For centuries world capitalism was integrated basically through exchange relations, the world market, or what Marx calls the social division of labor; and the state was mostly the sum of the national states and their colonies. After WWII, world capitalism continued to be integrated through exchange relations, but began to develop the integration of global production structures, basically multinational corporations interconnected through global production chains, what Marx called the technical division of labor. Communication, transport, and water and energy distribution systems acquire an increasingly global character. Certain regions, mostly Asia, tend to become an intricate web of regional trade treaties. Corresponding to these developments, class struggle gradually has acquired a global character. Migrating workers wage a global struggle for the free movement of workers all over the world. Uprisings and mass movements tend to take place on a regional scale: the Women´s movement, the Arab Spring, EU workers´ struggles, the turn to the left in election results in Latin America. Also, with the rise of global state institutions (UN, NATO, Davos, Bilderberg, and others), the global State is no longer the mere sum of national states. US imperialism struggles to maintain a global hegemony through NATO and its own global military structure.
Note: This program is rescheduled from August 11.
We surely live in interesting times--from the deepening of U.S.-led militarism to existential ecological and economic crises to shifts in the world order ranging from a significant decline of the Global North along with the rise of the East and Global... Read more