Robert W. Cox, Production Power and World Order Social Forces in the Making of History. Cox, Robert W. 1987.

Production, Power, and World Order: Social Forces in the Making of History. New York: Columbia University Press. Part I: The Social Relations of Production Chapter 1: The Dimensions of Production Relations 3 fold nature of production relations y The power relations of production y the technical and human organization of the production process y the distributive consequences Power Relations y determines the what and the how of production y dominate group controls production; subordinate works under its control y Political Power is the power to control the machinery of the state or to influence the government policy y The state cannot be considered as merely the direct instrument of a dominant class. The state is an arena of class struggle, but it also comes, especially during periods of relative stability in class struggle, to embody certain general principles bearing on the regulation of production that act as a constraint on class interests narrowly conceived. The Organization of Production: Labor Allocation and Technology y The means of allocating production: o direct coercion o custom o administrative disposition o market transaction y Technology is the means of solving the practical problems of society, but what problems are to be solved and which kinds of solutions are acceptable are determined by those who hold social power y To control the production process is often determining motive in the direction of tech. dev. Distribution of the Product y distribution is between those who command and those who execute Intersubjective ideas: Ethics and Rationalities of Production y Collective images of work constitute the intersubjective meanings of production y Ethics of production characterize the quality and intensity of producers' participation in the production process. o bias favoring the dominant group Institutions y The configurations of objective and subjective factors constitutive of ech mode there corresponds a typical institutional complex. y by the mode, institutions may often be recognized, but institutions do not determine the mode y Bureaucratization of decision making

y y

o internal o external The extent of autonomy within the organization is very important to the institutional structure Types of Institutional Structures: level of autonomy o Direct Domination o Corporatist Institutionalization bureaucratizes production relations and eliminates, coopts, or controls opposition  capitalist development  redistributive development o Self-Management: rejects internal and external decision making

Chapter II: Simple Reproduction y Simple reproduction is production that reconstitutes in one cycle the elements necessary to continue production in substantially the same form during the next cycle y no transformation of the structures of production y 4 modes of social relations of production o subsistence agriculture o peasant-lord agriculture o primitive labor market o household production Subsistence y The oldest form of social production y natural economy: very little of this form of production exist today o its been unable to escape the impact of expansive political economy y The distinguishing characteristic of subsistence producers is that they are substantially outside the monetized economy and the networks of commodity exchange. Peasant-Lord y Unlike subsistence, it is the result of class structure y A dominant class extracts surplus from a subordinate class of agricultural producers y pre-capitalist civilizations y existence of some sort of state y Direct Domination y The economic power of the dominant class can hardly be distinguished from its political power Primitive-Labor Market y Existence of Labor Market o some people must become detached from the social relations governing production o practice of exchanging labor power for money y phenomenon of poor or newly industrialized countries of the Third World y greater in countries experiencing economic growth y 2 kinds of relationships o relationship with someone outside the mode of production who purchases his or her service: client

o someone within the mode who exploits, protects and insures access to income earning opportunities: pimp y downward pressure on wages and cheap services result Household y the underpinning of all other social forms of production y most deeply bedded in customary relations y no class structure y it becomes the buffer for economic crisis in that its emotional resilience can stand the strain. Chapter 3: Capitalist Development Competitive Capitalism y 2 modes of social relations were important to the transition from tribe and class based power to economy driven for the purpose of accumulation o Self-Employment o Enterprise labor market Self-Employment y depends on the existence of a market for the goods or services provided, and the existence and nature of the market is conditioned on the dominant mode y Does not require hired labor; Profit is achieved by self-exploitation Enterprise Labor Market y The transformation from wage-labor commodity production to Capitalist development proceeded along two routes. o from self-employed to using hired labor o manufactures who accumulated working capital putting cottagers who were previously self-employed to work as wage-earners y Early 19th century was the first time the state intervened to turn misplaced poor into labor power y 2 types of non-established workers o employed, when they are employed, in medium to small private enterprise o employed in big industry in semiskilled jobs: In this case non-established workers are less protected than established y There is nothing inherently capitalist in these modes of social relations of production Bipartism y consolidation of capitalist mode of development in industry y bipartite relations between organized workers and employment y In the late 19th century worker-employer conflict became institutionalized o Institutionalization of conflict is the product of hegemony. Concessions can be made to the unions with bipartism without disrupting the social order of the hegemonic class y The role of the state in bipartism cannot be underestimated, but is also limited o Sought to institutionalize labor/management disputes y Not necessarily confined to capitalist development Monopolistic Capitalism y Begins during the long depression of 1873-96 y 5 salient characteristics

concentration of capital into large corporate units dual structure of the economy: monopoly and competitive capital increased influence of banking sector increased concern of the state of reproducing capital accumulation without disrupting the system o International division of labor brought about by developed world industry investing in developing world y The state has an active agency of economic policy o Has lead to tripartism, in which the state takes on the role of consensus shaper, associating capital and organized labor in the framing and execution of economic policy. y In late industrializing countries the state place a more authoritarian role: state corporatism Enterprise Corporatism y Cause = large-scale undertaking y social integration of the corporation as a productive community y maintains stable employment conditions for established employees y corporate management and the political elite are close to one another, and corporate and state policy are closely aligned on trade, financial and industrial questions, but the state does not intervene significantly in labor matters within the corporation. y union-management relationship is symbiotic Tripartism y the state now takes a hand in shaping labor-management settlements and bringing about cooperative labor relations y further development in hegemony y line between state and economy and state and civil society became blurred y The Substantive concern of government arises for 2 main reasons o Government is itself a large employer terms of employment in public sector are affected by terms of employment in private sector o wage settlement in the private sector affect the attainment of certain social and economic policy y attempts to institutionalize decision making amongst the most powerful actors y gov is a force for procuring satisfaction for separate interests and constraining interests y presupposes 2 conditions o relative strength of the labor force o capitalist hegemony y Where organized labor has been weak, tripartism has had no durable basis: North America State Corporatism y is an attempt by political leaders to create the organization of a modern industrial state in conditions where the organizational base among employers and workers has not successfully evolved in the direction of bipartism y employer class in industry has not been able to achieve hegemony y external bureaucratization y confined to large scale industry y preemptive form of social control o o o o

Chapter 4: Redistributive Development y came to existent during the second Russian revolution during the 1930s y 2 distinctive modes of social relations of productions o communal o central planning y redistributive development was adopted by revolutionary regimes seeking to catch up with this earl capitalist development by overcoming the agricultural gap more rapidly through planned measures. y Communal and central planning modes contain 2 categories of personnel o direct producers o redistributors Communal y 2 phases in the Soviet Union o peasant-lord o enterprise-labor-market relationship y China relied upon ideology and persuasion y If they extract too much they risk destruction of agriculture, if they extract too little they risk the ability to pursue industrial development Central Planning y depends on the existence of a large, technically sophisticated, and competent bureaucracy. y Accumulation has gone through 2 historical phases o Stalinist: eminent military threat o economic expansion y social stratification based on economic status and education o top = redistributors, political elite and planning technicians o direct economic management o middle management and lower level supervision o skilled engineering and technical workers o semiskilled, unskilled y not a class structure its a hierarchy of command y The strategy of the political elite has been: o to neutralize the technological elite by according it privileged status o marginalize those elements of the humanistic elite who manifest dissidence o to court the loyalty of skilled workers and the intermediate layer of supervisors by emphasizing the corporative aspects of industrial organization and extending privileges and benefits to the upper stratum of manual workers. Part II: States, World Orders, and Production Relations y New modes of social relations become established through the exercise of state power y Historic bloc: is the configuration of social forces upon which state power ultimately exists y Revolutions are transformations within the state it self, displacing one from of state with another o take shape through political activity

y y

The organization of production is only one consequence of the national interest If internally the state-production relationship is to be seen as shaped by the nations historic bloc, externally the state is constrained by world-order pressures. o world order pressures are expressed in military and financial forms and in dominant class links with external classes

Chapter V: The Coming of the Liberal Order Modern State and the 18th Century State System y The 18th century demonstrate the purest form of the balance-of-power system y the state and the professional working army came into existence together y The need to maintain a military resulted in fiscal crisis o first Spain o Britain was able to establish fiscal control and gave them an edge over France y Mercantilism and Colonialism y Collapse of state finance triggered the events leading to the French Revolution y Historic bloc old-regime Europe can be examined through two types o Continental power state: Spain, France, and Germany o Insular State: Venice, England, and US y French Monarchy of the 17th century = the archetype of Continental State o agrarian bureaucracy y Insular State o derived its power from trade o historic bloc reflects mercantile wealth y England o the old regime historic blocs engendered contradictions that brought about changes to state, production social relations, and interstate system o mercantilist policies, states assisted the accumulation of private wealth o production of the agrarian-bureaucratic state was becoming less secure o historic bloc had little depth on the population o Contradictions to the Old World Order in forms of intellectual though, which had strong appeal to the bourgeoisies Abortive Restoration Hegemony y The old blocs of the old regimes were partially restored. y Diplomacy could not create a hegemony that had insufficient bases in society y 1822 the alliance ceased to be an effective instrument of European collective will. The Emergence of the Liberal Order y Liberal state and liberal emerged together through the establishment of bourgeois hegemony in Britain and of British hegemony n the world economy y The balance of power was the keystone of British policy y Financed the war buy borrowing from the central bank y Commercial interests demanded a return to a gold exchangeable currency as a foundation for world trade y Separation of politics from economics

the responsibility of the state was and the state system was to ensure the conditions for this open world economy while refraining from interfering with the operations of these economic agents. o politics = aristocracy o economics = bourgeoisie y End of the 19th century disrupted the liberal equilibrium and enabled states once more to challenge one another without fear of nourishing internal dissensions y Internal conflict was facilitated by domestic unity y Liberal Era permitted transformation of states toward the liberal form and expansion of the world economy o Britain's balance of power o Britain's sea power The Liberal State y 2 ways to analyze the Liberal state o ideal type: functional view of the state in relation to society and economy o explanation of the states existence: product of political struggle, and the making historic bloc y generally negative view of the state; however, the state had indispensable functions o removing economic obstructions resulting from feudalism and mercantilism o establish the conditions for free-markets in goods and labor o Ensure the soundness of money o specialization of functions and centralization of state power o mobilizing capital  direct investment by the statement and legal arrangements theat encourage private capital formation y Historic Bloc- Political struggle of how the liberal state came about o Britain  access to and exclusion from power in the state  trade unionism (1832-1836)  middle classes became pitted against the working class with the reform bill  British liberal state was hegemonic in that it diffused the great class conflict o France  Bonapartist State  liberal order with no hegemony as in Britain  small farmers  working class rejected the bourgeoisie order  state favored employers over workers o United States  relatively underdeveloped state in relation to civil society  struggle over the state was a struggle among divergent class interests to use the state for their own protection and for the advancement of their particular interests  conflict between manufacturing of the North and plantations of the South  No state autonomy and no state hegemony y

3 modes of production pitted up against eachother y balance tipped against slave economy of the planters y upper hand to wage-labor economy of northern capitalists y self-employed farmers remained a constraining force obstructing a full-fledged bourgeois hegemony. Consolidating of the Liberal World Order y liberal world order was the creation of an expansionist society y trade, emigration, and capital investment y hierarchical order: Britain was the center y reduction of tariffs (except in US) y protectionism revived 1880s and 90s y Coercion was typically not necessary, but British sea power could enforce liberal order y Stability (1848-1873) can be attributed to 3 factors o class conflict in the expansive center was not polarized o economic boom sustained gov. and undetermined revolutions o London's haute finance moderated adverse effects of recurrent payments deficits in the penetrated zones of the world economy by providing a flow of new capital y Contradictions that transformed it o self-regulating market undetermined the social fabric o generated entrenched inequalities o the maintenance of conditions for continuing capital accumulation came to conflict with requisites for legitimating the liberal order in broad public support Analytical Propositions Concerning the Transformations of Forms of State and World Orders y The form of state is the product of two configurations of forces o configuration of social class with a historic bloc o permissiveness of the world order y Class struggles leading to a transformation of states take a political form y Class conflict is the formation of historic bloc y State gives legal institutional framework for the economic practices of the economically dominant class y legal institutional framework of the autonomous state creates the basis for social relations of production y a world hegemonic order can only be established in a country where social hegemony has been or is being achieved y the hegemonic order both domestically and on a world scale separates politics from economics y hegemony, though firmly established in its centers of world orders, wears thin at its peripheries.  Chapter VI: The Era of Rival Imperialism The Transformation of the World Political Economy, The End of Hegemony y A transformation of the balance of power and the relative decline of British power y 2 consequences for state policy followed o revival of protectionism o expansionary thrust for markets and colonies

Formula to detain class conflict o nationalism o protectionism o welfare y Second Industrial Revolution o Technologies are a means of solving social problems of production o Those who have the most social power can determine which problems merit solution and which of the available means are most appropriate to their interests y Restructuring of social relations o from the workshop to the assembly line o Taylorism: significant change or the management of production  greatly strengthened managements power over labor  semi-skilled labor o the state had very little to do with the restructuring; innovation of capital y 2 projects o national economic planning or state capitalism and corporatism o the alignment of worker with employer interests in harmonized state policy  joined with a third y social protection in the west y welfare nationalist state y Western Europe took the form of Tripartism y 2 alternatives to tripartism o Bolshevik central planning o Fascism The Welfare Nationalist State y was a transformation of the liberal state in which the essence of the liberal state as guardian of the market and of the principle of private property in the means of production was preserved y state supplemented for the negative effects of the market y Keynesian policy y the state reacted to the market; it neither replaced the maket nor subordinated the market to politically determined goals y monopoly, competitive, and state sectors gave the welfare-nationalist state leverage to promote the organization of the economy. y states and markets are coordinated by consensus, not by authority y corporate welfare y 2 tier-system o privileged corporate welfare system supported by the state for the top level o and a basic social security administered by the state for the rest y World War I marked a transition from state intervention to state run economies y Fear of spread of Bolschevik; however, it was contained through a historic bloc tripartism entente of state, industry, and trade union leadership y Germany = work counsels were created y corporatists strategies of the late wartime and early postwar periods in Britain and Germany were responses by state and employers to a worker offensive y

postwar bourgeoisie hegemony: effective leadership of the other classes, including the leading elements of the working class itself. The Fascist Corporative State y Born in Italy when capitalist corporatism failed to become established after World War I y state corporatism y obligation to state y biased in favor of employer y 3 historical specificities o emergence of popular forces hat had hitherto not participated in political life, but in a manner in which these forces had no coherence, leadership, or direction; o alienation from the political system of the petty-bourgeoisie or middle classes o polarization of employers and workers and their respective allies such that neither side could effectively lead and society appeared to be headed for a catastrophic conflict y maintained bourgeois order in two stages o only in Italy o in both Italy and Germany y Fascism = result of crisis of hegemony o The bourgeoisie has either not attained or is in danger of losing its hegemony, and no counterhegemonic power based in the working class is able to displace it o ripe for Ceasarism The Redistributed Party Commanded State y