Leo Panitch on his book ""The Making of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy of American Empire"

Leo Panitch is a Distinguished Research Professor, political economist, Marxist theorist and editor of the Socialist Register.

In this interview Leo Panitch discusses "The Making of Global Capitalism" and the intimate relationship between modern capitalism and the American state, including its role as an “informal empire” promoting free trade and capital movements. He also discusses how the US has superintended the restructuring of other states in favor of competitive markets and coordinated the management of increasingly frequent financial crises.

The Making of Global Capitalism, through its highly original analysis of the first great economic crisis of the twenty-first century, identifies the centrality of the social conflicts that occur within states rather than between them. These emerging fault lines hold out the possibility of new political movements transforming nation states and transcending global markets.