- First World War, Nationalism, International Relations Theory, Historiography, Imperialism, Gramsci, and 16 moreUneven and Combined Development, Trotsky, L.D., Bourgeois Revolution, Scottish History, Neoliberalism, Marxism, Geopolitics, Communism, Capitalism, Slavery, American Civil War, Commemoration and Memory, Scotland, Scottish Culture, Stalinism, and Sociologyedit
- Lecturer in Sociology at the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Glasgowedit
Since the 1990s there has been an upsurge of academic interest in Trotsky's concept of uneven and combined development, but relatively little attention has been paid to its intellectual antecedents. This first of two articles will... more
Since the 1990s there has been an upsurge of academic interest in Trotsky's concept of uneven and combined development, but relatively little attention has been paid to its intellectual antecedents. This first of two articles will reconstruct the sources and components of uneven and combined development, in particular the strategy of permanent revolution, the conditions for which it was intended as an explanation, and the theory of uneven development, which Trotsky had to extend in order to provide that explanation. The article moves between the concepts of permanent revolution and uneven development, tracing their historical development from emergence in the eighteenth century until the era of the first Russian Revolution. By this point a relationship between the two had begun to be established by Marxists on the centre and left of the Second International, and in turn made possible the formulation of the " law " of uneven and combined development, which will be discussed in the second article.
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This article examines the contradictory relationship between neoliberalism and the politics of the far-right. It seeks to identify and explain the divergence of the 'economic' and the social/ cultural spheres under neoliberalism (notably... more
This article examines the contradictory relationship between neoliberalism and the politics of the far-right. It seeks to identify and explain the divergence of the 'economic' and the social/ cultural spheres under neoliberalism (notably in articulations of race and class and the 'politics of whiteness') and how such developments play out in the politics of the contemporary far-right. We also seek to examine the degree to which the politics of the far-right pose problems for the consolidation and long-term stabilization of neoliberalism, through acting as a populist source of pressure on the conservative-right and tapping into sources of alienation amongst déclassé social layers. Finally, we locate the politics of the far-right within the broader atrophying of political representation and accountability of the neoliberal era with respect to the institutional and legal organization of neoliberalism at the international level, as most obviously highlighted in the ongoing crisis of the EU and Eurozone.
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Since the world system emerged in the mid-19th century, the stages of capitalist development have all been initiated by economic crises. But unlike the crises of 1873, 1929 or 1973, that of 2007 did not signal the end of the neoliberal... more
Since the world system emerged in the mid-19th century, the stages of capitalist development have all been initiated by economic crises. But unlike the crises of 1873, 1929 or 1973, that of 2007 did not signal the end of the neoliberal stage, but rather its continuation in more extreme forms. This break in the previous pattern requires us to periodize neoliberalism itself and understand how the cumulative effect of the policies implemented during the 'vanguard' and 'social' periods prepared the way for the current 'crisis' period, by restricting the options available to political and state managerial representatives of capital. By reorganizing political economy in such a way that states respond to short-term demands by key sectors of capital rather than the needs of the system as a whole, neoliberalism has inadvertently undermined the accumulation process, producing permanent 'states of exception' as the only means of containing the resulting social crisis.
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Research Interests: Nationalism, Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin, Nations and nationalism, Catalonia, and 7 moreInternational Human Rights and the Rights of Peoples (Nationalism, Self Determination, Secession), Scotland, Marxism and the national question, Scottish Independence, Catalonia Independence, Scottish Constitutional Law and Independence, and Scottish independence referendum
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Review of James A Harris, Hume: An Intellectual Biography
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Research Interests: Nationalism and Scotland
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Research Interests: Modern History, Comparative Politics, International Relations, Historical Sociology, International Relations Theory, and 20 moreMarxism, Race and Racism, Fascism, Neo-Fascism, Nationalism, Second World War, Gramsci, First World War, Critical international political economy, Antonio Gramsci, Uneven and Combined Development, Annales school, Modern European History, Imperialism, World Politics, far-right politics Europe, Extreme and Far Right, Longue durée, Historical and Comparative Sociology, and Colonialism and Imperialism
CONTENTS 1. The Trouble with “Ethnicity” 2. What is National Consciousness? 3. From National Consciousness to Nationalism 4. Marxism and Nationhood: Two Replies to John Foster 4.1 Stalinism, “Nation Theory,” and Scottish... more
CONTENTS
1. The Trouble with “Ethnicity”
2. What is National Consciousness?
3. From National Consciousness to Nationalism
4. Marxism and Nationhood: Two Replies to John Foster
4.1 Stalinism, “Nation Theory,” and Scottish History
4.2 The Public Memoirs and Confessions of an Unconscious Weberian
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5. Enlightenment and Anti-capitalism
6. Islam and Enlightenment
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7. The Necessity of Multiple Nation-states for Capital
8. Far-right Social Movements as a Problem for Capital
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9. A Scottish Watershed
1. The Trouble with “Ethnicity”
2. What is National Consciousness?
3. From National Consciousness to Nationalism
4. Marxism and Nationhood: Two Replies to John Foster
4.1 Stalinism, “Nation Theory,” and Scottish History
4.2 The Public Memoirs and Confessions of an Unconscious Weberian
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5. Enlightenment and Anti-capitalism
6. Islam and Enlightenment
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7. The Necessity of Multiple Nation-states for Capital
8. Far-right Social Movements as a Problem for Capital
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9. A Scottish Watershed
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Neil Davidson explores classic themes of nation, state, and revolution in this collection of essays. Ranging from the extent to which nationalism can be a component of led-wing politics to the difference between bourgeois and socialist... more
Neil Davidson explores classic themes of nation, state, and revolution in this collection of essays. Ranging from the extent to which nationalism can be a component of led-wing politics to the difference between bourgeois and socialist revolutions, the book concludes with an extended discussion of the different meanings history has for conservatives, radicals, and Marxists.
Contents:
1. How Revolutionary were the Bourgeois Revolutions?
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2. Asiatic, Tributary or Absolutist? A Comment on Chris Harman’s “The Rise of Capitalism.”
3. Centuries of Transition: Chris Wickham on the Feudal Revolution
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4. Scotland: Birthplace of Passive Revolution?
5. The French Revolution is Not Over: Henry Heller on France, 1789-1815
6. The American Civil War Considered as a Bourgeois Revolution
7. When History Failed to Turn: Pierre Broué on the German Revolution
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8. From Uneven to Combined Development
9. China: Unevenness, Combination, Revolution?
10. Third World Revolution
11. From Deflected Permanent Revolution to the Law of Uneven and Combined Development
12. Revolutions in Theory and History: a Reply to Alex Callinicos and Donny Gluckstein
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Afterword: We Cannot Escape History
Contents:
1. How Revolutionary were the Bourgeois Revolutions?
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2. Asiatic, Tributary or Absolutist? A Comment on Chris Harman’s “The Rise of Capitalism.”
3. Centuries of Transition: Chris Wickham on the Feudal Revolution
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4. Scotland: Birthplace of Passive Revolution?
5. The French Revolution is Not Over: Henry Heller on France, 1789-1815
6. The American Civil War Considered as a Bourgeois Revolution
7. When History Failed to Turn: Pierre Broué on the German Revolution
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8. From Uneven to Combined Development
9. China: Unevenness, Combination, Revolution?
10. Third World Revolution
11. From Deflected Permanent Revolution to the Law of Uneven and Combined Development
12. Revolutions in Theory and History: a Reply to Alex Callinicos and Donny Gluckstein
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Afterword: We Cannot Escape History
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This book of essays by Deutscher Prize–winning historian Neil Davidson insightfully explores themes running through historical materialism to show how Marxism can retain a sense of historical tradition without becoming fossilized.... more
This book of essays by Deutscher Prize–winning historian Neil Davidson insightfully explores themes running through historical materialism to show how Marxism can retain a sense of historical tradition without becoming fossilized. Examining classical and contemporary figures, subjects range from Naomi Klein's view of Neoliberalism to Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels's views on Scotland.
Contents:
1. Tom Nairn and the Inevitability of Nationalism
2. Marx and Engels on the Scottish Highlands
3. The Prophet, His Biographer, and the Watchtower: Isaac Deutscher’s Biography of Leon Trotsky
4. There’s No Place like America Today: Victor Kiernan and Neil Smith on US Imperialism
5. Carnival, March, Riot: David Renton on the Anti-Nazi League
6. Alasdair MacIntyre as a Marxist
7. Reimagined Communities: Benedict Anderson’s Theory of Nationalism
8. Walter Benjamin and the Classical Marxist Tradition
9. Shock and Awe: Naomi Klein’s Interpretation of Neoliberalism
10. Antonio Gramsci’s Reception in Scotland
11. Women and the Lost World of Scottish Communism: Neil Rafeek’s Communist Women in Scotland
12. Eric Hobsbawm’s unanswered Question
13. The Posthumous Adventures of Adam Smith
Contents:
1. Tom Nairn and the Inevitability of Nationalism
2. Marx and Engels on the Scottish Highlands
3. The Prophet, His Biographer, and the Watchtower: Isaac Deutscher’s Biography of Leon Trotsky
4. There’s No Place like America Today: Victor Kiernan and Neil Smith on US Imperialism
5. Carnival, March, Riot: David Renton on the Anti-Nazi League
6. Alasdair MacIntyre as a Marxist
7. Reimagined Communities: Benedict Anderson’s Theory of Nationalism
8. Walter Benjamin and the Classical Marxist Tradition
9. Shock and Awe: Naomi Klein’s Interpretation of Neoliberalism
10. Antonio Gramsci’s Reception in Scotland
11. Women and the Lost World of Scottish Communism: Neil Rafeek’s Communist Women in Scotland
12. Eric Hobsbawm’s unanswered Question
13. The Posthumous Adventures of Adam Smith
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Once of central importance to left historians and activists alike, recently the concept of the “bourgeois revolution” has come in for sustained criticism from both Marxists and conservatives. In this comprehensive rejoinder, Neil Davidson... more
Once of central importance to left historians and activists alike, recently the concept of the “bourgeois revolution” has come in for sustained criticism from both Marxists and conservatives. In this comprehensive rejoinder, Neil Davidson seeks to answer the question “how revolutionary were the bourgeois revolutions” by systematically examining the approach taken by a wide range of thinkers to explaining the causes, outcomes, and content of the French, English, Dutch, and other revolutions. Through far reaching research and comprehensive analysis, Davidson demonstrates that what's at stake is far from a stale issue for the history books – understanding these struggles of the past offer far reaching lessons for today's radicals.
Contents:
A Note on the Reproductions
Preface
Part One: Prehistory; Insights and Limitations
1 The Concept of “Revolution”: From Tradition to Modernity
2 Interpreting the English Revolutions: Hobbes, Harrington, and Locke
3 Stages of Development: French Physiocrats and the Scottish Historical School
4 The American Theory of Political Revolution
5 The Contradictions of the French Revolution (1): Barnave and His Contemporaries
6 The Contradictions of the French Revolution (2): Burke and His Critics
7 The Bourgeoisie and the Concept of Social Revolution: From Consolidation to Abdication
Part Two: Origins, Developments, Orthodoxy
8 Marx and Engels (1): Between Enlightenment and Historical Materialism, 1843–47
9 Marx and Engels (2): The Bourgeois Revolution in Theory and Practice, 1847–52
10 Marx and Engels (3): Transitions, Revolutions, and Agency after 1852
11 Classical Marxism (1) 1889–1905: Bourgeois Revolution in the Social Democratic Worldview
12 Classical Marxism (2) 1905–24: The Russian Crucible
13 The Emergence of Orthodoxy: 1924–40
14 Classical Marxism (3) 1924–40: Rethinking Bourgeois Revolution—Strategy, History, Tradition
Part Three: Revisions, Reconstructions, Alternatives
15 Revisionism: The Bourgeois Revolutions Did Not Take Place
16 From Society to Politics; from Event to Process
17 “The Capitalist World System”
18 “Capitalist Social Property Relations”
19 “Consequentialism”
Part Four: The Specificity of the Bourgeois Revolutions
20 Between Two Social Revolutions
21 Preconditions for an Era of Bourgeois Revolution
22 Patterns of Consummation
Epilogue: Reflections in a Scottish Cemetery
Contents:
A Note on the Reproductions
Preface
Part One: Prehistory; Insights and Limitations
1 The Concept of “Revolution”: From Tradition to Modernity
2 Interpreting the English Revolutions: Hobbes, Harrington, and Locke
3 Stages of Development: French Physiocrats and the Scottish Historical School
4 The American Theory of Political Revolution
5 The Contradictions of the French Revolution (1): Barnave and His Contemporaries
6 The Contradictions of the French Revolution (2): Burke and His Critics
7 The Bourgeoisie and the Concept of Social Revolution: From Consolidation to Abdication
Part Two: Origins, Developments, Orthodoxy
8 Marx and Engels (1): Between Enlightenment and Historical Materialism, 1843–47
9 Marx and Engels (2): The Bourgeois Revolution in Theory and Practice, 1847–52
10 Marx and Engels (3): Transitions, Revolutions, and Agency after 1852
11 Classical Marxism (1) 1889–1905: Bourgeois Revolution in the Social Democratic Worldview
12 Classical Marxism (2) 1905–24: The Russian Crucible
13 The Emergence of Orthodoxy: 1924–40
14 Classical Marxism (3) 1924–40: Rethinking Bourgeois Revolution—Strategy, History, Tradition
Part Three: Revisions, Reconstructions, Alternatives
15 Revisionism: The Bourgeois Revolutions Did Not Take Place
16 From Society to Politics; from Event to Process
17 “The Capitalist World System”
18 “Capitalist Social Property Relations”
19 “Consequentialism”
Part Four: The Specificity of the Bourgeois Revolutions
20 Between Two Social Revolutions
21 Preconditions for an Era of Bourgeois Revolution
22 Patterns of Consummation
Epilogue: Reflections in a Scottish Cemetery