Samir Amin and the Theory of Imperialism: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

This paper attempts to provide, from a Marxist perspective, a critical understanding of Amin's theory of imperialism. The paper is broken down into two parts. The first part discusses Amin's theory of capitalist expansion; the second part, his theory of persistent backwardness. It is argued that, although Amin's work in many ways represents an improvement over dependency theory, nevertheless it is confined by the methodologicial limitations inherent in dependency theory. More specifically, the paper shows how Amin's analysis is restricted to the sphere of circulation, and why such a restriction is detrimental to a complete understanding of imperialism.