Title: German capitalism and the long search for a 'spatial fix'

Authors: Paul Kellogg

Addresses: Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies, Athabasca University, Peace Hills Trust Tower, 1200, 10011 – 109 Street, Edmonton, AB Canada T5J 3S8

Abstract: From the standpoint of capitalism in Germany, the European Union and the Eurozone are but the two most recent stations on the long pilgrimage to find a spatial fix, attempts to alleviate the perennial problem of a nationally-based centre of capital accumulation, bursting the bounds of its home market, but without easy access to overseas empire. But these 'spatial fixes' - from Bismarckian imperialism on - have occurred undemocratically, have fostered chauvinism and racism, and have remained trapped in the fetishised forms which are the curse of private-property. All of these superstructural impediments have become prisons, holding back social development in Germany and throughout Europe. This paper will develop these themes through a survey of three distinct 'moments' in the search for a spatial fix to the contradictions inherent in German and European capitalism.

Keywords: German capitalism; Germany; spatial fixes; euro area; eurozone; European Union; EU; single currency; currencies; overproduction; recessions; lebensraum; colonialism; superstructures; federalism; quantitative easing; capital accumulation; home markets; overseas empires; Bismarckian imperialism; Otto von Bismarck; chauvinism; racism; private property; superstructural impediments; social development; Europe; capitalist contradictions; management concepts; management philosophy.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCP.2013.052829

International Journal of Management Concepts and Philosophy, 2013 Vol.7 No.1, pp.13 - 30

Published online: 05 Apr 2013 *

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