New Directions in Comparative Capitalisms Research Critical and Global Perspectives

For at least a decade, scholarship on capitalist diversity was inextricably associated with the emblematic 'Varieties of Capitalism' perspective. However, the subsequent debate has exposed the manifold flaws of this approach, flaws that the global economic crisis after 2008 has made ever more obvious. Comparative political economists are therefore searching for new directions in Comparative Capitalisms research in order to come to terms with the multi-faceted reality of contemporary capitalism. While some do so through a renewal of institutionalist theory, others seek to (re-)introduce critical – including neo-Marxist, feminist and post/decolonial – perspectives. This collection presents the first sustained dialogue between these post-VoC and critical approaches, one that engages both long-standing protagonists in debates on capitalist diversity and a younger generation of scholars, from Europe and the Americas. Its main objective is that of contributing to the development of a new generation of Comparative Capitalisms scholarship.

Matthias Ebenau is Union Lecturer in Business and Political Economy, working for Germany's metal workers' union IG Metall. He has studied, taught and researched at universities in Germany, the UK and Argentina and has published widely on topics related to capitalist diversity.

Ian Bruff is Lecturer in European Politics at the University of Manchester, UK. He has published widely on European varieties of capitalism, neoliberalism, and social (especially historical materialist) theory. He is currently researching the political economy of neoliberalism in Europe.

Christian May is Research Fellow in International Political Economy at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His current research focuses on theories of comparative capitalisms and the diversity of capitalism in the Global South.

Introduction: Comparative Capitalisms Research and the Emergence of Critical, Global Perspectives; Matthias Ebenau, Ian Bruff and Christian May
PART I: COMPARING CAPITALISMS IN THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY
1. Varieties of Capitalism and 'the Great Moderation'; David Coates
2. Fault and Fracture? The Impact of New Directions in Comparative Capitalisms Research on the Wider Field; Ian Bruff, Matthias Ebenau and Christian May
3. Directions and Debates in the Globalization of Comparative Capitalisms Research; Matthias Ebenau
PART II: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES AND DEBATES
4. Comparative Capitalisms and/or Variegated Capitalism; Bob Jessop
5. Critical Institutionalism in Comparative Capitalisms Research: Conceptual Considerations and Research Programme; Christian May and Andreas Nölke
6. Gender Inequalities in the Crisis of Capitalism: Spain and France Compared; Julia Lux and Stefanie Wöhl
7. Social Structures of Accumulation: A Marxist Comparison of Capitalisms?; Terrence McDonough
8. Entangled Modernity and the Study of Variegated Capitalism: Some Suggestions for a Postcolonial Research Agenda; Ingrid Wehr
PART III: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES AND DEBATES
9. Putting Comparative Capitalisms Research in its Place: Varieties of Capitalism in Transition Economies; Jan Drahokoupil and Martin Myant
10. State-Business-Labour Relations and Patterns of Development in Latin America; Flavio Gaitán and Renato Boschi
11. All Varieties are Equal…Contributions from Dependency Approaches to Critical Comparative Capitalisms Research; Lucía Suau Arinci, Nadia Pessina and Matthias Ebenau
12. Decolonizing the Study of Capitalist Diversity: Epistemic Disruption and the Varied Geographies of Coloniality; Lisa Tilley
Conclusion: Towards a Critical, Global Comparative Political Economy; Christian May, Matthias Ebenau and Ian Bruff