2009 Volume 61 Issue 1 Pages 23-38
This paper aims to critically examine Harvey’s approach to the role of the state in capital accumulation through his conceptualization of ‘accumulation by dispossession’ and ‘territorial logics of power’ in The New Imperialism, comparing it to his former arguments in The Limits to Capital, and suggests recent multiscalar approaches as a possible way to complement Harvey’s state-centric approach in these works.
In The New Imperialism, Harvey argues that ‘accumulation by dispossession’ is a new accumulation regime that has been imposed by states by way of privatization and financialization in order to overcome the tendencies toward over-accumulation crises since the 1970s. In doing so, Harvey stresses the central role of the state in coordinating new forms of ‘accumulation by dispossession,’ forming alliances with finance capital and international institutions.
In comparison to his conceptualization of the state in The Limits to Capital, Harvey tends to overstress the centrality of the hegemonic states, especially the US, as orchestrator of emergent forms of dispossessive accumulation in peripheries as well as core countries. Meanwhile, accumulation dynamics at sub-national scales and the roles of non-hegemonic states in capitalist accumulation have been under-theorized. The paper suggests that recent multiscalar approaches may present one way to correct this omission.
