Structuralism

“The structure of the international system is inherently unfair and promotes under-development”. Discuss.

Structuralism defines the international system as being inherently unfair on the poor, marginalised and oppressed, as well as providing a critique on liberalist and realist approaches to the international system. From this there is an understanding that the international system has to be understood in two different tiers: the economic ‘base’ and the ‘superstructure’ i.e. social and political. The economic base supports the superstructure (Marx).

Some features of this structuralist approach include the importance of Global (free) trade - most affiliated with the Dependency Theory (Gunder Frank) - which carries with it capitalism- Institutions such as the IMF, the UN, as well as WHO, and how they can act in favour of the elites and promote underdevelopment. Finally, structuralism also analyses the role of nation-states in either contributing to or preventing under-development.

Structuralism is heavily though not exclusively influenced by Marx who developed a critique on the idea of capitalism, which could be the main reason for under-development today and is described as the pursuit of ‘profit and private ownership of property’. We see this in multi-national companies that move production to countries where they don’t have to pay high wages and will produce their product or obtain raw materials at a cheaper rate. We see companies such as Apple moving manufacturing to developing countries such as China so that they can reduce their costs and increase their profit margins, all the while the proletariat of these developing countries are exploited and work for next to nothing; this could be seen as a trademark of capitalism which is sometimes driven by the core states own proletariats demand for cheaper manufactured goods. It does not however, deter the proletariat in core countries from demanding cheaper goods, suggesting that even if the proletariat in the...