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Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post- Dirigiste Responses to the Global Financial Crisis

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  • Ben Clift

Abstract

This article advances the case for the more systematic incorporation of ideational factors into comparative capitalisms analysis as a corrective to the rational choice proclivities of the Varieties of Capitalism approach. It demonstrates the pay-off of such an ideationally attuned approach through analysis of French capitalist restructuring over the last 25 years, placing it in comparative context. A modus operandi for such ideational explanation is elaborated through delineating different national conceptions of the market, and setting out their impacts on practices of market-making. The claim made in this article is that understanding the evolution of French capitalism requires recognition of the ongoing market-making role of the French State, in combination with the French conception of the market and its embedding within a social context characterised by the inter-penetration of public and private elitist networks of France's 'financial network economy' which remains substantially intact. The ideational dimension is crucial because French understandings of the market and competition, the ideational building blocks of market-making, inform French state interventions and leave footprints on French institutions and market structures, and the evolutionary trajectory of French capitalism. In charting this trajectory, this article deploys the concept of post- dirigisme . We map out the parameters and causes of the post- dirigiste condition in France through examination of French bond market development, privatisation, the shift from a government- to a market- dominated financial system, and French capitalism's internationalisation. It then uses post- dirigisme to explain French state responses to the financial crisis and the banking bailout, noting how state actors, in concert with the banking elites, actively facilitated dominant market positions of French international champions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Clift, 2012. "Comparative Capitalisms, Ideational Political Economy and French Post- Dirigiste Responses to the Global Financial Crisis," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(5), pages 565-590, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:cnpexx:v:17:y:2012:i:5:p:565-590
    DOI: 10.1080/13563467.2012.636147
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Cornelia Woll, 2008. "Firm Interests: How Governments Shape Business Lobbying on Global Trade," Post-Print hal-02183956, HAL.
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    Cited by:

    1. Gutberlet, Melissa & Preuss, Lutz & Thorpe, Andrea Stevenson, 2023. "Macro level matters: Advancing circular economy in different business systems within Europe," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    2. Salih I. Bora, 2023. "‘A Sovereign Europe’? Strategic Use of Discourse at the Service of French Economic Interests in EU Politics (2017–2022)," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(5), pages 1281-1297, September.
    3. Egger, Peter H. & Strecker, Nora M. & Zoller-Rydzek, Benedikt, 2020. "Estimating bargaining-related tax advantages of multinational firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    4. James Wood & Engelbert Stockhammer, 2020. "House prices, private debt and the macroeconomics of comparative political economy," Working Papers PKWP2005, Post Keynesian Economics Society (PKES).
    5. Pierre-Louis Choquet, 2019. "Piercing the corporate veil: Towards a better assessment of the position of transnational oil and gas companies in the global carbon budget," Post-Print hal-04401241, HAL.
    6. Buch-Hansen, Hubert, 2014. "Capitalist diversity and de-growth trajectories to steady-state economies," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 167-173.

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