“Surplus Humanity” and the Margins of Legality - Chapman University

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14 Chapman Law Review [Vol. 14:1
scholarship on endemic crises of capitalism, 92 the political
economy of growth, 93 dependency theory, 94 world systems
theory, 95 accumulation on a world scale, 96 and articulation of
modes of production, 97 establishes that primitive accumulation is
―a basic ontological condition for capitalist production, rather
than just a historical precondition.‖ 98 As a result, ―production of
value that enters into the circuits of capitalist accumulation
through parasitization of formally non-capitalist processes is a
deeply embedded feature of capitalism.‖ 99 These interventions
underscore the continuing role of coercive political forces in
underwriting the purportedly extra-political realm of the market.
They also alert us that capitalism, since its origins is a global
phenomenon that often co-opts rather than displaces noncapitalist
modes of production, and results in uneven
development of different geographical zones within its ambit.
The global geography of capitalism enables this accumulation by
extra-economic means through a myriad of legal and extra-legal
regimes that range from global to local, and from formal to
customary. These insights highlight that primitive accumulation
does not lead to complete proletarianization and that nonproletarian
and semi-proletarian labor remains integral to
capitalism. 100
92 Rosa Luxemburg argued that ―the accumulation of capital, seen as an historical
process, employs force as a permanent weapon, not only at its genesis, but further on
down to the present day.‖ ROSA LUXEMBURG, THE ACCUMULATION OF CAPITAL 351 (Agnes
Schwarzschild trans., Routledge 2003) (1913). Hannah Arendt emphasized that crises of
capital necessitate that ―the original sin of simple robbery, which centuries ago had made
possible the ‗original accumulation of capital‘ . . . had eventually to be repeated lest the
motor of accumulation suddenly die down.‖ HANNAH ARENDT, IMPERIALISM: PART TWO OF
THE ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM 28 (1968). David Moore noted that colonized societies
could not ―protect themselves against the ravaging international trade and imperialism
that destroys precapitalist communities of kinship, neighbourhoods, profession and
creed . . . all forms of indigenous, organic society.‖ David Moore, The Second Age of the
Third World: From Primitive Accumulation to Global Public Goods?, 25 THIRD WORLD Q.
87, 93 (2004).
93 See generally PAUL A. BARAN, THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GROWTH (1957).
94 See generally ANDRE GUNDER FRANK, CAPITALISM AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN
LATIN AMERICA (1969).
95 See generally IMMANUEL WALLERSTEIN, THE CAPITALIST WORLD-ECONOMY (1979)
[hereinafter WALLERSTEIN, THE CAPITALIST WORLD-ECONOMY].
96 See, e.g., SAMIR AMIN, ACCUMULATION ON A WORLD SCALE: A CRITIQUE OF THE
THEORY OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT 38 (1974); SAMIR AMIN, UNEQUAL DEVELOPMENT 93
(1976).
97 Aidan Foster-Carter, The Modes of Production Controversy, 107 NEW LEFT REV.
47, 51 (1978); Harold Wolpe, Introduction, in THE ARTICULATION OF MODES OF
PRODUCTION: ESSAYS FROM ECONOMY AND SOCIETY 1, 5, 9–10 (1980).
98 Glassman, supra note 81, at 615.
99 Id. at 617.
100 WALLERSTEIN, THE CAPITALIST WORLD-ECONOMY, supra note 95, at 276–78. As a
result of articulation of dependent economies with global accumulation and coexistence of
modes of production, ―no matter how universal the process of proletarianization, the
result is not the creation of a homogeneous proletariat.‖ HARVEY, THE NEW IMPERIALISM,