The Library
The visible power of the transnational capitalist class : the case of the World Economic Forum
Tools
Saqer, Ali (2015) The visible power of the transnational capitalist class : the case of the World Economic Forum. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.
|
PDF
WRAP_THESIS_Saqer_2015.pdf - Submitted Version - Requires a PDF viewer. Download (3058Kb) | Preview |
Official URL: http://webcat.warwick.ac.uk/record=b2869993~S1
Abstract
This thesis examines the role of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the rule-making of 21st century global governance. If offers a critique of existing accounts on the transnational capitalist class (TCC) and the WEF, as a site of this class, that are based on an artificial differentiation between state and market actors. Such artificiality assumes a power relationship that allows market actors to discipline state managers and shape the state’s policy-making along their accepted principles and norms. Thus, the involvement of the state in the WEF’s activities is viewed as a manifestation of this disciplinary power. The thesis argues that the state participates in such activities in response to the imperative of managing capital-labour relations at a global level necessary to reproduce the capitalist social relations of production within its jurisdictions. From an Open Marxist perspective, it argues that the state is a political manifestation of class struggle and an inherent feature of the social relations of capital accumulation. Whilst this indicates that state managers pursue policies that favour the reproduction of the social relations of production, this imperative is not deterministic or a reflection of the disciplinary power of the market. This thesis shows that the argument that the WEF has an influence over the state’s social and economic policy-making is not supported by evidence. It presents a substantial, archive-based, re-assessment of the influence of the WEF’s discourse of international competitiveness over the state. It shows through studying the institutionalisation of competitiveness in the UK how the country has responded selectively to the imperative of state competitiveness. It demonstrates that the engagement of state managers with the discourse of competitiveness is an attempt to secure the circulation of global capital within the economy in order to help reproducing capital accumulation that drives economic growth, employment and living standards.
Item Type: | Thesis (PhD) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Subjects: | J Political Science > JZ International relations | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | World Economic Forum | ||||
Official Date: | June 2015 | ||||
Dates: |
|
||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Theses Department: | Department of Politics and International Studies | ||||
Thesis Type: | PhD | ||||
Publication Status: | Unpublished | ||||
Supervisor(s)/Advisor: | Kelly, Dominic ; Pirie, Iain | ||||
Extent: | ix, 342 leaves | ||||
Language: | eng |
Request changes or add full text files to a record
Repository staff actions (login required)
View Item |
Downloads
Downloads per month over past year