Transnational Capitalism Or Collective

lmperialism7
Is transnatona captasm n the process of emergng?
March 26, 2011
By Samir Amin
Source: Pambazuka
Over the ast 30 years the concept of the gobasaton of captasm has been the focus of great
debate. For those, ke Waersten, Arrgh, Franck and me, who have ong argued that hstorca
captasm has aways been gobased, at each stage of ts deveopment the soe queston to ask s
whether the atest stage of gobasaton presents us wth mportant new characterstcs that
consttute a quatatve change n the nature of captasm.
A resoundng yes can be heard from the ma|orty of economsts and conventona potca
scentsts, for whom the reevance of the naton-state, whch woud have charactersed the hstorca
captasm of the past, s graduay beng dmnshed by the rapd deveopment of
transnatonasaton. For them, the connotatons of the atest stage of gobasaton scarcey
warrant carcaton, as they are somewhat obvous.
Far more nterestng are the responses of those economsts who are crtca of captasm. They too
gve a postve response to the queston. However, by basng ther arguments on fact they manage
to steer away from detaed concusons regardng the nature of the transformaton of captasm.
To my knowedge, snce 1970 Stephen Hymer s the rst person to have formuated ths postve
response (to a queston whch was far ess frequenty asked at that tme) by statng that an
nternatonast captast cass s emergng whose nterests e n the word economy (Wam K.
Carro, The Makng of a Transnatona Captast Cass?, Zed, 2010, p. 2).
Kees Van Der P| (The Makng of an Atantc Rung Cass, 1984) has aways ntegrated hs anayss
of transformatons wthn the goba economc system wth those of the wder goba potca
economy, puttng a of hs emphass on the potca dmenson, as shoud be expected. He was
amongst the rst to have procamed (and rghty so, n my opnon) that the European pro|ect was
actuay born n Washngton; European uncaton was a product of US nterventon (Carro, 2010,
p. 155).
However, more recent steps towards acknowedgng the emergence of an Atantc transnatona
captasm that comprses the Unted States and north-west Europe have been proposed by Lese
Skar (The Transnatona Captast Cass, Backwe, 2001), W.I. Robnson (A Theory of Goba
Captasm, |ohn Hopkns, Batmore, 2004) and Wam K. Carro (2010).
Robnson has gone the furthest n terms of denng the quatatve transformaton of captasm by
denng the new bourgeose as the group that owns eadng wordwde means of producton
(Carro, 2010, p. 3).
Lese Skar denes the new transnatona captasm by combnng the dherent dmensons of hs
Lese Skar denes the new transnatona captasm by combnng the dherent dmensons of hs
atest nvestgaton nto one reaty. The goba eadng cass s therefore made up of the foowng:
corporate executves; market ma|orty-hoders and the potcans at ther dsposa (gobazng
bureaucrats and potcans); the technocrats aso at ther dsposa (gobasng professonas); and
even the most prveged casses who benet from gobasaton (consumerst etes). The exstence
of such an assocaton, for Skar, s hardy worth mentonng. Yet, can we assume that ths
consttutes a snge goba cass? Or s t a group of assocated casses that deneate a gobay
domnant hstorc boc ( a Gramsc)? Or coud t be a group of casses (of dherng natonates
amongst other thngs) who are conscous of ther shared nterests yet are st n competton wth
each other? The atter response s that of P| and t s a vew that I share, the reasons for whch I w
come to ater.
The most recent work on the queston of the gobasaton of captasm, that of Wam Carro
(2010), s an emprca study of ttanc proportons. Carro has created an ndcator for measurng
the nterpenetraton of capta at both natona and transnatona eves, n Europe, the North Atantc
and wordwde. Ths ndcator s made up of the number of rms whose drectorates are sub|ect to
cross-representaton. Carro has therefore recorded each of the nstances of exchanged
representaton for the group of 100, or n ths case the 500 argest corporatons n the word. The
end product of Carros nvestgaton s a system of rankng whch ascertans to what degree the
nterpenetraton of capta occurs; ths pece of work s, to my knowedge, unparaeed n ts precson
and magncent ustratons; hs seres of graphs (whch turn back wth hgher eves of
nterpenetraton and grey or even whte when nterpenetraton s ess frequent) make for an
enghtenng set of resuts.
I dont take ssue wth the more mmedate concusons that Carro reaches n ths nvestgaton, but
I w return ater to hs ess mmedate concusons of whch I am not convnced.
Carros mmedate concusons are as foows:
() Transnatona nterpenetraton has not dmnshed the strength of natona systems; the
transnatonasaton of the corporate network has not fragmented natona corporate networks (p.
24), or a transnatona network s a knd of superstructure that rests upon rather resent natona
bases (p. 34).
() Lnks between corporatons are strengthened, wth ths ntay takng pace at the natona eve
(even n Europe). Germany has the most we-ntegrated natona system n comparson wth other
European countres; foowng that s north-western Europe (Germany, France, the Netherands,
Swtzerand, Sweden and Great Brtan, who atogether occupy a snge poston wthn ths network of
nks); and nay the Atantc (made up of Europe as set out above, and the Unted States and
Canada). In contrast however, Sno-European and Sno-Amercan nks are somewhat stunted. Worse
st are the nks between the centra Atantc on one sde and the rest of the word on the other sde
(ncudng deveopng countres, Chna and others).
() The European network excudes practcay the whoe of eastern Europe and the Bakans; and s
entrey centred upon the advanced captast countres of occdenta Europe.
(v) The European and Atantc ntegrated networks are prncpay made up of commerca and
ndustra corporatons, wth bankng corporatons featurng very margnay. The banks are strongy
nked to certan areas wthn the natona system of producton, but are not nked to each other
drecty. As such, banks reman broady natona n comparson wth other corporatons; they are
not generay consdered as European or Atantc enttes.
(v) Western European ntegraton (not smpy European, as eastern and southern European
countres are typcay excuded) s we ahead n comparson wth other modes of transnatona
ntegraton.
From hs observatons, Carro arrves at two ma|or concusons:
() The western European constructon s fuy workng. I w return to ths pont, whch has been
formuated far too hasty n my opnon, and rsks nstng an erroneous perspectve on the
formuated far too hasty n my opnon, and rsks nstng an erroneous perspectve on the
stuaton.
() Natona foundatons are st mportant. Carro ustrates hs concuson usng the foowng
ponts: the noton that the ete s becomng dsemboded from natona moorngs and repostoned
n a supra natona space underestmates the persstence of natona and regona attachments (p.
129).
I fee that the term underestmates s n tsef too ambguous to accuratey reect the reaty of the
connecton between the natona and the transnatona n both occdenta Europe and n the Atantc.
NATIONAL CAPITALISMS AND COLLECTIVE IMPERIALISM
Captasm cannot smpy be measured by cacuatng the number of captast companes n
exstence. Conventona economcs paces emphass on the functons of markets whe abandonng
the goba potca economy, and n dong so, systematcay dstorts reaty, ony provdng a
mseadng pcture that s utmatey ncorrect.
Captasm s an hstorc and a soca reaty (and not ony economc) that ought to be studed by
examnng a coecton of captast socetes (rather than a coecton of captast economes, and
especay not a coecton of captast rms). I beeve that captast socetes are natona socetes
and of ths I am very nsstent. They aways have been and they aways w be, n spte of
transnatonasaton, whch as t happens has aways accompaned the goba dstrbuton of
domnant natona actors.
When anaysng these natona captasms, today, as n the past, the emphass wthn research
shoud not negect to examne the reates presented to us by captast corporatons. However, the
research must go much deeper than that and examne: () the nature of soca formatons; () how
the bourgeose (the domnant captast cass) corresponds wth these soca formatons; and () the
roe of the state responsbe for organsng the potca set-up of these soca formatons.
I have aways camed - and I stand by ths poston - that the soca formatons of centra captasm
create autocentrc and ntegrated producton systems, even f they are bera, or even aggressvey
bera. The concept of an autocentrc system s n tsef rather compex and nks together severa
dherent eements: () varous techncay nterdependent sectons (shown on nput-output tabes);
() methods for managng the conctng reatonshp between capta and abour; () reports nkng
the domnant monopoes to other sectors wthn the producton of capta (snce the end of the 20th
century), or ntegrated wthn captasm; (v) methods for managng money as a means for puttng
overa capta nterests before the conctng nterests of the ndvdua captast; and (v) the nature
of (aggressve) berasaton and the methods for managng the asymmetrc transnatonasaton
whch accompanes t.
Ceary ths type of hostc anayss - specc to the potca economy (I prefer to say specc to
hstorca materasm) - does not gve us a one-sze-ts-a expanaton. We must further anayse
hstory and any transformatona deveopments from one stage to the next.
From ths pont of vew the ndcator chosen by Carro to represent the exchanged representatons
between boards of drectors s ncapabe of provdng answers for any of the questons f t s taken
aone. It does not aow us to say that emergng transnatona captasm repaces natona
captasm - or that t submts to ts ogc - nor does t permt us to beeve the contrary - that
natona captasm s determned by the conguraton of transnatonasaton. It doesnt expan
whether a transnatona captast cass s emergng or not.
There can be no queston here of deveopng the emprca arguments (the emphass beng on
emprca) that we woud need to coate and anayse n order to advance wth answerng the sx
questons put forward |ust now. A great dea of what I have wrtten over the course of the ast 50
years has gone towards my modest contrbuton to respondng to these questons. However, ths
type of contrbuton s sady becomng more and more rare, the repercussons of pacng the
markets at the centre of our focus beng fata for a reast anayss and crtque of captasm.
Skar s aware of the mpossbty of drawng a concuson on the emergence of a post-natona
captasm. He wrtes, we shoud speak of a transnatona captast cass ony f there are structura
condtons that reproduces a transnatona corporate communty ndependent of ts natona home
base (Carro, p. 19). And yet these structura condtons are far from beng reunted,
notwthstandng transnatonasaton, whch has had the wnd n ts sas for 30 years.
In 1993, UNCTAD (Unted Natons Conference on Trade and Deveopment) proposed methods for
measurng ths transnatonasaton by creatng the smpe and practcay sef-expanatory
transnatonaty ndex (TNI). Ths ndex nks together three reated eements: the number of foregn
workers contrbutng to a rms tota workers; the tota number of exports n comparson to a rms
overa trade; and the amount of work that s sub-contracted externay compared wth the tota
amount of work avaabe. Between 1996 and 2006 the TNI rses vsby (cted by Carro, bd, p. 91).
Yet s ths rse smpy a con|ectura change or does t reect a decsve and rreversbe
transformaton? And f the atter s ndeed the case, s transnatonasaton strengthenng tsef? Or s
t actuay servng to strengthen the domnant natona captasms that t s shaped by?
Unsurprsngy, smpy measurng transnatonasaton aone cannot provde an adequate answer to
these questons.
Beyond the narrow concusons we can draw from Carros recordngs of the cross-representaton
between boards of drectors, he does make mportant observatons:
() The economes of the goba South, ncudng emergng countres (even the most successfu
among them, Chna) have been margnased thanks to the ntensfyng transnatona
nterdependence of the goba North. Carro goes so far as to say, the network seemed to present
one facet of a coectve mperasm, organsed to hep manage goba captasm (bd, p. 55). I note
here the return to my thess concernng the emergence of coectve mperasm, a term more
approprate n my opnon, than the extremey vague gobasaton.
() Transnatonasaton ony truy hods the nterest of the economes wthn the North Atantc (US,
occdenta Europe), whereas |apan seems ony to partcpate very margnay n ths process.
The rst of these observatons provokes debate as to what I perceve the coectve mperasm of
the trad (US, western Europe and |apan) to be.
Gobasaton s an napproprate term. Its popuarty s commensurate wth the voence of
deoogca aggresson that has prohbted henceforth the utterance of mperasm. For me, the
depoyment of true hstorca captasm has aways been gobased and has aways been poarsed
and to ths end, mperast. Thus, coectve mperasm s smpy an od and endurng phenomenon
n a new guse.
Ths new form of mperasm s ceary but upon ob|ectve foundatons and ts character s
determned by the strong transnatonasaton of the eadng corporatons. It mpes a rayng
towards a common potca pro|ect: workng together to manage the downtrodden word (goba
South), and to ths end, pacng t safey n the hands of the word mtary, or the US armed forces
and ther subatern aes wthn the trad (NATO, |apan). Yet ths new demand does not wpe out the
natona character of the captast components wthn the trad. It does reduce the contradctons
and concts but t does not wpe them out competey. Carro outnes the uncertantes assocated
wth the permanence of these concts. He wrtes, the wave of the nternatona mergers dd not
ead to stabe transnatona rms (bd, p. 18).
The anayss of potca convergences wthn the trad and the concts that accompanes them are
outsde Carros ed of vson. I have paced t back at the centre of my anayss of the current ong
and systematc crss of wdespread monopoy captasms (I refer here to my book entted Endng
the Crss of Captasm or Endng Captasm?, 2010).
The natona partners wthn the trad (and I am nsstent on ths pont, even n eastern Europe) are
qute ceary unequa.
Debates surroundng hegemony - n the Gramscan sense - and partcuary the decnng hegemon
Debates surroundng hegemony - n the Gramscan sense - and partcuary the decnng hegemon
that s the Unted States, are mportant here. Carros anayss cannot smpy be constraned to
ookng at compettve nequates of the producton systems n concern (Unted States, Great
Brtan, Germany, |apan and France etc). It must ncude potca, deoogca and mtary dmensons
as we.
Debates regardng the spread of nancasaton and ts ehects are equay mportant. Agan I refer
the reader to my work on The Crss. Fnancasaton s n my estmaton not a product of error, nor
s t the product of rambngs; t demonstrates how wdespread monopoes must manage capta
durng the crss. Nevertheess, ths nancasaton does conct wth the requrements for nance-
management at the natona eve (even n Europe wth the euro, as I w expan ater on). Carros
observaton that banks are far ess transnatona than producton companes s testament to ths
contradcton, remndng us of the autonomy of natona systems despte the ow of
transnatonasaton.
Nevertheess, transnatonasaton ceary weakens the coherence of the natona producton
systems concerned, even those of the most powerfu partners. Yet t does not substtute the
emergence of a coherent transnatona producton system (not even a trans-European one) to
whch natona systems are forced to submt themseves to. To ths end, the goba system s
nstabe and w become ncreasngy so, as remarked n passng by Carro.
|apans poston wthn the trad seems somewhat margna f we are to beeve Carros deductons. I
thnk that there s an error of |udgment here and that Carros choce of ndcator (the cross
exchanges between boards of drectors) dstorts reaty. |apanese captasm has aways been
transparent and ts man concern, and t s we known, s to reman ts own master, even f more for
show than anythng ese. Despte ths, n other ways (ncudng of course, potca and mtary pans),
|apans membershp n the trad of coectve mperasm s n no doubt, n my mnd.
Generay the fronters of ths trad seem to me to be ceary demarcated. I w return ater to the
boundares wthn Europe. But what of Canada or Austraa? These two natona captasms are - for
reasons I am unabe to deveop upon here - what I woud abe exteror provnces of the Unted
States. |apan s n a smar poston n ts own way, but Mexco, to whch I w return ater, s not.
Due to the reasons ad out above, ma|or conct wthn the goba system s dvsve and n the
foreseeabe future t w nevtaby contnue to dvde the North (the mperast trad) and the
South (n partcuar Chna and other emergng countres).
ONE EUROPE OR MANY EUROPES; UNDER CONSTRUCTION OR DECONSTRUCTION?
Add together Europes entre workng-cass popuaton and ts entre GDP (gross domestc product)
and you w see that t s the most powerfu economy n the word. We are tod that even f the
European pro|ect were thought up n Washngton at the begnnng, t was soon to become a workng
reaty, aowng Europe to be on equa footng wth the Unted States and to assert tsef as havng
the gravtatona pu wthn the word system.
Ths argument s not ogca, smpy because the naton-states assocated wth the European Unon
(EU) contnue to be founded on natona captasms whch when put together are more compettve
than they are compementary, or at east, are ony compementary n unequa terms; that s to say,
ony f the weakest payers submt to whatever s dctated by the strongest payer. The EU s not
therefore a stabe ensembe ke that of the Unted States, who, n spte of ts federa consttuton s
one naton and one state.
The European Consttuton does not aow the EU to go beyond ts current set-up; t s not possbe to
move towards a confedera and mutnatona European state. Ths set-up has done nothng more
than ratfy the desderata of the natona captast monopoes. Apedoor was rght n 2002 when he
sad that the European Round Tabe of Industrasts had practcay drafted the consttuton wthout
consutng any eected bodes (Carro, bd, p. 155).
And yet the strateges empoyed by European monopoy-hoders ean on a consensus wth ony one
ob|ectve: to make t mpossbe for the eected authortes to queston the excusve domnaton of
ob|ectve: to make t mpossbe for the eected authortes to queston the excusve domnaton of
sad monopoy-hoders (as Gscard dEstang confessed to make socasm an ega ob|ectve). The
consensus thereby hats the progresson towards a transnatona state, f t were possbe, despte
the dversty of natona European bodes.
The euro crss has shattered ths reaty and brought to ght the rreguartes that characterse the
European constructon. Amongst the reasons I gave for the mpossbe management of the euro, I
emphassed Germanys ob|ectve to domnate Europe. |ust as our Greek frends I mentoned n my
anayss may reca, Germanys ob|ectve s to acheve through economc means what they faed to
acheve twce through mtary conquests: a German Europe.
EUROPE IS STILL CON|UGATED IN THE PLURAL
The rst Europe conssts of the hstorc core of the most powerfu natona captasms (Germany,
France and Great Brtan, to whch we can add the more modest states that are no ess advanced
such as the Netherands, Begum, Swtzerand and Sweden), and despte appearances t s st
sub|ect to potentay voent concts. The parng of France and Germany ony works as ong as the
weaker of the two - France - agns tsef wth the nterests of the stronger of the two - Germany. Ths
s the case whst Sarkozy s n power; however, n future ths may change. Great Brtan stands
aone, seekng to baance tsef between satsfyng ts new European nterests and satsfyng ts
North Atantc preferences.
The second Europe conssts of the more frage natona captasms such as Itay, Span and
possby even some others (Ireand, Portuga and Greece). Ths Europe does not have a say n
anythng. It s obged to conform to the decsons made by the more powerfu, by Germany above
a.
The thrd Europe - the ex-Centra and Eastern Europe Countres (CEE) - consttute the domnated
perphery. Its reatonshp wth the rst Europe, partcuary wth Germany, s smar n nature to that
of Latn Amerca and the Unted States. Eastern Europe and the Bakans serve as the ed of
expanson for the domnaton of the monopoy-hoders comng from the ma|or European powers; t
s nothng more than ths, even f there s the strong uson that that ther peopes are n the
process of catchng-up through European ntegraton.
A parae between the ex-CEE countres and Mexco s drawn here. By adherng to the NAFTA (North
Amercan Free Trade Agreement) Mexco has renounced ts ndependence. In spte of appearances -
good GDP growth, athough ths s hghy debatabe - Mexco s not en route to a course of
deveopment that woud permt t to cmb the adder n order to eave behnd ts sem-perphera
poston: hstory shows that the surrenderng of the Mexcan naton w be dmcut to overcome, as
w the stuatons of Eastern European natons. A dsaster smar to that whch cost Mexco haf ts
terrtory after t was annexed by the Unted States n the 19th century coud be repeated n the form
of the annexaton of Lower Caforna and North Mexco, sub|ectng them to the same condtons
faced by ther southern neghbours n Centra Amerca, Guatemaa and others.
Europe s therefore not under constructon, as unfortunatey Carro and others are so quck to
concude, basng ther |udgments on frage and mted crtera reatng to the nterdependence of
the short-term nterests of European monopoes. The ongong crss w most key, n my opnon,
nform the deconstructon of Europe. In the nstance that Germany fas to mpose ts pro|ect of a
German Europe, Bern coud take the ntatve to eave the euro and to wthdraw to a zone n whch
the mark can be ncorporated - the Netherands, Scandnava, eastern Europe and the Bakans
(more or ess foowed by Itay and Span) - wthout worryng too much about compromsng wth
France and Great Brtan. Coud ths be a return to the Europe of the 1930s?
FACED WITH THIS CHALLENGE, ARE THE PEOPLES RESPONSES EFFECTIVE? UNDER WHICH
CONDITIONS?
The peope, those from the centres (the trad) and those from the perpheres (emergng or not) are
not confronted by the chaenge of gobasaton but by the spread of the coectve mperasm of
the powers (pura) of the trad. Proper anayss of ths chaenge requres us to go upstream of
gobasaton n order to examne the ma|or transformatons of captasm that contro t.
gobasaton n order to examne the ma|or transformatons of captasm that contro t.
Here I ntend to descrbe these transformatons by connectng the varous aspects of ther exstence
nto what I have abeed wdespread monopoy captasm. What I mean by ths s a new stage of
the captasm of the monopoy-hoders whch s charactersed by the submsson of the set of
natona producton systems that s concerned wth the domnaton of these monopoes, whch, by
the way, suck up much of the surpus vaue produced n the domnant sectors. I refer the reader to
my book on The Crss agan. Ths vrtuay compete (and new) domnaton has nspred wthn me
the dea of movng towards the domnaton of abstract capta, based on the dspossesson of the
hstorca bourgeoses for ther own good. The expresson for t s nancasaton.
In hs work on the emergence of a transnatona bourgeose (transatantc n fact), Carro does not
rey soey on the argument (whch s both mted and frage n my opnon) regardng the
exchanged representatons between varous boards of drectors; he strengthens hs argument by
hghghtng the nsttutonased potca nstruments that ths newy formng cass have gven
themseves. Hs anayses of the functons carred out by nne of these nsttutons are worth
recang:
() Whe the Internatona Chamber of Commerce was founded n 1919, ts roe has become new and
consderaby more decsve snce the recent creaton of the Word Trade Organsaton (WTO).
() The Bderberg Conference n 1952 (Socety of Mount Pern), ed by Hayek -; the mentor of
berasm wthout borders or boundares - managed to popuarse dscourse on neoberasm
amongst potcans, meda heavyweghts and the hgh-grade mtares of the countres wthn the
trad. The Tratera Commsson, estabshed n 1973, gave the dscourse a quas-omca tone, to
whch governments and ma|or potca partes n the trad - from the rght and the eft - have |oned.
The Word Economc Forum (Davos) then took over by contnung to promote the dscourse from
1982 onwards.
() More recenty the Word Busness Counc for Sustanabe Deveopment, created n 1995, amed
to dress n green the strateges for expanson of captast monopoes n order to ray together
hgh-rdng envronmenta opnons.
(v) On the European eve, from 1984 the European Round Tabe of Industrasts took on an
mportant roe, becomng the ma|or source of nuence for decsons made n Brusses concernng
the European Unon.
(v) Parae to ths, n 1995 the partners of the trad put n pace two nstruments to factate ther
ong-term daogues; the Transatantc Busness Daogue and the European Unon/|apan Round
Tabe; meanwhe n 2006, NAFTA estabshed the North Amercan Compettveness Counc.
Athough the dscourses deveoped wthn such nsttutons are we known and bana to the extreme
- smpy rather conservatve - t s necessary to voce them and to repeat them because these
thnk tanks benet from an honourabe reputaton n terms of brngng nto ther fods those who
know best how to tacke certan ssues. The Ctzen - Spectator base today s argey convnced that
no one can understand the economc probems better than the entrepreneurs. We have forgotten
that the soe concern of these entrepreneurs s to ensure that ther prots are maxmsed as far as
possbe; unempoyment, for exampe, s not ther probem. As such, economc ssues are beng
studed through a dstorted ens.
From these observatons, Carro draws a too easy the concuson that there s an emergng
transatantc bourgeose. I w not say much more about ths, except that the convergence of
representaton styes s not sumcent evdence of the above. The European roya courts of the 17th,
18th and 19th centures were equay popuated by characters that shared the same ways of
thnkng, and ths dd not precude any conct. Today, n the same ven, I cam that the bourgeose
of the trad share the same way of thnkng, yet ths does not mean that they are any ess natona
- even n Europe. Moreover, they are smpy aware that t s necessary for them to put on a unted
front n the face of ther common enemy - the Chnese-ed South. Therefore, they consttute the
foundatons of what I have abeed the coectve mperasm of the Trad.
Are we soon to wtness the deepenng crss addng to the deveopment of conctng nterests
between the coectve mperasms natona partners? It seems that ths w key be the case. It w
put to queston the aready-damaged forms of gobasaton that currenty exst.
However, faced wth ths new chaenge, Carros proposed new counter-strateges seem to me to be
nadequate. The reason for ths s due to the fact that Carro s st caught up n the gobasaton
bubbe; he beeves t s possbe to bud a better gobasaton than that whch exsts aready and
does not see that pror to ths what actuay needs to be addressed s ts deconstructon, n order to
reconstruct t ater on, on other possbe foundatons.
Faced wth the nsttutons created by the transnatona bourgeose, Carro proposes a counter-
strategy, n whch four promsng new nsttutons emerge. These are: () the Internatona Trade
Unon Confederaton (ITUC); () the Transnatona Insttute Amsterdam, tsef a branch of the
Insttute for Pocy Studes based n Washngton; () Frends of the Earth Internatona (FoEI); and (v)
the Word Soca Forum (WSF), whch was rst hed n Porto Aegre n 2001.
Beyond the dherng nuances and concerns specc to each of these nsttutons, a snge common
denomnator unes them as a coherent group. Frst, these nsttutons are argey reformst,
sometmes to the extreme, ke the ITUC, who no onger even defends the od-stye soca
democratc programmes - a compromse between capta and abour worthy of the name - and s
satsed wth mnor proposas amed at aevatng the consequences of the most dramatc soca
and potca monopoes. The FoEI s not nterested n examnng the fundamenta reatonshp
between captast ogc and ecoogca dsaster and as such s abe to act as a vabe nterocutor for
the Word Busness Counc for Sustanabe Deveopment (WBCSD). The WSF charter forbds the
research of credbe aternatve poces and s satsed wth smpy recordng the spontaneous
soceta changes that are produced by the resstance.
In a reentess crtca anayss of the practces of a number of nsttutons abeed as, among other
thngs, ant-systemc or non-prot, Mche Chossudovsky descrbes the nconsstences
demonstrated by these manufactured nsttutons; he cams that they are n fact destned to serve
the system and that they aso generousy nance these sef-descrbed ant-systemc nance
programmes (Manufacturng Dssent, webste Chossudovsky, 2010).
Wthout necessary gong as far as Chossudovsky, I woud say that the genera strategy empoyed
by these nsttutons - and others of a smar nature - s based on the search for a new consensus
abe to ehectuate another gobasaton - better than that whch has been shaped by the ete. Ths
strategy s, n my opnon, condemned to faure, because t gnores the essons of hstory. I have
ponted out that the rst ong and systemc crss of the captasm of the ete ony found ts
souton after 30 years of wars and revoutons. It was these power strugges, both soca and newy
nternatona, that gave rse to es trente goreuses (1945-75). Accordng to my anayss, t was
durng ths perod that three fames of deveopment modes (arsng from the compromse
between soca democracy, Sovetsm and popuar natona deveopment) comfortaby coexsted
wth a parae purcentrc gobasaton.
There s absoutey no reason to thnk thngs w be any dherent n the future. We must queston the
constructon of gobasaton and deconstruct t before another gobasaton becomes possbe.
Ths s true for gobasaton today (that s to say, the goba domnaton of the coectve mperast
trad); ts true for Europe.
Aternatve strateges can ony be ehectve f they are radca. In other words, both by workng on the
deconstructon of the exstng system and by ntatng progress towards budng an aternatve
system whch, n my opnon, shoud be socast-drven, n the sense that t must conscousy shake
tsef free from the shackes of captast ogc.
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* Samr Amn s the drector of the Thrd Word Forum n Dakar, Senega.
* Transated from the French by Mar Lockwood.
From: Z Net - The Sprt Of Resstance Lves
URL:
http://www.zcommuncatons.org/transnatona-captasm-or-coectve-mperasm-by-samr-
amn