Abstract
Political economy as a branch of knowledge has experienced a marked revival over the recent years as a result of a number of developments, including the partial erosion of boundaries between traditional humanities subjects like politics, economics, sociology, history, geography and psychology. However, as a result of the process of self-adjustment within academics the concept has been stretched considerably to accommodate a wide variety of often quite different areas of study. Because of this wild abundance of ‘political economies’ — which include, e.g. the study of economic statecraft or of political behaviour using economic categories — it is important to define the point of departure of this variant. Here political economy is understood as the study of the production and distribution of social wealth, and this book is concerned with the historical reality of the politico-economic development in West Germany rather than with the development of German political economy as a (national) branch of knowledge. Within this framework particular attention is paid to the development of state policy. The following conspectus of theories of political economy thus pays particular regard to the role of the state. Even so such a conspectus can only be introductory and abbreviated in nature.
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Notes
John Maynard Keynes, General Theory of Employment Interest and Money, London 1936,
Robert Friedländer-Prechtl, Wirtschafts-Wende: Die Ursache der Arbeitslosen-Krise und deren Bekämpfung (Leipzig, 1931);
Ernst Wagemann, Geld-und Kreditreform (Berlin, 1932).
Adolph Lowe, Politische Ökonomik (Frankfurt/M, 1965).
Fritz Scharpf, Planung als politischer Prozeß (Frankfurt/M, 1973).
Harold Laski, Studies in the Problem of sovereignty and Other Essays (New Haven, Conn., 1917);
Leon Duguit, L’état, le droit objectif et la loi positive (Paris, 1901).
Milton Friedmann, Essays in Positive Economics (Chicago, 1953).
Christoph Butterwegge, Probleme der marxistischen Staatstheorie (Cologne, 1977). Butterwegge presents a detailed critique of New Left state theories before outlining Stamokap theory.
See also Kurt Zieschang (one of the major Stamokap theorists in East Germany), ‘Ursachen und Wesen des staatsmonopolistischen Kapitalismus’ in SOPO, vol. 24, 1973.
For a detailed critique of Stamokap theories, see Margaret Wirth, Kapitalismustheorie in der DDR (Frankfurt/M, 1973);
Rolf Ebbighausen (ed.), Monopol und Staat: Zur Marx-Rezeption in der Theorie des staatsmonopolistischen Kapitalismus (Frankfurt/M, 1974).
Bernhard Blanke, Ulrich Jürgens, Hans Kastandiek, Kritik der Politischen Wissenschaft, 2 vols (Frankfurt/M, 1975);
by the same authors, ‘Zur neueren marxistischen Diskussion über die Analyse von Form und Funktion des bürgerlichen Staates’, in Politische Vierteljahresschrift Sonderheft 6, 1975, 19–60.
See Joachim Perels, Kapitalismus und politische Demokratie. Privatrechtssystem und Gesellschaftsstruktur in der Weimarer Republik (Frankfurt/M, 1973).
Perels, ibid.; Bernhard Blanke, ‘Formen und Formwandel des politischen Systems in der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft’ in Handbuch 5 Staat, ed. Volkhard Brandes et al. (Cologne Frankfurt/M, 1977) 121ff;
Nicol Poulantzas, Political Power and Social Classes (London, 1973).
Elmar Altvater, ‘Zu einigen Problemen des Staatsinterventionismus’ in Probleme des Klassenkampfs, no. 3, 1972; Joachim Hirsch, ‘Kapitalreproduktion, Klassenauseinandersetzungen und Widersprüche im Staatsapparat’ in Handbuch 5 Staat, op. cit., 161ff;
Heidrun Abromeit, ‘Zum Verhältnis von Staat und Wirtschaft im gegenwärtigen Kapitalismus’ in Politische Vierteljahresschrift, no. 1 /,1976, 2ff; Dieter Läpple, ‘Kapitalistische Vergesellschaftungstendenzen und Staatsinterventionismus’ in Handbuch 5 Staat, op. cit., pp. 215ff.
Dieter Läpple, Staat und allgemeine Produktionsbedingungen (Berlin, 1973);
Joachim Hirsch, Staatsapparat und Reproduktion des Kapitals (Frankfurt/M, 1974).
Wolfgang Müller, Christel Neusüß, ‘Die Sozialstaatsillusion und der Widerspruch von Lohnarbeit und Kapital’ in Probleme des Klassenkampfs, Sonderheft 1, 7ff;
Hans-Hermann Hartwich, Sozialstaatspostulat und gesellschaftlicher Status Quo (Cologne/Opladen 1970).
See also Ian Gough, The Political Economy of the Welfare State (London, 1979).
Heidrun Abromeit, op. cit.; Ralph Miliband’s work The State in Capitalist Society (London, 1973), produces valuable insights into the legitimising function of the ideological apparatuses of the state (161ff); in general, however, Miliband concentrates on political and economic élites and thus does not manage to present a comprehensive view of the position and function of the state in capitalist society.
Claudia von Braunmühl, ‘Weltmarktbewegung des Kapitals. Imperialismus und Staat’ in Probleme einer materialistischen Staatstheorie, Frankfurt/M, 1973, p. 89; viz also Werner O11e, Wolfgang Schoeller, ‘Weltmarkt, nationale Kapitalreproduktion und Rolle des Nationalstaats’, in Handbuch 5 Staat, op. cit., pp. 372ff.
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© 1988 Jeremy Leaman
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Leaman, J. (1988). Political Economy and the Development of State Theory. In: The Political Economy of West Germany, 1945–85. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19040-9_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19040-9_1
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