Rethinking and Reframing Development

• Published date: 01 January 2022
• Date: 01 January 2022
• Author: Ronald H. Chilcote
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221074345
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221074345

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 242, Vol. 49 No. 1, January 2022, 262–263

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221074345

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

262

Book Reviews

Rethinking and Reframing Development

by

Ronald H. Chilcote

Ronaldo Munck Rethinking Development: Marxist Perspectives. Chur, Switzerland:

Palgrave Macmillan, 2021.

Ronaldo Munck and Raúl Delgado Wise (eds.) Reframing Latin American Development.

New York: Routledge, 2018.

Two recent works on development by participating editors of Latin American

Perspectives are of essential interest for scholars and students. In the ambitious synthesis

Rethinking Development, Ronaldo Munck links Marxism to various understandings of

development by contrasting classical and contemporary theories and ideas. His com-

prehensive overview of Marx’s insights serves as an understanding of capitalism and

development in its many forms and opens up major questions in our search for a rele-

vant theory of development. Some reviewers have called it a tour de force. Pedagogically

presented with concepts and ideas, criticism, and abundant sources, it is a synthesis of

concepts and theories centered on the thought of Marx and the ensuing controversies.

Munck looks at Marxism and development as “parallel discourses” that contend

with human progress and Marxism as “a methodology for the study of capitalist soci-

ety.” He argues that development is tied to the notion of progress and modernity and

suggests that it has three stages. Unconcerned that there be a “correct” Marxism, he

identifies classical Marxism, neo-Marxism, and (since 1968, with the rise of new social

movements) post-Marxism and suggests that with the publication in 1998 and 2013 of

additions to the collected works of Marx there is no longer need to distinguish between

the young and the mature Marx. Now is the time, he says, to acknowledge the “new”

Marx and the depth and sophistication of his writings over his lifetime.

The core of the book breaks into five “classical” and four “contemporary” chapters,

each focused on major thinkers, concepts, and issues. The classical chapters examine (1)

capitalism as a mode of production, implying some industrial development; (2) Marx

and underdevelopment, with reference to his writings on India and Ireland, implying

unequal exchange between nations; (3) Lenin and development, in particular his

Development of Capitalism in Russia (published in 1889) and Leninism as an ideology

related to the Russian Revolution; (4) Lenin and imperialism as the highest stage of

capitalist development and the emphasis on capitalism as progressive but also as fol-

lowing an uneven path to development (as set forth by Leon Trotsky in his theory of

uneven and combined development, in which backwardness must be taken into

account); and (5) Luxemburg’s attention to imperialism, primitive accumulation, and

global development. The contemporary chapters deal with (1) dependent development

and its impact, especially in the 1960s and 1970s; (2) postdevelopment, with the decline

of modernization and interest in “decolonial” theory; (3) indigenous development, with

Ronald H. Chilcote is managing editor of Latin American Perspectives.

1074345LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221074345Latin American PerspectivesChilcote/Book Reviews

book-review2022