Marxist Thought on Imperialism: Survey and Critique

First Published in 2015. Classic and contemporary Marxist theoretical works on imperialism are systematically summarized and critiqued in this useful survey. Throughout the discussion, attention is focused analyses of the causes of capitalist foreign economic expansion and the impact of that expansion. The study begins with a discussion of Marx’s political economy and the work of early theorists of imperialism, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Nikolai Bukharin and Rudolf Hilferding. This analysis then serves as the basis for a critical survey of the major strands of postwar Marxist thought, including the work of Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy, Harry Madgdoff, James O’Connor, Andre Gunder Frank and more, Following the survey ae extended critiques of Baran and Sweezy’s theory of monopoly capitalism and Arghiri Emmanuels’ theory of unequal exchange.