Articles by Mladen Medved
Austrian Journal of Historical Studies, 2020
This paper examines the ideology of the Austrian passive revolution (the introduction and extensi... more This paper examines the ideology of the Austrian passive revolution (the introduction and extension of capitalist social relations from above) in the mid-nineteenth century and reactions to it in Hungary and Croatia. Austrian ideologues of the time believed that capitalism would unify the Aus trian empire primarily by bringing about a pan-Habsburg middle class, which would marginalise the potentially centrifugal effects of different nationalities. Indeed, this would have meant the end of the Monarchy as an empire, since coercion would have been rendered unnecessary in maintaining it. Eventual (partial) convergence in development was conceived as a result of both the capitalist system and the civilizing mission of the Austrian state and German population. The paper argues that the universalising discourse of the 1850s was not matched with a corresponding political organisation that could have resulted in 'moral and intellectual leadership' (Gramsci). The political changes in the 1860s better corresponded to the form of sociality referred to in the discourse of the Austrian civilising mission, however, the discourse itself relied more heavily on Germans as bearers of civilisation while the political system remained highly centralised. The paper demonstrates that the civilising discourse was rejected both in Hungary and Croatia, where the Austrian state was deemed too centralised and authoritarian as well as incapable of developing the periphery.
Cambridge Review of International Affairs, 2020
This article examines the emergence of Austria-Hungary from the perspective of uneven and combine... more This article examines the emergence of Austria-Hungary from the perspective of uneven and combined development (UCD), which unifies social and geopolitical modes of explanation. It argues that UCD can explain the ‘paradoxical’ role of Hungary, a relatively backward society that was in the forefront of 1848 revolution and the political reorganization of the Austrian Empire in 1867. However, it maintains that potentials of UCD have not been realized even in recent UCD interpretations of the Monarchy due to declinist assumptions. The article argues that the international management of UCD via the Concert of Europe inflated Austrian power, but could not prevent sociopolitical change, laying the ground for its later deflation. The Austrian Empire also faced the challenge of revolutionary Hungary. The article demonstrates that its intersocietally generated peculiarities resulted in the gentry initiating the transition to capitalism to counter the geopolitical threat of industrializing Austria and arrest its social decline. Despite defeating Hungary and introducing capitalist social relations, the strength of Austrian dynasticism prevented the emergence of a hegemonic bloc and political stabilization. It was this political weakness rather than economic backwardness that might better explain its expulsion from Germany in 1866. The article then turns to a comparison of the political economies of Prussia/Germany and Austria-Hungary and questions the overemphasis on Austro-Hungarian backwardness. By offering a new interpretation of Austria-Hungary, the article contributes to a rethinking of 19th century international relations and the long-term causes of World War 1.
East Central Europe, 2019
Zbornik Drage Roksandića, 2019
This chapter examines Rudolf Bicanic’s interpretation of the transition to capitalism in Croatia.... more This chapter examines Rudolf Bicanic’s interpretation of the transition to capitalism in Croatia. I argue that Bicanic’s account is problematic due to a stagist argument and stress on foreign agency in stifling Croatian development. This argumentation neglects the limitations on development imposed by social property relations. I conclude that a more satisfactory account of the transition and its aftermath could be achieved by bringing to bear world-systems analysis and uneven and combined development on the Croatian case.
East-Central Europe, 2018
This article examines the potentials of world-systems analysis (WSA) and uneven and combined deve... more This article examines the potentials of world-systems analysis (WSA) and uneven and combined development (UCD) for the history of nineteenth-century Habsburg Monarchy by critically engaging with Andrea Komlosy's account of the Monarchy, written from the perspective of WSA. It argues that Komlosy does not provide a consistent WSA interpretation of the Monarchy's history by trying to analyze the Monarchy as a world-economy in its own right, thus excluding geopolitical dynamics and the world-economy. Furthermore, core-periphery relations within the Monarchy are dealt with in a contradictory fashion. Crucially, the quite anomalous state formation is not accounted for. The problematic account of state formation, it is argued, is due to the limitations of WSA. By taking a closer look at the genesis of the Austro–Hungarian Compromise, the article claims that UCD is better suited for explaining state formation in the Monarchy.
Historical Materialism, 2018
In How the West Came to Rule, Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nişancıoğlu offer an alternative to bot... more In How the West Came to Rule, Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nişancıoğlu offer an alternative to both Political Marxism and world-systems analysis (WSA) by going beyond the nation-state as the unit of analysis in the former and the marginalisation of articulation and combination between modes of production in the latter. Their account also gives more room to non-European actors neglected in other interpretations of the rise of the West. However, I argue that their argument is much closer to WSA and that their critique of Wallerstein regarding Eurocentrism, the origins of capitalism and the role of wage labour in the capitalist world-system is problematic. Furthermore, Anievas and Nişancıoğlu do not offer a sufficiently rigorous definition of combination, leading to an overextension of the concept.
East Central Europe, 2018
Books by Mladen Medved
Srednja Europa, 2019
Autor u knjizi daje kritički pregled interpretacija nastanka kapitalizma u zapadnom marksizmu (po... more Autor u knjizi daje kritički pregled interpretacija nastanka kapitalizma u zapadnom marksizmu (politički marksizam, analiza svjetskog sistema, eklektični marksizam Perryja Anderona, teorija nejednakog i kombiniranog razvoja). Teorije tranzicije smještene su u intelektualni i politički kontekst u kojem su artikulirane. Analizirane su s aspekta koherentnosti objasnidbenih modela te empirijskih izazova recentne ekonomske i globalne povijesti. Autor smatra da teorija nejednakog i kombiniranog razvoja, u kojoj je razvoj teoretiziran kao nelinearan i intersocijetalan, predstavlja potencijalnu sintezu drugih pristupa. Nadilazi ultraendogenu interpretaciju Perryja Andersona i državu kao jedinicu analize u političkom marksizmu, a konceptualizaciji svih odnosa proizvodnje u svjetskom sistemu kao kapitalističkih suprotstavlja kompleksne socijalne formacije.
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Articles by Mladen Medved
Books by Mladen Medved