Utsa Patnaik

Prabhat Patnaik

A comprehensive survey of capitalism's colonialist roots and uncertain future Those who control the world’s commanding economic heights, buttressed by the theories of mainstream economists, presume that capitalism is a self-contained and self-generating system. Nothing could be further from the truth. In this pathbreaking book—winner of the Paul A. Baran-Paul M. Sweezy Memorial Award—radical political economists Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik argue that the accumulation of capital has always required the taking of land, raw materials, and bodies from noncapitalist modes of production. They begin with a thorough debunking of mainstream economics. Then, looking at the history of capitalism, from the beginnings of colonialism half a millennium ago to today’s neoliberal regimes, they discover that, over the long haul, capitalism, in order to exist, must metastasize itself in the practice of imperialism and the immiseration of countless people. A few hundred years ago, write the Patnaiks, colonialism began to ensure vast, virtually free, markets for new products in burgeoning cities in the West. But even after slavery was generally abolished, millions of people in the Global South still fell prey to the continuing lethal exigencies of the marketplace. Even after the Second World War, when decolonization led to the end of the so-called “Golden Age of Capitalism,” neoliberal economies stepped in to reclaim the Global South, imposing drastic “austerity” measures on working people. But, say the Patnaiks, this neoliberal economy, which lives from bubble to bubble, is doomed to a protracted crisis. In its demise, we are beginning to see—finally—the transcendence of the capitalist system.

Theory, History, and the Present

Capital and Imperialism

Issa G. Shivji

Sam Moyo

Capitalism manoeuvres to control agricultural production in developing countries where neoliberalism has already decreased food security. Unless the land rights of small producers are defended, their active resistance will undermine political stability.

Primitive Accumulation and the Peasantry

The Agrarian Question in the Neoliberal Era

Showing how current policies are causing unprecedented rural distress and widespread hunger, this exploration delves into four developing regions--India, the Philippines, Mexico, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The analysis considers both the state of economics as a discipline and the economic policies that ruin the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the third world. In these four regions, imperialism presents itself through deflationary, neoliberal "economic reforms," a thrust towards free trade, and the spread of subservient agriculture. The 12 essays presented offer an alternative look to this dire situation.

The Republic of Hunger and Other Essays

A concise theory of historical and contemporary imperialism based on the prices of agricultural products and their movement from the underdeveloped to the developed world.

A Theory of Imperialism

In A Theory of Imperialism, economists Utsa Patnaik and Prabhat Patnaik present a new theory of the origins and mechanics of capitalism that sounds an alarm about its ongoing viability. Their theory centers on trade between the core economies of the global North and the tropical and subtropical countries of the global South and considers how the Northern demand for commodities (such as agricultural products and oil) from the South has perpetuated and solidified an imperialist relationship. The Patnaiks explore the dynamics of this process and discuss innovations that could allow the economies of the South to achieve greater prosperity without damaging the economies of the North. The result is an original theory of imperialism that brings to light the crippling limitations of neoliberal capitalism. A Theory of Imperialism also includes a response by David Harvey, who interprets the agrarian system differently and sees other factors affecting trade between the North and the South. Their debate is one of the most provocative exchanges yet over the future of the global economy as resources grow thin, populations explode, and universal prosperity becomes ever more elusive.

Utsa Patnaik

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