Western colonization conserved rather than destroyed precapitalist barriers to development

Evidence

Earlier, we discussed some of the forces which pushed a developing western Europe to expand outward into “new worlds.” But whether this was inevitable, whether its effects have been socially progressive, and whether this was the only possible path to “modernity” are subjects increasingly debated in the social sciences today (Hall et al. 1992). In many parts of the world, the expansion of Western colonization has not destroyed the precapitalist barriers to development. It has conserved and reinforced them. Colonization and imperialism have not promoted economic and social development in these societies, most of which remain profoundly underdeveloped. Where development has taken place, it has often been of the “dependent” variety. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 682

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘dependent development’ thesis connects directly to world-systems theory (Wallerstein, Frank) and to the anti-developmentalist critique the Islamophobia field inherits.
• SEED: The empirical refutation of Marx’s colonial-development teleology is an article-worthy case study in how theory gets corrected by historical outcome.