Comparative Political Economy: States, Markets and Global Capitalism

Description

This new textbook provides an authoritative analysis of Comparative Political Economy and how it can help us to understand the global capitalist marketplace in the 21st century in all its variant forms. The author provides broad-ranging empirical examples throughout and relates classical concerns to current international affairs. Cover Contents List of Boxes List of Abbreviations Acknowledgements 1 Introduction: The Focus and Rationale of the Book The aims of the book What is political economy? What is comparative political economy? Comparative political economy and the global dimension The rationale, organization and focus of the book How to use the book 2 Comparative Political Economy: Lineages from Classical Political Economy, Linkages to International Political Economy Introduction Disciplinary politics and classical political economy Why is the history of political economy so important for contemporary comparative political economy? Comparative political economy: the core insights Comparative political economy: linkages to international political economy Conclusion: conceptions of the market, disciplinarity and political economy 3 Capitalism and Classical Political Economy Introduction Classical political economy and capitalism Adam Smith and classical liberal political economy Economic nationalist political economy Marxian political economy Conclusion 4 Disciplinary Politics and the Genealogy of Comparative Political Economy Introduction Disciplinary politics To generalize or not to generalize? The origins of the rift in political economy The debate on method in political economy: the German Historical School The debate on method in political economy: Marx and historical materialism The debate on method in political economy: marginalist political economy The Methodenstreit and comparative political economy Comparative political economy after the Methodenstreit Comparative political economy and debates over the role of the state in the economy: Keynes and Hayek Conclusion 5 Institutional Analysis and Comparative Political Economy Introduction The argument: capitalism, political economy and institutions Institutionalisms, path dependency and comparative capitalisms Individuals and the institutional and social context: determinist temptations The functionalist temptation and institutional complementarity Institutional analysis and political economic change Historical institutionalism revisited: ideational institutionalism Institutionalism and capitalist convergence Conclusion: institutions and capitalism 6 Interest-based Analysis and Comparative Political Economy Introduction Using interests to explain outcomes: Marxism, corporatism, and corporate governance and trade policy coalitions What is 'rational choice'? Public choice theory Reformulated rationalism: rethinking interest-based comparative political economy Conclusion 7 Ideational Analysis and Comparative Political Economy Introduction The power and contingency of economic ideas 'New' political economy: ideas, structure and agency The power of economic ideas and the ideational turn in political economy Constructivist political economy Critical political economy: Robert Cox et al. Tools for comparative political economy analysis: policy paradigms Changing dominant economic orthodoxies: from the 'liberal creed' to 'embedded liberalism' Conclusion 8 The Comparative Political Economy of the State Introduction Conceptualizing the state and state/market relations The comparative political economy of the state State transformation and the politics of economic ideas The empirical assessment: advanced state capacities in a global economy Qualitative assessment: state forms and state transformation The Japanese developmental state Is China a capitalist developmental state? The transformation of state capacity: 'new state activism' and the reinvention of control in the economy Conclusion 9 Comparative Capitalisms Introduction Classical political economy and comparative capitalisms Varieties of Capitalism: interpreting the trajectory of capitalist restructuring How to compare capitalisms: using and abusing ideal types Ideas, embeddedness and institutional change within comparative capitalisms Tracing processes of capitalist change: the changing Japanese political economy Tracing processes of capitalist change: the American political economy Conclusion: interpreting capitalist restructuring – not convergence but hybridization? 10 The Comparative Political Economy of Finance and Corporate Governance Introduction The comparative political economy of stakeholder and shareholder capitalism Building finance capitalism Global capitalism, internationalizing finance and national financial systems The comparative political economy of financialization What's left of national financial systems? Tracing processes of financial change France's changing financial system and corporate capitalism Germany's changing financial system and corporate capitalism Conclusion 11 The Comparative Political Economy of Welfare Introduction Defining and analysing welfare restructuring Welfare capitalism and the politics of retrenchment Classical political economy and the political economy of the welfare state Comparative welfare states, comparative welfare capitalisms Globalization and welfare state retrenchment: a convergent 'race to the bottom'? The compensation thesis Empirical adjudication: 'welfare effort' and welfare spending Empirical adjudication: social rights and welfare state 'recalibration' A new welfare capitalist settlement? Conclusion 12 The Comparative Method and Comparative Political Economy Introduction: disciplinary politics and comparative social science The building blocks of theory: epistemology and ontology The comparative method, political economy and disciplinary politics Comparative political economy and methodological pluralism How to compare: the logic of comparative analysis The logic of comparative research design Conclusion 13 Conclusion Disciplinary politics and classical political economy Methodological pluralism and comparative political economy Comparative political economy: the core insights Recurrent substantive themes for 21st-century comparative political economy Comparative political economy: the road ahead Conclusion Bibliography Index