Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. The defining characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation,competitive markets,price systems,private property,recognition of property rights,self-interest,economic freedom,meritocracy,work ethic,consumer sovereignty,economic efficiency,limited role of government,profit motive,a financial infrastructure of money and investment that makes possible credit and debt,entrepreneurship,commodification,voluntary exchange,wage labor,production of commodities and services,and a strong emphasis on innovation and economic growth. In a market economy,decision-making and investments are determined by owners of wealth,property,or ability to maneuver capital or production ability in capital and financial markets—whereas prices and the distribution of goods and services are mainly determined by competition in goods and services markets.
Alexander Theodore Callinicos is a Rhodesian-born British political theorist and activist. An adherent of Trotskyism,he is a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and serves as its International Secretary. Between 2009 and 2020 he was the editor of International Socialism,the SWP's theoretical journal,and has published a number of books.
Accumulation by dispossession is a concept presented by the Marxist geographer David Harvey. It defines neoliberal capitalist policies that result in a centralization of wealth and power in the hands of a few by dispossessing the public and private entities of their wealth or land. Such policies are visible in many western nations from the 1970s and to the present day. Harvey argues these policies are guided mainly by four practices:privatization,financialization,management and manipulation of crises,and state redistributions.
Leo Victor Panitch was a Canadian research professor of political science and a Canada Research Chair in comparative political economy at York University.
David W. Harvey is a British-American academic best known for Marxist analyses that focus on urban geography as well as the economy more broadly. He is a Distinguished Professor of anthropology and geography at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). Harvey has authored many books and essays that have been prominent in the development of modern geography as a discipline. He is a proponent of the idea of the right to the city.
Nancy Fraser is an American philosopher,critical theorist,feminist,and the Henry A. and Louise Loeb Professor of Political and Social Science and professor of philosophy at The New School in New York City. Widely known for her critique of identity politics and her philosophical work on the concept of justice,Fraser is also a staunch critic of contemporary liberal feminism and its abandonment of social justice issues. Fraser holds honorary doctoral degrees from four universities in three countries,and won the 2010 Alfred Schutz Prize in Social Philosophy from the American Philosophical Association. She was President of the American Philosophical Association Eastern Division for the 2017–2018 term.
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production. This is generally taken to imply the moral permissibility of profit,free trade,capital accumulation,voluntary exchange,wage labor,etc. Its emergence,evolution,and spread are the subjects of extensive research and debate. Debates sometimes focus on how to bring substantive historical data to bear on key questions. Key parameters of debate include:the extent to which capitalism is natural,versus the extent to which it arises from specific historical circumstances;whether its origins lie in towns and trade or in rural property relations;the role of class conflict;the role of the state;the extent to which capitalism is a distinctively European innovation;its relationship with European imperialism;whether technological change is a driver or merely a secondary byproduct of capitalism;and whether or not it is the most beneficial way to organize human societies.
Giovanni Arrighi was an Italian economist,sociologist and world-systems analyst,from 1998 a Professor of Sociology at Johns Hopkins University. His work has been translated into over fifteen languages.
Sam Gindin is a Canadian intellectual and activist known for his expertise on the labour movement and the economics of the automobile industry.
Amiya Kumar Bagchi is an Indian political economist.
Patrick Bond is Distinguished Professor at the University of Johannesburg Department of Sociology,where he directs the Centre for Social Change. From 2020 to 2021 he was professor at the University of the Western Cape School of Government and from 2015 to 2019,distinguished professor of political economy at the University of the Witwatersrand Wits School of Governance. Before that,from 2004,he was senior professor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal,where he directed the Centre for Civil Society. His research interests include political economy,environment,social policy,and geopolitics.
Kees van der Pijl is a Dutch political scientist who was professor of international relations at the University of Sussex. He is known for his critical approach to global political economy and has published,amongst others,Flight MH17,Ukraine and the New Cold War. Prism of Disaster (2018),a trilogy on Modes of Foreign Relations and Political Economy;Global Rivalries from the Cold War to Iraq (2006);Transnational Classes and International Relations (1998);and The Making of an Atlantic Ruling Class. He resigned his emeritus status at Sussex in 2019 after refusing to apologise for allegations that the Israelis were responsible for the September 11 attacks.
The transnational capitalist class (TCC),also known as the transnational capitalist network (TCN),in neo-Gramscian and Marxian-influenced analyses of international political economy and globalization,is the global social stratum that controls supranational instruments of the global economy such as transnational corporations and heavily influences political organs such as the World Trade Organization.
Li Minqi is a Chinese political economist,world-systems analyst,and historical social scientist,currently professor of economics at the University of Utah. Li is known as an advocate of the Chinese New Left and as a Marxian economist.
John Shannon Saul was a Canadian political economist and activist. His work focused on the liberation struggles of southern Africa from the 1960s to the 2020s.
Ernest Aryeetey,is an Emeritus Professor at the Institute of Statistical,Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at the University of Ghana. Until 31st July 2024,he was the secretary-general of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA). He was also previously vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana (2010-2016). Prior to his appointment as vice-chancellor,he was a senior fellow and director of the Africa Growth Initiative at the Brookings Institution,Washington,D.C. He had also been director of ISSER at the University of Ghana for the period February 2003 to January 2010.
Kenneth Alfred Francis Good was an Australian academic and formerly Professor of Political Science at the University of Botswana. He specialized in the analysis of the political economy of African and Melanesian nations. In 2005 he was ejected from Botswana for criticizing the government,later winning a favorable judgement from the African Commission on Human and Peoples’Rights.
Wolfgang Streeck is a German economic sociologist and emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne.
Lionel R Cliffe was an English political economist and activist whose work focused on the struggle for land rights and freedom in Africa from the 1960s. He was Professor of Politics at the University of Leeds.
Sir Ronald Ormiston Sinclair,KBE,was a New Zealand lawyer and judge who served in the British Colonial Service.
