“Imperialism in the Anthropocene” (coauthored with Hannah Holleman and Brett Clark, Foster listed first), Monthly Review vol. 71, no. 3 (July-August 2019), pp. 70-88. DOI: 10.14452/MR-071-03-2019-07_5 [HTML] Today there can be no doubt about the main force behind our ongoing planetary emergency: the exponential growth of the capitalist world economy, particularly in the decades since […]
Late Imperialism
“Late Imperialism,” Monthly Review vol. 71, no. 3 (July-August 2019), pp. 1-19. DOI: 10.14452/MR-071-03-2019-07_1 [HTML] The globalization of production (and finance)—which emerged along with neoliberalism out of the economic stagnation of the mid–1970s and then accelerated with the demise of Soviet-type societies and China’s reintegration into the capitalist world system—has generated a more generalized monopoly […]
Metabolic Rifts and the Ecological Crisis
“Metabolic Rifts and the Ecological Crisis” (coauthored with Brett Clark and Stefano B. Longo, Clark listed first), The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019), 651-58, DOI: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190695545.001.0001. [PDF] The Oxford Handbook of Karl Marx provides an entry point for those new to Marxism. At the same time, its chapters, written by […]
Absolute Capitalism
“Absolute Capitalism,” Monthly Review vol. 71, no. 1 (May 2019), pp. 1-13. DOI: 10.14452/MR-071-01-2019-05_1 [HTML] Although neoliberalism is widely recognized as the central political-ideological project of twenty-first-century capitalism, it is a term that is seldom uttered by those in power. Behind this particular ruse lies a deeply disturbing, even hellish, reality. Neoliberalism can be defined […]
The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology
The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology, New York: Monthly Review Press. Twenty years ago, John Bellamy Foster’s Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Natureintroduced a new understanding of Karl Marx’s revolutionary ecological materialism. More than simply a study of Marx, it commenced an intellectual and social history, encompassing thinkers from Epicurus to Darwin, who developed materialist […]
Global Commodity Chains and the New Imperialism
“Global Commodity Chains and the New Imperialism” (coauthored with Intan Suwandi and R. Jamil Jonna, Foster listed last), Monthly Review vol. 70, no. 10 (March 2019): 1-24. DOI: 10.14452/MR-070-10-2019-03_1 [HTML] To comprehend twenty-first-century imperialism we must go beyond analysis of the nation-state to a systematic investigation of the increasing global reach of multinational corporations or […]
Making Space in Critical Environmental Geography for the Metabolic Rift
Marx’s concept of metabolic rift has emerged as a prominent theoretical framework with which to explain the socioecological crises of capitalism. Yet, despite its relevance to key concerns in critical environmental geography, it has remained marginal within the field. Here we address this by distinguishing between metabolic rift theory and two predominant Marxist approaches in […]
Capitalism Has Failed–What Next?
“Capitalism Has Failed—What Next?” Monthly Review vol. 70, no. 9 (February 2019), pp. 1-24. DOI: 10.14452/MR-070-09-2019-02_1 [HTML] Less than two decades into the twenty-first century, it is evident that capitalism has failed as a social system. The world is mired in economic stagnation, financialization, and the most extreme inequality in human history, accompanied by mass […]
Marx and Alienated Speciesism
“Marx and Alienated Speciesism” (coauthered with Brett Clark, Foster listed first), Monthly Review vol. 70, no. 7 (December 2018), pp. 1-20. DOI: 10.14452/MR-070-07-2018-11_1. [HTML] In many animal-rights circles, Karl Marx and a long tradition of Marxian theorists are to be faulted for their speciesist treatment of nonhuman animals and the human-nonhuman animal relationship. These criticisms […]
Value Isn’t Everything
“Value Isn’t Everything” (coauthored with Paul Burkett, Foster listed first), Monthly Review vol. 70, no. 6 (November 2018), pp. 1-17. DOI: 10.14452/MR-070-06-2018-10_1 [HTML] The rapid advances in Marxian ecology in the last two decades have given rise to extensive debates within the left, reflecting competing conceptions of theory and practice in an age of planetary […]
