DEVELOPMENT AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT

Termo perigoso de recuperar. É como invocar forças ocultas, um fantasma que há muito deixou de rondar o mundo (e as economias). Em 1967, subdesenvolvimento era um conceito em pleno viço, disparado a torto e a direito. Mas o meio século que se seguiu lhe foi cruel. Até seu contraponto, o desenvolvimento, foi sequestrado por programas de governo agressivos, autoritários, destrutivos. O subdesenvolvimento desapareceu do vocabulário e só emerge, eventualmente, com sentido pejorativo. O conceito foi esconjurado e enterrado. Em economia, virou nota de rodapé. Recuperar a história do subdesenvolvimento, da ascensão à esconjuração, lança uma estranha luz sobre o destino do próprio desenvolvimento, hoje sufocado pela assimilação ao industrialismo anacrônico e à supressão de modos de vida tradicionais. O destino da noção de subdesenvolvimento permite perguntar: o que fazer do desenvolvimento? * O subdesenvolvimento exumado revela uma estranha potência. Embora tenha se tornado um jargão batido, o termo parece dotado da capacidade de embaralhar lógicas. A começar pela teoria econômica, em que a ideia de que algo possa ser subdesenvolvido contém uma dose de afirmação que destoa clamorosamente da arquitetura em que se insere a noção ortodoxa de desenvolvimento. Classicamente, qualquer estado que não seja o pleno desenvolvimento das forças produtivas é um defeito de desenvolvimento, que acomete toda economia incapaz de aceder às tecnologias de ponta. É um defeito do capital, que tende a ser consertado na medida em que o capital plenamente desenvolvido investe nas regiões atrasadas, elevando sua produtividade. O capital que sobra no centro, onde o retorno é menor porque a concorrência é acirrada, promove nas periferias, onde o retorno é maior, o fechamento do vão de renda. Esse raciocínio remete às emanações de Plotino: o capital é como um Absoluto em relação ao qual os demais entes acumulam imperfeição; é das emanações do capital (plenamente desenvolvido) que as economias atrasadas obtêm sua parte no ser, isto é, na produtividade. A afirmação da positividade do subdesenvolvimento, como um verdadeiro estado de coisas, atinge essa concepção com uma violência que, no decurso das teorias do crescimento, no contexto neoclássico em economia, foi explosiva. Afirmar a relação necessária das duas condições, desenvolvido e subdesenvolvido, inviabiliza esse quadro, que passa a parecer ingênuo ou mistificador: não existe "recuperação do atraso", quando a condição não é de atraso, mas de ocupação de um espaço real, positivo, embora subordinado e empobrecido.

This study of the historical, ideological, and formal interdependencies of the novel and human rights demonstrates that the twentieth-century rise of world literature and international human rights law are related phenomena. The author argues that international law shares with the modern novel a particular conception of the human individual. The Bildungsroman, the novel of coming of age, fills out this image, offering a conceptual vocabulary, a humanist social vision, and a narrative grammar for what the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and early literary theorists both call the free and full development of the human personality. Revising our received understanding of the relationship between law and literature, the author suggests that this narrative form has acted as a cultural surrogate for the weak executive authority of international law, naturalizing the assumptions and conditions that make human rights appear commonsensical. As a kind of novelistic correlative to human rights law, the Bildungsroman has thus been doing some of the sociocultural work of enforcement that the law cannot do for itself. This analysis of the cultural work of law and of the social work of literature challenges traditional Eurocentric histories of both international law and the dissemination of the novel. Taking his point of departure in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister, the author focuses on recent postcolonial versions of the coming-of-age story to show how the promise of human rights becomes legible in narrative and how the novel and the law are complicit in contemporary projects of globalization: in colonialism, neo-imperialism, humanitarianism, and the spread of multinational consumer capitalism.

The decades since the end of World War Two have witnessed an unrivalled drive for economic and social development by the majority of the world’s nations. Since the world war, development has been synonymous with economic, social, and political change in the countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean and the South Pacific. These countries have been variously labeled as underdeveloped, less-developed, developing, the Third World and the South. These people or groups are totally different but united by their commitment for development. (Turner and Hulme, 1997.) Other writers or scholars only see the commonality among these third world countries common reception of foreign aid or development aid. The leaders of these nations, often known as the third world, have exhorted their citizens to strive for development and have formulated policies and implemented programs towards this end.  In order to understand the whole rationale behind the desire for development we should explain development even though there is no consensus about the meaning of development. Development therefore could be defined as the capacity of a state to increase its human resource with the aim of achieving higher outcome of production for the satisfaction of the basic needs of majority of its citizens and empowering them to make demands on the government. This view of development is purely a later adjustment of the initial view of the concept which was much economic oriented. This paper however seeks to discuss concept of development and explicitly showing the various dimensions of development. Issues such as scholarly definitions of development, sustainable development, theories/perspectives on development (modernization theory and dependency theory), and the two dimensions of development ( economic and social development) will be discussed in our bid to critically analyze development for comprehension purposes.

La denominada restricción externa al crecimiento ha constituido una histórica traba al desarrollo económico de los países latinoamericanos. El artículo se propone aportar al debate sobre esta cuestión en la Argentina desde un enfoque de economía política. En ese marco, se plantea que el menor dinamismo exhibido por la economía argentina entre 2009 y 2015 frente al lustro anterior estuvo vinculado a crecientes dificultades en su sector externo. A partir del análisis descriptivo de diversas variables relacionadas con el balance de pagos, se afirma que ello se debió a la confluencia de una situación externa - la crisis internacional - con problemas estructurales no resueltos cuya persistencia remite al carácter del bloque de clases dominante.

The dependency school arose as a reaction to methropolian or modernization school tendency to attribute all problems of underdevelopment to the periphery. Basically, there are two school of thought in Latin America and those here been classified structural and dependency theories. The structural focuses on the neo-clasical analysis of development which do not favour them. This school was pre-dominant around the United Nation Economic Commission for Latin America (UNECLA).
However, another group came up and focus on the criticisms of the modernization school, apart of their intellectual heritage, apart of their intellectual heritage, were strands of the Marxist thought even though they were not classified as Marxist, they used his methodology and analysis.
Another factors that contributed to the Marxist school were Marxism and Russia revolutionaries, as well as continued intervention of USA into the socio-political activities of Latin America nations. The dependency school was pioneered by Raul Presbixh on agentive economist and the director of ECLA in the 1950s. The theory rejected the ideological postulations of the modernization school and argued that world economic is divided into developed, metropolitan cover and underdeveloped or Periphery.

This paper traces the historical origins of the process of emergence of the problem of underdevelopment in the modern Afro-Asian and Latin American societies.With the beginning of the indutrial revolution and emergence of capitalism, poverty and uneven development manifested itself in the the western capitalist societies.Later the problem replicated itself on a global scale by dividing the world between advanced capitalist countries and colonies.The historical processes which created prosperity in some parts of the world, also created poverty in others. The forces which generated development in some parts also enerated underdevelopment in others.The paper discusses various theories and their historical inadequacies while trying to trace the roots,the causes and consequences of this process in different parts of the world.

World-Systems Theory (WST) or as it is sometimes referred to, World-Systems Perspective, is essentially the brainchild of scholar Immanuel Wallerstein. Albeit there are other distinctive and noteworthy scholars in this field, Wallerstein has proven to be the most innovative and the ‘prime mover’ of WST in an institutional sense. (Goldfrank 2012, 97) It is for this reason that this theoretical assessment will focus mainly on his contributions to the field of international relations as a protagonist who sought to challenge the premises of nineteenth-century social science and to force his fellow academics into a process of intellectual change. International relations theory is not constant; in fact the dynamics of the field does not allow for theoretical TimeSpace1 homogeneity. As the world system evolves so too should the means of explaining it. Wallerstein himself describes world-systems analysis not as a theory, but as “a protest against neglected issues and deceptive epistemologies." (Wallerstein 2000) Fundamentally, it offered more hermeneutic and holistic approach than its mainstream predecessors with regards to an ever-evolving and dynamic world system. This reading will outline the main assumptions and contributions of WST as well as highlight how it has affected international relations theory. It has been disputed that WST concepts have never been, and are now far less able to aid in elucidating the intricacies of the global system, and I will allow that there are some veritable criticisms; however, this essay will seek to show the value of the theory’s assertions in understanding the biases of the interstate system and attempt to offer justification where critiqued. In credit to its origins which are further outlined below, it will also explore the concepts of dependency and underdevelopment, as well as another germane 21st Century issue in the context of WST.

1 World-Systems Theory offers that this term reflects a view that for every kind of social time, there exists a specific kind of social space and as a result the two should not be considered or measured separately. In essence, the inquiry or investigation into any international relations phenomenon should consider both the spatial and temporal elements as inextricably bound and influential to the respective analyses.

The paper examines socioeconomic conditions generated internally and externally, affecting the mechanisms of fundamental human rights, health, education, and employment sectors in underdeveloped fragile societies. Additionally, by analyzing health as a fundamental human right, the paper questions neoliberalism tendencies arguing that injustice is systematized. Health inequality indicates human insecurity. In underdeveloped fragile societies, the human security concept requires a comprehensive approach to diverse factors, such as the broader socioeconomic imbalances and external international synthesis contributing to the health and socioeconomic insecurity. The right to health is a fundamental precondition for achieving the human security conceptualization supporting stability and community prosperity. The critical human securitization approach should transform the inequitable realm. However, conforming to contemporary questionable ethical aspirations is not how humans can develop potentials, advance society, and live without fear, want, and indignity. Sociopolitical activities in underdeveloped societies should focus on challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, peace, and justice. Sustainable development programs are valuable for addressing health inequalities and the broader socioeconomic inequalities that lie at their roots. The specific level of inequality should encourage investment in human capital, contribute to mobility and encourage innovation. The Covid-19, with its dramatic effects on health, economic growth, employment, and poverty, could jeopardize progress towards sustainable development goals. Neoliberalism manifests misplacement to the origins of democratic principles. Education progression and industry commitments in launching sustainable progress projects of financial independence dimensions are practical solutions for underdeveloped societies.

Argentina has more than twice the total debt of India whilst the latter has 28 times more population in roughly equivalent territories. According to Poder Ciudadano, a local NGO, in 1999 Argentine political parties spent 440 times more than those of Chile. These gross asymmetries help to show that Argentina’s Žfinancial troubles must be attributed to her own political practices rather than to adverse circumstances or foreign scapegoats. By December 2001, overspending had manifestly destroyed the
Argentine Žnancial system. Across-the-board violations of property rights followed, through bank withdrawal restrictions and a debt default that was the biggest in world economic history. This paper analyses the breakdown of federal institutions, the atomisation
of power and the erosion of governability that ensued as a consequence of the fiŽnancial crisis. MaŽfia-style political practices, an endemic evil in the background of Argentine politics, jumped to the forefront as a consequence of this institutional breakdown.

Higit pa sa 14 milyon sa 30 milyong ektarya ng lupain sa Pilipinas ang agrikultural. Sa kabila nito, ayon sa Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, 9 sa bawat 10 magsasaka ang walang sariling lupa. Bagamat malalawak ang sakahan at taniman sa bansa, nananatiling atrasado, maliitan, at hiwa-hiwalay ang katangian ng agrikultura sa Pilipinas. Nahaharap ang mga magsasaka sa maraming problema kagaya ng mataas na upa sa lupa na bunga ng kawalan ng sariling lupa ng mga magsasaka’t manggagawang bukid, malaking gastos sa puhunan, mataas na usura, at pangongontrol at pambabarat sa merkado.

Dependency theories assume that the dependence of underdevelopment countries on developed countries much harm. developed country was rich with resources which are stolen from the underdevelopment, and resources which are the exploited; as well as people which are exploited, raw materials of these countries or contract their natural resource with the cheapest price. At the same time,the periphery becomes increasingly dependent upon the centre for they need such as development funds, ,technology and knowledge. As we know , none of the countries can service their own needs without help but i it should not be an excuse for developed countries to exploit their weaknesses. dependence of developing countries are supposed to bring prosperity to each others.
underdeveloped country it can never become developed if developed countries are continuing exploitation

The paper deals with the nature and causes of famines in the modern world and colonial India in particular.Before the industrial revolution famine were common phenomena everywhere but with the coming of industrial revolution famines became confined to colonial and agrarian societies while the industrial and capitalist countries became immune to famine.The historical processes which led to development and prosperity in some parts of the world,  produced poerty and famines in others.Both the processes were closely interlinked and historically intertwined.This paper explains how?

This paper asks Is the Global Shift of Production ‘Beyond Capital’?  It considers contemporary Marxist approaches and evaluates them as mostly northcentric.  Capital 1 is considered as three movements structured around surplus value in its becoming, modes of existence and accumulation as capital, punctuated by two turning points. Marx's comments at the second turning point, the conversion of surplus value into capital, reveal potentially other categories of surplus value beyond absolute and relative surplus value, based on distinct methods of obtaining extra surplus value based on the super-exploitation of labour and nature. The paper conclude that this extension of Marx is necessary to theorise the new totality of capitalism as globalised imperialism.

2012 ‘Structure and Essence in Capital and the Stages of Capitalism’ in Journal of Australian Political Economy No 70 December 2012; 251-270

The northeastern part of India comprises of eight small states namely: Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim. This region covers almost 8 per cent of India’s total land mass and has high strategic and economic importance as it shares international boundaries with China, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal and Bhutan. In spite of being blessed with mesmerizing scenic beauty and huge natural resources, the northeast for some obvious reason could not develop economically at par with the rest of India. The prolonged struggles and violence due to insurgency have been one of the main factors for this poor economic growth. The serious lack of infrastructure, highways, industry, modern healthcare and educational facilities has further contributed to a range of other social problems in northeast like unemployment, addictions, women trafficking, HIV etc.  Today a large section of the youths from northeast are depressed and unmotivated. There is no other way to address this problem but to create opportunities for the youth. The first and foremost step towards this is to promote higher education in northeast.  In recent times the government both at the center and the states has been encouraging and facilitating a number of institutes and universities to offer higher and technical education in the region. But, the facilities of higher education should not be limited to cities like Guwahati alone. Even people from the extreme rural and remotest parts should have equal opportunity and access to university and college degrees. Also, the higher education must not be confined to traditional studies only and should give emphasis to technical and professional education. These, coupled with a parallel pro-industrialization approach of industry friendly policies and packages and adequate infrastructure building would certainly return the people of northeast a hope for sustainable socio-economic development, peace and prosperity.

African States, upon the attainment of political independence have continuously been in pursuit of economic growth and development under different administrations. Faced with the economic challenges of low domestic savings and investment, the polities in Africa have had to resort to the fiscal policy option of borrowing short, medium and long term loans from international financial institutions and buoyant economies alike. Years after, a number of these African countries have piled up an unserviceable external debt which consequently has landed them into a sovereign debt crisis. Nigeria for one is an African State to have suffered and still is suffering from the ripple effect of her ballooning foreign debt owed creditors abroad. This paper therefore examines first and foremost the nature, causes, and the remedies thus far adopted at resolving the sovereign debt crisis bedeviling African States from the 1980s till date. The historical and empirical methodologies adopted over this paper were heavily dependent on secondary sources of quantitative data. Of its significance, this paper serves as an eye opener to the reading community on how the protracted debt crisis on the continent has continually stood against the needful economic prosperity and modernization of contemporary African countries. .

Bunker, Foster, and Moore all address the unjust manner in which dominant actors in the capitalist world-system simultaneously exploit labor and nonhuman or biophysical nature while undermining sustainability. In the context of recent, largely one-sided criticism of Moore by Foster, this chapter highlights fundamental agreements regarding ecologically unequal exchange across all three of these sociologists. Then, it unpacks distinctions regarding capitalism as causing degradation; nature’s ontology; epistemology and dialectical analysis; and possible futures that might overturn the current unsustainable situation. The conclusion reiterates the importance of Bunker’s foundational work, peripheral vantage point, dialectical view of socio-nature, and realistic future vision, partly based in his posthumously published The Snake with Golden Braids.

In this essay, I review Samir Amin's recent work on Marx's theory of value with an orientation towards value-form theory as well as contextualizing Amin's essay within his prodigious corpus (to which it frequently refers back). I conclude that his rendering of value-analysis is solid at its core; that his amendment of Arghiri Emmanuel's theory of unequal exchange is promising but inconsistent; and, that his appropriation of the theory of monopoly capital is ultimately unhelpful and a drag on his theory of underdevelopment.

Maxime Rodinson was one of the foremost international specialists on the Middle East, the Arab world, and Islam. Born in Paris in 1915, he died in Marseille at the age of eighty-nine in 2004.
His intellectual legacy is of particular importance today because Rodinson sought to explain the key political and social developments in Arab societies with the help of Marxist concepts, applied in a creative and non dogmatic spirit.
This article will give readers an introduction to the main political and intellectual signposts in Rodinson’s long and remarkable career.

"Este estudo busca analisar a noção de desenvolvimento presente na obra de Karl Marx partindo de duas das interpretações mais difundidas de sua abordagem do assunto. A primeira é a interpretação que atribui a Marx uma concepção histórico-filosófica do desenvolvimento e de caráter teleológico, onde as distintas formações sociais percorreriam os mesmos estágios, de forma linear e na qual a principal tendência do capitalismo seria o nivelamento dos patamares de desenvolvimento em todo o mundo. A segunda interpretação é a que aponta uma mudança radical do autor em um momento maduro de sua evolução. Após a comparação das proposições de ambas as interpretações com algumas análises concretas, com as teorias da história e da alienação, com os fundamentos da teoria do valor e com o método da crítica economia política construídos pelo autor, aponta-se as limitações de ambas as interpretações.

Palavras-chave: 1. Desenvolvimento e subdesenvolvimento. 2. Teoria social marxista. 3. Teoria do valor.

Despite its strong economic surge in the recent past, Africa's economic performance remained non-inclusive. More particularly, the economic growth of Africa's largest economy, Nigeria, is also non-inclusive. The country's economic growth does not translate into economic opportunities for its people. Youths, who are the dominant demographic cohort in the region, are idle, jobless, and poor. To address this problem, this study explores the link between bad governance and youth unemployment and political violence in Nigeria. Using Habermas' theory of the public sphere, the study argues that the dictatorial, "representational culture" of governance that Nigeria assumes serves as a boon to youth unemployment and political violence in the country. Through secondary data analysis, the study founds that as few powerful elites become active, they, in turn, are subjugating their subjects-the majority of whom are youths-to passivity. As a result, the subjects feel marginalized in their own land, with no voice, job, and hope-thus taking arms against their leaders and against their own state.

This paper explores the construction of knowledge in Kenya in the context and aftermath of colonialism and underdevelopment. Those communities that were politically and economically marginalized in Coast Province over the past century were also displaced in terms of academic opportunities, resulting in fewer social science scholars from Mijikenda and other non-Swahili communities in both Kenyan and diaspora universities. Underdevelopment studies in Africa and Kenya are briefly reviewed, and the colonial history of asymmetric social relations at coastal Kenya is traced. Finally, key debates over identity and history are examined within this context and shown to be exacerbated by Diasporic Kenyan scholars, further reinforcing trajectories of unequal social relations in Kenya.

This article reflects on Julius K. Nyerere's four necessary ingredients for development: people, land, good policies and good leadership. The concepts of land and policies are understood broadly: ,":hereas land includes all natural resources, policies embrace constitutions, party manifestos, acts ofparliament, government white papers and blue prints, and other similar legal and guiding documents. Defining development as the net value that humans add to life, the article argues that in the past half-century, Africa has hadplenty ofpeople and land, but little ofgood policies and good leadership. The needfor Africa to stand on its ownfeet andproduce real development is emphasized and proposed as something within reach by 2050, if Africa provides for itselfgood policies and good leaders. The article concludes with an appreciation of the confidence with which generations of Africans in the 1950s, 19605 and 1970s leapt into the uncertainties of political independence, something that is compared to a boy who, at initiation in traditional Africa, assumed manhood and embraced its rights and duties. Current generations ofAfricans need a similar confidence, the conclusion says, in order to assume responsibility for the continent's development. All that is needed are policies and leaders that can help turn Africa's abundant human and natural wealth into real value that is added to life.

This paper reconsiders the impact of South Africa on the theory of value in the first phase of modern imperialism. It confirms that the system of accumulation imposed by mining capital through colonial expansion was pivotal in forming the South African political economy.

As well as Hobson, classical Marxist theorists Hilferding, Luxemburg and Lenin all drew on the South African experience to theorise imperialism. The paper is part of a wider work re-examining these theories of imperialism and capital accumulation in Britain, especially in respect of their theoretical impact on reading Marx’s Capital.  It argues that Lenin’s synthesis combining national oppression and exploitation internal to the capital relation is the most adequate framing of the problem, but one that needs further articulation by analysing the new form of the capital – labour relation. The paper examines the work of Wolpe and Williams to argue that under colonial capitalism the systematic payment of wages to oppressed African workers radically below hitherto accepted European wage levels changes the ontological status of this form of surplus value extraction. The paper will investigate alternative hypotheses that these changes can be ascribed to, and limited to, the specifics of the system of accumulation in South Africa, e.g. production of gold as the world money commodity.

In questo mio breve elaborato scritto ho cercato di analizzare il concetto di "sviluppo" nella sua evoluzione dalla fine dell'Ottocento fino  al secondo dopoguerra, focalizzandomi in particolare sul famoso "punto IV", enunciato il 20 gennaio 1949 dal presidente statunitense Harry S. Truman nel "Discorso dei quattro punti". Il "punto IV" ha realmente cambiato il modo di concepire lo "sviluppo"? Ha concretamente portato un cambiamento epocale nei rapporti tra le superpotenze e i Paesi considerati "sottosviluppati"? Si possono identificare cause politiche alla base dell'apertura di Truman verso questi Paesi? Questi sono solamente alcuni dei quesiti ai quali ho cercato di rispondere, attraverso una ripresa critica della riflessione proposta da Rist nella sua opera intitolata "Lo sviluppo. Storia di una credenza occidentale".

O Objetivo deste estudo é de refletir sobre o conceito de espaço e território aplicados à noção de subdesenvolvimento. Confrontando os pontos de vista dos autores liberais e de geógrafos marxistas ou marxianos, pretende-se dar ao território o lugar reivindicado para a compreensão dos fenômenos econômicos, com freqüência tratado em escala global, sem considerar a dimensão espacial que explica a organização interna e externa das sociedades. Ou, depois de Lenine (O Imperialismo, estado supremo do capitalismo) até Lacoste (Geografia do subdesenvolvimento), passando por Boukharine (A economia mundial e o imperialismo), Walt Withman Rostow (As etapas do crescimento econômico), Milton Santos (O espaço dividido. Os dois circuitos da economia urbana dos países subdesenvolvidos) ou Samir Amin (O desenvolvimento desigual, os desafios da mundialização), o estudo do subdesenvolvimento se bate sobre a noção de escala territorial, na medida em que se reduz sempre à expressão metafórica das relações de poder que se estabelecem entre dominantes e dominados através do viés da oposição centro/periferia.

This research investigates the criminal modalities of the alliance between multinationals, the state and the dominant class in Colombia. The theoretical approach synthesises critical criminology with the dependency school, adapting the model put forward by Pearce (1976) that understands corporate crime as the rational extension of legally sanctioned activities. The research asks whether certain investment strategies (ECLAC, 2003) lead to characteristic forms of rights violations.  The methodology is founded on dialogue with the affected social movements. There are three case studies exemplifying ‘efficiency seeking’, ‘natural resource seeking’ and ‘market access seeking’ investment strategies. The interaction between neoliberal policies, investments and the Colombian state is found to be highly criminogenic. A clear economic rationale emerges of violations consistent with the investment strategy, confirming Pearce’s thesis. The research finds a common incidence of paramilitary violence as an informal system of social control.  Access to, and navigation within, these systems is a learned behaviour that is transmitted through specific private networks and constitutes part of the ‘social capital’ of the dominant alliance.  The neo-classical theory of economic rent underpins World Bank research problematising opposition forces rather than conflicts arising form the multinational investment. This research concludes that on the contrary
corporate ‘rent seeking’ is an economic incentive to infringe on human rights claims and to externalise social costs.

The thesis concludes by emphasising the profit motive, and advances a concept of corporate crime as a means to increase exploitation. The pursuit of corporate crime is likely to increase with greater opportunity and with the corporation’s neutralisation capacity.  Opportunities for crimes of the powerful are structurally greater in Third World countries, where decentralised organisation enhances a multinational’s ability to deny responsibility. This gives rise to the para-corporation, that is of the corporation but not in it - a deniable, parallel existence complicit in ‘dirty’ behaviours.

La denominada restricción externa al crecimiento ha constituido una histórica traba al desarrollo económico de los países latinoamericanos. El artículo se propone aportar al debate sobre esta cuestión en la Argentina desde un enfoque de economía política. En ese marco, se plantea que el menor dinamismo exhibido por la economía argentina entre 2009 y 2015 frente al lustro anterior estuvo vinculado a crecientes dificultades en su sector externo. A partir del análisis descriptivo de diversas variables relacionadas con el balance de pagos, se afirma que ello se debió a la confluencia de una situación externa-la crisis internacional-con problemas estructurales no resueltos cuya persistencia remite al carácter del bloque de clases dominante.

Karl Marx's concept of development has been subject to two widespread interpretations. The first attributes to Marx a historical–philosophical position with a teleological character. This interpretation maintains that different social formations evolve linearly through the same stages, and that the trend of capitalism would be the regional leveling of development worldwide. The second interpretation perceives a radical change of mind by Marx, at a mature point of his evolution. A comparison of the two interpretations, based on Marx's concrete analysis, his theories of history and alienation, his theory of value and his method for the critique of political economy, reveals that both interpretations have significant limitations.

Read More: http://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/siso.2015.79.4.582

This paper returns to Marx’s General Law of Capitalist Accumulation, arguing that it represents an insightful analytical tool for contributing to understanding “underdevelopment” within the international political economy. In doing so, the paper will critically engage with the two main Marxist strands that attempted to characterize “underdevelopment” within the world economy: dependency theory and political Marxism, focusing on Robert Brenner’s work in particular. This chapter argues that Latin American Marxists associated with the former theory, though (in my view, correctly) grasping capitalism’s contradictory nature that expresses itself in the “development of underdevelopment”, too strongly focus on surplus extraction and unequal exchange for explaining the latter. Moreover, it objects Robert Brenner’s explanation based on the absence of capitalist relations of production for explaining underdevelopment. On the contrary, following Marx’s Capital, it will be argued that it is capitalism itself – as Latin American Marxists have maintained – that produces underdevelopment: capital accumulation proportionally develops the proletariat, yet a very large fraction thereof (the so-called “reserve army of labour” or “surplus population”) is eventually not directly involved in the production process, thereby creating poverty and income inequality largely associated with “underdevelopment”. Through this, I will illustrate that the reserve army of labour still accounts for sixty to seventy percent of the (potential) working population in Latin America. Starting from these insights, I finally point to further research concerning the implications these might have in conceptualizing dependency, in thinking about the specificities of Latin American states and the class struggles that occur within the region.

This study is a re-examination of the essence of Andre Gunder Frank’s (1967), landmark statement that “poverty in the developing countries is caused by the development of underdevelopment”, in which he held external forces arising from imperialism as being responsible for the poverty in the Third World. The main aim of the study is to re-evaluate Frank’s earlier statement in the light of contemporary Third World Politics using the Historical Descriptive method and Dependency Theoretical Framework of analysis. The study discovered that poverty is still at the root of Third World’s underdevelopment and is even growing at geometrical proportion in the developing countries in the 21st century. This makes Frank’s landmark statement of (1967), very much relevant today as it was the time he made it. But holding only external forces arising from imperialism whether old or new solely responsible
for the growing poverty in the developing countries does not add up to explain the alarming rate of poverty increase and underdevelopment in the Third World in the 21st century. The study equally discovered that before the close of 20th century and within two decades into the 21st century that the developing countries under a United Third World Front known as the Non-Aligned Movement made formidable successful pressures on the United Nations and other international organizations on several issue areas to liberate their societies from underdevelopment orchestrated by poverty. As a result of the fore-goings the study came to the conclusion that many things are fundamentally wrong with manner and ways the Third World Societies conduct their domestic affairs. The study therefore recommends a reorganization of Third World Countries domestic, economic, political and social structures in line with the dawn of
a New World Order of dynamism as the key to unlocking developing countries’ underdevelopment occasioned by their high level of poverty. Equally, the developed countries of Northern hemisphere should show humanitarian understanding in their dealings with the Third World Countries instead of their current imperial overlord
orientations in their relations with the developing countries to correspond reasonably well with a New World Order of a Globalized village.

"The Industrial Development of Bengal, 1900-1939. By A. Z. M. IFTIKHAR-UL-AWWAL. Delhi: Vikas Publishing House, 1982. pp. 256 (Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Advent Books, New York.) "

PREFACE:

The present work examines the industrial experience of Bengal during the period 1900 to 1939 with particular emphasis on the role of the government as the main instrument for growth. For this work, available statistical material has been utilized for the sake of precision as well as to strengthen the qualitative evidence. The book contains eight chapters. While Chapter I builds up the case for industrial development, Chapter II examines in detail the industrial policy of the Bengal government in the light of its own limitations as a subordinate authority to the Government of India and that of Whitehall. Chapter III is an investigation of the labour market in Bengal with emphasis on the supply of labour to jute, tea and coal industries in relation to wages and conditions of work. In Chapter IV, I have examined the rates of profitability and security of industrial investments. In this chapter, I have also examined the financial institutions of the time and their role in the industrial development of the province. Chapter V points to some of the difficulties experienced by Indian entrepreneurs, and in the above light looks at their contribution to the larger industrial establishments of Bengal. The next two Chapters VI and VII examine the growth and development of the two biggest manufacturing industries of our period--jute and handloom cotton weaving industries. The concluding chapter is an estimate of the industrial progress made in the province during the period under review.

This book is a slightly revised version of my Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of London in 1978. In the preparation of this thesis, I have accumulated an enormous debt of gratitude to my Supervisor, Dr. K. N. Chaudhuri whose careful vigilance and timely intervention saved me from many factual errors and infelicities of style. My thanks are also due to Mr. I. B. Harrison, who went through some of my preliminary chapters during the absence of Dr Chaudhuri in 1975-76 and made many useful observations. I am also indebted to Dr. Sirajul Islam of Dacca University for helping me with some necessary corrections.

Here I take this opportunity also to express my deep gratitude to the UK Commonwealth Commission which offered me a scholarship for three years which enabled me to undertake this research work. Needless to say, without their financial help it would have been virtually impossible to pursue this course of studies. I also wish to thank the University of Dacca for granting me the necessary study leave.

There remains also a special group of people - without whose co-operation, patience and tolerance, this work would not have seen the light of day. In this group belong the library staff of the British Library (including the Newspaper Section at Colindale), Senate House Library, the library of the School of Oriental and African Studies, and particularly, the India Office Library and Records (including their Newspaper Section at the Bush House). I take this opportunity to thank Mr. J. Sims of the India Office Library and Records for being so helpful in tracking down apparently untraceable official documents. I wish to thank the staff of the Bangladesh Secretariat Record Room and of the Secretariat Library, Dacca for extending me all possible facilities in carrying out my research work. Finally, I owe a special debt of gratitude to my wife, Lilly whose support and constant encouragement over these years was invaluable in completing this work.

Albania was the last country in Europe to witness the fall of Communism, which happened in early 1990s. Since 1944, it was known as the most isolated state in Eastern Europe. But this is true only for the last twelve years of Communism. During the initial three postwar decades, being small and poor, it was determined to overcome backwardness by insistently asking its fellow Communist states for more technologies, grants, and specialists. Elidor Mëhilli has dedicated his first book, From Stalin to Mao: Albania and the Socialist World, to these issues, focusing on the dynamics of the Cold War and on exchanges and confrontations within the Eastern bloc.

This paper presents an appreciation of the originality and salience of Ruy Mauro Marini’s political-economic thought, specifically that he posits the super-exploitation of labour as the driving category of capitalist underdevelopment.

Writing from the Marxist wing of the Latin American dependency school, Marini made a novel contribution that addresses the continent’s unequal exchange with Britain from the mid-nineteenth century onwards. Marini derives super-exploitation from the import of cheap food and raw materials sought by the most developed capitalist nation. An inequality between capitals sets in, the primary export-producing capitals compensate for their lowering prices and lower rate of profit by driving down wages. Through this mechanism, Marini connects super-exploitation in the raw material exporting countries with the consolidation of relative surplus value in the developed countries. Once superexploitation (a higher rate of
surplus value) is established it shapes the dependent social
formation.

The paper explores Serra and Cardoso’s critique, arguing
that Marini’s response in the debate raises a fundamental
issue: distinctive combinations of absolute and relative
surplus value as the explanation for the divergent social
formations of developed and underdeveloped capitalism.

The paper examines the relationship between super exploitation and the mechanisms of increasing surplus value.  It argues for sympathetic modifications to Marini’s argument,
principally that price tends to cost of production rather than value. This refers to the necessary divergence of price from value in a system of sectors with different value
compositions of capital, as unfolded by Marx in the early chapters of Volume 3 of Capital. This modification reinforces the general direction of Marini; however it introduces complications into the limiting assumptions of Marx’s transformation schema.

The paper concludes that the revolutionary wing of the Latin American dependency theory provides a fruitful and necessary conceptual basis for the analysis of capitalist imperialism. 

2010 Paper to Historical Materialism Conference, London

Development, underdevelopment and globalization have had a common history since the Great Discoveries led to colonization, trade, and with the Industrial Revolution, to unequal technological development. This book first summarizes the long term history of globalization. It then develops a theory of multiple equilibria in technological change (technological poverty traps) to explain how the market economy can generate wide income differences between countries. Next, it shows how poverty traps in education and health can further widen inequality. It then shows that technology traps can exist in the context of trade, explaining the impact of the colonial diktat on the emergence of underdevelopment. Technology traps can also exist in the context of foreign direct investment, characterizing contemporary globalization. Finally, the industrial or mass market economy in general is shown to be characterized by a technology gradient akin to a poverty trap that generates inefficiency and inequality. Free market policies need to be complemented with distributive and innovative policies to improve economic performance and equality. The necessary tax funding can be provided at the national level compatibly with globalization under appropriate International agreements.

A tradução aqui apresentada do texto de Milton
Santos intitulado Sub-imperialism as Viewed by a
Geographer, publicado em 1975, possibilita resgatar
o debate entre a Geografia e a teoria da dependência,
especialmente por dar visibilidade ao diálogo entre Milton
Santos e o sociólogo brasileiro Ruy Mauro Marini. Em
que pesem os conflitos no seio da formulação da teoria
da dependência, o que conferiu a Marini certo aspecto
marginal no pensamento social brasileiro, estabelecer
uma visão geográfica do conceito de subimperialismo
parece responder aos anseios de Milton Santos em
produzir categorias analíticas que superem a mera
importação de teorias formuladas nos países centrais.
Além disso, oferece o retrato de uma época em que a
discussão do desenvolvimento, do subdesenvolvimento
e do imperialismo estava na ordem do dia nas ciências
sociais, inclusive na Geografia brasileira, contexto que
contribuiu para a sua virada crítica ao final da década de
1970.

Summary
Starting from the recent debates on the need of reindustrialization of post-socialist countries, the author in this paper presented and analyzed „theory of relative backwardness” that was formulated during sixties by Russian-born Harvard professor Alexander Gerschenkron. Studying the economic history of countries that differ in their degree of economic (under)development, Gerschenkron showed that the industrialization of „backward” countries wasn’t performed in terms of the English „industrial revolution” pattern. The relative backwardness of the different European countries in relation to England encouraged them to search for „creative substitutions” of the necessary preconditions for successful development. Analyzing the Russian and Soviet economic development, Gerschenkron formulated the thesis about the „advantages of backwardness” that differs from the one that we can found in the Russian social and political thought. Emphasizing the role that the state and ideology had in the process of rapid industrialization, he also pointed out a numerous limitations that they have had in later stabilization of the economic development. After a detailed interpretation of Gerschenkron’s theory, the author has considered the question of its significance and meaning in the socio-economic circumstances of the modern world.
Rezime:
Polazeći od aktuelnih debata o potrebi reindustrijalizacije postsocijalističkih zemalja, u ovom radu autor se bavi „teorijom relativne zaostalosti“ koju je šezdesetih godina XX veka formulisao harvardski profesor ruskog porekla Aleksandar Geršenkron. Analizirajući ekonomsku istoriju zemalja koje su se razlikovale po stepenu privredne (ne)razvijenosti, Geršenkron je pokazao da se industrijalizacija „zaostalih“ zemalja nije odvijala po obrascu engleske „industrijske revolucije“. Relativna zaostalost različitih evropskih zemalja u odnosu na Englesku podsticala ih je na traganje za "kreativnim supstitucijama" neophodnih pretpostavki uspešnog industrijskog razvoja. Analizirajući ruski i sovjetski privredni razvoj, Geršenkron je formulisao tezu o „prednostima zaostalosti“ koja se razlikuje od one koju nalazimo u ruskoj socijalnoj i političkoj misli. Ističući važnost uloga koje su država i ideologija imale u procesu ubrzane industrijalizacije, on je istovremeno ukazao i na niz ograničenja koje su one postavljale u kasnijoj stabilizaciji ekonomskog razvoja. Posle detaljnog prikaza Geršenkronove teorije, autor je razmotrio pitanje njene aktuelnosti i značaja u društveno-ekonomskim okolnostima savremenog sveta.