Contemporary Capitalism

Yearbook

    Ways Out of Secular Stagnation?
  • In its Fall 2016 prognosis for the capitalist economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has notably scaled back its growth prediction for the USA. Sluggish investments – possibly also due to insecurity over the country’s future political leadership – have slowed growth by 1.6% for the coming...
    Time of Alternatives: The Left 100 Years After the October Revolution
  • The undermining of commodity production began one hundred years ago with a qualitative leap in the manipulation of market and consumption by corporations. No anti-cartel legislation can touch the market power of the largest capitals. Today the market does not primarily stimulate effectiveness but...
    Critical Reflections on a Historic Crossroads
  • Globalisation is a historically constituted phenomenon, a stage in capitalism’s becoming the world. It cannot be reduced to the simple connecting of national markets. On the economic level it indicates the creation of a true world market that is de-segmented and decompartmentalised, transmitting goods, services, capital’s factors of production, people, ideas and values.
    Hegemony and Neoliberalism
  • The very name of the seminar “Political Mindsets – Development of Political and Cultural Hegemony in Conjunction with the Crisis – New Challenges Posed to the Left”, which was held in Paris last September, invited us to think about “hegemony” and, more exactly to interpret the European elections (in Greece, Denmark, Spain, etc.) as confirming neoliberal hegemony.
    Economic Democracy – An Alternative for Europe?
  • Updating considerations of economic democracy does not happen by mere coincidence, but represents historically specific attempts1 to provide answers to fundamental processes of transformation in times of crisis (Castel 2011) accompanied by massive failures of political control. In crises in which...
    The Crisis of Europe: Elements of a Political Strategy
  • At the time of this writing, Europe is becoming increasingly unstable and no one can predict the scenario of the coming weeks. It is safe to predict that we are heading for a series of tragedies. The great crisis that we are experiencing is the result of nearly forty years of neoliberal offensives...
    Europe in the Centre of the New Phase of the Big Crisis
  • We are in the deepest crisis in the history of the European Union. Only if both the governments of member-states and European institutions act decisively, can we get out of it. European countries can only regain their credibility when they move closer together and finally observe the rules. In the...
    Why Germany and the Euro-Countries Need Another Europe
  • The Euro-zone is undergoing a crucial test. A number of member states are unable to get out of the debt trap on their own. The major reason for the record deficits has to do with the superiority of the German economy, which right from the start has been the major exporter both of goods and of...
    Europe in the Great Crisis
  • For years the EU-Commission has been complaining about society in the Euro-zone being divided into two classes. The gap between those Euro-states able successfully to compete, with Germany as the market leader, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, those countries with high deficits, in southern...
    The State and the Economic Crisis of 2008
  • The state in the neoliberal era In the tradition of Foucault, the state is not understood as a rational agent located outside of society, aiming to serve dominant class interests. It is rather a source of power diffused within institutions and social practices. In this respect, what the state does...
    Economic Democracy: A Crisis Alternative
  • On June 22, 2009, at the initiative of Espaces Marx (transform!) and the regional government of the Île de France, labour leaders, elected officials, scholars and representatives of civil society met to discuss economic democracy as an alternative to the political crisis. Democracy and business ...
    Europe in the Crisis - On the Road to Breakup?
  • In the current economic crisis, the character of the European Union as a “project of the elites” is clearly revealed. Now it comes back to haunt us that “… at the turning points of the unification process European policy has never before been as unabashedly elitist and bureaucratic” (1) as it is...
    The Crisis of Capitalism and Post-Capitalist Horizons
  • Introduction A century ago, Rosa Luxemburg expressed humanity’s historic dilemma in these terms: socialism or barbarism. Now, the global crisis underlines the urgent need to create objective and subjective conditions which guarantee a successful way out of the crisis, based on the best experiences...
    Present and Future Impact of the Crisis
  • United Nations Conference on the Financial Crisis and its Impact on Development – New York, June 24-26 2009 Much has been said of the impact of the crisis on the foundations of the economy and of its social consequences, arising from the artificial and unequal character of its growth and its...
    Fighting Plant Closures
  • The crisis on the international financial markets has had a powerful impact on the real economy. The explosive nature of the situation is produced by two crises coming together and to a certain extent reinforcing each other: asset losses, indebtedness and the credit crunch on one side, and faltering accumulation processes in the economic downturn on the other.  
    The Impact of Finance on the European Social Models
  • 1. Introduction The purpose of this article is to present some empirical data (section 2) and a conceptual framework (3) for the development of finance during the last three decades, to shed some light on the main groups of financial investors as the central actors in finance-led capitalism (4)...
    Capitalism's Crisis of the Century
  • There is still no end in sight to the global financial crisis that has been raging for over a year. The potential for crisis will continue to preoccupy financial markets and investors until well into 2009 and hover over the stock markets like the sword of Damocles. The capitalist world system is being shaken by the most severe turbulence in the financial system since the world economic crisis of 1929.  

Focus

    Final Declaration European Forum Bilbao
  • Our goal is to fight for a Europe that is a fully cooperative, solidary, equal and socially advanced democracy. We call for empowering popular sovereignty by launching a new charter for sovereign democracy in Europe.
    Europe, the Crisis, Divisions, Alternatives, Strategic Issues
  • This text has benefited from the seminar on crisis organized by transform! in Vienna in January 2010 and has been enriched from a debate carried out in the Managing Board of transform! europe and particularly thanks to the useful remarks of Walter Baier, Stephen Bouquin, Patrice Cohen-Seat, Haris...

Blog

    The Case for a National Development Bank: The Main Issues
  • The role of National Development Banks (NDBs) has been rising worldwide since the financial crisis, the global supply chain crisis, and among growing geo-political tensions. Unlike EU member states, NDBs in the European Union aren't subjected to Maastricht austerity criteria and may thus offer a major tool for the transformational policies we need.
    Financialisation of Water and All of Nature: The Inacceptable Piracy of Life
  • Over the last three decades, money and finance, as well as power and war, have extended their grip on life. This expansion was facilitated in part by technology — new biotechnologies and artificial intelligence — but also by highly financialised market economies and their underlying principles of conquest and exploitation.
    What Is Really Behind Delhaize's Plan?
  • Workers at Delhaize (one of Belgium's largest supermarket chains) are massively protesting against implementation of the franchise model which is expected to lead to layoffs, precariousness, and lower wages, as well as to endanger national unions and set a new franchising trend in the whole retail sector in motion.
    Financial Crises as Wars
  • transform! europe has launched a new Economic Working Group (EWG) in 2023 to respond to the current crises caused by late capitalism. This first article of the EWG blog series looks at some aspects of the financial crises that punctuate the history of modern capitalism.
    More Equality for More Resilience
  • The year 2022 has given us a glimpse of the new world we are entering. We are witnessing the end of a long period of relative stability, prosperity and security. From now on, we will have to learn to live with uncertainty and restraint. An analysis by Christophe Degryse, Head of the Foresight Unit at the European Trade Union (ETUI).
    What Strategy for the Left on Working From Home?
  • Being in favour and against a shift to working from home is not a strictly oppositional binary but should rest on a coherent theory of emancipatory politics. A politics which takes into account different costs and benefits of telework faced by workers per sector, strata and workers' demands, argues Giorgos Charalambous.
    Working Time Reduction and Climate Crisis
  • Organised by the European Network for the fair sharing of working time and supported by the Brussels Office of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, a member organisation of transform! europe, this conference was centered around the question of the role of working time reduction when addressing climate change. Watch the full recording!
    Why 'pensée unique' will be misleading
  • Defining neoliberal efforts merely as market radical is misleading. The dynamic and diverse sphere of neoliberal actors, both worldwide and on a European level, makes it necessary to abjure simplistic reductions when looking at neoliberal networks. This applies in particular against the background of current post-Covid struggles.
    After Neoliberalism… What?
  • Neoliberalism is dying, with the radical left and the far-right as only contenders to bring about another system, says Alternative Nobel Prize winner, sociology professor Walden Bello at the recent climate conference on the context of climate emergency and the crisis of neoliberalism.
    App Workers United. The Struggle for Rights in the Gig Economy
  • A newly released study on the current situation of on-demand workers for platforms such as Uber or Deliveroo in Europe, commissioned by the Left group in the European Parliament. The study includes an analysis of the various strategies used to combat the social model imposed on platform workers, both by platform workers and trade unions.
    The 2021 Jörg Huffschmid Award
  • In memory of the scholarly work and political engagement of the critical economist Jörg Huffschmid, the call for submissions to the competitive award named after him, which seeks to recognize outstanding work in the field of Political Economy is issued; the Jörg Huffschmid Award is currently in its sixth iteration.
    Why Universal Basic Income?
  • Let me start by showing where the problem lies: right now, across the EU, there are over 14 million people unemployed, and millions who have been furloughed or who are working precarious jobs. And yet we are only at the start of a global economic crisis, the extent and duration of which no one can...
    On Robots and Sheep
  • A short introduction to historical materialism and its significance for the understanding of contemporary capitalism.
    A call for a new European social contract
  • Call for a new progressive and democratic front in Europe. A statement of intellectuals and academics initiated by, amongst others, Costas Douzinas, President of the Nicos Poulantzas Institute, a transform! europe member organization.
    The Pandemic as Part of a Much Broader Crisis of Civilisation
  • The corona crisis has already killed hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. Politicians and society as a whole have rightly focused on combating the virus. However, underneath the pandemic there is still an environmental catastrophe exploding in slow motion. The corona crisis is only a small part of this puzzle.
    Covid-19 and the Western Working Classes
  • The Covid-19 Shock Meets an Impending Economic Recession As of March 2020, the world is back to the future. The global financial crisis of 2007-2008, which escalated into a global financial meltdown in September 2008, was supposed to be the big bang crisis, a once in a lifetime event. And yet, here...
    'The Art of Changing Capitalism' – A Transformational Polemic
  • When the left thinks about alternatives they usually envision struggles. Already Marx and Engels understood the history of all societies up to then as 'the history of class struggles'. Wolfgang Kessler, chief editor for more than twenty years of the Publik-Forum – a left-oriented Catholic journal – shows that these struggles also require an art.
    Is Nationalism Obsolete?
  • Is nationalism capable of dealing with, or even addressing, the issues of our time? Dealing with this question, the Balkan Society for Theory and Practice (BSTP) – supported by transform! europe – held its second annual workshop in Prishtina, Kosovo.
    Unconditional Basic Income as an Emancipatory Path Out of Capitalism
  • Unconditional Basic Income, formerly derided as a utopia, is increasingly stimulating public interest as a necessary alternative. For some it is a cure-all, for others the last outgrowth of neoliberalism, for increasingly more people it appears to be a milestone on the pathway out of capitalist wage-labour society and towards a solidary society.
    Socioeconomics: Uniquely Russian Poverty
  • Oleg Nikolaevich Smolin's talk at the Russian Social Forum on the current social and economical conditions and the widespread poverty - also among the working population - in Russia. With an introduction by Jirí Málek.
    Historical Materialism – Welcome to Athens
  • After London, Sydney, New York, Beirut, Montreal, and Toronto, the Historical Materialism Conference was held in Southern Europe for the first time. From 2 to 5 May, hundreds of people met in the Greek capital to discuss resistance and strategy in times of crisis. A report follows, with particular focus on critical communication studies.
    Brexit: the back story
  • On 23 June 2016, the electorate of the United Kingdom and Gibraltar voted to decide if the country should remain a member of, or leave, the European Union. The referendum was a Conservative Party manifesto commitment in the general election of May 2015. The Prime Minister and leader of the...
    Jörg-Huffschmid-Award 2019
  • In memoriam of the scientific work and the political engagement of the critical economist Joerg Huffschmid the call for the award that is named after him is now announced for the 5th time, awarding outstanding works in the field of Political Economy.
    The Migration World Pact: Wishes and Realities
  • Numerous political leaders from all over the world are gathered these days in Marrakech, under the auspices of the UN, to sign a new migration agreement: the Global Compact for Migration. Migration has become one of the political priorities at a global scale and the richest areas of the world are all adopting similar xenophobic measures.
    Join the Change Finance coalition! With actions on the 15th September
  • On September 15th, it will be 10 years since the financial crash when US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed - a moment in a chain of events that threatened to destroy our economies and create social chaos. Since global leaders failed to break the status quo, we are now at risk of a more dangerous collapse. See our vision for a change!
    The Robot, Unemployment, and Immigrants
  • For every industrial robot introduced into the workforce, six jobs are eliminated. – Since a few days, Amazon has started Amazon Go. The idea is simple: a shop where you go in, take whatever you want from the shelves, and the cost goes automatically to a magnetic card that you carry.
    The Beginning of the New Grand Game
  • The article deals with geopolitical aspects of new trade blocks that are either being negotiated or already in existence. The crisis of the multilateral trade system and the inability to accomplish the Doha round led in first place to an immense spread of free trade area agreements. However, as a reaction to a continuing bad economic situation in the West, together with increasing coordination of the BRICS countries, new trade blocks are being built.
    Modern Capitalism = An Oligarchic Society?
  • Thomas Piketty, an economist who has for several years been dealing with the relations of distribution in capitalist societies, a field probed by Anthony Atkinson and Emmanuel Saez, has triggered a breach with traditional valuations and social perspectives in both science and public discussion.
    Predatory Capitalism and the System’s Denial in the Face of Truth
  • Contemporary capitalism is characterized by a political economy which revolves around finance capital, is based on a savage form of free market fundamentalism, and thrives on a wave of globalizing processes and global financial networks that have produced global economic oligarchies with the capacity to influence the shaping of policymaking across nations.
    Consciousness in Europe in the Crisis
  • Organized by Espaces Marx and transform! europe, the workshop entitled “Consciousness in Europe in the Crisis: Resignation and Rebelliousness faced with Capitalist Domination” gathered public-opinion specialists from Greece, Germany and France – as well as social scientists.
    While the Stock Markets Are Flying into Orbit, the Crisis Goes on
  • After the European Central Bank (ECB) had decided a new programme to buy bonds of states hit by the crisis and subject to a programme of austerity, the stock markets burst into euphoric fireworks. Does that signify that with the new stage of fiscal politics the Gordian knot of the persistent crisis...
    Models of Capitalism in Europe
  • Seminar of the Dynamo-Group hosted by transform! europe, Paris, 18-19 March 2011 Publication: A triumph of failed ideas. European models of capitalism in the crisis
    Europe, the Crisis, Divisions, Alternatives, and Strategic Issues
  • This text has benefited from the seminar on crisis organized by Transform! In Vienna in January 2010 and has been enriched from a debate carried out in the Managing Board of Transform! Europe and particularly thanks to the useful remarks of Walter Baier, Stephen Bouquin, Patrice Cohen-Seat, Haris...
    Fighting Plant Closures
  • Results of a study from Germany The crisis on the international financial markets has had a powerful impact on the real economy. The explosive nature of the situation is produced by two crises coming together and to an extent reinforcing each other: asset losses, indebtedness and the credit...

Publication

    The Covid-19 Pandemic: the End of Neoliberal Globalisation?
  • Leading Czech and Slovak scientists from various disciplines have contributed to this eDossier. Supported by transform! europe, economists, philosophers, sociologists, political scientists, historians, geologists and culturologists were brought together to reflect on the ongoing pandemic.
    Different Scenarios for the Future of the Monetary Union
  • At the 2018 Summer University of transform! europe and the European Left Party in Vienna, the discussion regarding the best monetary system for the EU represents one of the most hotly discussed debates in left circles - hardly surprising, given the relevance of this issue.
    Trade and Investment
  • Since trade and investment policies are of immense importance for our lives and political work transform! europe offers you this brochure on trade policy.
    Positions of the German Economic Associations Regarding Crisis Policies
  • How can the European and crisis policies of the German government be explained? Which interests do these policies serve and which social forces can they rely on? Which contradictions play a role? Which forces are in opposition to the government’s policies? In this contribution to a historical-materialist explanation of European crisis policies results from a study of the positions held by German employers’ associations are presented.
    Public Debt and Austerity in the EU
  • Elena Papadopoulou and Gabriel Sakellaridis (eds.), The Political Economy of Public Debt and Austerity in the EU, Athens: Nissos Publications 2012, 290 p., ISBN: 9-789609-535465

Calendar

    A World to Win — Class War or Degrowth
  • Transform!Danmark and Global Action are organising this hybrid conference in Copenhagen to show the broad spectrum of the degrowth movement and explore how we can maintain a class struggle approach in the fight against capitalism.
    Towards a Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery: Ambition to Action
  • This year's Public Forum of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will look at how trade can contribute to post-pandemic economic recovery. The Forum will examine, in particular, how trade rules can be strengthened, and government policies improved to create a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive trading system.
    Is it my Fault or Society's?
  • What conditions made neoliberalism break through and how can we break with the imperatives of neoliberalism are just two of the questions that will be discussed at this discussion event with Gabriele Michalitsch and Linn Stalsberg.
    Transnational Forum on Alternatives to Uberisation
  • The group of the Left in the European Parliament organises the 2nd edition of the Transnational Forum on Alternatives to Uberisation. The event will aim to better understand the current issues at European level and to highlight the voice and demands of digital platform workers.
    Coalition of Labour: Worker's Voices in Europe
  • The Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung Bavaria talks with the authors of the transform! europe ePublication Coalition of Labour: Worker's Voices in Europe, which provides an analysis of the current working and living conditions, the perceived causes of their situation, and the impact of the pandemic of French, German, and Italian workers.
    The Role of Women in Essential Jobs
  • To draw attention to those sectors which, until now, have not been adequately recognised or remunerated and to strengthen the ties between the different feminist struggles in Europe, the Feminism Working Group of the Party of the European Left has organised this webinar.
    Summer Seminars
  • This series of events is organised by the Party of the European Left (EL) and transform! europe.
    Transforming the Institution
  • The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the uncertainty of our lives, pointing up the serious disconnects between institutions, communities and everyday life. The population feels a distrust of the dynamics and processes that exist between these areas. Therefore, we start to talk about different institutional models.
    Progressive Solutions for the Pandemic
  • For the first time, political foundations and centers for political training for have joined efforts to discuss left and progressive solutions and ways out of the crisis we live in.
    How to Combat Climate Warming – Green Capitalism or System Change ?
  • The industrial and economic slowdown due to the pandemic is no substitute for sustained climate action. How can concrete and more ambitious goals in climate and environmental policies be achieved? Are the measures and goals adopted by the EU, governments and institutions much more than a greening of...

Webinars

    Extractivism, Human Rights and ISDS: Hard Law vs. Soft Law
  • This webinar will showcase the provisions in free trade and investment agreements that have given rise to an increase in the use of Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) through which corporations enforce investment protections on governments, especially in the Global South. We will focus on...