Uneven and combined development and sub-imperialism: the internationalization of Brazilian capital

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the political-economic outgrowth of Brazilian capitalism in the global south after the outset of the global financial crisis. In analysing the public-sector finance policy of the Workers’ Party (PT) during the crisis, I argue that a structuration of investment was established. Utilizing theoretical premises of uneven and combined development and sub-imperialism, this paper traces the motions of the industrial financing processes that perpetuate Brazilian capitalism outside of the boundaries of the nation-state to shed light on the relationship between ‘emergent’ economies, their state structures, and the developing world. I argue that such structures represent a policy to accelerate capital accumulation abroad.

KEYWORDS:

• Brazil
• development
• international political economy
• uneven and combined development
• imperialism
• development bank

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For an overview of these banks and their long history of interventionist economics, see Carrillo (2014).

2. Tensions between sub-imperialism and UCD are evident in the way they characterize the range the sub-imperial v the imperial relation.

3. While the most notable development banks of this kind were found in South Korea and Japan, OECD regulation during the regional Asian financial crisis resulted in a pull back of the activities of these banks. The replication of these practices to the political reality came from Brazil, a non-OECD member, a non-crisis state in 2008–2009, and a staple of the recently important G20. This is the historical conjecture responsible for the conditions for these political decisions to be made.

4. Here, arises another theoretical tension between the multiplicity of UCD and sub-imperialism. The relation between the sub-imperial state – monopoly capitalism – the peripheral formation is more fluid in the latter than former.

5. This is according to the standards set in the World Bank World Development Indicators, see (2015).

6. It is in this role of the state that a tension erupts between UCD and sub-imperialism.

7. The PT’s policies of securitizing this economic interaction through ‘hardening soft power’ is evidence of a trend in the state apparatus, see Hirst (2015).

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Notes on contributors

Alex Moldovan

Alex Moldovan is currently a first-year doctoral student at York University focusing on the fields of international relations and comparative politics. In his Master’s degree, he completed a thesis in the field of comparative politics entitled, Chinese, Brazilian, and Russian investment into the ex-colonial world: The politics of South–South investment, which was completed at McMaster University under the generous supervision and guidance of Dr Alina Sajed. This project opened the door to a research interest in the social processes at the core of investment. He completed his bilingual BA at York University’s Collège Universitaire Glendon in Political Science. Also, he is affiliated to the inter-disciplinary Lusophone Studies Association at York University. His current research focuses on the social impact of the investment relationships that Brazil has had with Lusophone Africa since independence was won in 1975. Previously, he has worked on state-funded projects on homelessness and the history of the radio in Canada.