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Institutional Mobility and Mutation in the Global Capitalist System: A Neo-Polanyian Analysis of a Transnational Cotton Standards War, 1870–1945

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  • Amy A Quark

    (Department of Sociology, College of William & Mary, 214 Morton Hall, 100 Campus Drive, Williamsburg, VA 23185, USA)

Abstract

This paper explores the dynamics of institutional change in periods of instability in the global capitalist system. Two recent bodies of literature—actor-centered institutionalism and the ‘policy mobilities’ approach—emphasize how contextual and historical specificities drive transformation as institutions move across space. However, scholars in both traditions give less attention to the systematic patterns of social conflict that influence how policies move and mutate. Drawing on the case of a standards war in the global cotton trade from 1870 to 1945, I build on these literatures by linking them to a neo-Polanyian theory of social conflict within periods of market-led development. From this view, we must understand institutions, their mobilities, and mutations as constituted by and constitutive of struggles over how the global capitalist system should be organized and in whose interests. This requires building on, but also deepening Polanyi's analysis. While Polanyi emphasized the destructive effects of liberal market projects that generate social conflict, the ‘push-backs’ against liberal market projects are more diverse than Polanyi suggested, and social conflict can also emerge out of the creative moments of liberal market expansion.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy A Quark, 2013. "Institutional Mobility and Mutation in the Global Capitalist System: A Neo-Polanyian Analysis of a Transnational Cotton Standards War, 1870–1945," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(7), pages 1588-1604, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:45:y:2013:i:7:p:1588-1604
    DOI: 10.1068/a45521
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic & Sigrid Quack, 2003. "Theoretical Building Blocks for a Research Agenda Linking Globalization and Institutions," Post-Print hal-01892014, HAL.
    2. Lipartito, Kenneth J., 1983. "The New York Cotton Exchange and the Development of the Cotton Futures Market," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 57(1), pages 50-72, April.
    3. Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic & Kerstin Sahlin-Andersson, 2006. "Introduction: A world of governance: The rise of transnational regulation," Post-Print hal-01891998, HAL.
    4. Marie-Laure Djelic & Sigrid Quack, 2003. "Theoretical Building Blocks for a Research Agenda Linking Globalization and Institutions," Chapters, in: Marie-Laure Djelic & Sigrid Quack (ed.), Globalization and Institutions, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
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    6. Ransom, Roger L. & Sutch, Richard, 1972. "Debt Peonage in the Cotton South After the Civil War," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 32(3), pages 641-669, September.
    7. Killick, John R., 1974. "Bolton Ogden & Co.: A Case Study in Anglo-American Trade, 1790–1850," Business History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(4), pages 501-519, December.
    8. Fred Block, 2007. "Understanding the Diverging Trajectories of the United States and Western Europe: A Neo-Polanyian Analysis," Politics & Society, , vol. 35(1), pages 3-33, March.
    9. Marie-Laure Salles-Djelic & Sigrid Quack, 2007. "Overcoming path dependency: path generation in open systems," Post-Print hal-01891993, HAL.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jamie Peck, 2013. "Disembedding Polanyi: Exploring Polanyian Economic Geographies," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(7), pages 1536-1544, July.
    2. Cristina Temenos & Tom Baker, 2015. "Enriching Urban Policy Mobilities Research," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 841-843, July.

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