Transnational Capital and Class Fractions The Amsterdam School Perspective Reconsidered

Emerging in the late 1970s, the Amsterdam School’s (AS) most distinctive contribution to international political economy was the systematic incorporation of the Marxian concept of capital fractions into the study of international politics. Contending that politics in advanced capitalist countries takes place in a fundamentally transnationalized space in which the distinction between ‘domestic’ and ‘international’ has blurred, it shows how in this space, politics is structured by competing comprehensive concepts of control. Presenting a concise and instructive introduction to the origins, development and significance of this distinct approach, this book provides a unique overview of the School’s contemporary significance for the field. Offering a new generation of critical scholars the opportunity to become acquainted at first hand with some of the contributions that have shaped the work of the AS, the contributions present critical commentaries, discussing the merits and shortcomings of the AS from a variety of perspectives, and undertake a (self-) critical evaluation of the current place and value of the AS framework in the broader landscape of approaches to the study of contemporary capitalism. Written for scholars and students alike, it will be of interest to those working in international political economy, international relations and political science, political sociology, European studies and branches of academic economics such as regulation theory and institutional economics.

Introduction - Political economy, capital fractions, transnational class formation: The intellectual pedigree of the Amsterdam School Henk Overbeek Part I The Amsterdam School: Key contributions 1 The Dutch bourgeoisie between the two world wars (1979) Ries Bode 2 Class formation at the international level (1979) Kees Van Der Pijl 3 Finance capital and the crisis in Britain (1980) Henk Overbeek 4 The international corporate elite (1982) Meindert Fennema 5 Transnational class agency and European governance: The case of the European Round Table of Industrialists (2000) Bastiaan Van Apeldoorn 6 Asymmetrical regulation and multidimensional governance in the European Union (2004) Otto Holman Part II Critical commentaries 7 Class fractions and hegemonic concepts of control Andreas Bieler and Adam Morton 8 Losing control? The Amsterdam School travels East Dorothee Bohle 9 The Amsterdam School and its implications for Chinese scholars Bai Yunzhen 10 Reconsidering the ‘dangerous liaisons’ between China and neoliberalism and its impact in Latin America and Caribbean countries Leonardo Ramos and Javier Vadell 11 Saying Goodbye? Tracing my itinerary from Amsterdam to Beijing Naná De Graaff 12 Reflections on the Amsterdam School and the transnational capitalist class William K. Carroll 13 Theories of imperialism: Rivalries and unity Alan Cafruny and Magnus Ryner 14 Nationalist populism within the Lockean heartland Hans-Jürgen Bieling 15 Out of Amsterdam! Beyond the boundaries of (transnational) capitalist class formation Laura Horn and Angela Wigger 16 The Amsterdam School: Gender as a blind spot? Marianne H. Marchand 17 The Amsterdam School, critical realism and the study of ‘deep structures’ Hubert Buch-Hansen and Juan Ignacio Staricco 18 Confronting global governance after the historical turn in IR Samuel Knafo 19 Network analysis and the Amsterdam School: An unfulfilled promise? Eelke M. Heemskerk PART III The Amsterdam School and the Political Economy of Contemporary Capitalism 20 A transnational analysis of the current crisis Kees Van Der Pijl 21 Putting the Amsterdam School in its place Bob Jessop

Bob Jessop is Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Co-Director of the Cultural Political Economy Research Centre at Lancaster University. Henk Overbeek is Emeritus Professor of International Relations. He has taught international relations and international political economy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam since 1999.