Dependency Theory

Development of Underdevelopment-Andre Gunder Click to edit Master subtitle style Frank

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Development of Underdevelopment

We cannot hope to formulate a development theory for majority of the worlds population suffering from underdevelopment without learning how their economic and social history contributed to their underdevelopment Most of development theory have been distilled from the histories of Europe and North America 4/29/12

Since historical experience of underdeveloped countries are different, available theory fails to reflect the history of underdeveloped nations Our ignorance of this history leads us to assume that contemporary conditions of underdevelopment reflects earlier conditions of the now developed nations 4/29/12

Contemporary fail to take into account the economic and other relations between the metropolis and their colonies throughout the history of world expansion and the development of mercantilism and capitalism Most of theory fail to explain structure and growth of capitalism; fail to understand its role in 4/29/12

Notion of Economic History

Todays underdeveloped countries are depicted as an original stage which developed countries passed long ago Now-developed countries were never underdeveloped; underdevelopment is not a stage of history Underdevelopment is a historical product of the past and continuing 4/29/12 economic (and other) relations

A related and erroneous view is that development of underdeveloped countries will stem from infusion of capital, institutions, values from the national and international capitalist metropoles Historical evidence shows on the contrary that economic development will come independent of these relations of diffusion 4/29/12

Dual Society Thesis and Global Capitalism

Dual Society Thesis is false Expansion of the global capitalist system over the past centuries effectively penetrated even the most isolated sectors of the underdeveloped world The economic, political, social and cultural institutions and relations are product of capitalist development, no 4/29/12 different from metropoles

Dependency

Can occur international level (Nation State unit of analysis) Can occur at domestic level (Regional level of analysis) When we examine the metropolissatellite structure, we see that each of the satellites act as an instrument to suck capital/surplus out of its town satellites and channel parts into 4/29/12 world metropoles

Each national and local metropolis serves to preserve the monopolistic and exploitative nature of this system as long as it serves the interests of the metropoles which take advantage of this global, national and local structure to promote their own development and the enrichment of their ruling elite
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1.

In contrast to the development of the world metropolis which is no ones satellite, the development of the national and other subordinate metropolis is limited by their satellite status

Hypotheses on Development and Underdevelopment

2.

Satellites experience their greatest economic development and especially thier classically capitalist development if and when their ties 4/29/12

2.1 When the metropolis recovers from its crisis and re-establishes the trade and investment ties which reincorporates the satellites into the system, or when the metropolis expands to incorporate previously isolated regions into the world wide system, the previous development and industrialization of these regions are choked off or channelled into regions 4/29/12 which are not self perpetuating

3. Regions which are the most underdeveloped and seemingly feudal today are the ones which had close relationships with the metropolis in the past 4. The Latifundium, irrespective of whether it appears as a plantation or a hacienda today, was typically born as a commercial enterprise which created for itself the institutiosn which 4/29/12

5. The latifundia, which appears now as isolated, subsistence-based and semifeudal, saw the demand for their products and their productive capacity decline and they are to be found principally in former agricultural and mining regions whose economic activity declined in general
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