The Systemic Cycles Of Accumulation And The Economy Development Of China

The global financial crisis triggered by the Subprime Crisis in2007, revived the academic discussion on the theory of economic crisis. Unlike in the past, in this academic exchange, the Neoclassical economics caused theory crisis on itself resulting from evasive issues when it was applied to explain the source of crisis. As a result, the crisis and cycle theory of Marxism was again shown great value, and a lot of research findings which were of great innovative value and theoretical consequences emerged. Most of these research shared a common characteristic that emphasized the key role of financialization in current crisis. Some scholars even concluded that the capitalism had entered a new stage, namely international financial monopoly capitalism. From the actual situation, financialization indeed demonstrated marked features of global capitalism economic development since20th century. However, from the World System of Marxism, especially from the views of Giovanni Arrighi, the financial expansion could not be regarded as a new stage of capitalism, but a constant and periodic recurrence since the capitalist sprout in late medieval Europe. Giovanni Arrighi further expounded the periodic recurrence and constructed the theory of systemic Accumulation Cycles(SCA) of capitalism, which constituted the theoretical basis of this article.The theory of SCA focused on capital accumulation. The systemic capital accumulation was pushed forward by the alliance of core countries (or governments) and it’s enterprises. Each cycle could be divided into two stages according to the modes and source of capital accumulation, namely material expansion stage and financial expansion stage, In addition, the whole system would occur serious crisis at the end of each stage. Specifically, a signal crisis would occur at the end of material expansion. The signal crisis indicates that capital accumulation could not be moved forward continuously by trading and production, which caused the main, way of accumulation to change from exploitative accumulation to depriving accumulation. Therefore, on one hand, the change could make current accumulation centrality transfer the burden, given by the intensifying competition on challenging its hegemony, to domestic and foreign subordinate groups, resulting in a continuation of present accumulation cycle. On the other hand, this change was not a solution, but a delay and deterioration to the Contradiction of present accumulation system. As a result, the terminal crisis of accumulation cycle would occurred at the end of financial expansion stage. This crisis was completely different from the signal crisis, it would lead to collapse of world system. The reestablishment of system order requires a worldwide reconstruction of system structure and division of powers so as to form a new accumulation centre, system order and accumulation mechanism. It is by this successive system accumulation cycle that capitalism has lasted for over five centuries since it emerged in Western Europe in Middle Ages. Consequently, In order to get a thorough understanding of the crisis owing to fundamental problems in global capitalist system, it is necessary to expound from the perspective of history and system first. Moreover, the analysis will have to go beyond the range of economy, and involve factors as politics, economy and social history.Therefore, by analyzing the current crisis, the major subject of the article is changed to study on the development of world system focused on the SACs. The author expected this way could be more effective in revealing the cause and development trend of crisis than analyzing a certain crisis separately.Concentrating on the above, the thesis would be organized following two logic clues. One is the relation of capital logic and territory logic when they reconciled, conflicted, and contradicted with each other in each SAC. By this kind of dialectical interaction, a specific accumulation center and a complex were formed. The complex, in which the government and enterprise played a leading role, was not the capitalist enterprises drove capitalism to expand globally. In the third chapter, we would briefly summarize the first three system accumulation cycles of historical capitalism, and reveal its logic of evolution. Through this process, the capital logic is gradually outweighing political logic to ultimately convert the country’s political and military power to tools for capital accumulation and capitalist expansion. In the last two chapters, we apply this analysis in explaining accumulation system in America and China, and especially point out the uniqueness of China’s accumulation system.The other logic clue centers on capital accumulation. Although Arrighi’s theory of capital accumulation had profound Marxist base, his theory was mostly inspired by Fernand Braudel, a historian, and therefore, retrogression was found in the depth and strength of analysis made by him. For instance, when relating to transnational capital transfer within system, he explained it mostly by proving flexibility and compatibility of capital, which made it less convincing compared with Immanuel Wallerstein’s Three Hierarchical Model. It did not give sufficient analysis about the mechanism of capital accumulation, change of accumulation means in different periods,In the fourth chapter, we improve analysis on means and mechanism of accumulation which play a leading role in each period, and the change of accumulation means from the perspective of Marxist political economics.Capital accumulation is divided into two types in the article. They are exploitative and depriving accumulation. Exploitative accumulation consists of domestic exploitation which is based on wage-labor and international exploitative that is conducted on unequal exchange. They are the major accumulation means in material expansion period. Marx has given a detailed analysis on domestic exploitation in Capital. In the Theory of Dependency, some scholars as Emmanuel、Armin and Frank made pioneering contribution to international exploitation. Based on the theory of unequal exchange, the writer built a new mathematical model to discuss how the periphery countries transferred surplus to central countries by unequal exchange under general conditions.In the fifth chapter, the article focuses on the study of American systemic accumulation cycle. When analyzing the source of current economic and financial crisis, it emphasizes the importance of financial depriving system. The thesis insists that we should carry on analysis from the perspective of system and history when analyzing the nature, source and development trend of current crisis. At the end of this chapter, the paper concludes that current crisis is probably the terminal crisis in American systemic accumulation cycle.The last chapter concentrates on analysis of China’s rise up and the development of world system. Although it focuses on China, it gives a picture of how China’s economy develops under the historical and practical background of capitalist world system. By understanding that perspective, the writer hopes to give a comprehensive and objective view of the country on what it achieved and lost during past thirty years since it actively joined in modern world system. The article emphasizes the characteristics existing in Chinn’s capital accumulation different from western capital accumulation, and analyzes the profound changes Chinn’s capital accumulation system experienced, great achievements as well as related problems after joining world system. China has become world’s second-largest economy unit and insists developing socialist system after the People’s Republic of China has been founded for over sixty years and the policy of reform and openness to the outside has been implemented for over thirty years. Since1990s, East Asia, with China as the centre, is gradually becoming the most vigorous economic area. Arrighi regarded China’s rise up as the key factor that changed current unequal capitalist accumulation mechanism to a more equitable world order. In the ending part of the paper, we will come back to this topic, but unlike Arrighi, we replace current unequal world system with the one established on regionalization in order to respond to the proposal of establishment of a more equitable world system.