Author Archives: Teo Ballvé

The Origin of Capitalism

Wood, Ellen Meiksins. 2002. The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View. London: Verso. Ellen Meiksins Wood critiques accounts about the origin of capitalism—across the political spectrum, including Marxist’s—for overlooking the begging questions about what really drove the emergence of capitalism. … Continue reading

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Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change

Bernstein, Henry. 2010. Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change. Hartford, CT: Kumarian Press Drawing from the Journal of Agrarian Change, Henry Bernstein defines agrarian political economy as investigating “the social relations and dynamics of production and reproduction, property and power in … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Gender, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Land, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation | 1 Comment

Theory of Peasant Cooperatives

Chayanov, Alexander. 1991. The Theory of Peasant Cooperatives. Columbus: Ohio State University Press. [Intro and pp. 1-52.] In these chapters, Alexander Chayanov revisits some of the same ground as Lenin and Kautsky, but he does so with a much more … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Historical Materialism, Land, Marxism, Political Economy | 2 Comments

The Agrarian Question

Kautsky, Karl. 1988. The Agrarian Question, Vol I. London: Zwan Publications. Karl Kautsky’s classic The Agrarian Question explores the impact of capitalism on agrarian society, role of agriculture in the course of capitalist development, and the political role (or lack … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Land, Marxism, Political Economy | 10 Comments

The Development of Capitalism in Russia

Lenin, V.I. 1977. The Development of Capitalism in Russia. Moscow: Progress Publishers. [Ch. 1-4] The progression of these four chapters is as follows: first, Lenin reviews some theoretical issues of political economy around the development of a home market in … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Land, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Political Economy | 3 Comments

The Trinity Formula

Marx, Karl. 1967. Capital, Vol. III. New York: International Publishers. [Ch. 48] The chapter is simply titled, “The Trinity Formula.” I was interested in this chapter from Volume III of Capital for two reasons. The first reason is its importance … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Critique, Everyday Life, Henri Lefebvre, Karl Marx, Land, Marxism, Political Economy, Spatiality | 1 Comment

Smith & Ricardo: Political Economy and Rent

Smith, Adam. 1987. The Wealth of Nations. New York: Penguin Classics. [Book I] Ricardo, David. 1971. “On Rent.” in Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Harmondsworth: Penguin. Foley, Duncan K. 2006. Adam’s Fallacy: A Guide to Economic Theology. Cambridge: Harvard … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Political Economy | 2 Comments

Turning a Page

It’s been a busy week or two here at Territorial Masquerades. First, we got a nice shout-out from Stuart Elden over at Progressive Geographies. Second, Jester has been busy consorting with a group of quintessential trickster “geographers.” The only report … Continue reading

Posted in Everyday Life, Political Economy | 1 Comment

A Scale Debate

Marston, Sallie. 2000. “The Social Construction of Scale.” Progress in Human Geography 25: 219-42. Brenner, Neil. 2001. “The Limits to Scale? Methodological Reflections on Scalar Structuration.” Progress in Human Geography 25(4): 591–614. Marston, Sallie and Neil Smith. 2001. “States, Scales … Continue reading

Posted in Gender, Henri Lefebvre, Nation/Nationalism, Networks, Place, Power, Scale, Spatiality, Territory, The Body, The State | 3 Comments

The Great Arch

Corrigan, Philip, and Derek Sayer. 1985. The Great Arch: English State Formation as a Cultural Revolution. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. I had high hopes for this book. First, because I’m a big fan of Derek Sayer’s other work and, secondly, because … Continue reading

Posted in Critique, Gender, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Law, Max Weber, Nation/Nationalism, Political Economy, Power, The State | Comments Off on The Great Arch