Extreme Uneven Development

This book reassesses classic Marxist theories of finance capital and uneven development in the context of the present intensified process of financialization and the accentuation of combined and accelerating uneven development. In particular, the work of Hilferding and Luxemburg is discussed and re-framed in light of both the contributions of Marx and more recent engagements by David Harvey and Neil Smith. The book explores the case of South Africa in particular in light of the combination of a rapidly financializing yet crisis-ridden South African political economy on the one hand and intensifying social inequality and political conflict on the other. It explores a series of strategies and possibilities that might open up trajectories for change and transformation with particular attention paid to the promises and constraints of the de-growth movement and intersectional class struggle, which will appeal to political economists, researchers, and students alongside those studying South Africa specifically.
Patrick Bond is a political economist and professor at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He spent more than two decades teaching at the Wits University School of Governance in Johannesburg and the University of KwaZulu-Natal Centre for Civil Society in Durban. During the late 1980s he pursued doctoral studies in economic geography at Johns Hopkins University, while learning politics in the anti-apartheid, labour, student and community movements. In 1994 and 1996, he worked in the Reconstruction and Development Ministry in President Nelson Mandela’s office, drafting the democratic government’s first White Paper and a dozen other major policy documents. He appears more than 100 times a year on South African and international broadcast media, and usually gives more than 50 guest lectures annually.