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Although both promote a free market and strong state, ordoliberalism is usefully contrasted with neoliberalization. Ordoliberals aim to achieve this goal by creating a juridico-political institutional fix that provides a stable framework for accumulation. Promoters of neoliberal regime shifts pursue it through strategies of destabilization that exploit resulting crises. Ordoliberalism governs through order, neoliberalization through disorder. Further, ordoliberalism corresponds more to an accumulation regime and mode of régulation-cum-governance based on a productivist concept of capital, reflecting the dominance of profit-producing capital in coordinated market economies. But it also has limited conditions of possibility and is relatively rare. In contrast, neoliberalization corresponds more to what Weber described as politically oriented capitalism, especially a finance-dominated accumulation regime, which is aligned with interest-bearing capital. It occurs in many more varieties of capitalism.

Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe exaggerate the textual aspects of social practice in their post-Marxist reflections. They developed an account of social practices and social cohesion in terms inspired by linguistics and discourse theory. Their work saw a growing rejection of economism and class reductionism and growing emphasis on the contested, contingent discursive construction of society. Contingency is the precondition of hegemony – the ground in which struggles for hegemony and the construction of populism occur. In this regard, they replace the Marxist notion of the causal primacy of the economy with a "primacy of the political". This leads to a discursive anti-foundationalism in which it is impossible to construct a unified society because all meanings and identities are contested, and its institutional foundations are potentially re-activated. The article concludes by comparing this exorbitation of language with a more limited cultural political economy approach that offers a "third way" between structuralism and idealism. It explores the conditions that shape the variation, selection and retention of sense- and meaning-making as well structuration. This approach seeks to explain why some discursive articulations get selected and become sedimented to be contested later and why some properties of institutions have enduring effects at different scales of action. Keywords: Ernesto Laclau; Critical Discourse Analysis; The Exorbitation of Language; Hegemony; Cultural Political Economy. Resumen Ernesto Laclau y Chantal Mouffe exageraron los aspectos textuales de las prácticas sociales en sus reflexiones post-marxistas. Ellos desarrollaron una conexión entre prácticas sociales y cohesión social inspirados en algunos términos provenientes de la lingüística y de la teoría del discurso. Su trabajo muestra un rechazo creciente al reduccionismo economicista y de clase, a la vez que enfatiza en la construcción discursiva contingente y contestataria de la sociedad. La contingencia es la precondición de la hegemonía, es decir, la base en la acontecen las luchas por la hegemonía y la construcción del populismo. En ese sentido, ellos reemplazan la noción marxista de la primacía causal de la economía por la "primacía de lo político". Esto lleva a un anti-fundamentalismo discursivo, según el cual es imposible construir una sociedad unificada porque todos los significados y las identidades son contestados y sus fundaciones institucionales son potencialmente reactivadas. Este artículo concluye comparando esa exorbitancia del lenguaje con una más limitada aproximación de economía político-cultural que ofrece una "tercera vía" entre estructuralismo e idealismo. Este enfoque explora las condiciones que modelan la variación, selección y retención de producción y estructuración de sentidos e significados. Con esto se busca explicar por qué algunas articulaciones discursivas son escogidas y acaban sedimentadas, para posteriormente ser contestadas; y por qué algunas propiedades de las instituciones tienen efectos duraderos en diferentes escalas de acción. Palabras clave: Ernesto Laclau; Análisis Crítico del Discurso; La Exorbitancia del Lenguaje; Hegemonía; Economía Político-Cultural. Resumo Ernesto Laclau e Chantal Mouffe exageram os aspectos textuais da prática social em suas reflexões pós-Marxistas. Eles desenvolveram uma interpretação das práticas sociais e da coesão social em termos inspirados por linguistas e pela teoria do discurso. Seu trabalho rejeitou o economicismo e o reducionismo de classe, dando ênfase à disputa e à contingência na construção da sociedade. Contingência é a pré-condição da hegemonia – o terreno no qual as disputas pela hegemonia e a construção do populismo ocorrem. Neste sentido, eles substituem a noção Marxista de casualidade da primazia da economia com a "primazia do político". Isso leva a um discursivo anti-fundacionalista no qual é impossível construir uma sociedade unificada porque todos os sentidos e identidades são contestados e seus fundamentos institucionais são potencialmente re-ativados. O artigo termina por comparar essa exorbitação da linguagem com uma abordagem cultural e política da economia mais limitada, que oferece uma "Terceira via" entre o estruturalismo e o idealismo. Explora as condições que moldam a variação, seleção e retenção do sentido - e da construção de sentido – tal como da estruturação. Essa abordagem busca explicar porque algumas articulações discursivas são selecionadas e sedimentam-se para serem contestadas posteriormente e porque algumas propriedades das instituições têm efeitos duradouros em diferentes escalas de ação. Palavras-chave: Ernesto Laclau; Análise Crítica do Discurso; A Exorbitação da Linguagem; Hegemonia; Economia Político-Cultural.

Neoliberalization is a variegated series of processes with a core policy set that comprises: liberalization, deregulation, privatization, recommodification, internationalization, reductions in direct taxation, and decriminalization of predatory economic activities. Compared to the era of Atlantic Fordism and Spatial Keynesianism, neoliberalization promotes uneven development in the name of competitiveness and pursues policies that largely neglect its adverse economic, social, and political repercussions. Growing inequalities of income, wealth and life-chances have been ascending the political risk agenda and, through works such as Piketty's Capital in the twenty-first Century, have been conversationalized'. Yet little concrete action occurs to remedy the results of uneven development in societies undergoing neoliberal regime shifts. This contribution relates these issues to Brexit as a symptom of the organic crisis of British society, marked by manifold economic, political and social crises, and the continuing failure to address uneven development. The referendum question falsely posited that Brexiting would resolve many of these problems. However, the real issue should have been in' or out' of neoliberalism. Failure to deliver the anticipated benefits of Brexit will interact with the continuing crisis of British society to reinforce environmental, economic, social, and political crises and provide further grounds for right-wing populist mobilization.

The often-asserted relation of formal adequacy or elective affinity between capitalism and democracy is historically contingent on both sides of the relation. First, it holds for what Weber called formally rational capitalism - which is the form that Marx had previously investigated in Das Kapital - rather than others, such as traditional commercial capitalism or politically oriented capitalism. Second, it holds only to the extent that the comprehensive contradiction identified by Marx at the heart of the democratic constitution can be resolved: the contradiction between auniversal franchise that potentially gives subaltern classes control over legislative and executive powers and aconstitution that protects property rights favourable to capital. Building upon Poulantzas, it is then argued that these conditions are being undermined by the rise of new forms of political capitalism, especially finance-dominated accumulation, that are facilitated in turn by the consolidation of both neoliberalism and authoritarian statism. This involves the intensification of exceptional elements in aformally democratic shell, and the emergence of apermanent state of austerity. The article concludes with comments on the limits of finance-dominated accumulation and the austerity state.

In the preface to the 1867 issue of Capital, Marx noted that the beginning of research was difficult in any science. This text revealed Marx and Engels's view that there is only one science: history, which encompasses nature and society. As expected, the natural sciences have significantly influenced their work. The influence of Darwinism, thermodynamics, and cell biology on Marxian analyzes is reported in this paper, and the latter is examined in detail. When Marx opted for the notion of the form of the value of goods as the basis for writing Capital, he described it as the economic form of the cell of the capitalist mode of production, which reflected a new step in his critique of political economy. The reason for this attitude lies in the fact that, unlike the two previous methods described in the 1857 Introduction, his subsequent interest in cell biology hinted at a third method to replace them. Goods served him as the simplest, most obvious, and most immediate basic unit of capital relations, and as a presupposition in analysis and its possible outcome as all contradictory and dynamic implications for the logic of capital were revealed. This reflects his re-reading of Hegel's The Science of Logic, which also addressed the starting point in the study of organic totality. In this respect, the analogy with the cell has proved useful, since we have noted six connections between cell biology and Marx's analysis of the capitalist mode of production. But they remain merely analogies, since they did not direct either his key research or their presentation, reflecting the historical specifics of capital relations.

Abstract This article presents the inaugural memorial lecture at the Nicos Poulantzas Institute in Athens. It examines and extends the work of the eponymous Greek legal and political theorist, political economist, and communist intellectual, Nicos Poulantzas, who radically transformed Marxist state theory, made major contributions to the critique of political economy for the era of Atlantic Fordism and post-war American imperialism, and called for a judicious balance between representative and direct democracy to secure a democratic transition to democratic socialism. It first offers some general reflections on the originality, legacy and actuality of Poulantzas's work in these respects and then reconstructs his later views on the critique of political economy before his death in 1979. Noting his neglect of the environment and issues of political ecology, which was typical of the French and Greek left in the 1970s and also rooted in more general features of Marxist theorizing on nature and the environment, the article elaborates a Poulantzasian view of political ecology based on key arguments from his work. The article concludes by reasserting the validity of his vision of democratic socialism, indicating that it would have become a critique of political ecology, and suggests that he would have approached this in the same spirit of romantic public irony that was advocated by one of his major theoretical and political influences – Antonio Gramsci. Key words: capitalist states; class analysis; democracy; ecology; imperialist rivalries; Nicos Poulantzas; productivism; state theory; the strategic-relational approach

The Brexit vote was a singular event that is one symptom of a continuing organic crisis of the British state and society and a stimulus for further struggles over the future of the United Kingdom and its place in Europe and the wider world. This crisis previously enabled the rise of Thatcherism as a neoliberal and neoconservative project (with New Labour as its left wing) with an authoritarian populist appeal and authoritarian statist tendencies that persisted under the Conservative?Liberal Democrat coalition (2010?2015). The 2015 election of a Conservative Government, which aimed to revive the Thatcherite project and entrench austerity, was the immediate context for the tragi-comedy of errors played out in the referendum. The ensuing politics and policy issues could promote the disintegration of the UK and, perhaps, the EU without delivering greater political sovereignty or a more secure and non-balkanized place for British economic space in the world market.

Abstract This article presents the inaugural memorial lecture at the Nicos Poulantzas Institute in Athens. It examines and extends the work of the eponymous Greek legal and political theorist, political economist, and communist intellectual, Nicos Poulantzas, who radically transformed Marxist state theory, made major contributions to the critique of political economy for the era of Atlantic Fordism and post-war American imperialism, and called for a judicious balance between representative and direct democracy to secure a democratic transition to democratic socialism. It first offers some general reflections on the originality, legacy and actuality of Poulantzas's work in these respects and then reconstructs his later views on the critique of political economy before his death in 1979. Noting his neglect of the environment and issues of political ecology, which was typical of the French and Greek left in the 1970s and also rooted in more general features of Marxist theorizing on nature and the environment, the article elaborates a Poulantzasian view of political ecology based on key arguments from his work. The article concludes by reasserting the validity of his vision of democratic socialism, indicating that it would have become a critique of political ecology, and suggests that he would have approached this in the same spirit of romantic public irony that was advocated by one of his major theoretical and political influences – Antonio Gramsci. Key words: capitalist states; class analysis; democracy; ecology; imperialist rivalries; Nicos Poulantzas; productivism; state theory; the strategic-relational approach