Globalization and the Permanent Process of Primitive Accumulation: The Example of the MAI, the Multilateral Agreement on Investment

• Main Author: Claudia von Werlhof
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University Library System, University of Pittsburgh 2015-08-01
• Series: Journal of World-Systems Research
• Online Access: http://jwsr.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/jwsr/article/view/199

At the 1985 annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Washington, I had, at the invitation of Immanuel Wallerstein, the opportunity to present my theses on the subject Why Peasants and Housewives do not Disappear in the Capitalist World System (Werlhof 1985). Some years later, in an article with the same title, I dealt with the basic thesis of the presentation at ASA for the entire process of accumulation, namely the permanent relevance of processes of so-called primitive accumulation(1991). I am glad to come back to the subject in my contribution to thiscommemorative volume, though I shall deal with it in a new context: theso-called globalization debate.