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The concept of development operates as a supplement to capital. In development, European liberalism produced a concept that affirmed the capitalist form of society while acknowledging (and sometimes addressing) its two fundamental flaws: the exploitation of labor and the degradation of nature. Since these two processes are driven by the expansion and accumulation of capital, capital requires them; nevertheless, as development, capital promises positive change: I call this ‘capitalism qua development’ (Wainwright 2008). For around a century, development enjoyed a relatively stable position as a supplement to capital. The world map was redrawn: Latin America, Asia, and Africa became developing areas. This division, and the relative stability of capitalism qua development, is inseparable from the history of European imperialism (including US hegemony). Today, I contend, a tripartite global crisis—of ecological, economic, and political dimensions—threatens to end what I call the ‘long century of capitalism qua development.’Simply put, the ability of development to supplement capital—to provide it with an effective hegemony—is wavering and seriously in doubt. This has major implications for liberalism’s ideological coherence and the character of capital’s hegemony in the coming decades. I ask: if the long century of capitalism qua development ends, what could replace it? To answer this question, I draw upon the scenarios analyzed in Climate Leviathan (Wainwright and Mann 2018) to speculate on the decline and fall of capitalism qua development and the prospects for something else—such as capitalism qua authoritarian adaptation to a warmer and weirder world.

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