Accumulation on a World Scale: A Critique of the Theory of Underdevelopment

by Samir Amin

"A major contribution by one of the leading Marxist students of economic underdevelopment, Accumulation on a World Scale is a critique of orthodox macroeconomics and monetary theory. Its major focus is on how Western economic penetration and monopolistic power contributed to the formation of a peripheral capitalism in underdeveloped countries, which blocked their rapid economic development, especially in the more dynamic sectors of industry." —Choice

Samir Amin was born in Egypt in 1931 and received his Ph.D. in economics in Paris in 1957. He is director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, Senegal.

Genres: Economics, History, Politics, Nonfiction, African Literature, Theory, Philosophy

666 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

The Arabic profile: سمير أمين

Samir Amin (Arabic: سمير أمين) (3 September 1931 – 12 August 2018) was an Egyptian-French Marxian economist, political scientist and world-systems analyst. He is noted for his introduction of the term Eurocentrism in 1988 and considered a pioneer of Dependency Theory.

Reviews

[Leonardo]

En todos los casos la acumulación primitiva de capital requiere una nueva combinación de riqueza y comando. Lo distintivo del primer modelo, que Marx describió para Inglaterra y se aplica para Europa en general, es que la nueva riqueza para la acumulación primitiva de capital proviene del exterior (de los territorios coloniales) y el comando surge internamente (mediante la evolución de las relaciones de producción inglesas y europeas). Según el segundo modelo, que caracteriza a la mayoría de los procesos modernos de acumulación primitiva fuera de Europa, los términos se revierten, de modo que la nueva riqueza emerge del interior y el comando proviene del exterior (usualmente el capital europeo). Esta inversión de riqueza / comando e interior / exterior en ambos modelos conduce a toda una serie de diferencias en las formaciones económicas, políticas y sociales del capital a través del mundo. Muchas de estas diferencias, derivadas de los dos modelos, fueron adecuadamente descriptas por los teóricos del subdesarrollo en términos de formaciones capitalistas centrales y periféricas. (Ver especialmente Samir Amin, Accumulation in a World Scale).

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[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review pending. A much richer analysis than Bill Warren had it seem, and I've gained a clearer idea of what unequal exchange means, to the degree that I can kind of agree with it!

[Mtume Gant · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s a mammoth, slightly overwritten but absolutely essential text. Clarified a lot of terminology I had heard but also have been bastardized, or obscured. In particular “unequal exchange”, “uneven development”, “periphery” “imperial core” and “underdevelopment.

If you are not an Economist like me it can be a bit frustrating but he does close chapters very well and you end up more or less getting the gist.

But yes, totally classic, just wish he had an editor lol.

[Soda Lux · Rating 4 out of 5]

THICK

[Neeraj · Rating 4 out of 5]

a more empirical review of many decades following lenin's 'imperialism- the higher stage of capital' essay...