This book acts as a tribute to the legacy of the Canadian political economist Kari Polanyi Levitt, daughter of Karl Polanyi, one of the great economists of the 20th century. Polanyi Levitt’s life and work were devoted to understanding the scientific and political challenges that humanity faces and the incredible impacts of development, trade, and globalization in their diverse manifestations, including in the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic. This book reflects on Polanyi Levitt’s conviction that the solution to contemporary challenges lies not in the development of sophisticated technologies, but in questioning how we want to live with each other and working to re-embed the economy in the wider social system. Ultimately, the book contends that Polanyi Levitt’s message is simple: humanity must rethink the way we live in this world our place in the universe, and our relationship with nature. Drawing on a 10-year research project encompassing interviews and literature review, this short volume introduces and celebrates Kari Polanyi Levitt's legacy and invites political economists to engage with her work.

Contributors include Samir Amin (Third World Forum, Senegal), Lloyd Best (Trinidad and Tobago Institute of the West Indies), Duncan Cameron (University of Ottawa), Ursula Franklin (University of Toronto), Norman Girvan (University of West Indies), Denis Goulet (University of Notre Dame), Arvind Sharma (McGill University), Carolyn Sharp (Saint Paul's University), Mel Watkins (University of Toronto), and Michael Witter (University of the West Indies).

Contributors include Samir Amin (Third World Forum, Senegal), Lloyd Best (Trinidad and Tobago Institute of the West Indies), Duncan Cameron (University of Ottawa), Ursula Franklin (University of Toronto), Norman Girvan (University of West Indies), Denis Goulet (University of Notre Dame), Arvind Sharma (McGill University), Carolyn Sharp (Saint Paul's University), Mel Watkins (University of Toronto), and Michael Witter (University of the West Indies).

This important book provides a fascinating insight into the conceptual under-pinnings of the theory of plantation economy initiated by Lloyd Best and Kari Levitt in the 1960s as a basis for analysing the nature of the Caribbean economy. While acknowledging an intellectual debt to Latin American structuralists and also to the work of Dudley Seers and William Demas, the authors develop an original and innovative analytical framework as a counter to more "universalist" models which failed to take account of the Caribbean reality. Their work identifies the main features of the plantation economy as a hinterland characterized by subordination and dependency on the dominant metropole. Distinguishing between hinterlands of conquest, settlement and exploitation, Best and Levitt analyse the rules that determine this complex relationship with the metropole. Their economic theories are presented against a background of the historical factors that gave rise to the "structural continuity" of Caribbean economies and which now impede meaningful structural transformation. Book jacket.

Four years into the unfolding of the most serious crisis since the 1930s, Karl Polanyi's prediction of the fateful consequences of unleashing the destructive power of unregulated market capitalism on peoples, nations, and the natural environment has assumed new urgency and relevance. Polanyi's insistence that 'the self-regulating market' must be made subordinate to democracy, otherwise society itself may be put at risk, is as true today as it was when Polanyi wrote. Written from the unique perspective of his daughter, From the Great Transformation to the Great Financialization is an essential contribution to our understanding of the evolution and contemporary significance of Karl Polanyi's work, and should be read against the background of the accelerating accumulation of global finance that created a series of financial crises in Latin America, Russia, Asia, and, eventually, the heartlands of capitalism itself.

First published in 1970, Silent Surrender helped educate a generation of students about Canadian political economy. Kari Levitt details the historical background of foreign investments in Canada, their acceleration since World War II, and the nature of intrusions by multinational corporations into a sovereign state. Silent Surrender was prophetic in predicting that the ultimate consequence of relinquishing control of the Canadian economy to United States business interests would be political disintegration through the balkanization of the country and its eventual piecemeal absorption into the American imperial system. Republished with a new preface by noted scholar Mel Watkins and a postscript by the author, Silent Surrender's basic argument and underlying economic analysis remain remarkably fresh, particularly the question of whether cultural integration into continental American life has proceeded to a point where Canada is no longer a meaningful national community.

The Recolonization of Canada -- The Old Mercantilism and the New -- The Rise of the Nation State -- Regression to Dependence -- Who Decides? -- Metropolis and Hinterland -- The Harvest of Lengthening Dependence -- Appendix: The New Mercantilism of U.S. Direct Involvement.

Studies in political economy are now at a crossroads. The revival of political economy as an important area of research in Canada began in the early 1970s with the publication of Kari Levitt's Silent Surrender. In 1976 it was launched in earnest by the fi

In the late 20th century, there has been a rethinking of the whole concept of development, including a growing awareness of its gender, cultural and environmental dimensions, and the impact of globalization. The contributors to this volume seek to extend these debates to a more fundamental level, tackling such issues as the crisis of development as an intellectual and practical project, the need for a break with development as a Eurocentric concept, and the viability of alternative, non-Western forms of development. The contributors aim to transcend critiques of development which simply engage in a blanket dismissal of the whole enterprise and instead offer ways of re-engaging with reality that, despite globalization, is still a dimension of the late-20th century.

Few figures are more crucial to understanding the upheavals of our contemporary era than Karl Polanyi. In a world riven by social and economic crises, from rising inequality to the decay of democratic institutions and profound technological disruption, Polanyi’s path-breaking account of the dynamics of market capitalism and his defence of society and nature against the dangerous tendencies of the market capitalist system are more relevant than ever. This book brings together Polanyi’s most important articles and essays to give a unique selection of his essential shorter writings, mixing classic texts with significant but previously little-known pieces. It highlights the coherence and richness of Polanyi’s theoretical and political approach, making it indispensable for understanding his overarching intellectual contribution. The volume includes his interwar writings, which deal with the world economic crisis and the socialist alternative to conservative and fascist developments; his reflection on political theory and the international situation after the war; and his comparative studies of economic institutions. Polanyi’s political writings are complemented and supported by the critique of economic determinism and what he termed ‘our obsolete market mentality’. This book is an invaluable companion to Polanyi’s masterpiece, The Great Transformation, and an essential resource for students and scholars of political economy, sociology, history and political philosophy.