The economics of
globalization: towards a new mode of accumulation?
Stéphanie Treillet
I/ Globalization: a historically specific phase of capitalism
A/ Not an entirely new phenomenon: a historical
perspective
1)
Globalization is a permanent part of capitalism
2) Capitalism has gone through
other phases of heightened economic internationalization — and of
financialization
3) We are not seeing a total
deterritorialization of production; in particular, multinational corporations
(MNCs) are not “footloose”.
B/ What is new, compared to earlier
phases of economic internationalization?
1)
Global
organization of production, not just of trade
2)
Tendency
towards formation of a homogeneous global space for valorisation of capital
3)
Total
freedom of action for MNCs, guaranteed by treaties
C/ The four characteristics of globalization
1)
Rise
in trade and investment flows
2)
Globalization
of production
3)
Financiarization,
which includes several dimensions
4)
Relative loss of autonomy of nation-states
D/ An incomplete tendency with internal
contradictions
II/
The mechanisms of globalization
A/ Domination by finance?
1)
Many
Marxist economists speak of financial, or financialized, regimes of
accumulation
2)
Limits
of this approach
3)
The
functions of finance in the accumulation and reproduction of capital
B/ A new global hierarchy of imperialist
powers?
1)
A
renewal of the mechanisms of imperialist domination?
2)
Super-imperialism,
ultra-imperialism or inter-imperialist competition ?
3)
New
and old forms of North-South” relations. The modalities of reproduction of
peripheral capitalism today
C/ Vanishing states?
1)
Relativization
of their role on several levels
2)
The
function of neoliberal policies
3)
New
forms of state economic intervention
III/
Is there a new long wave, that is, a new regime of accumulation for capitalism?
A/ Globalization as a response to the crisis of
capitalism
1)
Forms
of class struggle
2)
The
new rise in profit rates
3)
The
search for new markets for commodities
B/ A new capitalism?
1)
The
illusions of technology
2)
Has
the law of value been repealed?
C/ The preconditions for take-off of a new long
expansive wave and the internal contradictions of a new model
1)
In the
realm of class struggle
2)
In the
realm of inter-imperialist competition
3)
In the
realm of realization of surplus-value
Conclusion: a fundamentally unstable regime of
accumulation