The Political Economy of Underdevelopment [Paperback]

First published in 1982, this reissue deals with the theory of underdevelopment, as Dr. de Silva attempts a synthesis between the internal and external aspects of underdevelopment and, in the Marxist tradition, focuses on the impact of the external on the internal as the dominant reality.

Viewing underdevelopment as a problem in the non-transformation to capitalism, this analysis is in terms of the character of the dominant capital and of the dominant classes. Underdevelopment thus encompasses the traditional peasant economy and also the export sector where the modernizing influence of colonialism was felt. The book finally considers how the contemporary internationalization of capital affected the economies of the Third World.

1. Economic Underdevelopment: a Politico-Historical Perspective  Part I: Investment Patterns in the Settler and Non-Settler Situations  2. Economic Underdevelopment and the Settler/ Nonsettle Dichotomy  3. Export Staples and their Contrasting Impact on Development  the Settler and the Nonsettler Regions  4. Economic Development in the Settler and the Nonsettler Colonies: Differences in Scope and Orientation  5. Settler Autonomy as a Basis of Growth Impulses  6. Settler Growth and the Repression of Indigenous Interests  Part II: The Plantation System and Underdevelopment  7. Plantations and their Metropolitan Orientation  8. Problems of Labour Supply and the recourse to Migrant Labour: I. Labour Shortages and Non-availability of Indigenous Labour  9. Problems of Labour Supply and the recourse to Migrant Labour: II. The Response of the Indigenous Labour to the Plantation System  10. The Scale of Plantation Operations and Productive Efficiency  A Distorted Image  11. Plantations and Technological Stagnation  12. Labour Relations in Plantations