This paper aims to examine the political and economic consequences of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus, setting it in the context of a Gramscian interregnum. First, the dismantling of the triangular articulation of the world market that characterized the decade before 2008 is examined. Second, the global protest wave and the electoral shifts observed since 2010 are interpreted as evidence of a crisis of neoliberal hegemony. Together, the economic and hegemonic crises represent the interregnum. Last, it is argued that the fight against the pandemic may lead to the overcoming of neoliberalism.

No abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the concept of class struggle in Michal Kalecki's writings. First, his inclusion of trade unions' strength as one of the determining elements of the degree of monopoly is examined, taking into consideration Abba Lerner's formulation of the latter and its development by Kalecki. Then, the limits of this understanding of class struggle are pointed out from the standpoint of Karl Marx's conceptual distinction between labor and labor-power. Finally, a reinterpretation of Kalecki's 'Political aspects of full employment' is provided, indicating the broader conception of class struggle implicit in this work and its usefulness to a better understanding of capital-labor conflicts in contemporary capitalism.

This article introduces two previously unpublished working papers by the Brazilian economist Celso Furtado . Following a brief outline of his life and ideas, the arguments in the two papers are examined, taking into account their context and place in Furtado's evolving body of work. These two papers represent a crucial turning point in Furtado's thinking, highlighting his critical perspective on (under)development and laying the basis for four books that he would publish in rapid sequence. We stress Furtado's growing scepticism with the prospects for international development and global convergence, and his attempt to reimagine the meaning of development and the potential paths to development by peripheral countries. Furtado's approach to global capitalism in these two papers shed an even more critical light on the structure and evolution of global capitalism than his better-known works from the 1950s. Finally, the contemporary relevance of his ideas is illustrated by reference to their relationship with the current heterodox literature.