This book received the Libertador Prize for Critical Thought (2018), demonstrating a renewal of interest in Dependency Theory. That conception initially included distinct forms of Marxism, liberalism, and developmentalism that should be differentiated, despite sharing the same name. The later retreat of that approach contrasts with the growing present-day relevance of its postulates; Latin America bears the effects of dependency even more acutely than in the past, making it imperative to understand the logic of its peripheral subordination. Dependency Theory in its original form is insufficient for explaining contemporary reality; it must be updated to interpret the current modalities of dependent capitalism. This book offers analytical clues to that reinvention.
Claudio Katz is a research professor at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina. He is the author of numerous books and articles on economics, politics, and Latin American society. His views are synthesized in Neoliberalismo, neo-desarrollismo, socialismo (2015, Batalla de Ideas).
Prologue
part 1 Background 1Marx and the Periphery
1 Cosmopolitan Socialism
2 Rebellions and Rethinking
3 Slavery and Oppression
4 Democracies and Communes
5 A New Paradigm
6 Convergence and Cleavages
7 Exogenous and Endogenous Causes
8 Liberal Interpretations
9 Varieties of Eurocentrism
10 People without History
11 Nations and Nationalism
12 State and Progress
13 Legacies
2Underdevelopment in the Classical Marxists
1 Justifications for Colonialism
2 The Revolutionary Position
3 Rights to Self-Determination
4 Pillars of Anti-Imperialism
5 Uneven Development
6 Stages and Imperialism
7 The Function of the Periphery
8 Accumulation by Dispossession
9 Uneven and Combined Development
10 Challenges and Extensions
11 Enduring Concepts
3Center and Periphery in Postwar Marxism
1 Deindustrialization and Surplus
2 Stagnation and Domination
3 Polemics with Liberalism
4 Amin’s Five Theses
5 World Value and Polarization
6 Unequal Exchange
7 Dependency and Socialism
8 Collective Imperialism
9 Mandel’s Perspective
10 Bifurcations and Neutralizations
11 Imbalances and Fluctuations
12 Socialist Convergences
part 2 Development 4The Rise of Dependency Theories
1 Socialism and Liberalism
2 Developmentalism and Marxism
3 The New Categories
4 Subimperialism and the National Bourgeoisie
5 Theories and Particularities
6 The Metropolis-Satellite Perspective
7 Two Different Approaches
8 Development and Dependency
9 Theoretical Confusion
10 An Illuminating Debate
11 Socio-liberal Regression
5Critiques and Convergences
1 Functionalism without Subjects
2 Mechanical Exogenism
3 Problems of Pan-Capitalism
4 Methodological Singularity?
5 Perspectives on ‘Popular Unity’ in Chile
6 Endogenism: Traditional and Transformed
7 Agreement against Post-Marxism
8 Return to Dependency
9 The Opposite Path
10 Theoretical Synthesis
11 Methodological Convergence
12 Assessments and Declines
6Dependency and World-System Theory
1 Cycles and Hegemonies
2 Orders and Hierarchies
3 Relationship to Dependency Theory
4 Convergences and Separations
5 Convergent Concepts
6 Systems or Modes of Production?
7 Terminal Crises and Social Subjects
8 Two Views on Long Cycles
9 Discrepancies on Socialism
10 Anti-imperialism and National Traditions
11 Only Now Is It Possible?
12 Political Strategies
7Three Stages of the Metropolis-Satellite Perspective
1 Variety of Approaches
2 Controversies over Colonization
3 More Elaborate Answers
4 Commercial Capitalism
5 Political Simplifications
6 The Turn toward World-System Theory
7 Debates over the Proletariat
8 Long Transitions
9 The Missing Subject
10 Debates over the East
11 Problems with ‘Asia-Centrism’
12 Misunderstanding Capitalism
13 Contemporary Influences
14 No Response to Dependency
8Anti-dependency Arguments
1 Reformulating the Same Approach
2 Interdependence?
3 Simplified Comparisons
4 Stagnationism?
5 Monopolies and the Law of Value
6 Underdevelopment as a Simple Fact
7 Classifications and Examples
8 Argentina as a Developed Country?
9 Political Challenges
10 Marx, Lenin, Luxemburg
11 Mythical Proletariat
12 Globalist Socialism
part 3 Concepts 9Subimperialism i Review of a Concept
1 Foundations and Objections
2 Evaluation of a Concept
3 Another Context
4 Economic Interpretations
5 Reformulation of a Status
6 Controversial Extensions
7 Misunderstanding a Category
8 Comparison with Semi-Colony
9 Dogmatic Inconsistencies
10Subimperialism ii Current Application
1 The Main Prototype
2 An Adventurous Experiment
3 An Uncertain Reconstitution
4 Co-imperial Appendages
5 Contrasting Situations
6 Peculiarities of Another Power
7 Empire in Formation
8 Another Variant in Formation
9 Is Brazil Subimperial Today?
10 Comparisons with Other Cases
11 Controversies over Application
12 Reconsideration and Usefulness
11Insights and Problems of the Super-exploitation Concept
1 Logic and Interpretation
2 Compatible Objections
3 Low Value of Labor Power
4 Statistical Irresolution
5 The Centrality of Transfers
6 Dependency without Super-Exploitation
7 Variety of Uses
8 Super-exploitation with and without Marx
9 Absence of Fordism
10 Where Is Exploitation Greater?
11 Current Applications
12 A Tentative Model
13 Controversies over the Extension of Super-Exploitation
12Similarities and Differences with the Age of Marini
1 Productive Globalization
2 Exploitation and Industrial Remodeling
3 The Crisis of Capitalism
4 Imperial Reformulations
5 The Collapse of the ussr and the Rise of China
6 Polarities and Neutralizations
7 Diverse Inequalities
8 Internationalization without a Political Counterpart
9 Problems of Transnationalism
10 Semi-peripheral Reordering
11 Extent of Subimperialism
12 Global South?
13 Renewing Dependency Theory
13The Dependent Cycle Forty Years Later
1 Tensions and Crises
2 Industrial Regression, Obstruction to Consumption
3 Effects of Extractivism
4 Cycle and Crisis
5 The Contrast with Korea
6 Other Interpretations
7 Other Comparisons
8 Relation with China
9 Geopolitics, Classes, Governments
10 Determinants of Dependency
11 Reasons for Reconsideration
14Dependency and the Theory of Value
1 Causes of Unequal Exchange
2 The Extent of Globalization
3 Productive Globalization
4 The Meaning of Intensified Labor
5 Monopoly and the Duality of Value
6 Misunderstanding Underdevelopment
7 Raw Material Cycles
8 The Reintroduction of Rent
9 Imperialist Rents
10 International Rent
11 Forced Incompatibilities
12 The Contrast with Venezuela
13 Totalizing Visions
Epilogue
References
Index
All interested in the contemporary economic and political reality of Latin America and anyone concerned with theoretical debates on the underdevelopment of the peripheral countries.