Category Archives: Political Economy

Political Ecology, II

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Watts, Michael J. 2000. “Political Ecology.” In A Companion to Economic Geography edited by Eric Sheppard and Trevor J. Barnes. Oxford: Blackwell. Michael Watts says that political ecology “seeks to understand the complex relations between nature and society through a … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Hegemony, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Power, Scale, Spatiality, The State | Comments Off on Political Ecology, II

Political Ecology, I

Posted on June 29, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Robbins, Paul. 2004. Political Ecology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Paul Robbins’ Political Ecology offers a sweeping and surprisingly complete overview to this exciting body of work and practice. I like the way Robbins bills it as, more than a body of … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Gender, Governmentality, Historical-Geographies, Land, Networks, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Science & Tech., The State, Violence | 3 Comments

Political Economy of Soil Erosion

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Blaikie, Piers. 1985. The Political Economy of Soil Erosion in Developing Countries. London: Longman. [Ch. 1-2] Besides the uncertainties generated by scarce, long-term measurement and the difficulty of parsing out human impacts on environmental degradation, Piers Blaikie’s classic study on … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Land, Place, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Scale, Spatiality, The State | Comments Off on Political Economy of Soil Erosion

The Invention of Capitalism

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Perelman, Michael. The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. [Intro, Ch. 1-6] Michael Perelman shows in The Invention of Capitalism how classical political economists were practically and ideologically … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Forests, Historical Materialism, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, Primitive Accumulation, The State, Violence | Comments Off on The Invention of Capitalism

Caliban and the Witch

Posted on June 28, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Federici, Silvia. 2004. Caliban and the Witch: Women, The Body, and Primitive Accumulation. Brooklyn, NY: Autonomedia. It’s become almost cliché to say that taking into account gender—and other forms of social difference—makes a real difference for how we build our … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Gender, Historical Materialism, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Marxism, Political Economy, Primitive Accumulation, Race & Ethnicity, Science & Tech., The Body, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

The New Imperialism

Posted on June 25, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

Harvey, David. 2003. The New Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. This is the last of David Harvey’s books that I’ll read (or re-read) for a while, and I’ve already reviewed some of his other books here, so I’ll pretty much … Continue reading →

Posted in David Harvey, Dialectics, Hegemony, Historical Materialism, Historical-Geographies, Karl Marx, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off on The New Imperialism

Primitive Accumulation: A Reinterpretation

Posted on June 23, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

De Angelis, Massimo. 1999. “Marx’s Theory of Primitive Accumulation: A Suggested Reinterpretation.” University of East London. Available online. De Angelis makes a distinction between those that view Marx’s “primitive accumulation” as “historical”—a one-off, big-bang of capitalism—and those that understand the … Continue reading →

Posted in Agriculture, Critique, Historical Materialism, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, Primitive Accumulation, Scale, Spatiality | Comments Off on Primitive Accumulation: A Reinterpretation

The Origin of Capitalism

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

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 →

Posted in Agriculture, Historical Materialism, Karl Marx, Land, Law, Marxism, Political Economy, Power, Spatiality | Comments Off on The Origin of Capitalism

Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

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

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Teo Ballvé

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