282/YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE!
by the large transnational Industrial groups. Today this is clearly no
longer sufficient. The 'globalisation of theeconomy' (Adda, 1996) or
more precisely, 'the globalisation of capital' (Chesnais, 1994) must
now be seen as more than just another phase in the process of the
internationalisation of capital begun over a century ago - or even as
something quite different. We are dealing here with specific and
important new modes of behaviour in world capitalism, and to reach
a better understanding of what is taking place, we must examine the
underlying mechanisms and trends. Points of departure from the
functioning of the main economies, inside or outside the OECD, need
to be considered as a whole, on the hypothesis that they are probably
part of a single system. My own opinion is that they reflect the
passage into a new phase of imperialism (in the terms of the theory
of imperialism developed by the left wing of the Second International
almost a century ago), which differs greatly from the one in force
between the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the
1980s. In the hope that a better description will soon be found
through discussion and, if necessary, heated debate, I refer rather
awkwardly to this new phase as 'the global regime of accumulation
mainly through finance'. The differentiation and hierarchisation of
the contemporary world economy on a planetary scale is as much
the result of concentrated capital operations as of the political rela
tionships of dominance and dependency between states, whose role
is by no means diminished, however much the configuration and
mechanisms of that dominance have been modified. The origin of
'the global regime of accumulation mainly through finance' is both
political and economic. It is only in the neo-liberal jargon that the
state is 'outside' the 'market'. The present triumph of the 'market'
would have been impossible without the repeated political interven
tions of the political institutions of the strongest capitalist states
(starting with the members of the G7). This freedom has enabled
industrial capital, and even more, financial capital, both made
respectable as 'money', to spread their wings as never before since
- Of course this freedom is also founded on the strength
regained after the long period of uninterrupted accumulation of the
'boom years' (1950s, 1960s, 1970s) - probably the longest of the
entire history of capitalism. But capital could never have achieved its
ends without the success of the 'conservative revolution' at the end
of the 19 70s.