Cyrus Bina

Post-war Global Accumulation and the Transnationalisation of Capital

The authors argue that the periodisation of history of modern capitalism in conjunction with the internationalisation of circuits of social capital is a powerful tool for the analysis of transnational economy. It is shown that the postWorld War II import substitution and export-led industrialisation strategies are both a part and parcel of the internationalisation of capital. The state’s task in this highly globalised capitalist era is more complex and contradictory than in the earlier stage. The state’s role in the present period is to pursue ‘national’ policies within an increasingly transnational environment. Here the contemporary nationstate has no choice except to go beyond itself in order to meet the challenge of encroaching transnational capitalist social relations.

Competition, control and price formation in the international energy industry

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to show that, since the early 1970s, the market prices of all energy sources have been regulated by the market value of crude oil at the international level, which in turn depends upon the magnitude of individual value (or production price) of production units located within the least productive oilfields of the continental USA. Thus, historically and methodologically, the globalization of the petroleum industry together with the preponderant influence of US oil capital over other energy sources, especially its control over US coal, can be considered as, first of all, the fundamental basis of an all-embracing energy industry consisting of all sources and, second, the driving force behind the internationalization of capital in the energy industry. In this manner, the individual capitals associated with the production units belonging to traditionally autonomous industries (such as coal, oil, and natural gas industries) had to compete directly with each other regardless of the immediate use-values produced, according to the law of intra-industry rather than inter-industry competition. Here, contrary to the conventional wisdom, we argue that the control of oil capital over other energy sources that has resulted in further integration leads to further competition in the sphere of production within the entire energy industry worldwide.

The Globalization of Oil: A Prelude to a Critical Political Economy

An analytic statement requires us to analyze the statement alone in order to ascertain its truth. . . . Synthetic statements are meaningful statements which are not analytic. The physical theories that we employ to understand the Universe are always synthetic. They tell us things that can only be checked by looking at the world. They are not logically necessary. They assert something about the world, whereas analytic statements do not.

Globalization: The Epochal Imperatives and Developmental Tendencies

In this essay, an attempt has been made to situate the meaning of the contemporary globalization in the context of transnationalization of social capital and spread of its circuits beyond the nation-state. The essay begins with the transnationalization of basic forms of capital-commodity, money, and productive capital-and the evolution of their corresponding global circuits. Globalization, so defined, is a tendency to the unified and worldwide cheapening of labor power, a macro phenomenon that is otherwise known as global technological change. This has led to worldwide hegemony of social capital and the emergence of global social relations beyond the nation-state.

The Globalization of Oil

In recent memory, it does not seem an overstatement to say that no commodity has been more frequently on the public’s mind than oil. Yet oil appears to have remained enigmatic, if not ethereal, beyond the grasp of either the amateur or, for that matter, the self-styled expert. This mystical appeal could be attributable to the not-so-distant colonial history of petroleum that is still causing intrigue and captivating the public’s imagination as the old collective memories are triggered by frequent, related events. But there might be another reason that is more intricate, more counterintuitive and consequently prone to misperception; and that is the complexities surrounding the interaction of capital and the landed property (in subsoil) in its truly modern and fascinating manifestation—the query of oil rent. Hence, the flimsy and fragmented view of oil, stripped not only of its complexity but of its authenticity and evolutionary history, also adds to all this mysticism. This lack of unprejudiced perspective is precipitated also by mainstream economic theory in its doctrinaire and irredeemable manifolds; in politics and social and ideological arenas; in public funding and public policy; and in the active lobbying and media coverage it receives. Thus public perception cannot be but held hostage. Sadly, the sweeps of captivity have not left too many stones unturned: left-leaning activists and intellectuals travel on the same route. Why should then oil be without mystery?

Book Review: No War for Oil – US Dependency and the Middle East:

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Book Review: Social Change in Iran: An Eyewitness Account of Dissent, Defiance, and New Movements for Rights

Why is there an “Islamic government” in Iran, a country that had more than a century of secular, anti-imperialist movement? Why did this change occur, perhaps anachronistically, in the last decades of the twentieth century? These are the kinds of questions that presumably would remain in the background when reading the narratives and eyewitness accounts in this volume. Yet the primary purpose of this volume is the narration of “everyday life—stories of everyday people in their battle for survival, tales of young men and women fighting for happiness, . . . [together with] the words of those who are carrying the burden of [some] twenty years of an untold tragedy” (2). What tragedy, one may ask? The tragedy of “ordinary people assaulted by multiple forms of [state] violence, a ballad of people living in constant fear, anxiety, and despair” (3). Yet against all this, the author hopes to demonstrate that “the children of the Islamic Republic are creating a growing movement for tolerance, pluralism, and the right to live a free life” (3). Chapter 1 examines the 1997 landslide election of M. Khatami, a reform candidate, whose overwhelming election to the presidency of the Islamic Republic is a vote of no confidence against the foundation of the republic, the velayat-e faghih (the rule of supreme islamic jurisconsult). Against this background, Yaghmaian portrays an atmosphere of optimism, defiance, and challenge that is seemingly leading to the rise of “new” social movements for rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Chapter 2 is a narrative of state oppression, terrorism, and violence. It is also about the mass murdering of the opposition, including political figures, activists, intellectuals, and writers by covert, off-the-shelf, and unofficial state functionaries attached to the Ministry of Information in Iran. These political assassinations were headline news in the aftermath of the election of Khatami, a presumed reform-minded president of the republic. There are many personal narratives in this book. But here, tragically, the most interesting story is when the author himself was arrested while holding a late-afternoon casual conversation with a female student of his, in one of Tehran’s city parks. Yaghmaian writes, tremblingly, that he was taken into custody, insulted, beaten, searched, and then forcefully interrogated: