Foster JB - The Imperialist World System - Paul Baran's Political Economy of Growth After Fifty Years

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1、REVIEWOFTHEMONTHTheImperialistWorldSystemPaulBaran’sPoliticalEconomyofGrowthAfterFiftyYearsJOHNBELLAMYFOSTERTheconceptoftheimperialistworldsystemintoday’spredominantsenseoftheextremeeconomicexploitationofperipherybycenter,cre-atingawideninggapbetweenrichandpoorcountries,waslar

2、gelyab-sentfromtheclassicalMarxistcritiqueofcapitalism.Ratherthisviewhaditsgenesisinthe1950s,especiallywiththepublicationfiftyyearsagoofPaulBaran’sPoliticalEconomyofGrowth.1Baran’sworkhelpedinspireMarxistdependencyandworldsystemtheories.Butitwasthenewwayoflookingatimperialismt

3、hatwasthecoreofBaran’scontribution.Ahalf-centurylateritisimportanttoask:Whatwasthisnewapproachandhowdiditdifferfromthenprevailingnotions?Whatfurtherchangesinourunderstandingofimperialismarenownecessaryinresponsetochangedhistoricalconditionssincethemid-twentiethcentury?Theclass

4、icalMarxistapproachtotheworldwidespreadofcapitalistrelationshasoftenbeencharacterizedasacrudetheoryoflinearstagesofdevelopment.SuchinterpretationsfrequentlyturnonMarx’sfamouspassageintheprefacetothefirsteditionofCapital,inwhichhesoughttoexplaintohisGermanreadersthat,althoughhi

5、sanalysiswasbasedonconditionsinBritain,themostdevelopedcapitalistcountry,itwasfatedtoapplytoGermanyaswell.QuotingtheRomanpoetHorace,Marxwrote:“Detefabulanarratur![Thetaleistoldofyou]....Thecountrythatismoredevelopedindustriallyonlyshows,tothelessde-veloped,theimageofitsownfutu

6、re.”2Marxistsinthesecondandthirdinternationalsgenerallytreatedthisasauniversallawapplyingtoallhistoricalconditions.However,Marxhimselfinotherhistoricalcontextswastopointtodi-vergentpathsofdevelopment.InCapitalhewrotethat“anewandin-ternationaldivisionoflaborspringsup[underindus

7、trialcapitalism],andThisarticlegrewoutofatalkdeliveredtotheInstituteforResearchonWorld-SystemsattheUniversityofCaliforniaatRiversideonMarch16,2007.12MONTHLYREVIEW/MAY2007itconvertsonepartoftheglobeintoachieflyagriculturalfieldofpro-ductionforsupplyingtheotherpart,whichremainsa

8、pre-eminentlyin-dustrialfield.”Inhiswritingsofthe1860sandafte