Course Description
Institute for Social and European Studies Foundation
Course Title: History and Mechanisms of Global Capitalism
Academic Year: 2013-14/II.
Professor: Dr. Annamaria Artner, CSc, senior research fellow, Centre for Economic and Regional
Studies HAS, Institute of World Economics, Budapest
Credits: 5
Content:
The purpose of the course is to discuss the stimulus, effects cyclical character of the globalization of
capital and the contradictions deriving from the profit motive both in the economy and society. We
examine the evolution of the world economy since the end of the 19th century to the present crisis
and look for the long-running tendencies and principles of the global market economy. We analyze
how the development of production forces has affected the structure and magnitude of the
international trade and production and vice versa. The present stage of the globalization will be
discussed also via critical analysis of documentaries and feature films. We examine the nature of
competitiveness and the connection between the accumulation of capital and the share of the labour
compensation in value added. The relationship between the declining wage share and the cyclical
development of global capitalism are also to be discussed. We touch upon the problem of “catching
up” by examining the different possible meanings of that. The first and generally accepted meaning
of “catching up” is a process of integration into the world capitalism, whereas the second and deeper
meaning is the endeavour of the human being for general emancipation, i.e. to build a society where
the labour is not surrendered to wage and the production is lead by the real needs of the society in
equilibrium with the sustainability of nature.
Course outline:
1. The roots of global capitalism. Gold standard and its decline. The first world economic crisis
(1929-33) and its consequences. Similarities with the crisis of 2008.
2. The Bretton Woods system in action. Reconstruction after the WWII on East and West. The
place and development of the developing countries in the evolution of the global capitalism.
The reasons and features of the welfare state on East and West.
3. The end of Bretton Woods. Crisis of the 1970s and its consequences. Neoliberalism and
globalism. Problems of the global economy on national and international level. Immanent
contradictions, cycles, local and global crises, uneven development, devolution. The
Kondratieff waves.
4. Global capitalism troubled. Antecedents and reasons of the 2008 crisis. Similarities with the
former crises. The place of the Euro-crisis in the global crisis. The role of financialization and
1
its connection with the over-accumulation of capital. The sense and effects of the austerity
policies.
5. Consultation, students’ presenation and discussion
Bibliography:
Mandatory Readings:
Frieden, Jeffry (2006): Global Capitalism: Its Fall and Rise in the Twentieth Century. New York:
W. W. Norton
Pijl, Kees Van Der (s.a.): A Survey of Global Political Economy
https://libcom.org/files/A%20survey%20of%20global%20political%20economy.pdf
Recommended Readings:
Barr, Kenneth (1979): Long Waves: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography. Review (Fernand
Braudel Center) Vol 2, No 4, Spring, pp. 675-718
Chang, Ha-Joon (2007): Bad Samaritans. The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of
Capitalism. Bloomsbury Press
Davidson, Paul (2003): What is Wrong With the Washington Consensus and What Should We
Do about It? Paper presented at conference on AReforming The Reforms: What Next
For Latin America? Rio de Janeiro, July 25
http://econ.bus.utk.edu/documents/davidsonpapers/washingtonconsensusdoabouti
tpdf.pdf
Fine, Ben (2000): Economics Imperialism and Intellectual Progress: The Present as History of
Economic Thought? Reproduced in Chinese in Journal of Legal and Economic Studies
(Hong Fan Review), no 12, 2010, pp. 269-307
http://www.tek.bke.hu/files/szovegek/fine_economics_imperialism_and_intellectual_p
rogress.pdf
Harvey, David (2004): The ‘New’ Imperialism: Accumulation by Dispossession. In: Socialist
Register: The ‘New’ Imperialism
Ozkan, Gokhan (2012): Emergence of International Political Economy as a Sub-Discipline of
International Relations and Impact of the Global Crisis on International Political
Economy. International Journal of Business and Social Science Vol. 3 No. 13; July
Saad-Filho, Alfredo and Johnston, Deborah (eds.) (2005): Neoliberalism - A Critical Reader.
Pluto Press, London
http://www.ata.boun.edu.tr/scanneddocuments/Course_Material/ATA_582/Alfredo
_Saad-Filho,_Deborah_Johnston_Neoliberalism_A_Critical_Reader__2005.pdf
Šmihula, Daniel (2009): The waves of the technological innovations of the modern age and
the present crisis. Studia Politica Slovaca, issue: 1/2009, pp. 32-47
Wallerstein, Immanuel (2000): Globalization or the Age of Transition? – A Long Term View of
2
the Trajectory of the World System. International Sociology, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 251267
Didactic method: lectures, class discussions, analysis of films
Examination method:
Requirements and assessment:

Participation in seminars, which counts as 30 percent of the final grade

A 10-15 minute ppt-presentation that must be developed into a 1500 word essay in two
weeks after the course. The presentation and the essay count as 30 and 40 percent of
the final grade, respectively.

Recommended topics for essay (other topics can also be chosen):
1. Historical development of globalization since 1870
2. Short, medium, long cycles and waves of the market economy.
3. Different interests in globalization of trade, money and labour.
4. Hierarchy in globalization – the historically changing role of the United States.
5. Place of Latin-America in the modern world of globalization.
6. Different models of modernization on the way to globalization (e.g. planned
economy vs. market-economy).
7. Financial or economic crisis? Evaluation of the crisis beginning in 2008.
Didactic support tools: lecture slides and handouts
Teaching language: English
3