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  • © 2019

The Political Economy of Underdevelopment in the Global South

The Government-Business-Media Complex

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Analyzes the GBM complex and how it can be used as a framework to drive development
  • Looks at aid and development in the Global South at a structural and descriptive level
  • Examines how foreign aid and investment affects development

Part of the book series: International Political Economy Series (IPES)

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Table of contents (10 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xv
  2. The Roots of Dispossession

    • Justin van der Merwe, Nicole Dodd
    Pages 1-15
  3. Marx, Gramsci, and Power Networks

    • Justin van der Merwe, Nicole Dodd
    Pages 55-74
  4. The Government-Business-Media Complex and Global Chains of Dispossession

    • Justin van der Merwe, Nicole Dodd
    Pages 97-113
  5. The Status of Development, Aid, Trade, and Investment in the Global South

    • Justin van der Merwe, Nicole Dodd
    Pages 137-150
  6. Modelling Development in the Global South

    • Justin van der Merwe, Nicole Dodd
    Pages 151-178
  7. Reversing Dispossession

    • Justin van der Merwe, Nicole Dodd
    Pages 179-203
  8. Back Matter

    Pages 205-209

About this book

This book presents a new theory explaining underdevelopment in the global South and tests whether financial inputs, the government-business-media (GBM) complex and spatiotemporal influences drive human development. Despite the entrance of emerging powers and new forms of aid, trade and investment, international political-economic practices still support well-established systems of capital accumulation, to the detriment of the global South. Global asymmetrical accumulation is maintained by ‘affective’ (consent-forming hegemonic practices) and ‘infrastructural’ (uneven economic exchanges) labours and by power networks. The message for developing countries is that ‘robust’ GBMs can facilitate human development and development is constrained by spatiotemporal limitations. This work theorizes that aid and foreign direct investment should be viewed with caution and that in the global South these investments should not automatically be assumed to be drivers of development.



Authors and Affiliations

  • Centre for Military Studies, University of Stellenbosch, Saldanha, South Africa

    Justin van der Merwe

  • School for Human and Organisational Development, University of Stellenbosch, Saldanha, South Africa

    Nicole Dodd

About the authors

Justin van der Merwe is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Military Studies, Faculty of Military Science at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Nicole Dodd is Chair at the School for Human and Organisational Development, Faculty of Military Science at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa.



Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access