The Age of Political Disincorporation: Geo-Capitalist Conflict and the Politics of Authoritarian Statism

Abstract

This review essay examines two recent volumes on the clash between the USA and China: Clash of Empires by Hung (2022) and Trade Wars are Class Wars by Klein and Pettis (2020). These volumes make a significant contribution to our understanding of the current strategic competition between the US and China. They have the virtue of moving beyond the sterile international relations perspectives and locating these conflicts within the broader structure of capitalist transformation. The framework of inter-imperial conflict is found useful in understanding the conflict between the USA and China. However, a serious lacuna of these approaches is their economism which neglects the political effects of emerging inter-imperial rivalry or modes of geo-capitalist engagement. In particular, this essay argues that the key effects are found in the transformation of the political forms of the state that have enabled the rise of radical right-wing forces and new forms of authoritarian rule. In this new geo-capitalist era, there is likely to be a reassertion of the national state in various new or post-neoliberal guises but such forms are likely to take on the characteristic of deeply coercive authoritarian statism or even post fascism.

Key Words:

• authoritarian statism
• China
• geo-political economy
• Imperialism
• radical right
• USA

Acknowledgement

Thanks to Kevin Hewison for very useful comments that have improved this review essay. The usual disclaimer applies.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest has been reported by the author.

Notes

1 See Lanzo (2021) for a useful summary of these arguments.

2 “Tankies” is a pejorative term used within the Left to describe those who excuse the authoritarian tendencies of Marxist–Leninist regimes, in this case, China. In some uses it is a simile for Stalinists.

3 It is noteworthy that there is also a revised dependency theory perspective on contemporary imperialism (see, for example, Singh 2022).

4 Interestingly, Schmitt has also become influential in post-colonial studies (see, for example, Kalyvas 2018; During 2020). Schmitt’s ideas have also been influential in left nationalist academic circles in China (Hioe 2020).