Birkbeck Professor wins international political economy book prize

Professor Colás’ book, co-authored with Queen Mary University of London’s Professor Liam Campling, entitled Capitalism and the Sea, analyses the relationship between the land and sea in capitalist development and reveals how struggles over sovereignty, exploitation and appropriation in the capture and coding of maritime spaces and resources has shaped the modern world. 

Alex Colás said, “My co-author Liam Campling and I are delighted to be awarded the BISA International Political Economy Group’s 2022 book prize for Capitalism and the Sea. The shortlist and winners of this award have always been an annual showcase of the rich and varied field of critical (international) political economy and, given the especially brilliant books on the 2022 shortlist, it is an immense honour and morale booster to win this prestigious prize.” 

The IPEG Book Prize Committee, who award a book prize annually, praised the duo for offering the first systematic attempt to think through the implications of the earth’s geographical separation into land and sea for capitalist development. They commented: “Liam Campling and Alejandro Colás’s book is novel and ambitious. Drawing on years of research, the book demonstrates how the socio-natural relation between the terrestrial and the marine presents both risks and opportunities for capitalism and its incessant drive to commodity planetary life.  

“Campling and Colás are worthy recipients of this year’s IPEG Book Prize and the committee congratulates them on this immensely important work.”