The Power of Love: Diamonds and the Accumulation of De Beers -- Video and Chartbook

Through the early-20th century, the power of the De Beers’ diamond cartel was dwindling. Its resurrection came with WWII. The company’s reversal of fortune required the construction and maintenance of relations with romantic couples, industrial diamond users, multiple government agencies and diamonds themselves. This presentation will examine De Beers’ accumulation and the translation of these qualitative relationships into capital.

This presentation is the fourth in a four-part Speaker Series on the Capitalist Mode of Power. The series is organized by capitalaspower.com and sponsored by the York Department of Political Science and the Graduate Programme in Social and Political Thought.