Long waves: A review of Ernest Mandel’s interpretation after 50 years of Late capitalism

Abstract

This paper reviews Ernest Mandel's model of long waves, 50 years after its inception in Late Capitalism, in order to show its potentialities, as well as the aspects of his work that could have been overcome in the light of the evidence and new theoretical reflections brought by other Marxist authors later on.

Ernest Mandel did not foreseen o conceived several issues addressed subsequently by the contributions of Anwar Shaikh, Claudio Katz, Francisco Louça, François Chesnais, Michel Husson, Eric Toussaint, Jesús Albarracín or Jacques Governeur, among others. These authors pointed out and theorized elements of interest, which improve without invalidating the core aspects of Mandel’s model. Particularly, among other items, on the precise evolution of cycles, international trade or better-defined approximations of the meaning and role of the organic composition of capital.

The phenomena of financialisation, displaying their influence on the accumulation process, the trend towards the formation of a world market in a conflicted geo-political context, or the new authoritarian neoliberal hegemony, deserve be considered. Additionally, we reflect on the experience of the last accumulation phase, and its complex and long period after 80's until now. The chapter also discusses the necessary articulation of long wave theory with dependency theory. Finally, it deals with the dynamics and role of the oligopolisation process and the role of financialisation, as they have given rise to numerous controversies, which Mandel pointed out, with some interesting responses, but which did not bring the debate to a close.