Research
Research Interests
International political economy of neoliberalism
Historical sociology of capitalism in East-Central Europe
Post-communist transformations in the Baltic states
Forms of resistance against neoliberalism and anti-capitalist politics
Marxist accounts of the Soviet Union as a 'mode of production'
Historical Materialist perspectives in IPE/IR
Research Program
My current research program includes three projects focused on Baltic post-communist transformations, the history of neoliberalism in Central and Eastern Europe, and debates in historical materialism.
Dreamlands of Post-Communist Capitalism: Transition in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
This research builds on my doctoral thesis to investigate the conditions and processes shaping the economic sociology of post-communist change in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Using a historical materialist approach, I aim to uncover the vectors of continuity in class-constituted rule, study the processes that exacerbate geographical and social unevenness, and focus on intra- and inter-class conflicts that influenced the trajectories of change. This project illuminates previously unexplored themes, such as the origins of neoliberalism in the Baltics, currency and monetary reforms as examples of authoritarian neoliberal statecraft, labor resistance during privatization, the modalities of crisis management from 2008 to 2011, and the rise of the far-right in Estonia. The goal is to provide the first comprehensive and comparative account of transformations in the Baltics.
The Myths of 1989: Revisiting the Origins of Post-Communist Neoliberalism
This project examines the origins of neoliberalism in post-communist states, challenging the common narrative that portrays it as a set of ready-made ideas and policies imported from 'the West' by Western advisers to post-communist governments around 1989 and 1991. The book features fourteen case studies from experts in the region, highlighting the diverse reform experiments of the 1970s and 1980s. These experiments, while borrowing from neoliberalism, displayed a range of local particularities and innovations. The contributions highlight intellectual exchanges and collaborations between reformers and ideologues on both sides of the 'Iron Curtain' that predate conventional markers of post-communist transformation. The volume emphasizes the roles of local actors, their intellectual trajectories, and the ideational currents they navigated within complex political topographies. It explores alternative pathways to neoliberal transformation, examining neo-developmental reform strategies in countries such as Slovakia, Romania, and Belarus, and their interactions with neoliberal totems. This volume aims to shift the discourse from Western-centric perspectives to a more nuanced understanding of social change in the region, introducing complexity and heterogeneity into the study of post-communism.
Mode of Production and the Historiography of Capitalism: Gender, Race and Eurocentrism
In collaboration with Kayhan Valadbaygi, this project revisits the historical materialist debate on the concept of 'mode of production.' The edited volume calls for a critical reflection on the notion of 'mode of production' by addressing three crucial elements: gender, race, and Eurocentrism. The book engages the concept in dialogue with other Marxist debates on 'domestic (household) labor,' 'racial capitalism,' and 'Eurocentrism.' It explores four interrelated themes:
Re-examining the concept of mode of production, including the emergence and periodization of capitalism, schools of social formation/articulation, and the categories of 'free' and 'unfree' labor.
Highlighting the significance of the domestic labor debate for the concept of mode of production, showing how household labor generates value and surplus value.
Enhancing the concept of mode of production by analyzing the internal relationship between class and race, the conceptualization of plantation slavery, and the historical re-ordering of the global subaltern in capitalism.
Reassessing Marx and Marxists' works on the 'non-West' to construct non-Eurocentric histories of capitalism from a historical materialist perspective.
This project aims to provide a comprehensive and critical reflection on the concept of 'mode of production,' incorporating perspectives on gender, race, and Eurocentrism.