Imperialism and the Development Myth : How Rich Countries Dominate in the Twenty-First Century

by Sam King, Andreas Bieler (Editor)

China and other Third World societies cannot 'catch up' with the rich countries. The contemporary world system is permanently dominated by a small group of rich countries who maintain a vice-like grip over the key parts of the labour process - over the most technologically sophisticated and complex labour. Globalisation of production since the 1980s means much more of the world's work is now carried out in the poor countries, yet it is the rich, imperialist countries - through their domination of the labour process - that monopolise most of the benefits. Income levels in the First World remain five and ten times higher than Third World countries. The huge gulf between rich and poor worlds is getting bigger not smaller. Under capitalist imperialism, it is permanent.

China has moved from being one of the poorest societies to a level now similar with other relatively developed Third World societies - like Mexico and Brazil. The dominant idea that it somehow threatens to 'catch up' economically, or overtake the rich countries paves the way for imperialist military and economic aggression against China. King's meticulous study punctures the rising-China myth. His empirical and theoretical analysis shows that, as long as the world economy continues to be run for private profit, it can no longer produce new imperialist powers. Rather it will continue to reproduce the monopoly of the same rich countries generation after generation. The giant social divide between rich and poor countries cannot be overcome.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction

312 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2021

Reviews

[Suryashekhar Biswas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters 2,3 and 5 highlight the extents to which Lenin's theory of imperialism has been misunderstood, misrepresented, even distorted, by various academics and scholars — well-meaning or otherwise. This book is appreciable in restoring what the theory actually states, and demonstrating the great extent to which it applies today.

The sections on China (and Russia) seem to be the weakest spots in the book, as the author fails to extend the rigorous analysis he presents in previous chapters, and ends up concluding that these two nations are not imperialists, but rather victims of Western imperialism. One book (there are many) I would suggest, that debunks this, is Michael Probsting's Great Robbery of the Global South, which has chapters dedicated to how Russia and China have transformed into imperialist powers too.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book presents a convincing theory of how to understand the modern rich-poor divide. Works like this are necessary in these trying times.