“The Imperialist World System: Paul Baran’s Political Economy of Growth After Fifty Years“, Monthly Review vol. 59, no. 1 (May 2007), pp. 1-16. DOI: 10.14452/MR-059-01-2007-05_1
The concept of the imperialist world system in today predominant sense of the extreme economic exploitation of periphery by center, creating a widening gap between rich and poor countries, was largely absent from the classical Marxist critique of capitalism. Rather this view had its genesis in the 1950s, especially with the publication fifty years ago of Paul Baran’s Political Economy of Growth. Baran’s work helped inspire Marxist dependency and world system theories. But it was the new way of looking at imperialism that was the core of Baran’s contribution. A half-century later it is important to ask: What was this new approach and how did it differ from then prevailing notions? What further changes in our understanding of imperialism are now necessary in response to changed historical conditions since the mid-twentieth century?
Translations:
- Translated in Monthly Review, Turkish edition (Istanbul: Kalkedon, August 2007.
Comments are closed.