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Greece, Financialization and the EU pp 11–55Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Sinews of Capital and the Disintegrative Logics of Euro-Atlanticism

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Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series ((IPES))

Abstract

We advance here a crisis theory of financialization and imperial geo-politics in order to recast key concepts and causal parameters related to the sources of debt and the way in which the Euro-Atlantic area is in danger of complete disintegration. Our central thesis is that ‘debt’ is not just a category of political economy that can be theorized, but also a geo-political notion that can be examined alongside an analysis of imperial politics and the state. We unravel the deeper connection and inter-penetration between capital, imperial geo-politics and the political economy of financialization. In this context, we show how the present crisis in the eurozone is a manifestation of deeper disintegrative tendencies embedded in the hub-and-spoke system of neo-imperial governance built by the USA in Western Europe, the Middle/Near East and East Asia in the aftermath of World War II. This crisis process exposes the weakness of the USA to contain Europe’s economic woes, while elevating Germany as a powerful, monetarist imperial power within the EU. Yet the picture is truly global and not just Euro-Atlantic. We contend that, historically, the crisis dynamics of the current international order can be best understood in terms of a power-shift to other centres and caucuses of capital accumulation, mainly in Asia. Let us be more analytical.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of East London, UK

    Vassilis K. Fouskas (Professor of International Politics and Economics)

  2. Panteion University, Greece

    Constantine Dimoulas (Lecturer)

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  1. Vassilis K. Fouskas
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  2. Constantine Dimoulas
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© 2013 Vassilis K. Fouskas and Constantine Dimoulas

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Fouskas, V.K., Dimoulas, C. (2013). The Sinews of Capital and the Disintegrative Logics of Euro-Atlanticism. In: Greece, Financialization and the EU. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137273451_2

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