“Book Descriptions: First published in 1988, this book has acquired new relevance in the wake of the global financial crisis. This important book focuses on the fundamental theoretical and political issue of the relationship between money and the state raised by the crisis of Keynesianism and the rise of monetarism. Simon Clarke starts with the classical political economists' analysis of the state based on their view of money as the only acceptable form of capitalist regulation. He then draws on Marx’s critique of the classical theory of money to develop an analysis of the tendency to the overaccumulation of capital, which underlies the permanence of class struggle and monetary disturbances. He then analyses the liberal form of the capitalist state, which determines the manner in which crises appear politically and ideologically at the level of the state, and whose contradictory form defines the nature and limits of state intervention. This argument is developed through an historical analysis of the rise of the modern state, leading to an original account of the crisis of Keynesianism and the rise of monetarism. The conclusion outlines the implications of the analysis, highlighting the limits of monetarism, the crisis of social democracy and the future of socialism. The book makes a major original contribution to contemporary academic and political debate.
'Keynesianism, Monetarism and the Crisis of the State is well and clearly written. It makes a significant contribution and is particularly useful as an historical account of monetary policy in relation to various economic theories' Tom Bottomore, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex 'Simon Clarke's penetrating analysis strips off the ideological masks of contemporary capitalism, to show the continuing relevance of a Marxist historical approach to understanding the political and economic crisis of capitalism, and to establish the urgent necessity or a socialist and internationalist solution' Peter Guttkind, Former Professor of Sociology, McGill University, Canada 'A very coherent and well-argued book which provides powerful criticism of current writing on the state and the theory crisis, and offers a compelling new perspective' Andrew Gamble, Professor of Politics, University of Sheffield.” DRIVE