ABSTRACT
Elsewhere, I have claimed that capitalism in its classical form (or capitalism proper) ended its life with the First World War, and that all efforts to restore the old order failed, thus beginning a process of ex-capitalist transition, which might be characterized alternatively as a process of the disintegration of capitalism (Bell and Sekine 2001: 37-55). This process, as I argued, differs from capitalism proper in that it lacks a self-perpetuating structure of its own, and is thus unable to constitute an historical society.1 Here I would like to begin by recapitulating the same view, which I inherit from Kozo Uno (1897-1977). According to Uno (1974), the world-historic development of capitalism (proper) underwent the three stages of mercantilism, liberalism, and imperialism. His explanation is roughly as follows.
