Recent Developments of Totalitarian Capitalism and the Evolving World Order: Some Implications for Social Movements

ABSTRACT

Under current circumstances, the lasting and exacerbated crisis of world capitalism, its far-reaching transformations, and intensified socio-political and geopolitical conflicts lead to highly uncertain conditions and an increasing world disorder. After some methodological remarks and a brief analysis of the recent developments of world capitalism, this article more specifically investigates the capital–state relations, and critically considers competing explanations (including imperialism, globalization, empire, transnational and totalitarian capitalism) of the currently evolving world (dis-)order, as well as the urgent search for new forms of global governance. Based on this analysis, an attempt is made to draw some conclusions concerning social movements and struggles for social change.

KEYWORDS:

• Dialectical materialism
• political economy
• capital–state relations
• international relations
• world order

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

George Liodakis is Professor of political economy teaching at the Technical University of Crete, Greece. His research interests concern political economy, international relations & economic development, agriculture, technology, and environment. He is the author of Totalitarian Capitalism and Beyond (Ashgate, 2010) and a number of books in Greek. His research work has been published in academic journals such as Science & Society, Review of Radical Political Economics, Capital & Class, International Critical Thought, Historical Materialism, Sociologia Ruralis, and Sustainability.