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Beyond the Mutual Constitution of States and Markets: On the Governance of Alienation

Copley, Jack; Moraitis, Alexis

Authors

Alexis Moraitis



Abstract

International Political Economy (IPE) textbooks tend to present the concept of a clear state-market dichotomy as the disciplinary mainstream. Yet we argue that a critical consensus has emerged around the mutual constitution of states and markets. Underpinning this is the Polanyian thesis that economic activities are always politically embedded. However, we claim that this notion of state-market mutual constitution is inadequate to grasp the peculiarities of the capitalist political economy. While capitalist market relations are underpinned by states, they take on an autonomous, dominating logic that limits states’ agency. Concretely, by reproducing international monetary relations, states accidentally contribute to the establishment of world labour productivity averages that force them to boost national competitiveness in order to keep pace with world market standards. In place of the notion of mutual constitution, then, we offer Marx’s concept of alienation as a theory of a form of social relations that have escaped the control of the institutions that produce them. The challenge of state governance – reflected in the canon of liberal thought – is to reconcile the impersonal imperatives of world market relations with the creation of a legitimate national political project, which we term the politics of governing alienation.

Citation

Copley, J., & Moraitis, A. (2021). Beyond the Mutual Constitution of States and Markets: On the Governance of Alienation. New Political Economy, 26(3), 490-508. https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2020.1766430

Journal Article Type Article
Online Publication Date May 20, 2020
Publication Date 2021
Deposit Date Sep 6, 2021
Journal New Political Economy
Print ISSN 1356-3467
Electronic ISSN 1469-9923
Publisher Taylor and Francis Group
Volume 26
Issue 3
Pages 490-508
DOI https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2020.1766430
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1241496