Tag: Dependency Theory

To re-create Marxism, but not repeat Marx (The Dialectics of Dependency reviewed in Journal of European Economic History)

At the end of the postscript, Marini again emphasises the central concept of his work, namely that “dependent economy – and therefore the super-exploitation of labour – appears as a necessary condition of world capitalism” and that therefore “capitalist production, by developing labour’s productive powers, does not eliminate but rather accentuates the greater exploitation of the worker”…

WATCH: 50 YEARS OF DEPENDENCY THEORY

This year, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Dialectics of Dependency, Monthly Review Press released the first-ever English translation of Ruy Mauro Marini’s classic – one of the most important texts in the field of Latin American Dependency Theory. An event celebrating its release was held in mid September at The People’s Forum, featuring Cristóbal Reyes (representing his advisor Jaime Osorio), Phethani Madzivhandila, Chris Gilbert and Andy Higginbotham, and co-hosted by Joseph Mullen and Jaime Osorio’s coeditor, Amanda Latimer.

Theory that brings us closer to a world that places “capitalism” firmly in the past (The Dialectics of Dependency reviewed in ‘Systemic Disorder’)

Rather than believe in Santa Claus or fairy tales, far better that the dynamics of capitalism be grasped in their full dimensions. Only by understanding how and why, and drawing appropriate conclusions, rather than simply observing, can the world’s exploited — the vast majority of humanity — hope to see a better world come into being, a world that will have put capitalism into the history books.

A slim book with profound impact (The Dialectics of Dependency reviewed in ‘Marx & Philosophy Review of Books’)

Dependency theory emerged in the 1960s and 1970s to explain the development of Latin America in its dependent relationship with advanced capitalist economies, the US in particular. It served a practical purpose of orienting Latin American Marxists in the revolutionary struggles of that period, following the inspiration of the Cuban revolution and the crises across the region in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile, amongst others.