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The Impact of Neo-Liberal Globalisation on Ethnic and Class Identities since the 1970s

Grant reference: RES-063-27-0174

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Journal article details

The necessity of multiple nation-states for capital
Does capitalism require a system of multiple nation-states and, if so, why? This article argues that the existing states system is neither historically contingent nor the fusion of separate logics, but an inescapable product of competitive accumulation based on wage labor. In particular, two defining aspects of the system, competition between capitals and the exploitation of labor by capital, explain the reasons for the persistence of the states system: on the one hand, the need for capitals to be territorially aggregated for competitive purposes; on the other, the need for that territory to have an ideological basis—nationalism—that can be used to bind the working class to the state and hence to capital. A proper understanding can be achieved only by giving equal weight to both external geopolitical relationships and internal nationalist politics as aspects of the totality of capitalism.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08935696.2012.635024
10.1080/08935696.2012.635024
English

Primary contributor

Author Neil Davidson

Additional details

24
1
Yes
0893-5696
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
01 January 2012
26-46
Abingdon
Post-print
Rethinking marxism : a journal of economics, culture & society

Cite this outcome

Harvard

Davidson, Neil (2012) The necessity of multiple nation-states for capital. Rethinking marxism : a journal of economics, culture & society. 24 (1), pp. 26-46 Abingdon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Vancouver

Davidson Neil. The necessity of multiple nation-states for capital. Rethinking marxism : a journal of economics, culture & society 2012; 24 (1): 26-46.