Imperialism, dependency, and social class
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Citation
Abstract
INTRODUCTION:
The purpose of this essay is to examine what has become known in the
language of post-World War II social science as "dependency theory." Although
all variants of this dependency theory are more or less nationalist and
anti-imperialist, they are not uniformly socialist or Marxist. That is to
say, many of those working within the broad category of dependency theory are
not fundamentally anti-capitalist. Thus, they do not articulate a socialist
program for breaking the constraints they see as being responsible for
poverty, backwardness, stagnation, and underdevelopment.
In the writings of these non-socialist or "bourgeois-nationalist"
writers, the problem was seen merely as the domination of weaker economies by
stronger ones. If this domination could be removed, so would be the economic
backwardness that characterizes most of the Third World. The result would be
capital accumulation and an independent, autonomous but nevertheless
capitalist development. "Independent" or "autonomous" capitalist development
should not be equated with some abstract notion of "absolute autarky."
Absolute autarky is here understood to mean the complete severing of all
economic links that any particular political-economic formation has that
extend beyond its boundaries. It is, however, argued that some degree of
autocthonous development is necessary if structural underdevelopment is to be
overcome. [TRUNCATED]
Description
African Studies Center Working Paper No. 45
License
Copyright © 1981, by the author.