The Cordon Sanitaire

A Single Law Governing Development in East Asia and the Arab World

verfasst von: Ali Kadri

Verlag: Springer Singapore

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" , Springer Professional "Technik"

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This work compares the development experiences of East Asia and the Arab world. It posits that in view of the collapse in socialism and its ideological retreat, their development performances are intensely over determined by their modes of integration with world capital. For East Asia, it's through manufacturing of civilian-end use commodities and for the Arab World, through militarism. The book is a unique attempt approaching the topic from the theoretical angle using an analytical comparative perspective.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction and Background

Abstract

This chapter introduces the objective, which is to compare the development of the Arab World and East Asia and posits that development occurs in the shadow of a cordon sanitaire strategically serving the security concerns of US-led imperialism. It tackles the problem of East Asia and the Arab World as representing two cases of imperilist practice and their corresponding policies leading to different developments. It concludes that the way to approach comparatives is not by spotting the infinite heterogeneity of actuality so that no conclusions can be drawn. It stresses that the apparent parallels or departures between the development courses of the Arab World and East Asia are not the result of good or bad capitalism, because there is only one capitalism whose practice of the law of value assumes different measures of repression reducing the value of labour power way below the wages paid out to the working class. Unless the comparative is posited in terms of class history as the practice of the law of value, all comparisons would be confined to an epiphenomenon in which only differences are the rule.

Ali Kadri

Chapter 2. The Higher Rates of Surplus Value Through Commercial Exploitation

Abstract

This chapter argues that surplus value creation in the Arab world, which is integrated with world capital via militarism, is higher than East Asia’s, which is integrated via super-exploitation. The Arab world exhibits higher rates of surplus value creation relative to its population because the rate of premature elimination of human lives in war is a far higher rate of surplus value creation than that of the slow consumption of labour power in East Asian sweatshops. In the actuality of production morphed into the class struggle and war, the notions of productive and unproductive labour are internalized and negated and value is that portion of total labour consumed in production. The premature extinguishing of lives in war as production, albeit of waste, is an accelerated form of the consumption of total labour power available to society.

Ali Kadri

Chapter 3. Development in the Shadow of Imperialism

Abstract

This chapter investigates development in the shadow of imperialism. Asian and Arab worlds are similar in their fundamental social relationship, capital, but dissimilar in what they have become because of shifting class and power relations or their respective mode of integration with the global economy. Each case of development can be attributed to the specificity of the development/security nexus triggered by an imperialism pursuing its interests. Unlike EA where inter-imperialist entente lengthens the time horizon amenable to long term gestating and productive capital formation, the Arab security/development nexus not only absorbs the central economic surplus, but also reinforces commercial exploitation and under-valorisation in price terms a whole range of third world resources and inputs. War is not only about the destruction of assets, it is also the social relationship organising the reproduction of these assets during and after the conflict, especially the sustainability of the reconstruction effort through shifting ideological and institutional reorganisation patterns. This chapter will discuss the primacy of imperialism, its logical precedence and power over history, and how its practice makes or breaks development.

Ali Kadri

Chapter 4. Security and Economic Development

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship of security and economic development in East Asia and the Arab world. Economic development derives from and drives security. Security, the totality in which communal and democratic securities accrue to the working class, is itself based upon a complex international flux in class relations that furnishes cover for national security. The unshakable weight of history or of USA’s capital command of history, which has the capacity to mobilise huge resources in Marshall Plan-like projects, is also mirrored in its capacity to maintain the global imbalances. Some relatively secure countries do not necessarily develop and others develop as a response to insecurity; but few if any can accomplish what the imperialistically tied states of EA have done in joining the rich club. This chapter reasserts the point that their development is part and parcels of the USA’s imperialist reach.

Ali Kadri

Chapter 5. The Rise of China and the Potential for East Asian Collapse

Abstract

This chapter looks into the rise of China and the potential for East Asian collapse. China’s steady growth and real, as opposed to financial wealth acquisition, is shaking the foundations of American empire. The possibility of a transition to a different plateau of balance of forces globally is receiving tremendous attention in the mainstream literature. There are two theoretical points one can rely on in investigating the implications of China’s ascent. First, no such transition under capitalism can occur without violence, ranging from proxy wars to immediate confrontation. Second, it is only the strength of an anti-war working class alliance in EA, China and across the globe that could temper the degree of violence. Violence may drain the resources of East Asia sapping its past developmental achievements. I conclude with a summary of the relevant theoretical points encountered in this work.

Ali Kadri

Backmatter

Titel: The Cordon Sanitaire
verfasst von: Ali Kadri
Verlag: Springer Singapore
Electronic ISBN: 978-981-10-4822-7
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-4821-0
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4822-7

Springer Professional

Über dieses Buch

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Introduction and Background

Chapter 2. The Higher Rates of Surplus Value Through Commercial Exploitation

Chapter 3. Development in the Shadow of Imperialism

Chapter 4. Security and Economic Development

Chapter 5. The Rise of China and the Potential for East Asian Collapse

Backmatter

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