While Africa is the biggest recipient of aid globally, the terms, conditions and principles upon which aid is delivered are rarely defined by the people of Africa - although it is for them that this aid, at least rhetorically, is meant to create positive change. With the current global economic crisis and high-level meetings on aid effectiveness, the debate on aid to Africa is resurgent. Coming from the diverse perspectives of African social commentators, academics and activists including Demba Moussa Dembele, Patrick Bond, Samir Amin and Charles Mutasa, this comprehensive volume explores the premise, history and foundation upon which the concept of aid is based. It considers aid's relationship to the broader development discourse in Africa, the politics and power dynamics of aid mechanisms and how the emergence of powers such as China and India are redefining the global aid architecture. Aid to Africa considers how to create a more just aid system that contributes to Africa's development while also elaborating alternative approaches that understand the inherent inequity of aid. Critically, this book provides a framework not merely to render aid more effective, something which the current mainstream discourse is grappling to define, but to create an alternative African development paradigm from Pan-Africanist, feminist and other perspectives.

In The Implosion of Capitalism world-renowned political economist Samir Amin connects the key events of our times - financial crisis, Eurozone implosion, the emerging BRIC nations and the rise of political Islam - identifying them as symptoms of a profound systemic crisis. In light of these major crises and tensions, Amin updates and modifies the classical definitions of social classes, political parties, social movements and ideology. In doing so he exposes the reality of monopoly capitalism in its contemporary global form. In a bravura conclusion, Amin argues that the current capitalist system is not viable and that implosion is unavoidable. The Implosion of Capitalism makes clear the stark choices facing humanity - and the urgent need for a more humane global order.

Out of early twentieth-century Russia came the world's first significant effort to build a modern revolutionary society. According to Marxist economist Samir Amin, the great upheaval that once produced the Soviet Union has also produced a movement away from capitalism - a long transition that continues even today. In seven concise, provocative chapters, Amin deftly examines the trajectory of Russian capitalism, the Bolshevik Revolution, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the possible future of Russia - and, by extension, the future of socialism itself. Amin manages to combine an analysis of class struggle with geopolitics - each crucial to understanding Russia's singular and complex political history. He first looks at the development (or lack thereof) of Russian capitalism. He sees Russia's geopolitical isolation as the reason its capitalist empire developed so differently from Western Europe, and the reason for Russia's perceived "backwardness." Yet Russia's unique capitalism proved to be the rich soil in which the Bolsheviks were able to take power, and Amin covers the rise and fall of the revolutionary Soviet system. Finally, in a powerful chapter on Ukraine and the rise of global fascism, Amin lays out the conditions necessary for Russia to recreate itself, and perhaps again move down the long road to socialism. Samir Amin's great achievement in this book is not only to explain Russia's historical tragedies and triumphs, but also to temper our hopes for a quick end to an increasingly insufferable capitalism. This book offers a cornucopia of food for thought, as well as an enlightening means to transcend reductionist arguments about "revolution" so common on the left. Samir Amin's book - and the actions that could spring from it - are more necessary than ever, if the world is to avoid the barbarism toward which capitalism is hurling humanity.

Samir Amin's ambitious new book argues that the ongoing American project to dominate the world through military force has its roots in European liberalism, but has developed certain features of liberal ideology in a new and uniquely dangerous way. Where European political culture since the French Revolution has given a central place to values of equality, the American state has developed to serve the interests of capital alone, and is now exporting this model throughout the world. American Imperialism, Amin argues, will be far more barbaric than earlier forms of imperialism, pillaging natural resources and destroying the lives of the poor.;The Liberal Virus examines the ways in which the American model is being imposed on the world, and outlines its economic and political consequences. It shows how both citizenship and class consciousness are diluted in 'low-intensity democracy' and argues instead for democratisation as an ongoing process - of fundamental importance for human progress - rather than a fixed constitutional formula designed to support the logic of capital accumulation. In a panoramic overview, Amin examines the objectives and outcomes of American policy in the differe

According to renowned Marxist economist Samir Amin, the recent Arab Spring uprisings comprise an integral part of a massive "second awakening" of the Global South. From the self-immolation in December 2010 of a Tunisian street vendor, to the consequent outcries in Cairo's Tahrir Square against poverty and corruption, to the ongoing upheavals across the Middle East and Northern Africa, the Arab world is shaping what may become of Western imperialism - an already tottering and overextended system. The Reawakening of the Arab World examines the complex interplay of nations regarding the Arab Spring and its continuing, turbulent seasons. Beginning with Amin's compelling interpretation of the 2011 popular Arab explosions, the book is comprised of five chapters - including a new chapter analyzing U.S. geo-strategy. Amin sees the United States, in an increasingly multi-polar world, as a victim of overreach, caught in its own web of attempts to contain the challenge of China, while confronting the staying power of nations such as Syria and Iran. The growing, deeply-felt need of the Arab people for independent, popular democracy is the cause of their awakening, says Amin. It is this awakening to democracy that the United States fears most, since real self-government by independent nations would necessarily mean the end of U.S. empire, and the economic liberalism that has kept it in place. The way forward for the Arab world, Amin argues, is to take on, not just Western imperialism, but also capitalism itself.

In his new extensively revised and expanded edition of this book, Samir Amin suggests new approaches to Marxian analysis of the crisis of the late capitalist system of generalized, financialized, and globalized oligopolies following on the financial collapse of 2008. Considering that Marx's Capital, written before the emergence of imperialism as a decisive factor in capitalist accumulation, could provide no explanation for the persistent "underdevelopment" of the countries of the "global South," Amin advances several important theoretical concepts extending traditional Marxian views of capitalist evolution. Most strikingly, he proposes adding to the model of reproduction in Volume II of Capital a Third Department of Production devoted to surplus absorption, necessitated by the capitalist tendency constantly to produce an economic surplus too large to be realized by the consumption and investment purchases generated within Marx's original two-department model. Equally interesting is his theoretical concept of "imperialist rent," derived from the scaling of radically different wages paid for the same labor in countries of the North and the South, whose effect has been to provide Northern capital with sufficient profits to permit it to pacify for a long period its conflict with the Northern proletariat. To account for this new type of rent he extends the Marxian "law of value" in the form of a "law of globalized value" whose operations determine such changes in the polarized world system as the industrial growth of many Third-World nations within the global imperialist context. Amin sees the present crisis as a moment in the second long crisis of the capitalist system, dating from the early 1970's (the first long crisis, he maintains, lasted from 1873 until 1945). He sees no exit from repeated crises under capitalism except the descent into barbarism. The challenge is not to escape from the crisis of capitalism-a hopeless project-but to escape from capitalism in crisis. And Amin reasserts his historical optimism as to the socialist project. He expects a "second wave" of socialist attempts that will stem from the self-liberating efforts of the nations and peoples of the South which, by eliminating the imperialist rent, will lead to an awakening of the Northern popular classes to join the awakening of the global South. This book has an important place among the theoretical resources for anyone involved in the study of contemporary Marxian economic and political theory.

Originally published in 1974, this volume deals with studies of migration from census and other data, variations in scale, distance and duration of various types of migration, social relations of migrant populations with their home areas and their host communities, and expectations and valuation of migrants concerning rural and urban life. It also examines interrelations between levels of migration, labour supply, wage rates and unemployment in urban centres, the impact of different types of migration on the national economy and economic planning and governemnt measures and conflicting interests of the labour supplying and receiving countries. The introduction analyses the main economic and political factors and the socio-economic consequences and problems brought about by migrations in and between territories.

The World We Wish to See presents a sweeping view of twentieth-century political history and a stirring appeal to take political culture seriously. Samir Amin offers a provocative analysis of resistance to capitalism and imperialism and calls for a new politics of opposition. Capitalism is a global system, so ultimately any successful challenge to it must be organized on the same level: an ainternationalism of peoples.a

Throughout the twentieth century the socialist and communist internationals, national liberation movements, and great revolutions have presented challenges to the world order. Amin provides a succinct discussion of the successes and failures of these mobilizations, in order to assess the present struggle. Neoliberalism and the drive for military hegemony by the United States have spawned new political and social movements of resistance and attempts at international organization through the World Social Forum. Amin assesses the potential and limitations of these movements to confront global capitalism in the twenty-first century. The World We Wish to See makes a distinction between apolitical cultures and conflicta and apolitical cultures of consensus.a A new politics of struggle is needed; one that is not afraid to confront the power of capitalism, one that is both critical and self-critical.

In this persuasive argument, Amin explains that effective opposition must be based on the construction of a aconvergence in diversitya of oppressed and exploited people--whether they are workers, peasants, students, or any other opponent of capitalism and imperialism. What is needed is a new ainternationala that has an open and flexible organizational structure to coordinatethe work of opposition movements around the world.

The World We Wish to See is a bold book, calling for an international movement that can successfully transcend the current world order, in order to pursue a better world. Aminas lucid analysis provides a firm basis for furthering this objective.

Renowned political economist Samir Amin, engaged in a unique lifelong effort both to narrate and affect the human condition on a global scale, brings his analysis up to the present--the world of 2013. The key events of our times--financial crisis, the emerging nations, globalization, financialization, political Islam, Euro-zone implosion--are related in a coherent, historically based, account. Changes in contemporary capitalism require an updating of definitions and analysis of social classes, class struggles, political parties, social movements and the ideological forms in which they express their modes of action in the transformation of societies. Amin meets this challenge and lays bare the reality of monopoly capitalism in its general, global form. Ultimately, Amin demonstrates that this system is not viable and that the implosion in progress is unavoidable. Whether humanity will rise to the challenge of building a more humane global order free of the contradictions of capital, however, is yet to be seen.

Originally published in 1974, this volume deals with studies of migration from census and other data, variations in scale, distance and duration of various types of migration, social relations of migrant populations with their home areas and their host communities, and expectations and valuation of migrants concerning rural and urban life. It also examines interrelations between levels of migration, labour supply, wage rates and unemployment in urban centres, the impact of different types of migration on the national economy and economic planning and governemnt measures and conflicting interests of the labour supplying and receiving countries. The introduction analyses the main economic and political factors and the socio-economic consequences and problems brought about by migrations in and between territories.

The complete collection of Samir Amin's work on Marxism value theory Unlike such obvious forms of oppression as feudalism or slavery, capitalism has been able to survive through its genius for disguising corporate profit imperatives as opportunities for individual human equality and advancement. But it was the genius of Karl Marx, in his masterwork, Capital, to discover the converse law of surplus value: behind the illusion of the democratic, supply-and-demand marketplace, lies the workplace, where people trying to earn a living are required to work way beyond the time it takes to pay their wages. Leave it to the genius of Samir Amin to advance Marx's theories--adding to them the work of radical economists such as Michal Kalecki, Josef Steindl, Paul Baran, and Paul Sweezy--to show how Marxian theory can be adapted to modern economic conditions. Amin extends Marx's analysis to describe a concept of "imperialist rent" derived from the radically unequal wages paid for the same labor done by people in both the Global North and the Global South, the rich nations and the poor ones. This is global oligopolistic capitalism, in which finance capital has come to dominate worldwide production and distribution. Amin also advances Baran and Sweezy's notion of economic surplus to explain a globally monopolized system in which Marx's "law of value" takes the form of a "law of globalized value," generating a super-exploitation of workers in the Global South. Modern Imperialism, Monopoly Finance Capital, and Marx's Law of Value offers readers, in one volume, the complete collection of Samir Amin's work on Marxian value theory. The book includes texts from two of Amin's recent works, Three Essays on Marx's Value Theory and The Law of Worldwide Value, which have provoked considerable controversy and correspondence. Here, Amin answers his critics with a series of letters, clarifying and developing his ideas. This work will occupy an important place among the theoretical resources for anyone involved in the study of contemporary Marxian economic and political theory.

Samir Amin's ambitious new book argues that the ongoing American project to dominate the world through military force has its roots in European liberalism, but has developed certain features of liberal ideology in a new and uniquely dangerous way. Where European political culture since the French Revolution has given a central place to values of equality, the American state has developed to serve the interests of capital alone, and is now exporting this model throughout the world. American imperialism, Amin argues, will be far more barbaric than earlier forms of imperialism, pillaging natural resources and destroying the lives of the poor.

The Liberal Virus examines the ways in which the American model is being imposed on the world, and outlines its economic and political consequences. It shows how both citizenship and class consciousness are diluted in "low-intensity democracy" and argues instead for democratization as an ongoing process--of fundamental importance for human progress--rather than a fixed constitutional formula designed to support the logic of capital accumulation.

In a panoramic overview, Amin examines the objectives and outcomes of American policy in the different regions of the world. He concludes by outlining the challenges faced by those resisting the American project today: redefining European liberalism on the basis of a new compromise between capital and labor, re-establishing solidarity among the people of the South, and reconstructing an internationalism that serves the interests of regions that are currently divided against each other.

With his usual verve and sharpness Samir Amin examines the factors that brought about the 2008 financial collapse and explores the systemic crisis of capitalism after two decades of neoliberal globalisation. He lays bare the relationship between dominating oligopolies and the globalisation of the world economy. The current crisis, he argues, is a profound crisis of the capitalist system itself, bringing forward an era in which wars, and perhaps revolutions, will once again shake the world. Amin examines the threat to the plutocracies of the US, Europe and Japan from decisions of recent G20 meetings. He analyses the attempts by these powers to get back to the pre-2008 system, and to impose their domination on the peoples of the South through intensifying military intervention by using institutions such as NATO. Amin presents original proposals for the way forward: an alternative strategy which, by building on the advances made by progressive forces in Latin America, would allow for a more humane society through both the North and the South working together. Samir Amin is a renowned radical economist, the director of the Forum du Tiers Monde (Third World Forum) in Dakar, Senegal, and chair of the World Forum for Alternatives. He is one of the best-known thinkers of his generation, both in political science and in the analysis of global capitalism.

The final writings of Samir Amin--a mix of personal experiences and theoretical analysis of global challenges and movements In this second volume of his memoirs, Amin takes us on a journey to a dizzying array of countries, recounting the stages of his ongoing dialogue over several decades with popular movements struggling for a better future. As in his many works over the years, The Long Revolution of the Global South combines Amin's astute theoretical analyses of the challenges confronting the world's oppressed peoples with militant action. In these final writings based on his life, Amin presents us with theoretical interventions, analyses of political conjunctures, and narration of personal experiences. Amin's reminiscences of travels to places too often overlooked by the world at large are a joy to read. We even catch a glimpse of some of his memorable--and sometimes not so memorable--culinary adventures.

Renowned political economist Samir Amin, engaged in a unique lifelong effort both to narrate and affect the human condition on a global scale, brings his analysis up to the present--the world of 2013. The key events of our times--financial crisis, the emerging nations, globalization, financialization, political Islam, Euro-zone implosion--are related in a coherent, historically based, account. Changes in contemporary capitalism require an updating of definitions and analysis of social classes, class struggles, political parties, social movements and the ideological forms in which they express their modes of action in the transformation of societies. Amin meets this challenge and lays bare the reality of monopoly capitalism in its general, global form. Ultimately, Amin demonstrates that this system is not viable and that the implosion in progress is unavoidable. Whether humanity will rise to the challenge of building a more humane global order free of the contradictions of capital, however, is yet to be seen.

A collection of Samir Amin's ten most influential essays of the 21st century Radical political economist Samir Amin left behind a cherished oeuvre of Marxist writings. Amin's intellectual range--from economics to culture--was admirable, and his lessons remain essential. Monthly Review Press is honored to publish this volume, culled from the Monthly Review magazine, of ten of Samir Amin's most significant essays written in the twenty-first century. The collection is introduced by Amin's friend and comrade, the Marxist philosopher Aijaz Ahmad, who provides a comprehensive survey of Amin's life and path-breaking work. Ahmad also offers a contextual focus by which to read such stunningly astute pieces as "Revolution or Decadence?" and "Contemporary Imperialism." Only People Make Their Own History is a loving and enlightening look at what the work of Samir Amin has meant--and will mean-- to millions of people the world over.

A collection of Samir Amin's ten most influential essays of the 21st century Radical political economist Samir Amin left behind a cherished oeuvre of Marxist writings. Amin's intellectual range--from economics to culture--was admirable, and his lessons remain essential. Monthly Review Press is honored to publish this volume, culled from the Monthly Review magazine, of ten of Samir Amin's most significant essays written in the twenty-first century. The collection is introduced by Amin's friend and comrade, the Marxist philosopher Aijaz Ahmad, who provides a comprehensive survey of Amin's life and path-breaking work. Ahmad also offers a contextual focus by which to read such stunningly astute pieces as "Revolution or Decadence?" and "Contemporary Imperialism." Only People Make Their Own History is a loving and enlightening look at what the work of Samir Amin has meant--and will mean-- to millions of people the world over.

BRICS is a grouping of the five major emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Volume five in the Democratic Marxism series, BRICS and the New American Imperialism challenges the mainstream understanding of BRICS and US dominance to situate the new global rivalries engulfing capitalism. It offers novel analyses of BRICS in the context of increasing US induced imperial chaos, deepening environmental crisis tendencies (such as climate change and water scarcity), contradictory dynamics inside BRICS countries and growing subaltern resistance. The authors revisit contemporary thinking on imperialism and anti-imperialism, drawing on the work of Rosa Luxemburg, one of the leading theorists after Marx, who attempted to understand the expansionary nature of capitalism from the heartlands to the peripheries. The richness of Luxemburg's pioneering work inspires most of the volume's contributors in their analyses of the dangerous contradictions of the contemporary world as well as forms of democratic agency advancing resistance. While various forms of resistance are highlighted, among them water protests, mass worker strikes, anti-corporate campaigning and forms of cultural critique, this volume grapples with the challenge of renewing anti-imperialism beyond the NGO-driven World Social Forum and considers the prospects of a new horizontal political vessel to build global convergence. It also explores the prospects of a Fifth International of Peoples and Workers.

This economic study seeks to cut through the intellectual fashions that assume a global capitalist triumph, taking the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Marx and Engels' tract, "The Communist Manifesto" to focus upon the aspirations of the destitute millions of the post-Cold War era. Samir Amin examines the changing notions of crisis in capitalism; misconceptions of the free market model; the various distortions of Marx's method; the role of culture in revolutions; the decline of the "law of value" in economics; the philosophical roots of postmodernism; how telecommunications affect ideology; and the myth of "pure economics".

Samir Amin, one of the most influential economists today, has produced another groundbreaking work. Spectres of Capitalism cuts through the current intellectual fashions that assume a global capitalist triumph, taking the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Marx and Engels's classic tract, the Communist Manifesto, to focus upon the aspirations of the destitute millions of the post-Cold War era. In this succinct theoretical text, Amin examines the changing notion of crisis in capitalism; misconceptions of the free market model; the various distortions of Marx's method; the role of culture in revolutions; the decline of the "law of value" in economics; the philosophical roots of postmodernism; how telecommunications affect ideology; and the myth of "pure economics." Amin has a broad following among students of economics, who value his analyses of the intricacies of capitalist development, both in the major powers and in the third world. The comprehensive scope of this work will also attract readers as a contribution to the international dialogue of intellectuals commemorating the Communist Manifesto.

Persistent unemployment and rising wage differences at the expense of low-skilled workers has characterized the labor market in most developed countries. Since the last economic crisis, unemployment rates and pay inequalities have increased among workers under 25 years of age, thus creating an ever-widening financial gap for an entire generation. Those who do not have a qualification or post-secondary diploma often find themselves in precarious jobs at minimum wage. Countries are now working to adopt reforms to improve the situation of young people in the labor market. International Perspectives on the Youth Labor Market: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of financial inequality and applications within global economics. Unlike literature that focuses only on developed countries, this book also addresses emerging economies whose labor market is often characterized by a dualism that makes the situation of young workers worse. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as unemployment rate, labor reform, and job insecurity, this book is ideally designed for economists, government officials, policymakers, executives, managers, business professionals, researchers, academicians, and students.