The Bichler and Nitzan Archives
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The Profits of War (Radio interview with Jonathan Nitzan)
No full textWhy capitalists aren’t eager to stop the Middle East wars. (Duration: 25 minutes)
NOTE: There is an error in the interview. Nitzan notes that, in 2000-2005, the four leading oil companies earned one trillion dollars in net profit. The correct number is one third of a trillion ($338 billion)
Cheap Wars
Get PDFThe new conflicts of the twenty-first century – the ‘infinite wars,’ the ‘clashes of civilization,’ the ‘new crusades’ – are fundamentally different from the mass wars and statist military conflicts that characterized capitalism from the nineteenth century until the end of the Cold War. The novelty lies not so much in the military nature of the conflicts, as in the broader role that war now plays in capitalism
Global Capital: Political Economy of Capitalist Power (YorkU, GS/POLS 6285 3.0, Graduate)
Get PDFWhat is capital? Is capital the same as machines, or is it merely a financial asset? Is it material or social? Is it static or dynamic? Surprisingly, these questions have no clear answers. The form of capital, its existence as monetary wealth, is hardly in doubt. The problem is with the content, the ‘stuff’ which makes capital grow, and on this issue there is no agreement whatsoever. For example, does capital accumulate because it is ‘productive,’ or due to the ‘exploitation’ of workers? Does capital expand ‘on its own,’ or does it need non-capitalist institutions such as the state? Can capital grow by undermining production and efficiency? What exactly is being accumulated? Does the value of capital represent a tangible ‘thing,’ ‘dead labour’ or perhaps something totally different? What units should we use to measure its accumulation? Despite centuries of debate, none of these questions has a clear answer. Yet they have to have answers. The accumulation of capital is the central process of capitalism, and unless we can clarify what that means, our theories remain ‘bagel theories,’ with a big hole in the middle.
The seminar examines such questions theoretically and historically. The first part explores basic conceptions of capital. It begins by studying three approaches to capital: one based on utility, a second based on labour value and a third based on power. The discussion then broadens to examine these three approaches in relation to technology, the corporation and the state. The second part of the seminar deals with transformations of capital. This part introduces the twin concepts of dominant capital and differential accumulation. Using these concepts, the seminar explores the historical processes of corporate mergers, globalization, stagflation, imperialism and the new wars of the twenty-first century.
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Guerra E Capitalismo (War and Capitalism)
Get PDFCome è cambiato l’influsso del capitalismo sui conflitti? Un tempo il capitale dominante beneficiava della guerra tramite i massicci investimenti pubblici nel complesso militare industriale che spingevano i paesi fuori dalla recessione (“Keynesianismo militare”). Nitzan e Bichler mostrano come oggi la guerra conviene, ed è desiderata dal capitale dominante, perché spinge i prezzi e l’inflazione tramite il potente motore dei profitti petroliferi e dell’aumentato prezzo del greggio. Mentre, per di più, i salari rimangono bassi a causa della competizione globale con la manodopera dei mercati emergenti. Intanto la globalizzazione della proprietà e la formazione di eserciti di professionisti volontari fanno si che lo stato sociale, che un tempo “premiava” i cittadini-lavoratori-soldati con i benefici pubblici, non venga più sentito come necessario dalle elite al potere. Rimane sempre vero che, come diceva il socialista francese Jean Jaures, “Il capitalismo porta in sé la guerra come il nembo porta il temporale”
Cheap Wars (الحروب الرخيصة)
Get PDFفقد عادت النظريات الإمبريالية والعسكرية القديمة مجددا لتحتل الواجهة عند الحديث عن الليبراالية الجديدة في الاقتصاد. فبدلا من استمرار الحديث عن توجهات إقتصادية دون إطلاق أي تسمية عليها، أخذ هؤلاء المنظرون بالحديث علانية عن الإمبريالية الجديدة والحروب الليبرالية الجديدة. إلا أن هذه النظريات الهجينة تعتبر مضللة بشكل كبير، ففي القرن التاسع عشر، هناك اختلاف في طبيعة الصراعات والنزاعات، فالحديث يدور الآن عن حروب لانهائية، صدام الحضارات، والحروب الصليبية الجديدة بعد أن كان الحديث في القرن التاسع عشر يدور حول الحروب الكبيرة والنزاعات العسكرية بين الدول والتي استمرت من بداية القرن وحتى انتهاء الحرب الباردة. إلا أن الإختلاف لا يكمن فقط في طبيعة هذه الحروب والفروقات بينها وإنما في الدور الكبير الذي تلعبه الحروب في تركيم رأس المال
The new conflicts of the twenty-first century – the ‘infinite wars,’ the ‘clashes of civilization,’ the ‘new crusades’ – are fundamentally different from the mass wars and statist military conflicts that characterized capitalism from the nineteenth century until the end of the Cold War. The novelty lies not so much in the military nature of the conflicts, as in the broader role that war now plays in capitalism.
(Arabic translation by Diab Zayed.
Cheap Wars
Get PDFThe new conflicts of the twenty-first century – the ‘infinite wars,’ the ‘clashes of civilization,’ the ‘new crusades’ – are fundamentally different from the mass wars and statist military conflicts that characterized capitalism from the nineteenth century until the end of the Cold War. The novelty lies not so much in the military nature of the conflicts, as in the broader role that war now plays in capitalism
Yamani's Oil-Spill: Energetic Arabs on America's Energetic Conflicts
Get PDFFROM THE ARTICLE: As you (should) know by now, I’m a big fan of the Nitzan-Bichler analysis of Middle East politics on the basis of the global political economy of oil, turning standard Marxist, neo-colonial accounts of petro-politics on their head. Here’s my latest installment based on information I’m more privy to as a Middle Easterner. (If there is such a thing to begin with, bearing in mind also that Nitzan and Bichler are both Israelis, so your guess is as good as mine if they count!) I speak of the three interviews of Sheikh Ahmed Zaki al-Yamani on Al-Jazeera with all of the very interesting revelations he made, the general gist of which fits in with the Nitzan-Bichler thesis. While heavily involved in the mechanics of the 1973 October War ‘oil weapon’, he has to come to conclude thanks to subsequent events, that raising the price of oil was not in the interest of the Arabs but the US and the oil companies
Plagiarism, Expropriation, and Commercialism (Letter to the Editor)
No full textA reply to Bichler and Nitzan’s ‘Imperialism and Plagiarism.
Political Economy: Major Themes (YorkU, GS/POLS 6272 3.0, Graduate)
Get PDFAt the dawn of the 21st century, more and more people realize that ‘economics’ and ‘politics’ are intimately related. And yet, these two aspects of social existence are usually studied as separate ‘disciplines,’ each with its own categories language, and theories. Can this departmentalization be overcome? Should it? And if so, how?
The seminar deals with these questions by critically examining major themes of political economy. Topics are divided into two major categories: elements and aggregates. In the first part, the seminar examines the origins and implications of concepts such as supply and demand, equilibrium, utility and productivity, market organization, and the role of power. Part two, focusing on aggregates, covers the issues of national accounting, theories of prosperity and crisis, money and finance, economic policy, stagflation, welfare/warfare, and the global formations of trade, capital flows and currency regimes.
Throughout the seminar, the emphasis is not only on the ‘how,’ but also on the ‘why.’ Where have the concepts and theories come from? Why have they risen to prominence and what brought them down? Who benefited from them and who paid the price? Do they help us understand the world, or do they serve to conceal it? In these explorations, special emphasis is put on methodology, as well as the importance of empirical/historical analysis
