Capitalism in Crisis? The populist war against International Global Capitalism and its Implications

• In Event: Crime, Law, Justice and the Trump Administration 2: American Autocracy in the Making?

Abstract

Recent developments suggest the emergence of a rift in the global capitalist order between those who support an “enlightened,” long term approach to ensure the survival and growth of capital, and those who would revert to its 19th Century “robber baron” form. Is the US national capitalist class, still the world’s most powerful, in conflict with the international capitalist class? This paper, first of all, documents the threats facing the global capitalist class order by examining the official discourses of leaders of organizations such as the OECD, the World Bank, in comparison to those of Donald Trump and his representatives. What are these international bodies doing to retain their power? Is there evidence of resistance to Trump policies in these spaces? Secondly, it asks what this means for critical theories of capital. If regulation is necessary for capitalism to maintain the consent of the governed, as many have argued, how do we explain the current populist turn by, arguably, the world’s most powerful capitalist state? Can identity politics, fear of the other and hatred of “government” whipped up by Fox News, X and Meta algorithms defuse anger over increasing economic deprivation and exploitation?

Authors

• Laureen Snider, Queen's University

• Steven Bittle, University of Ottawa

• John Frauley, University of Ottawa