ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the Varieties of Capitalism (VoC) school and its somewhat broader comparative capitalisms' manifestation arose to address a narrower question than the historical survival of capitalism beyond periods of structural crisis. Its chief concern was the possibility of the survival of alternatives to a neoliberal model in the face of globalization. The chapter discusses the comparative capitalisms perspective focusing on the VoC school by identifying problems which challenge the VoC school's ability to analyze the current crisis. It develops the stages of capitalism alternative concentrating on its Social Structure of Accumulation (SSA) variant. The chapter considers the relationship of this approach to the French Regulation school. An argument will be made that the stages of capitalism approach to capitalist variation does not suffer from the same problems as the VoC school. The chapter concludes by drawing insights from the stages of capitalism approach about the future prospects of the current crisis.
