Review

Author(s): Timothy M. Shaw

Review by: Timothy M. Shaw
Source: The Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Oct., 1983), pp. 119-121
Published by: College of Business, Tennessee State University
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4191208
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 TheJournalof DevelopingAreas18 (October1983) 119-154

Book Reviews

RICHARDT. SCHAEFER

DEPENDENCYAND MARXISM:TOWARDA RESOLUTIONOFTHEDE-

BATE.Editedby RonaldH. Chilcote.Boulder,CO:WestviewPress, 1982.Pp.
xi + 179, $18.95, $9.95.
The economiccrisisof the mid-1970s onward,withits profoundconsequences
for developmentand growthin the ThirdWorld,servedto exacerbatethe on-
going debateabout analysisand policy arounddependencia.This intellectual
crisiswill not likelybe resolvedby any improvementin globaleconomicpros-
pects, althoughits focus and form may yet evolve as debt rolloverreplacesoil
price or food shortageas the motif The "common crisis" (North-South:Co-
operationfor WorldRecovery[PanBooks, 1983])of insufficientproductionand
inegalitariandistributionhas theoreticalas well as empiricalcontent, despite
the BrandtCommission'sreluctanceto recognizethe intellectualantecedentsof
its internationalistinclinations.
If the debatein the 1960swas betweendevelopmentalismand dependencia,
thenthe dividein the 1970shasbeenbetweendependenceconceptsandMarxist
perspectives.The presentcollectionof succinctand sophisticatedcontributions
is revealingof the diversityand intensityof the contemporaryintellectualstrug-
gle that takes place both between and within the dependencegenre and the
materialisttradition:the formerhas both Marxistand non-Marxistadvocates
while the lattereitherincorporatesor excludesdependencianotions.The wide
varietyof compatibleand contradictoryconceptsand schoolsis representedin
thiscompactvolume,whichcanat one levelbe consideredin termsof anexercise
in the sociologyof knowledgeor at anotherlevel as providingbases for alter-
native developmentdirections.
The strengthof this collection lies in its catholic range:it articulatesand
juxtaposesa rich set of alternativeformulationsand explanations-modesof
production,internationaldivision of labor,state hegemonyand autonomy,the
world system, dependentdevelopment,and peripheralsocial formations.Its
weakness,however,also lies in such eclecticism:it offersneithersynthesisnor
theory.Althoughmany contributorsrecognizethe deficienciesof both depen-
dence and materialismwhen applied in static and simplisticways, few offer
comprehensivealternatives,rarelygoing beyond possibleconceptsas opposed
to definingtheoreticalframeworks.The majordebateis, of course,aboutwhether

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120 BookReviews

intemational or internal distribution or production explains underdevelopment

in the Third World, i.e., external exchange or the problematique of domestic
production. The related minor debate is over the compatibility of dependencia
with a more substructural,class-based formulation.
Joel Edelstein argues, in a rather optimistic and synthetic vein, that a revi-
sionist dependence can augment a materialist mode by offering
an understandingof social formations which have been created essentially through their integration
into an expanding world capitalist system. It is not an alternative to Marxist analysis. It can be a
perspective which makes a Marxist analysis of these social formations possible by exploring the
totality of Latin American dependent capitalist development (p. 107).
Conversely, orthodox, structuralistdependence tends to exclude any such crucial
dialectical processes situated in the sub- rather than the super-structure. As
Thomas Angotti indicates, "The idealist method observes the following histor-
ical processes: i) stages in the revolutionary process; ii) changes in the mode of
production; iii) stages in the development of the dominant modes of production;
and iv) the class struggle" (p. 128).
In response to the somewhat contrary intellectual deficiencies and ideological
directions, let alone mutual intolerance, of both dependence and Marxism-
dogma in both leads to insensitivity toward real contradictions in analysis and
praxis-Ronald Chilcote has identified and articulated emerging tasks for the
next postdependencia decade, among them
not only familiarity with the classical Marxist texts and theories of imperialism but the development
of theory and investigation that benefits from close examination of relations and modes of production,
specifically class analysis of social formations that allows attention to state-class relationships and
the impact of the internationalization of capital (p. 15).
The implications of such redirection are crucial for policy as well as for expla-
nation if ongoing economic as well as analytic crises are to be transcended.
The debate between this pair of dominant perspectives about which will be-
come the future "paradigm" is not of academic concern only; intellectual ori-
entation affects political and policy preferences. This potential for very distinc-
tive types of praxis is centered on two particular issues. First, is national
capitalism, through the accumulative and reproductive capacity of a national
bourgeois class or faction, possible in a world of transnational capital-a concem
related to the "Warren thesis" of industrial potential in the Third World? Sec-
ond, is self-reliance the only panacea given external exploitation, or does it serve
merely to augment national bourgeois interests versus more comprador ele-
ments, as well as against indigenous proletarian and peasant forces? In short,
is the ideology of dependency a convenient and hence popular formulation to
advance the indigenous bourgeoisie in both interrelated national and interna-
tional struggles?
From an historical, materialist, and nuanced perspective, the dialectics of
development are not aspects of a common crisis in which all share setbacks.
Rather they reflect distinctive and divergent antagonisms within global and
national political economies. As Edelstein cautions, dependencia can be appro-
priated by dominant peripheral interests in their two-sided conflicts with inter-
national property and internal proletariat:"dependency theory defends the in-
terest of local capital against Marxism-Leninism and against the struggleof the
working classes for socialist revolution" (p. 103).
Despite the subtitle of this important yet dense and elusive volume, the de-
bate-intellectual, political, and ideological-is not about to be resolved. Indeed,

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 Book Reviews 121

given the distinctive(dialectical?)problematiquesin which the two modes of

analysisare located,theoreticalsynthesismay be quite elusivejust as political
and economic antagonismsare unlikelyto be resolved becauseof any (mo-
mentary?)revival in globaland nationalpoliticaleconomies.
TIMOTHYM. SHAW
DalhousieUniversity

FINANCIALINSTITUTIONSAND MARKETSIN THE FAR EAST.Edited

byMichaelT.Skully.New York:St.Martin'sPress,1982.Pp. xiii + 220, $27.50.
This is a useful book for beginningstudentsof eitherfinanceor economics,
writingtheirfrst termpaperaboutbankingin the FarEast,orjuniorloanofficers
at Chase Manhattan,wishing to impress their boss with some institutional
knowledgeabout majorbanks operatingin Tokyo or in Seoul. Most develop-
menteconomistswill findthis volumea bit shortin analysis,whilemostbanking
practitionerswill probablyalreadyhave the informationcontainedin this vol-
ume in their files. Indeed,both groupswill probablyknow more aboutcertain
aspectsof monetarypolicyand financialmarketsin the FarEastthanis revealed
here.
Editedby MichaelT. Skully,a lecturerin financeat the Universityof New
SouthWales,this volume consistsof five chapters,eachdevotedto a particular
countryin the Far East,and seems to cry out for eitheran introductorycom-
parativechapteror a concludingsummary.The editor himself is responsible
for approximatelyone-halfof the book-the firsttwo chapterson the financial
institutionsand marketsin mainlandChina and Hong Kong,and the chapter
on Taiwan as well (as coauthorwith Ching-ingHou Liang of the National
ChengchiUniversityin Taipei).The chapteron Japanwas writtenby Hiromitsu
Ishi of HitotsubashiUniversity,while that on Koreawas done by Sang-Woo
Nam (at KDI) and Yung-ChulPark(KoreaUniversity).The editor has either
writtenor editedseveralmorepieceson financeand investmentin the FarEast
and has otherprojectsunderway(includingan articlehe will coauthorwithme).
Thus,whatfollowsis all intendedas constructivecriticism,not meantto detract
from the fundamentalusefulnessof the workat all, but somethingthat Skully
might take into accountfor a secondedition of this volume.
The firstchapteron mainlandChinacoversonly 25 pagesin a book of about
200 pagesof text and is largelyhistoricaland descriptive.The chapteron Hong
Kong is roughlytwice as long but is also largelydevoted to tables,charts,and
lists,withoutmuch analysisof competitivedevelopmentsand economictrends.
TherelationshipbetweenAsian-dollartransactionsin HongKongandSingapore
is brieflymentionedbut not reallyanalyzedto any extent (whichis a bit sur-
prising,given the editor'sexpertiseand first-handknowledgeon this score).The
authormentionsthe operationof foreignbanksin the PRC,andPRC-controlled
banksin Hong Kong-but just exactlywhat Sun Kung Hai Securitiesis doing
throughits Beijingofficewill have to be dealtwith in the movie that will surely
follow this volume.
Characteristically, the chapteron Japan'sfinancialstructurecontainsa great
dealof information,thoughevaluationandanalysisalsotend to remainimplicit.
Indeed,it is left to the readerto guess whetherProfessorIshi regardsthe role
of financialinstitutionsas a positive or a negativeone, and whetherhe would

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