Combination

Abstract

Sitting right at the heart of the concept of uneven and combined development (UCD), the pivotal but sometimes overlooked notion of combination indexes its fundamentally dialectical and relational character. “Combination” directs critical attention not only to sites of contradiction and sources of creativity, but to the always-immanent potential for radical if not revolutionary change, within and beyond capitalism. It is a signifier of condition of deep (inter)relationality and social multiplier effects, the restless outcomes of which will include the remorseless reproduction of familiar terrains, to be sure, but will also open up some previously uncharted territories. If UCD is to mean more than seesawing inequality and the relentless remaking of core-periphery relations-the business of uneven capitalist development “as usual”-then the disruptive potential of the middle C must be not only recognised but actively grasped.