Uneven and combined development

Uneven and combined development (or unequal and combined development) is a Marxist concept to describe the overall dynamics of human history. It was originally used by the Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky around the turn of the 20th century, when he was analyzing the developmental possibilities that existed for the economy and civilization in the Russian empire, and the likely future of the Tsarist regime in Russia. It was the basis of his political strategy of permanent revolution, which implied a rejection of the idea that a human society inevitably developed through a uni-linear sequence of necessary "stages". Trotsky's ideas matured under the influence of Georg Vollmar's study of a possibility of socialism in one country, as well as John Hobson, Rudolf Hilferding and Vladimir Lenin's studies of imperialism. Also before Trotsky, Nikolay Chernyshevsky and Vasily Vorontsov proposed a similar idea. The concept is still used today by Trotskyists and other Marxists concerned with world politics.