Benjamin Selwyn 
The Global Development Crisis [EPUB ebook] 

The central paradox of the contemporary world is the simultaneous
presence of wealth on an unprecedented scale, and mass poverty.
Liberal theory explains the relationship between capitalism and
poverty as one based around the dichotomy of inclusion (into
capitalism) vs exclusion (from capitalism). Within this discourse,
the global capitalist system is portrayed as a sphere of economic
dynamism and as a source of developmental opportunities for less
developed countries and their populations. Development policy
should, therefore, seek to integrate the poor into the global
capitalist system.
The Global Development Crisis challenges this way of
thinking. Through an interrogation of some of the most important
political economists of the last two centuries Friedrich List, Karl
Marx, Leon Trotsky, Joseph Schumpeter, Alexander Gerschenkron, Karl
Polanyi and Amarta Sen, Selwyn argues that class relations are the
central cause of poverty and inequality, within and between
countries. In contrast to much development thinking, which portrays
’the poor’ as reliant upon benign assistance, this book
advocates the concept of labour-centred development. Here
’the poor’ are the global labouring classes, and their
own collective actions and struggles constitute the basis of an
alternative form of non-elitist, bottom-up human development.

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