Introduction

Abstract

This book presents a series of interviews with Hartmut Elsenhans on his wide-ranging theories and their policy implications. Over the course of several interviews, we discuss his individual theories on marginality, rent, development, underconsumption, his idealised model of global capitalism, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), social movements, the European Union (EU), and himself. Elsenhans is an old-school intellectual in the sense that his academic hinterland is vast and the stances he takes are uncompromising and independent. We hope this book will serve as a gateway to his complex theories and function as an introduction for both students and scholars new to his work. We bring together, for the first time in one volume, Elsenhans’ thinking across his range of interests, acting as a compilation of his distilled thoughts. We have not diluted his theories, keeping their essence but putting them in simpler English while using examples to illustrate Elsenhans’ views. Whether discussing the reasons behind the economic slowdown, the future of the nation-state international system, or how the Eurozone crisis can be resolved, what stands out is Elsenhans’ bold and thought-provoking ideas, and the unusual places he finds solutions.