The days of the state as the predominant political institution of our time are numbered.
The idealistic conception of the state reached its pinnacle in the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. No political theorist since, except for Hegel perhaps, held the state in so high a regard, alas, with a religious kind of reverence, as Rousseau did. The state was for Rousseau the end-all and be-all. It trumped all other interests and concerns. As David Runciman puts it in "Why Not Eat an Eclair?" Rousseau envisaged “political life as a quintessentially collective endeavor, in which the claims of the state as a vehicle of human co-operation had to be asserted against the claims of other more partial groups, which would otherwise distort our co-operative impulses to their own ends.”…
Article comments
26 - roger nowosielski
I thought that organization and control of production was the chief distinquishing characteristic of capitalism rather than the existence of markets (although the system is particularly adept at puting markets to its own uses).
27 - troll
...organization and control of the production of surplus value more like it
28 - Les Slater
@26 - It is capital, and the strength of capital, that dictate the organization and control of production, but ultimately, it is through the market that capital is brought to bear in the way it does.
29 - roger nowosielski
Eliminate the power of capital to control the relations of production and you've dealt capitalism a major blow. I don't see why obliteratin of the market would be a required step.
30 - troll
...I imagine that it would be possible to construct a market that serves as a vehicle for transmitting information about production levels and demand without using prices...something more down to earth like how quickly the shelves in the stores empty and the number of 'customers' left wanting at the end of the day
31 - Les Slater
@30 - the 'market' you envision being possible to construct is not the 'invisible hand' of Smith nor the monster it has become. I contend it is a totally different animal that should not be labeled 'market'.
The examples of information gathering you raise could be put into a model to be automated without human intervention.
My belief is that society will have to become much more conscious of the effects of whatever mechanisms we find necessary and / or convenient and impose our democratic will directing, in a broad sense, all production of what we need, starting with most basic sustenance to the cultural and spiritual.
32 - Igor
Markets determine which company is the most successful so it can drive the weaker competitors out of business and then form a monopoly so the ascendant company monopolizes wages and can drive those down to subsistence level.
Whoopee.
33 - troll
re 31 - 1 agreed that I might better say 'market' not market as what I describe is a 'place' for distribution and not exchange
2 changing human (e)valuation [of production] would require constant political tinkering with the automata
3 "imposing our democratic will" remains a muddled and problematic process to me...probably because I live life as an anachronistic anarch and not a very classy guy
34 - roger nowosielski
A curve ball. According to David Graeber, market(s) must be sustained by the institution of the state. Can we therefore dissociate its operations and function, and neutralize it so at to serve merely as a feedback mechanism by way of providing the needed input, from the larger context?
35 - Les Slater
Curve ball? I say smoke and mirrors. It is capital, through the market, that needs and sustains the state.
36 - Les Slater
@33 - I need to clarify my 31.
Second paragraph describes a possibility. A 'However' should precede 'My belief...'.
I need also to clarify 'democratic will' as pertains to culture and spirit. I do not advocate production of culture or spirit by 'democratic will'. What I advocate is that the means to culture and spirituality be made available, including any infrastructure enabling those means.
37 - roger nowosielski
I believe the discussion is about the markets, not about retaining capitalism. I don’t regard the functionality of the former as necessarily an essential characteristic of capitalism (organization of production is). Surely there were markets aplenty before the advent of capitalism, although capitalism developed an uncanny way of controlling and manipulating markets.
38 - Les Slater
Again, it's the markets that control capitalism, not the other way around.