The European rescue, recommodification, and/or reterritorialisation of the (becoming-capitalist) state? Marx, Deleuze, Guattari, and the European Union

摘要

This article argues that in drawing predominantly upon Marxist approaches, existing critical accounts of European integration suffer from the problem of economic determinism. While such accounts have enriched our understanding of European integration through their considerations of capitalism, they have nevertheless been unable to provide a feasible explanation for the relationship between the two processes (capitalism and European integration). The article argues for a turn to the work of Deleuze and Guattari, which provides insights into how we might consider the relationship between capitalism and political institutions while avoiding the depiction of one as determining of the other. In doing so, it argues that European integration can be understood to have overseen the re-centring of what Deleuze and Guattari refer to as the 'capitalist axiomatic', in the attempt by Europe's political elite to enable, represent, and repress the desire that constitutes the contemporary European social assemblage.