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The Financial Crisis As An Expression Of Macrohistorical Trends: World Hegemony, Neoliberal Globalization, And Financialization In 21st Century Capitalism, Shane Montgomery Willson

Masters Theses

Many studies try to understand the financial crisis that began in 2007 by utilizing short-term perspectives, but few step back far enough to see how macrohistorical transformations created the environment for a crisis of immense magnitude. In this work, I apply Arrighi’s theory of systemic cycles of accumulation to the current crisis and find that, while this theory elucidates some broad features of the global political economy that fostered the crisis, Arrighi’s explicit limitations lead to further areas of inquiry that help to understand this crisis in its specificity.

By analyzing large-scale historical lines unique to the late 20 …