Uneven and combined development: convergence realism in communist regalia?
Blagden, D
Date: 17 November 2020
Article
Journal
Cambridge Review of International Affairs
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Leon Trotsky’s notion of ‘uneven and combined development’ (U&CD) has been gaining
traction as an explanatory theory of international relations over the past decade, notably in work
by Justin Rosenberg and Alexander Anievas. The idea that the uneven sequencing of economic
development between countries affects both their relative ...
Leon Trotsky’s notion of ‘uneven and combined development’ (U&CD) has been gaining
traction as an explanatory theory of international relations over the past decade, notably in work
by Justin Rosenberg and Alexander Anievas. The idea that the uneven sequencing of economic
development between countries affects both their relative power relationships and domestic
political stability, in particular, carries prima-facie intuitive plausibility. The potential
consequences for international stability of such relative power shifts and domestic upheavals,
furthermore, suggest that there may be significant explanatory payoffs from this line of
investigation. At the same time, however, the U&CD intuition raises other questions about
causal foundations and theoretical affiliations. What accounts for the sequencing of uneven
development, for example? And how exactly do both relative power shifts and domestic
political instability elevate war risks? This paper will address these lacunae, by demonstrating
that – at the level of its underlying micro-foundations – U&CD can be understood as a
compound of catch-up convergence growth theory and security-dilemma realism. Such a
recognition paves the way, in turn, for a fruitful application of U&CD to contemporary
questions in international politics.
Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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