NOT FLEXIBLE ACCUMULATION-CONTRADICTIONS OF VALUE IN CONTEMPORARY ECONOMIC-GEOGRAPHY .2. REGIONAL REGIMES, NATIONAL REGULATION, AND POLITICAL STRATEGY

In this and a previous paper, work by geographers that is based on the idea that we are in a period of transition to an epoch of flexible ac cumulation, or post-Fordism, is examined. It is argued that this thesi s relies on abstracting the technical and organisational aspects of cu rrent restructuring from its value relations. An account which include s value relations shows that the phenomena said to characterise flexib le accumulation are more contradictory and unstable, more varied, and more open to struggle than is supposed in work in which a new epoch is assumed. In this second part of the study internal regimes of regions , the relations between regions, and regulation of national space econ omies are discussed. It is argued that the politics flowing from the f lexible accumulation accounts oscillate between fatalism and utopianis m, and that an approach based on value relations is able to provide a clearer basis for political struggle.