Legal Validity Qua Specific Mode of Existence

The author investigates how the conception of legal validity as a specific mode of existence, adopted by Kelsen in Allgemeine Theorie der Normen (General Theory of Norms), can be reconciled with a conception of the legal system in which conflicts of legal norms remain of logical concern. To this end he makes use of Ludwig Wittgenstein's picture theory of the proposition as set out in the Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. The conclusion is that in order to reconcile the two conceptions, the legal system itself must be conceived of as consisting of three sub-systems, namely, (i) a sub-system of perceptible legal judgments, (ii) a sub-system of valid legal conditions, and (iii) a sub-system of observable social practices.     

Conflict in a changing world: Looking two decades forward

This article begins by outlining the likely changes in the strategic environment over the next 20 years, first globally than by regions. It goes on to offer some propositions on the nature of future conflict, given the perceived preference in the West for limited, low‐cost interventions. Most recent wars did not begin as inter‐state conflicts, and future ones will follow this trend. The characteristics of intra‐state conflicts are then examined in detail, particularly the effects of asymmetries on policies and perceptions: between states with widely differing capabilities, between states and non‐state actors, and in particular those involving guerrilla and terrorist movements.     

Financial derivatives and the theory of money

Abstract

Financial derivatives are used and counted as money, but it is unclear exactly what sort of money they are. This article explores the monetary role of financial derivatives in securing the global financial system. It finds that derivatives commensurate the values of different forms of financial assets, and, in the process, they facilitate continuity across different forms of money. In this role they are a form of commodity money, but very different from conventional understandings of commodity money. In developing this idea, the paper engages recent debates in Economy and Society about the nature of money. In particular, it takes issue with Ingham's state theory of money, which cannot adequately engage exchange rate volatility and extra-national roles of money, and Lapavitsas’ approach to a Marxist theory of money, which relegates commodity money to a historical abstraction.     

Fundamental value: a category in transformation

Abstract

‘Fundamental value’ is a canonical category in both Marxian and neo-classical economics. In application to finance and financial crisis, it is laden with complexity. For Marxists, it has underscored a focus on the distinctions between production and circulation, real and fictitious capital. These debates have dominated Marxian responses to the financial crisis. In mainstream finance and economics, the term has undergone transformation and historically driven adaptation. Marxian analysis could fruitfully follow this lead. This paper identifies that transformation as an expression of capital's transforming calculation project. As capital becomes more liquid, the concept of fundamental value itself must embrace liquidity, yet, in embracing liquidity, fundamental value loses its established definitive capacity.