The Late Capitalist Development in the Context of Internationalization of Capital: A Theoretical Framework

In this study we aim to present a theoretical framework which focuses on the development of capitalism in the late-developed capitalist countries. Therefore, in the first part we shortly but critically dwell on the concept of lateness which is widely used in the development literature. In the second part, we express the internationalization of capital as a “terminus a quo” of the late capitalist development. For this, firstly, the concept of internationalization of capital is discussed basing on Marx’s labour theory of value. We especially dwell on the circuits of capital which is developed in the second volume of Capital. And then some important Marxist scholars’ subsequent approaches are examined. These scholars especially focus on the internationalization of capital and its relation with the late capitalist development. In the last part, the internationalization process of capital is addressed in two complementary periods: “early stage” and “advance stage”. In addition to the detailed analysis of the principal forms of internationalizing capital, we determine the principal capital accumulation forms for late capitalist countries in line with these periods. We depict these forms through capital circuits analysis which was developed by Marx.