Global Financial Power, Capitalist Crisis and Uneven Development

The ownership and/or control of financial resources has conferred (political) power to people, ever since the original development of money systems. However the nature and role of this power, relative to other power sources, has been difficult to determine. This paper attempts to construct a general theory of financial power, which indicates its function within capitalist mechanics and outlines money as the primary (but not exclusive) source of power that determines present outcomes and historical transition. Production power, for instance, is seen as a secondary source to financial power since the trajectory of production is determined by the vagaries of the capitalist economic order, whereas finance is not constrained in the same manner. The paper suggests, therefore, that the notion of finance capital is a false one since, although most of the time the interests of financial and productive powers converge, as a result of the wealth creation imperative, this is not always the case. In times of a conflict of interest financial power will gain supremacy when financial powers seek to retain relative proportions of power.