tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post3800331417862647986..comments2024-03-17T00:10:44.022+00:00Comments on From Arse To Elbow: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Westphalians!David Timoneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-50942134553349763382015-01-04T16:54:15.162+00:002015-01-04T16:54:15.162+00:00The legitimacy of the state is much more secure th...The legitimacy of the state is much more secure than it was 40 years ago, and this has largely been an 'achievement' of Actually Existing Neoliberalism, rather than many of the ideologues who over-emphasise the novelty of globalisation. <br />In the early 1970s the state was losing its ability to rule in the interests of the elites due to a combination of reasons. The 'fiscal crisis' described by O'Connor was one, with the state struggling to finance obligations it had assumed with regard to a range of functions, but there was also a sense among sections of the population that technocratic planning over society had gone too far. The politics of the Right might have talked the language of 'laissez-faire' and reducing state dependence, but they concentrated mainly on reducing the 'burden' that social democracy had placed on the state and shifting responsibility on to local authorities and certain sections of civil society (trade unions) for any problems. They actively sought to increase dependence on business and the market. This strategy has worked perfectly, and the state has been enabled to govern more 'efficiently' while providing a steady source of income for less productive parts of the private sector. This provides one of the main reasons why political discourse is so ridiculous at present, focusing on immigration and identity issues, comedy politicians and the scapegoating of the poor.Igor Belanovnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-91887996522479209512015-01-04T12:46:04.245+00:002015-01-04T12:46:04.245+00:00I never recognised any delusion that 2008 would br...I never recognised any delusion that 2008 would break the neo liberal order, especially given that austerity so quickly followed as the agreed remedy, after the massive bailouts obviously. Clearly neo liberalism has been strengthened, and I can’t see anything reversing that trend, including a victory for Syriza.<br /><br />“Shutt believes we must "confront the reality that the world order based on the primacy of private profit has been rendered obsolete by technological change””<br /><br />I think this is part fantasy/part wishful thinking. If anything the internet re-enforces and deepens the consumer mentality, to the point that it seems almost impossible to break it without some major calamity. If Shutt means by this some objective and technical factors then I think it a great mistake to exclude from these factors the level of consciousness of the masses (the singular most important factor!).<br /><br />“But this can lead to determinist absurdity - just as Middle East policy is often reduced to "oil"”<br /><br />This is not a determinist absurdity but a very very reasonable and very necessary abstraction. Those who don’t think Oil can be highlighted among all the other factors are the ones who are absurd.<br /><br />“But because modern capitalism is increasingly globalised - in the statelessness of capital as much as the internationalisation of goods and services - more and more of its contradictions and stresses will be reflected through the medium of the state”<br /><br />Is capital more free now than in the days of colonialism? I am not sure. I think it could be argued that capital is more constrained now than at any point.<br /><br />None of the above is meant to mean that:<br /><br /> • Technological change doesn’t have any qualitative affect on how capitalism operates, clearly the greater the automation of labour processes the greater the barriers to exchange value.<br /><br /> • That neo liberalism will get a free ride, clearly conflict can never go away under a capitalist system, and to some extent all bets are off.<br /><br /> • That globalisation is not a reality. Clearly as capitalism encroaches on more and more of the world, more of the classic contradictions of capitalism will come to the fore. And the actual process of capitalism dominating more and more regions will play out in a relative decline in Western living standards in relation to the East etc etc etc. Or conflicts will break out around these processes.<br /><br />However, seeing the wood for the trees with all these countless variables at play will be a challenge and many a theory will be nothing other than a wild goose chase.<br /><br />Herbie Causes Extinctionnoreply@blogger.com