In Sarsi I seem to discern the firm belief that in philosophising one must support oneself on the opinion of some celebrated author, as if our minds ought to remain completely sterile and barren unless wedded to the reasoning of someone else…that is not how things are. Philosophy is written in this grand book, the universe, which stands continually open to our gaze.

Those familiar with the contributions of Robert Brenner to understanding of the historical development of capitalism, and his devastating critique of the ‘regulation school’ must, like myself, have felt a sense of anticipation as they began his recent volume on global capitalism since the end of World War Two. While the editor's introduction was pretentious to the point of embarrassment, this unfortunate excursion into naive idolatry should not be attributed to the author himself. However, even those most supportive of Brenner's (...) previous work, could not help but be disappointed by the contents of ‘;Global Turbulence’. (shrink)

Robert Brenner's contribution to the history of post-war capitalism provides a stimulating basis for the opening of a debate on this subject. I will begin with some critical remarks before putting forward a number of alternative propositions on the functioning of contemporary capitalism.