Chapter 6 Review questions

  1. Are mercantilists right when they assert that the economy should be subordinated to the primary goal of increasing state power?
  2. Are the Japanese, the Koreans, and the Chinese thinking in mercantilist terms as claimed in Box 6.3?
  3. What should be the role of the state according to economic liberalism?
  4. Does international trade today confirm Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage?
  5. Are the advanced industrialized countries characterized by class struggle as the Marxist view assumes?
  6. Discuss Lenin's view of 'uneven development' – is it a correct view?
  7. Does foreign investment in the developing world by the industrialized countries lead to exploitation, as Gunder Frank claims?
  8. Why do dependency theorists claim that capitalism leads to underdevelopment in the periphery? How does this argument reinterpret Marx’s idea about capitalist exploitation of labour?
  9. Discuss the pros and cons of Robert Cox's analytical framework as set out in Figure 6.2.
  10. Will the capitalist world economy always be a hierarchy, as Wallerstein says?
  11. Marxists maintain that economic power is the basis for political power. Do you agree?
  12. Justin Rosenberg sees ‘uneven and combined development’ as an explanation for the Brexit vote and the outcome of the 2016 US presidential election. Do you find this analysis persuasive? Why or why not?
Back to top