Overview

A History of Capitalist Transformation: A Critique of Liberal-Capitalist Reforms highlights how, since the recent financial crises, the expression ‘liberal reform’ has entered common parlance as an evocative image of austerity and economic malaise, especially for the working classes and a segment of the middle class. But what exactly does ‘liberal reform’ refer to? The research analyzes the historical origins of liberal-capitalist reformism using a critical approach, starting with the origins of the Industrial Revolution. The book demonstrates that the chief purpose of such reforms was to integrate semi-peripheral states into the capitalist world-economy by imposing, both directly and indirectly, the adoption of rules, institutions, attitudes, and procedures amenable to economic and political interests of capitalist élites and hegemonic states – Britain first, the United States later – between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. As such, the reforms became an active tool used to promote social-economical-financial institutions, norms, and lifestyles typical of a liberal-capitalist economic order which locates some of its founding values in capital accumulation, profit-seeking, and social transformation. This book will be of significant interest to readers on capitalism, political economy, the history of the global economy, and British history.

Full Product Details

9781032579658

Table of Contents

Reviews

“An original take on the ancient question of reformism, distinguishing reforms in advanced capitalist societies and reforms in those countries, usually semi-peripheral, that needs/want to ‘catch-up’. The advanced societies can impose global rules, often through the financial system, while the semi peripheral must fight back or adapt. The author provides a truly global perspective (the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, China). The whole book is enlivened by quotes and erudite references. A must read!” Donald Sassoon, Queen Mary University of London. Author of The Anxious Triumph: A Global History of Capitalism, 1860-1914. ____________________ ""A fascinating account of state debt as a mechanism in international relations forcing liberal reforms on the capitalist periphery, doing away with ways of social life in conflict with the requirements of modern capital formation. Contains striking historical material from countries like Egypt and China during Polanyi’s Long Nineteenth Century."" Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne. Author of Buying Time: The Delayed Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. _____________________ ""Liberal reformism is today an empty shell including multiple meanings and yet governing the world. Conte traces the intellectual, political and economic roots and trajectories of this apparent paradox showing the historical interconnections between the capitalist core and quasi peripheries such as China and the Ottoman empire. A must-reading."" Alessandro Stanziani, EHESS and CNRS, Paris. Author of Tensions of Social History. __________________________ ""The book offers some revealing analysis concerning the political and socio-economic development of capitalism during the modern period and provides a concise discussion of key historical continuities and ideological conflicts that affected the consolidation of the global free-market economy."" Will Kitchen (Arts University Bournemouth) on Global Nineteenth-Century Studies (Liverpool University Press) ________________________ ""Conte reveals the historical transformation of capitalist reforms in wielding liberalism as a tool to unabashedly advance capitalism through the illusion of liberalism."" Marx and Philosophy Review of Books ______________________________ ""Conte’s book is a compelling and eye-opening reconstruction of the dynamics of liberal capitalist reform. The book manages to turn an account of liberal reform in the early 20th century into a manifesto for understanding the current dynamics of capitalist development and functioning."" Camilla Locatelli (Max Planck Institute for the Studies of Societies in Cologne) on Capital & Class. ______________________________ ''A History of Capitalist Transformation is a rigorous and stimulating work that offers a critical perspective on liberal economic reforms, challenging dominant narratives on progress and the free market."" Eros Calcara (Universidad de Cordoba) on Middle East Critique ________________________________________ ""Conte opening up an interesting line of interpretation that links the just-described liberal-capitalist external reform of the 19th century to the new (neo)liberal-capitalist external reform that would characterise the new world-system of US hegemony from the second half of the 20th century"" Marco Bertuccio, Critical Sociology

“An original take on the ancient question of reformism, distinguishing reforms in advanced capitalist societies and reforms in those countries, usually semi-peripheral, that needs/want to ‘catch-up’. The advanced societies can impose global rules, often through the financial system, while the semi peripheral must fight back or adapt. The author provides a truly global perspective (the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, China). The whole book is enlivened by quotes and erudite references. A must read!” Donald Sassoon, Queen Mary University of London. Author of The Anxious Triumph: A Global History of Capitalism, 1860-1914. ____________________ ""A fascinating account of state debt as a mechanism in international relations forcing liberal reforms on the capitalist periphery, doing away with ways of social life in conflict with the requirements of modern capital formation. Contains striking historical material from countries like Egypt and China during Polanyi’s Long Nineteenth Century."" Wolfgang Streeck, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Cologne. Author of Buying Time: The Delayed Crisis of Democratic Capitalism. _____________________ ""Liberal reformism is today an empty shell including multiple meanings and yet governing the world. Conte traces the intellectual, political and economic roots and trajectories of this apparent paradox showing the historical interconnections between the capitalist core and quasi peripheries such as China and the Ottoman empire. A must-reading."" Alessandro Stanziani, EHESS and CNRS, Paris. Author of Tensions of Social History. __________________________ ""The book offers some revealing analysis concerning the political and socio-economic development of capitalism during the modern period and provides a concise discussion of key historical continuities and ideological conflicts that affected the consolidation of the global free-market economy."" Will Kitchen (Arts University Bournemouth) on Global Nineteenth-Century Studies (Liverpool University Press) ________________________ ""Conte reveals the historical transformation of capitalist reforms in wielding liberalism as a tool to unabashedly advance capitalism through the illusion of liberalism."" Marx and Philosophy Review of Books ______________________________ ""Conte’s book is a compelling and eye-opening reconstruction of the dynamics of liberal capitalist reform. The book manages to turn an account of liberal reform in the early 20th century into a manifesto for understanding the current dynamics of capitalist development and functioning."" Camilla Locatelli (Max Planck Institute for the Studies of Societies in Cologne) on Capital & Class. ______________________________ ''A History of Capitalist Transformation is a rigorous and stimulating work that offers a critical perspective on liberal economic reforms, challenging dominant narratives on progress and the free market."" Eros Calcara (Universidad de Cordoba) on Middle East Critique ________________________________________

Author Information

Giampaolo Conte is Assistant Professor in Economic History at University of Roma Tre, Italy.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available