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Spaces of Global Capitalism

Towards A Theory of Uneven Geographical Development

By David Harvey

(3)

| Paperback | 9781844675500

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Book Description

Fiscal crises have cascaded across much of the developing world with devastating results, from Mexico to Indonesia, Russia and Argentina. The extreme volatility in contemporary political economic fortunes seems to mock our best efforts to understand the forces that drive development in the world ecoContinue

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Class Relations, Uneven Development, Space.

The book is divided in three parts, each focused on a distinct aspect of Harvey's thought. The first part seeks to underline the class element of the neoliberal turn happened in the early seventies and currently reaching -in the author's view- its own peak. Indeed, the elightening insight about New ... (continue)

The book is divided in three parts, each focused on a distinct aspect of Harvey's thought. The first part seeks to underline the class element of the neoliberal turn happened in the early seventies and currently reaching -in the author's view- its own peak. Indeed, the elightening insight about New York fiscal crisis on 1975 offers an usefull element of comparison towards a sincerely marxist understanding of the current crisis. Harvey underlines that neoliberalism has always been about the restoration of class power, and the argument than moves on to explain the great amount of different conditions under which this structural re-configuration occurred and the vast diversity of political solutions it expressed through the concept of uneven geographical development.
Consequently, the second part is entirely dedicated to a clear, solid theoretical deployment of the uneven geographical development concept. There, many remindings of past works like The urban experience take place.
The last essay carries on the theoretical climax, moving straight to the philosophical ground. The title is Space as a key word and early works are present aswell. Reflecting on Lefebvre's thought, Harvey attempts a sort of analytical, non-positivist systematisation of the spatial category, dissected in his multiple elements (absolute, relative and relational) with an extraordinary balancing capacity. The historical-materialist method is used in a very pragmatic and politically relevant way, thus avoiding the organicistic, philosophical fallacy.
A fertile starting point for any attempt to link classical marxian theory with urbanism, human geography, international relations and world politics.

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