The Political Economy of Global Capitalism and Crisis

This book develops a theoretically informed but empirically based understanding of crises in general, and of the post-2007/08 crisis in particular. It draws on Marx’s identification in the introduction of the Grundrisse of a method of political economy involving a movement from the abstract and general to the concrete and specific and a correspondingly ordered presentation of the elements of analysis.

It begins by looking at the major issues about how to understand economy and society and examines what capitalism has in common with other forms of society and what makes it different. It does this in an accessible way and uses the analysis to move to more concrete investigations of recent political and economic transformations. Dunn argues that appropriately reconceived, a critical Marxism can incorporate and enrich rather than rejecting insights from other traditions. He disputes general characterisations of capitalism to the crisis and theories which see finance and the contemporary financial crises as largely detached from other aspects of the economy and society.

Providing a thoroughly socialised and historically based account, this book will be vital reading students and scholars of political economy, international political economy, Marxism, sociology, geography and development studies.