Politics of Crisis in Japan and Sweden

This article examines the impact of political institutions on the strength of executive governments as well as the consequences of that strength for policymaking. It argues that both political changes and electoral reforms in Japan and Sweden have weakened the political frame for “negotiated” or “coordinated” decision making in these nations. In Sweden, however, the complete demolition of the old political frame has opened up opportunities and incentives for new modes of governance. In Japan, by contrast, reforms have buttressed rather than dismantled the old frame, impeding the transition to a new approach.     

Understanding America's Hesitant Steps Toward Financial Capitalism: Politics, the Depression, and the Separation of Commercial and Investment Banking

Few would disagree that the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 is thecontinental divide in American financial and banking history. Bydisallowing banks from getting involved in the investment bankingindustry, this Act imposed an institutional change that shaped howfinancial institutions conduct their business, even today in itsdecline. Conventional wisdom has it that the Act was enacted tocorrect the ``deficient'' financial system that existed during theperiod. In this paper we investigate whether this assertion can beempirically verified by analyzing the Senate vote on a predecessorof this Act (which included the clause separating commercialbanking from investment banking activities). Using multinomiallogits, we examine what may have motivated senators to vote for itspassage. The econometric evidence indicates that the Senate votewas significantly influenced by important interest groups(including national banks as well as manufacturing sectorinterests), despite the large populist outcry for financial marketreforms at the onset of the Depression.     

Tradition and Change: Four People A Response to the Politics of Paradox

Helen Goodman, the Member of Parliament for Bishop Auckland has responded to the Blue Labour Publication The Politics of Paradox, with Tradition and Change: Four People. Blue Labour's thesis is that a return to the ideas and practices prevalent at the foundation of the Labour Party—solidarity and reciprocity, can form the basis of significant social change. Helen views the thesis from the perspective of two communities—first the hill farmers of Teesdale, a paradigmatic community whose rights and way of life on the Commons have existed for over 600 years. Then she looks at the Durham Miners’ Gala and the needs of the former coalfields. Helen argues that in both cases, only government can take the national and international action they need. Secondly she looks at the stories of a mother and a priest. The importance of the welfare state in providing security and opportunities becomes clear. Helen confronts Blue Labour's criticism of women's independence and prays in aid the Archbishop of Canterbury on the need for a feminist analysis. She accuses Blue Labour of ‘drum and trumpet jingoism’.     

Observations on Capitalism and Government–Society Relations: A Retrospective on Schumpeter’s Capitalism,Socialism, and Democracy

Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York: Harper & Row, 1950). 431 pp.