Chapter 2.8 Notes: Structuralism and Imperialism

Structuralism

An IPE perspective that accounts for the political-economic interconnectedness (structural relationship) between any number of entities: the bourgeoisie and proletariat, the core and periphery, and the North and South

Dependency theory and the Modern World Systems theory are two key pillars of the classical liberal perspective.

False

From the modern world systems perspective, the international system is more dynamics and divided into a capitalist core, a semiperiphery, and a periphery. In Wallerstein's theory, the international division of labor and exploitation is static.

False

Lenin argued that capitalism was able to delay its crisis through national economic expansion.

False

Marx had a lot to say about international politics, t or f

False

Raul Prebisch, an Argentine economist and prominent dependency theorist, attempted to pin down exactly the mechanism in the international economic system that explained this structure of dependency. He noted that the terms of trade inherently worked in favor of periphery nations at the expense of the core.

False

The academic ______________ is the father of Modern World System's theory

Immanuel Wallerstein

What was a problem with terms of trade?

It benefited rich countries more than poor ones. Rich countries exchanged manufactured goods for raw materials, but those raw materials declined in value at a faster rate

Classes, as defined by Marx

People separated into groups based on ownership (or lack thereof) of capital

In structuralism and marxism, politics were controlled mostly by

People with the greatest capital

How does neo-imperialism differ from classical imperialism?

States no longer take over their conquered country

The Modern World System theory looks at capitalism as:

The interactions of core, semi-peripheral and peripheral

terms of trade

The rate at which units of one product can be exchanged for units of another product; the price of a good or service; the amount of one good or service that must be given up to obtain 1 unit of another good or service

According to dependency theory, why do LDCs remain underdeveloped?

Their dependence on industrialized nations prevents them from acquiring capital and technology for their own developments.

According to Andre Gunder Frank, Latin America's underdevelopment was not due to its supposed historical backwardness or presence of traditional societies but instead resulted from their exploitation by industrialized nations.

True

What Raul Prebisch meant by "terms of trade" was that the primary goods — commodities such as tea, sugar, coffee, tin, etc.—produced and exported by poor countries tended to decline in exchange value over time while the industrial goods produced by rich countries tended not to decline or declined at a much slower pace.

True

Dependency Theory

a model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich ones

Vladimir Lenin

argued that the exploitation of the lower-class as described by Marx was also occurring on an international scale in what he called Imperialism

For Marx, ___ forms everything

class conflict

Structuralism looks at how social and economic processes are shaped by

dominant structures

In Dependency Theory, benefits

don't trickle down

For Marx, the most dominant structure was

economy

Lenin believed that capitalism was able to postpone its crisis by:

exploiting less developed countries through imperialism

The dominant theoretical approach to development among Latin American intellectuals during the 1960s was ______________________ .

the Dependency Theory

The basic idea behind structuralism is that

the international system is one of explotation

Unlike dependency theory, world-systems theory

views development as possible for LCDs, even if it is dependent development