5. Uneven Development and Capital Accumulation: The Government-Business-Media Complex

The government-business-media complex (GBM) explains systems of accumulation in the era of neoliberalism and globalisation. In this era networks of elites who have mastered the technologies of capitalism and imperialism, transplant crises of over-accumulation from the core, to the semi-periphery, and periphery. Underdevelopment results from the interplay between international (structural) and domestic (descriptive) level factors, and the ‘labour’ of elites and workers. Affective labour cultivates consent, while infrastructural labour installs the practical arrangements required for accumulation by dispossession. Conversion of economic inputs into development also depends on a country’s descriptive level characteristics, specifically its spatiotemporal considerations (geography, history, and culture) and its GBM. Spatiotemporal elements are relatively unchangeable and create a ceiling for development. Fortunately, efficient conversion of economic inputs into development also depends on the robustness of the country’s GBM, which can be reformed over time.