To claim that capital formation is weak or not there is a complete mis-reading of the Asian situation. While these countries may not become like imperialists in the military sphere, economic imperialism is already quite evident. Historically Japan is the classic example of a rise of a new imperial power. Its presence is felt in Asia in a big way even though it has little military muscle to flex. As for predicting who may or may not become new powers, let's not forget the state of powerful Britain and the Soviet Union! Anthony P. D'Costa Associate Professor Senior Fellow Comparative International Development Department of Economics University of Washington National University of Singapore 1900 Commerce Street 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Tacoma, WA 98402-3100 USA Singapore 119260 Ph: (253) 692-4462 Fax: (253) 692-4414 On Sat, 27 Sep 1997, Louis N Proyect wrote: > On Sat, 27 Sep 1997, Dennis R Redmond wrote: > > > > But what about the 2.5 billion people of Thailand, Malaysia, Chile, > > Vietnam, Indonesia, and the vast subcontinents of India and China, all of > > which have seen enormous economic growth from 1985-95? Decline in > > capitalism is always relative to the productive forces being unleashed > > somewhere else in the world-system. > > > > I left China out because it is--still--a socialist country. My point is > still basically valid. Except for Asia, the Third World has been > experiencing economic crisis over the ten years cited. There are no > capitalist "miracles" in sub-Saharan Africa. Chile experienced greater > growth under Allende than it did under Pinochet. > > Leaving aside the question of growth per se, the real question is capital > formation. Indonesia and the "tigers", etc. will never join the first rank > of imperialist nations. This is historically precluded. > > Louis P. > > >
