BooK Re.V I EWS Journal o(World-Systems Research, Vol V, 3, 1999, 653-656 http-//iwsr ucr edu! ISSN 1076-156X Kees van dcr Pijl, Transnational Classes and International Relations. London: Routledg e 1998. ISBN 0-415-19200-5 (Hb $99.99), 0-415-19201-3 (Pb $27.99). Robert A. Dcncmark Department of Political Science, University of Delaware (<:) 1999 Robert A. Dcncmark The three main contradictions of our era, according to Kees van dcr Pijl's Transnational Classes and International Relations, arc the disappearance of contender states in the global system, the breakdown of community, and the threat of fundamental ecological disaster. These challenges spring from the foundations of the capitalist system, and find their most potent dialectical challenge in the development of th e "new middle" or "cadre" cla'lS. Van dcr Pijl traces the rise of the capitalist system to England in 1688 . It wa'l in th e context of the Glorious Revolution that a n ew kind of state wa'l created. Local power wa'l not destroyed but co-opted. Citizens came to view thc1rnelvcs a'l possessed of inherent rights . A strong civil society evolved, with a legal system both independent and strong enough to enforce private contracts. States were weak within their boundaries, but stron g externally. Within this context we find the development of important groups with strong transnational liberal interests. The discussion of these various groups, beginning with the Frecma'lons in the 17th century and extending to relationships between contemporary cabals such a'l the Bild crberg conference and the Pinay Circle, constitutes one of th e great strengths of this book. Strong groups forwarding transn ational bourgeois interests included the Rhod es-Miln er group, which strongly favored im perialism a'l a respons e to Britain's 19th century int ernal difficulti es . Success in this regard led to the expansion of British power, and the spread of British attitudes regarding th e social order. England's unique attributes gave birth to the "Lockean Heartland" of the international system. In opposition to this favored area we find the deve lopment of states behind bureaucratic cla'lscs. These states were often authoritarian in n ature a'l their bourgeois classes, unable to compete with those of th e Lockean bloc, could not institute more libera l systems at home. The result, a "Hobbc sian" bloc of contender states, prov ided global competition for the Lockean Heartland. War, primarily for contro l of the rest of th e world, wa'l " ... the ultimat e test of whether a contender state ha'l successfully advanced" (p . 86). Page 653 Journal of ff'orld-Sy stems Research Two lessons emerge from the vicissitudes of recent Lockean /Hobbesian interaction . The failure of worker states suggest.-; that progressive hopes ought be pinned not on direct wars of movement, but on what Gramsci called wars of position which in this ca.-;c ought focus on popular sovereignty, democracy and social protection. More critical still is the Lockean victory, represented by the self-destruction of the USSR, which left contender states in total disarray and swept an important alternative model of social organization from the field. This conceptualization of international relations, defined by Europe in the 17th century and relegating the rest of the planet to the status of the "prize" over which such powers fought, seems a bit out of date. The author notes that capitalist relations of production proper arc not in evidence until industrialization took hold a.-; much a.-; a century later . Why then begin with England in 1688? Societies with a strong commercial heritag e and enforceable contract.-; emerge much earlier and farther afield (Abu-Lughod, 1989). A.-;ccndant bourgeois cla.-;scs in strong states gain power in different European locations by the 14th century (Arrighi, 1994). A variety of markct-ba.-;ed inno vations can be traced back even before this (Modcl.-;ki and Thompson, 1996), while the role the global system played in Europe's initial rise ought not be so cavalierly ignored (Gunder Frank, 1998) . Van der Pijl is correct, however, in his concern for lack of significant counter h egemonic model.-; to the prevailing neo -liberal synthesis. Though perhaps a function of the current business cycle upswing, few if any alternative movements capable of taming nco-libcral discipline are in evidence. Nco-libcralism itself, however, forms the foundation of important contradictions. Van dcr Pijl spends the first two chapters setting the stage for an understanding oflabor processes, cla.-;s formation and fractionalization, and sociali zation. As commodification deepens the reach of capital, the human community breaks apart. After the Second World War the solution to this problem seemed to rest with the thoroughgoing corporatism of th e Atlantic Community. But economic stagnation, external challenges from th e periphery and the Soviet Bloc, and internal challenges from the green , anti-war and youth movements undercut this system. The rise of the Trilateral Commission and other n co - liberal organs gave birth to a new and less forgiv ing capitalist system that threatens the fabric of our communities. Page 654 Journal of ff'in-ld-Systems Resea rch I sympathize with the need to use, if not create, specialized language to reflect new or complex concepts. But the language adopted in the explication oflabor processes and the cla.-;s system in the first few ch apters of thi s volume mak es the argument quit e difficult to follow and undercu t.-; the series ed itors' hopes of providing books not just for sp ecialists but for" ... students, po licy maker s, trade unionist.-; and other activists" (p. ix). The final challenge generated by nco-libcralism is ecological degradat ion. Unfett ered neo-liberal capitalism is suggested to be he ading us toward real physical limits . This important argume n t, central a.-; it should be, nonetheless goes compl etely und eveloped and ends up n othing more than an assertion. Van dcr Pijl offers some glimmer of hope in the face of these critical challenges by way of new cla-;s relationships. As society gets more complex, a-; production processes come to depend more on knowledge inputs, and a-; the potential costs to instability incr ca-;c, we sec the rise of the "cadres," a "new middle cla-;s" of technocrats, managers, n egotiators and educators. Especially in times of crisis, the technical prowess of the cadres makes them indispensable for negotiating and enforcing agreement-; on representativ es of mor e established cla-;scs. Their central role in the process of socialization, their fidelity to systems analysis, social engineering and planning, give them the tools necessary to create and enforce rational outcomes. Y ct the cadres themselves, often of lower middle cla-;s background, divided by the nature of their positions as representatives of both management and labor, and lacking in strong cla-;s consciousness, offer the best hope of transcending cla-;s relations within the context of cla-;s society itself. Rational responses to the ravages of nco-libcralism must include transcending its preferences on various central issues, and social planning rests at the heart of any such victory. Cadres may hold the hope of transcending nco-libcral discipline, but the processes that would move us toward such outcomes arc hardly clear. The an ti-democratic and anti- progrcssivc nature of technocratic solutions imposed by cadres in other era-; is also described in this volume. The question of what lead-; to one outcome a-; opposed to another is never considered. This is the first volume in a new series on the Global Political Economy published in a-;sociation with the journal Review oflnternational Politica l Economy . It is dedicat ed to applying Marx's historical materialism at the global level. Cla-;s analysis is an important and powerful tool that is wielded with real facility in this volum e. Whether it can shed sufficient light on the challenges we now face, how ever, remains an open question. Page 655 Journal of ff'orld-Syst ems Research REFERENCES Abu-Lughod, J. 1989. Before Europea n Hegemony: The World System A.D. 1250-1350. New York: Oxford University Press. Arrighi, G. 1994. The Long Twentieth Century: J\Ioney, Powe r and the Origins of Our Times. London: Verso. Frank, A.G . 1998. R eOrient: Global Economy in the Asian Age. Berkele y : University of California Press . Modcl-;ki, G. and W. Thomps on. 1996. Leadi ng Sectors and World Po wers: The Coevolution of Global Economics and Politics. Columbia SC: Univ ersi ty of South Carolina Press . Page 656 Journal of World-Sy stems Research