Imperialism in Latin America and the current relevance of the Marxist dependency theory

Abstract

This article presents a brief exposition of the concept of imperialism in order to problematize it based on the analytical categories designed by the Marxist dependency theory. The main purpose is to point out the relevance of the theory to understand the peripheral Latin American capitalism in contemporary times, giving due importance to the economic and political elaborations within the framework of Ruy Mauro Marini’s thoughts. Close reading was carried out on the intellectual production of Marini, and the main concepts and categories developed by the Marxist dependency theory – such as those of sub-imperialism and super-exploitation of the workforce – were then exposed. In terms of methodology, the reflections were based on dialectical materialism, which is contained both in the problematization of the actuality of the Marxist dependency theory and in the core of the formulations that it has examined.