Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism

Description

Rising inequality, the advance of far-right populism, ecological and climatic catastrophe and the scourge of global pandemic disease – these are among the defining crises of our time. Addressing the governing challenges posed by each requires a more expansive vision of the scope and possibilities of state action than political scientists and economists have furnished to date. In Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism political economists Scott G. Nelson and Joel T. Shelton examine several key social and political dynamics of advanced capitalism for insights into the fate of equality, community and solidarity. In chapters addressing divergent problems and spanning several centuries, statecraft is presented as a conceptual lens through which the art and practice of public action is continually rearticulated in response to the shifting economic, social and political conditions of a given epoch. The authors examine several consequential moments in the long tradition of political economy in relation to the governing predicaments of the present day, highlighting those predicaments that bear upon the well-being of all people, especially society’s most vulnerable. The book thus reintroduces the creative and purposive aspects of governing to the study and practice of Political Economy, a field that has been too preoccupied with technical, institutional and procedural aspects of economic management. Framing problems of governing national and global economies in relation to the craft of the state means searching out continuities between capitalism's early promise and present peril. Preface References Acknowledgments Praise for Statecraft and the Political Economy of Capitalism Contents 1 Reintroducing Statecraft References 2 The Ambitions of Government: Statecraft in Historical Perspective On the Origins of Statecraft Order and Legitimacy in Early Modern Statecraft Modern Statecraft and the Emergence of “The Economy” The Post-War Revival of Statecraft Neoliberal Statecraft The Problem of Securitization Reviving Statecraft References 3 The Public Purpose of Political Economy The “Awkward Problem” of Power The Contingencies of Countervailence Political Economy and the Pathologies of Political Life Reconstituting the Public Purpose References 4 National Economic Policy: History, Culture, and Development Economic Statecraft as Knowledge of Particulars The Sources of Productive Power Lessons for Statecraft Toward “A Complete National Life” Developmental Futures Is Globalization to Blame? References 5 The Delicate Order of Liberalism The Pathologies of Economism The Delicate Organization of Liberalism The Decay of the Public Trust Deadlock and the Lure of Fascism Contemporary Perils The Task Ahead References 6 The Transgressive Economy The Accursed Share The Framework of the General Economy Myths of Sovereignty The Lure of Fascism Great Transformations? The Digital Economy Governing in an Age of Excess References 7 Democracy as Statecraft Does Statecraft Have a Future? Modern States, Modern Citizens From Governing to Governance: Wither the Demos? Democratic Potentials, Democratic Perils Statecraft as Citizencraft References 8 Conclusion: An Agenda for Citizenship References Index