Amin’s progressive internationalism

ABSTRACT

In 2018, Samir Amin called for a ‘new wave of revival and progress’ which would replace the system of neoliberal globalisation which is to blame for leaving multiple, interlinked global crises. Five years after his death, this article aims to evaluate if his call has been heeded and how far the world is from a new wave of revival and progress. The article investigates the movement of ‘progressive internationalism’ - as a movement that opposes the perpetuation of the legacy of global imperlialism that has manifested in global power assymetry, producin structural inequality and poverty - as a possible response to Amin’s request. . The core research question is: ‘how far are we from realising Amin’s vision’. To do this, the article will also explore initiatives of the progressive internationalist movement with reference to south-south cooperation thorough the BRICS bloc, structural reform of the international system and the United Nations Security Council, and Active Non-Alignment, among other nascent initiatives.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Non-Aligned Movement was established in 1961 as a response by the Third World to the Cold War and has been seen by many analysts as an indirect result of the Bandung Conference which was held six years earlier. See Keethaponcalan (2016).

2 See Accumulation on a world scale, 1970; Unequal development, 1976; Imperialism and unequal development, 1976; The law of value and historical materialism, 1978.

3 ‘The Century of the Common Man’ is a speech delivered by then-Vice President Henry Wallace in the Grand Ballroom of the Commodore Hotel in New York City on 8 May 1942.

4 See for example, Sarkin (2021).