The International State System and Theories of Postwar Reconstruction

Abstract

The market therefore must be continually extended, so that its relationships and the conditions governing them assume ever more the form of a natural law independent of the producers and become ever more uncontrollable

(Marx, 1894)¹

The development of the capitalist mode of production is synonymous with the development of international trade and the creation of a world market. The constant expansion of this market is a prerequisite for maintaining high profit levels and ultimately for the maintenance of the capitalist order itself. A world economy driven by the creed ‘Accumulate, accumulate! This is Moses and the prophets’² implies a logic of ceaseless production for production’s sake. Nevertheless, increases in both the production and the realisation of profit continue to depend on removing arbitrary geographical barriers to the expansion of capital.