Understanding backwardness as a structural problem: historical time in the analysis of the Russian Narodniks and Lenin, Gerschenkron, and Furtado

The paper explores the concept of backwardness as a structural problem. The starting point is to situate Luigi Pasinetti’s contribution to the question of structural change, in order to unfold from there some tentative links in the history of economic thought for thinking about the question of backwardness from the periphery. Pasinetti plays a central role in linking the Cambridge School’s extension of Keynesian analysis to long-run perspectives and the theorization of structural change. Pasinetti’s work, together with Joan Robinson’s distinction between logical and historical time, forms an important basis for understanding the persistence of heterogeneity in the world economic structure, especially in the context of international economic relations. Traditional economic theory focusing on “logical time” tends to overlook this heterogeneity in favor of the forces of free trade, while an analysis based on “historical time” recognizes and emphasizes its persistence. An important point, however, is that this has long been a problem, especially in analyses of the periphery of capitalism. The article explores some non-obvious links in the history of economic thought, examining the contributions of various authors such as the Russian Narodnik authors, Vladimir Lenin, Alexander Gerschenkron, and Celso Furtado. Special emphasis is placed on Furtado’s analysis, which emphasizes the crucial role of historical time in understanding the combination of accumulation and backwardness in underdevelopment processes, especially in peripheral regions. The article emphasizes the importance of historical analysis in economic theory as a way to expand the explanatory power of theoretical models and to understand economic dynamics in a broader context.