The provocative political thinker asks if it will be with a bang or a
whimper In How Will Capitalism End? the acclaimed analyst of contemporary
politics and economics Wolfgang Streeck argues that capitalism is now in a
critical condition. Growth is giving way to secular stagnation; inequality
is leading to instability; and confidence in the capitalist money economy
has all but evaporated. Capitalism's shotgun marriage with democracy since
1945 is breaking up as the regulatory institutions restraining its advance
have collapsed, and after the final victory of capitalism over its enemies
no political agency capable of rebuilding them is in sight. The capitalist
system is stricken with at least five worsening disorders for which no cure
is at hand: declining growth, oligarchy, starvation of the public sphere,
corruption and international anarchy. In this arresting book Wolfgang
Streeck asks if we are witnessing a long and painful period of cumulative
decay: of intensifying frictions, of fragility and uncertainty, and of a
steady succession of 'normal accidents'.