blomstrom magnus_development theory in88ghjhbhkj.pdf
TRANSCRIPT
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evelopment
Theory in
Transition
The
ependency
ebate
and eyond
Third
orld
Responses
Magnus lomstrom
and jorn Hettne
@
f . . : . C ~ O
e : : : i o t ~ c ( t
Zed Books Ltd 7 Caledonian Road London Nl 9BU
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H l i 1 ~ 1
\.
rvvlo
m nt T11l r.\ in r nsition
was first
published by
Ze d
Books Ltd . . < '7Caledonian
Road. London
N1 ~ B U .
UK .
and l7l First
Avenue.
Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey 077l >.
USA.
in I
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Background to the
Dependency Approach
2
The
dependency ppro ch
originated in the extensive Latin American debate
on the problems of underdevelopment. which was a most valuable contri
bution to modern social science. Not only did it contain an effective criticism
of the modernization paradigm. it also provided an alternative perspective
and still functions as a catalyst in the development theory which is taking
shape at present.
The dependency school emerged from the convergence of two intellectual
trends: one often called ueo-Marxism , and the other rooted in the carlie:
Latin American discussion on development that ultimately formed the
E L (the United Nations
Economic ommission for Latin
merica rad
ition.
The concept of nee-Marxism reflects a certain dualism in Marxist thinking.
i.e. on the one hand the traditional approach. focusing on the concept of
development and taking a basically eurocentric view. and. on the other a
more recent approach. focusing on the concept of underdevelopment and
expressing a Third World view. Of course. much controversy has arisen as to
the ontinuity or discontinuity of these two approaches. To the orthodox
Marxists, the main body of nee-Marxist thinking is more or less incompatible
with the classic Marxist framework. This complex issue will be dealt with in
the first part of this chapter.
A second important background to the dependency school was the more
indigenous Latin American discussion on underdevelopment. reflecting
specific economic and intellectual experiences in various Latin American
countries, particularly during the depression
of
the 1930s. This economic
crisis dramatized the dimensions of Latin American dependence It init iated
more systematic economic research, and it necessitated a policy of import
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Dcpcndcncv Theory ill Transition
Marxism
versus Nco-Marxism
Marx and the
Third
World
I t would bc absurd to apply Marx' s description and conclus ions about 19th
Century European capitalism to the so-called problems
of
the underdeveloped
countries uf to day. It would be equally absurd to blame Marx for the futility
of such an under tak ing. In this
context
we shal l, however, t reat
Marxism
as a
system
of thought which has been mechanically applied to the
pr
oblcrns
of underdevelopment. Our purpose is not to cri ti cize Marx, but to point out
that thc i nt cl le ct ua l development in the Thi rd World has becn great ly
n
Ilucnccd by the fact tha t Marxism, as well as a number
of
other systems of
thought. was introduced asan ideology rather than asa theory.
Before the Russian Revolution, Marxism was mainly represented by a fcw,
o
lt
cu poorly translated, publications. The subsequent large-scale distr ibution
llf
Marxist
Ii tcraturc was
more
a
m
at
t
er
of
political
zealousness
than
a
response to intcl lcc tual demands. This is not onc of the brightcst chapters
1I1 the his to ry of Marxism. but it is
important
to the development
of
the
dependency
school,
particularly
since the
lattcr was a
reaction
against
schemat ic Marxism and the analytica l weakness and pol it ical inefficiency
of
orthodox communism.
In
one
of the ir more pamphleteering
moods,
Marx
and
Engels stated that
thc
future
of the
backward country
is
reflected
in
that
of the more developed
country:
through thc rapid
im r
rovcmcnt of thc ins truments of production
.uid
vast ly improved communica tions the
bourgeoisie forces
all nations,
including
the
most barbarian
ones,
into civil ization. The low
prices
of goods
is thc heavy a rt il lery with which it shoots down all Chinese walls,
arid
the.
means
by which it forces the capitulat ion of the barbarians'
stubborn
hatc of
foreigners. All nations are forceu to auopt the bourgeois mouc of
prouuction.
unlcss th cy want to bc r uin eu ; it forces upon itsclf the introuuction of
sucallcu civil ization, i .e. becoming bourgeois. In othcr worus : thc bour'
gCllisic crcatcs a world in its own image.
iv arx's tl1llughts a bo ut t h e problcms of undcrucvclopmcnt' uiu not uiffer
s igni ficant ly frolll thc prcva il ing 19th Ccntury cvolutionism. Thc Third
World rcstcu. pcaccfully anu unsuspcctingly Iikc
a
sleeping bcauty, waiting'
fur thc Wcstcrn worlu 's Prince Charming to awakcn thc process
of
dcvclop'
me nt. If not by a kiss, t hc n by thc sworu. In onc of thc IlloSt frcqucntly
quo tcd passagcs on the
non-[urupcan
worlu, Marx forcsccs an industrial
revulution in lnui:.l as thc incvitablc rcsult of the English-built railways.
You cannot maintain a net of
railw:.lYs
over an immense
country
without
introducinl . all those industrial processes nccessary to mcet the immed,
ia te and current wants of rai lway locomot ion, and out of which there
must grow the applica tion of machinery to those branchcs of industry
not immediately connected with railways. The ra ilways system will
thcrefore becomc, in India, truly the forerunner of modern industry.
(Marx and Engels, 1 9 60 , pp 8 4 - 5
r
Background
In
thv Def elldellc.1 A lpr J
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Dependency
Theory in Transition
ackground the Dependency
s tr ugg le in Latin Amer ica. European immig raut s had introduced socialist
ideas during the latter part of the lOth Cen tu ry , but they bor e the mark of
anarchism rather than tha t of Marxism (Alba, 1968, p 37) . In Lat in America ,
as well as in 11I0St other parts of the Thi rd World, Marxism was spread
through
the Communist International the Conrintern).
The first Comintern congress which specifically dealt with Latin American
questions was t h e S ix th , held in 1928. The fol lowing passage is quoted from
the Comintern s declara tion on Lat in America , which also ini t ia ted the hard
line .
In Latin America the Communists must everywhere actively participate
in the r evolut iona ry mass movemen ts d ir ec ted against th e landlord
regime and against imper ia lism, even where these movements are
still
under the leadership of the petty bourgeoisie. In so doing, however, the
Communists may not
under
any
c
ircumstances politically subordinate
themselves to their
temporary
ally. Whilst struggling for the hegemony,
dur ing the r evolut iona ry movemen ts , the Communi st Par ti es
must
strive in the first place for the political and organisational independence
of their Parties, securing its
[sic
transformation into the leading party
of the proletariat.
(Clissold, 1970, p 78)
proletariat was in fact the primitive, Indian population. The new
to be built on the latter s collectivist traditions, His homespun,
istic Marxism somewhat reminiscent
of
Mao Zedong) was consistent
Comin te rn line up unt il the t ight en ing
of
the reins in 1928; after
turned into an eccentric in an increasingly streamlined communist mo
Towards the end
of
his life
Mar
iategui became more and more
His
r evolut iona ry nat iona li sm led him to support Haya de la To
populist leader
of
the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana
Later Mariategui became convinced that the APRA would fol low the
of Kuom int an g in China - which was quite an astute prediction.
la Torre repl ied by accus ing Mariaregui of taking or de rs from M
which was absurd. The Comin te rn agent s had t ri ed to per suade M
to change his Peruvian Socialist Party (PSI ) into a communist par ty
but to no avail . The Comintern did not, at that t ime, permit any inde
interpretations
of
the Marxi st -Len in is t doc tr in e. In the spring of 1
first Latin American communist congres s met in Bu en os Aires to
gr ips with the
Mariategui
problem . After a stormy discussion, the
criticized
Mariat
egui for his Trotskyist views. After his death , the
changed into an orthodox c ommuni st p ar ty and a tool of the Co
The revolutionary throughts
of Mar
iategui as well as their cor rect
tation are still discussed today (Choy et
al.
1970; Paris et al. 1973 .
The case of Cuba is also a good example of the con tr as t b etw
Dur ing the per iod between 1928 and the 1935 People s Front policy the orthodox, c o mm u ni s t p ar t y line and a more volun ta ri st ic , r evol
Comintern
enforced
its u lt ra -l ef t l ine. cha ract er iz ed by a revolut iona ry st rategy. Urged by the Comin te rn and aided by the Mexican Co
pur itanism which refused to col laborate with any bourgeois e lements. The Party, the Cuban Communist Par ty was founded in 1925. Cuba a lr e
Nicaraguan Sandinista guerrilla for instance, was severely criticized. This
line
a mil itan t, non-Marxist , rad ical nat ionalism with Jose Mar t
i
as its
was tot al ly un succe ss fu l, with the
exception,
of course. of deteriorating figure Marti had led the insurrection against Spain in 1895 and
relations
between
the Soviet Union and the Lat in American governments. The combat . Those who cla im that Fidel Castro was inf luenced more
softer line, introduced after 1935, l as ted unt il the d is so lu ti on of the Comin Marti than by Marx are probably right.
tern in 1943; as a result of it the communist par ti es in several countri es The dep re ss ion created great social p robl ems in Cuba dur ing the
eventually turned into significant political forces. when the economy was strongly dependent on the Unit ed St at es .
Most often, however , they remained as minor ity groups
of
l it tle or
no
Fulgencio Batista led an insurrection against the dictator Gerardo M
polit ical impor tance. They rarely produced thinkers
of
any significance Batista enjoyed extensive popular support, although not by the Co
although the Peruvian
JLlSe
Carlos Mar iatcgu
i
was an excep tion . His
Siete
Party, which was i llegal unt il 1938. Leu by BIas Roca the Commun
Ensavos de Int erpretac ion de la Rca lidad Peruana
(Seven Essays on the played an
important
role in the l ab ou r movement . A ft er 1935, w
e r u ~ i n
Reality) written in 1927 remains, according to Aguilar ,
th e single
Comintern proposed a popular f ront pol icy, the par ty sought a ll ies
most important attempt to understand a national, Latin American problem
in
groups of the lef t, and eventually ended up support ing Bat is ta . In re
a Marxist perspective (Agui lar, 1968, P 12). In order not to give
the
not only legalized the party, but promoted two leading commu
impression that ear ly Lat in American communism was unjustly scanty , we minister ia l posts . The par ty changed name in 1944 and became the
shall discuss
Ma
riategu i in some deta il . In Siete Ensayos he descr ibed the . Socialista Popular
the
PSP). Between 1938 and 1944 the member
history of Peru in a d ia le ct ic per spec tive , from the p rimi ti ve communism grown from 23,000 to 122,000. In 1952 Batista s dictatorship moved
of the Incas to the soc ia li sm of some futur e age (Ba ines , 1972, Chap .
7 .
the right and the
Communist
Par ty was again made i llegal . In 1959
Mur iategu i claimed t ha t the Spa nis h c onq ue st had meant a retardation to began the revolt which was car ried out ent irely without the suppo
feudal insti tu tions) . and that the subsequent capital ism had been perverted, Communist Par ty . The course of events of the revolt is well kn
par tly by the fore ign economic inf luence and par tly by the domestic alliance December 1956, 8:: . revolut ionaries landed in Cuba from the boat
between
the
bourgeoisie and the aristocracy . According to
Mar
iategu
i
the.
19
of them reached the Sierra Maestra Mountains and began the
30
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1)( 1 ( 1/( \ Theory ill Transition
war wh ic h led to Bat ist
as
fall a few years later.
From a conventional
communist
view the Latin American society
was
still
feudal
in
nature,
and a mobil izat ion of the
proletariat
would therefore
he
premature
before Lat in Ame ri ca had experienced its own 'bourgeois'
rcvo lut ion. In other wor ds , it was the historical task of the growing
bour
g ~ u i s i e to smash tile 'fcudal-impcrialis: alliance' - a task in which the pro
ic.uriat I \ ~ I S
to
part
icipatc.
Only then wou ld
a socialist revolution be possible
(the 'two-stage strategy ). The
Cuban
Revolution challenged this polit ical
view. Aguilar sums up
the
pre-Cuban phase as follows:
Indica
t
ivc of
the
sit ua t io n of the Communist parties in this period,
and a key to t he in ternal and
external
conflicts that were overwhel
ming
t hcm was the ir scant participation in the most important events of the
moment.
Nut in
Guatemala
in
1944,
in Bolivia in 1952, or in Cuba in
1959,
nor
in any
of
the
other
pol it ical convuls ions in
Venezuela,
Argentina. Colombia or Peru did the Co nuuunists play an outstanding
role.
(Aguilar, 1968, p 38)
conclusion
it m ight be said t ha t the role
of
Marxism in Latin America
was marginul unt il I ()60 wit h the exception of certain political movements
(Chile) and cer ta in individua ls
( \I ar ia te gu i) . A round 1960
the movement
suffered lrom yet anothcr s ch ism as a res ul t
of
the
Sino-Soviet connie
(Ratliff.
Il J7b, P
::
In spi te
of
the Chinese cha llenge , to which
should
e
added the cri tici sm f rom var ious
Trotskyists ,
Castro ists ' and nationalist
communist s. alld the Sov ie t i nvas ion of Czechoslovakia in 1961 : the Latin
American communist
parties
have remained amazingly faithful to the Soviet
l nion. In terms of development strategic thinking they have been very
close
the ECL\ ana lysis (see below) , and
when
the [CLA
strategy
ran into
dill i l'ult ies during the Il)(,Os, they were also subjected to c ri tici sm f rom
the
dependency school. One
of
the best-known dependency theorists, i\ G Frank,
h ~ l d
t
his to say about the Latin American communist parties:
the latin Aruerican communist par ties and
their
ideologues .. .
haw
made no cont r ib ut ion to Marxi sm or any
other
theory that
any
o nc has been able to
discover.
Programmatically
t
hey have
hcen
scarc l' ly as advanced as
the
bourgeois
dcvclopmcnt
ists from
whom they
diffc red at most in their largely Soviet- inspired and propagandist
o pposi
t
ion to American imper ia li sm; pol it ical ly they have been little
morc
t
h an a tail wagged by t il e nat iona l bourgeois dog who used the
Comm unist parties temporarily excepting In Guatemala, Vcnezueh
ancl Colombia
t
o keep a leach 011 t i l l dependence theorists, the or -
munist pur t i cs a
t horne
and abroad loyally joined the opposition.
t lrunk . I 1I77. P
356)
Ba
groun I
to the DCliCIl CnC.l pproach
TheNew Left in Latin America
During the
1960s
Latin Am erican polit icaI pr actice
developed
into something
entirely different f rom wha t the official
communist
analysis had predicted.
The
peasants
were
more
i nc li ned to r evol t t han the worke rs .
and
the rural
guerrilla
appeared
to be an ulternat ivc to organiza tional work within the
labour
movement.
The traditional Marxis t views were
consequently
subjected to severe cri tici sm f rom the left . Furthermore, there was now a
Marxist-inspired
debate
that did
not
necessarily have
any connections with
the
Couunu
nist
Party.
The underlying political reason for this may be
sought in the
Cuban Revolution.
This revolution should not have been pos si bl e, according to the conven
tional Marx is t v iew, and at the beg inning , the Cuban Communis Party saw
Fidel C as tr o as a b ou rg eo is
adventurer.
Ilis succ es s, as well as the b re ak
through
r
Chc Guevara's
revolutionary
appea ls in other
parts of
the Latin
American
continent, undermined
the
conununkt
parties positions
and I'orccd
them in to a more or less radical re-evaluation of their earlier policies. Aguilar
says.
The r eper cuss ions of t he se event s nat ur al ly went beyond the Cuban
sp her e. It is ev id en t that many of thc a rgumcn ts that were hurled
dir c ct ly and obli que
ly
at the old Cuban couununist cadres the
bachelors of
Marxism
as they were
disrespectfully
called by Che
Guevara could very easily be a pp li ed to nea rly all the Communists
parties
of
the contincnt.
(Aguilar, 1968, p 45 )
(h e
Gucv.nas
ideas
about t he
role of the peasants in the revolution
and the abili ty of the human will to surmount objective limitations is reminis
cent of Mao Zedong. Latin American Marxist became even more fragmellted
after the Sino-Russian
couflict
and Maois t ideas were a llowed to grow freely,
as was a less party-bound Marxism. Particularly at the univcrsit ics Marxism
now becamea
part
of the intellectual
climate
rather
than just
a
stilted
languagc
at communist party
convent
ions. The
new
l ef t' had been born.
The new le it was impatient. It wanted revolution here and I/O\\ The cul
mination
of
thi s pol it icnl l ine was the Latin American Solidarity Conference
heldin l lavana in August l lJ ()7. It s
motto
was:
The
duty or a revolutionary is
to make revolution. The influential Venezuelan Coml1lunist Party obcjctcd
violently to he fac t that - 'idel Castro had assurucd the task or deciding who
was and who was no t a revo lut ionary in Latin Arucr ic.
Other
communist
parties were, howcver, moderate in
their
views. The secretary general of the
Chilean Communi st Par ty not ed
two
tendencies in the revolutionary move
ment in Lat in Ame ri ca : a pro l et ' Irian one and a bourgeois-nutionalist one.
The
latter
underestimated the role
played
by
the
working class, and showed
a tendency
towards
anti-sociulism _. but was, ncvert hclcss, rcvolui illnary.
Only imperialism
could
pro fi t from a pol ar iz
ation
o f t he se wo teudcncics
(Ratliff. 1976. l 80). Allende s Iruu: rganizatiun was
made
possible through
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C I ~ C : ; O - ~ ) i i J i i n i . - r : ;
33
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Dcpen
dc
ncy Theory
in Transition
this more moderate attitude.
In Oc to be r of the same year, Che was killed by the Bolivian a rm y and a
month later the guerrilla theorist Regis Debray was sentenced to thirty years
in prison. This was the beginning
of
the end of the voluntarist revolutionary
strategy. Castro s support to various guerrilla groups became more selective.
After this it becomes necessary to make a
dear
distinction between Cuban
political views, which gradually grew more consistent with Soviet f or eign
policy, and Guevarism, which may be summarized as follows:
I . The people s army i.e. guerr illa ar my) is capable of winning a war against
a regular army.
2. It i s no t nec es sa ry to wai t for t he o bj ec ti ve c on di ti on s f or the re vol ut io n
to develop: t he y can be created by the guerr illa army, which thus becomes
an embryonic revolutionary centre U O insurreccionaii
3. The armed str uggle in the under developed countries should primarily take
place in the rural areas.
All of these three points were contrary to the long-established communist
line in Latin America. Al tho ug h Che Guevara in his later speeches and
writings often emphasized the impor tance
of
a Marxist-Leninist
v nt g rde
par ty, par ticularly f or the socialist construction wor k, there was a
lingering
ambivalence when it car ne to f or mulating thc theor etically cor rect r elation
b et we en t he r ura l gue rri ll a o rg an iz at io n and th e u rb an party organization.
This ambivalence has, of c our se , been the source of a n um be r of disagree-
me nt s, p urge s and s ch is ms i n - the La ti n Ame ric an c om mu ni st p ar ti es :
the
disagreement about loco and party a bo ut t he c on ti ne nt al e xt en t of
the
revolutionary struggle, the relative importance of the rural and the urban
guerr illa, and the question of s up po rt to p op ula r front go ve rn me nt s - to
m en ti on a few , Howe ve r, t he re is n o rea son f or e la bo ra ti ng o n th e furt he r
d ev el op me nt of C ue var is m in La ti n Amer ic a: it s mor e important
aspects
should now be obvious. Dur ing the late 1960s the somewhat f ossilized orn
r nunist movement in Latin America saw Guevarism as a great theor etical and
ideological challenge. Many dogmas were rejected, new questions were asked
and the conditions for a more Latin American Marxism were created.
Paul Bar an and the Rise of Neo-Marxism
This ideological development coincided with the development o
nco-Marxism at the more a ca de mi c level. It is no easy task to analyse the
r elationship between these two tendencies, However , it is obvious that
they
suppor ted each other . Let us therefore leave the brutal political r eality and
take a look at the intellectual preparations made in the usually mor e
relaxed
atmosphere of the university. Her e Paul Bar an s The Political Economy o
Growth
U
9 7 mu st be g ive n c re di t fo r c on tr ib ut in g s ig ni fi ca nt ly t o the
upsurge of the new left and neo-Marxism .
I n hi s a na ly sis o f t he p ol it ic al e co no my of development, Baran used the
c on ce pt o f economic surplus and e xa mi ne d how it had been c re ate d and
34
ackground
to
the Dependency
u ti li ze d in d if fe re nt s oc ia l sy ste ms, Th e s ur pl us wa s s impl y d ef in e
dif fere nc e b et we en p ro du ct io n an d c on su mp ti on . F ur th er mo re h
guished between actual and potential surplus, the latter defined as t
ence between the pr oduction that would be possible in a given geo
and t ec hno log ica l e nv iro nm en t, and t ha t which may be c on si de r
necessary consumption. Bar an admitted that this concept was
but it had the great advantage of being r elevant: it provided insight
irrational elements of an economic system and underlined the
an analysis of the obstacles to a mobilization of potential r esource
used the c on ce pt in his analysis both
of
developed and underd
countries but we are more inter ested in his views on the latter.
Ac co rd in g t o Ba ran , c ap it al is m h ad s pru ng from feu da li sm, wh
final stage of dissolution was characterized by increasing agricult
duction, by a more extensive division of labour and by capital accum
These processes wer e all prerequisite to capitalism. Western Eur ope
t hi s d ev el op me nt b y i ts g eo gr ap hi ca ll y a dv an ta ge ou s p os it io n a n
lack of natural resources, which stimulated trade, shipping and pilla
var ious r easons this process was not developed in the Third Wor ld.
i ng th e c ol on ie s ma y not ha ve i nc re as ed th e E ur op ea n n at io na l i n
much, but it did constitute a significant contribution to its economic
h en ce al so to i nv es tm en t an d e co no mi c g ro wt h. The c ol on ie s e
sur plus consequently diminished, their capital accumulation came t
a nd t he ir b ud di ng i nd us tr ie s wer e kil le d by c om pe ti ti on . In othe
development in the colonies was f or ced
off
i ts n at ur al c ou rs e, an d
completely dominated by imperialistic interests. The countries
of
t
orld Japan being a spectacular exception) stagnated somewhere
f eudalism and capitalism, and wer e the victims of the wor st of both
This Marxist view of the spread of capitalism differed radically from
o wn vi ews . Ba ran a ba nd on ed th e vi ew of c ap it al is m bei ng s pre ad
centre to the periphery ; instead, he introduced the idea that unde
ment was an active process following the development in the centre,
T hi s v ie w, w hic h c on st it ut ed a c le ar bre ak wit h c la ss ic al Ma rx
mor e or less hinted at, or implicit in, Bar an s analysis. I t was, aswe
br ough t t o it s l og ic al c on cl us io n i n th e works of An dre G un de r F
which the idea
of
the development
of
underdevelopment was
f or ward. The Third Wor ld seemed to be doomed to per petual under
ment. No capitalist development tendencies seemed to undermine t
social
s tr uc tu re , In fact Latin America, along with the rest of t
orld
were
de facto
capitalist from the very moment they were inco
in the c ap it al is t world e co no my . The Latin American bourgeo
par asitic and would never f ulfil its historical mission of freeing the
tiveforces. The nee-Marxist view prescribed immediate revolutionary
based on guerr illa tactics, instead of the communist two-stage s
Thisis where the Guevarist inf luence comes in. Thus. the neo-Mar xi
theor etically and practically, f avoured a new line which at that t iru
to be in b et te r a gre eme nt with the po lit ic al realities than the o
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l l / d l l / t T
Th
corv il l
Transition
larx ist one. Nco-Marxism was thus the academic express ion of that for
ich the guerr il la s truggle
stood
at the p ract ical -pol it ic al level - a point
ich was
uften
emphasized . Here are some
quotes
f rom an art ic le which
ypical of the time: it was written in 1963 by the e dit ors
of
the
Monthly
Paul Swcczv and Leo Hub erman, after a
journey
through Latin
The only possible r evol ut ion in Latin Americ a today i s a social ist
revolu tion.
The
notion
that t he re is a power fu l nat iona l bou rgeo is ie in these
c oun tr ie s a nx io us to break away fro
III
US
domination . . .
is
unf or
t unutcly a myth.
There can be no
doubt
t hat Latin Ameri ca nee ds and is ripe for
socialist r evo lut ion , nut at Some di st an t date in the f ut ur e but right
n
lJ
II .
We
did not meet a single s er ious l ef ti st in Latin Ameri ca who is not
an a rden t supporter of the Cuban Revol ut io n . . . There is just one
thing that worries them, the extent to which Cuba in res is ting the U
may have fallen under the domination of the Soviet Union .
The above exp re sse s an interpretation whi ch was so d if fe re nt from the
evailing Latin American Marxism that it is not without justification to
of a change
of
paradigm vis-a-vis Marxism and, above all, in relation to
blished theories of development. The f orme r is.
of
course, the more
of the two. A par ad igma ti c cleavage between two s choo ls is
rimarily characterized by a lack
of communication;
this criterion is relatively
e}l
met in the case
of
the
modernization
perspective versus the under
evelopment perspective . The l ine between Marxism and nco-Marxism is
uch less clear and the d is ti nc tion
per se
has also been sub ject ed to some
riticism (sec e.g. Taylor, 1974 An authoritative view claims that Marxism
s whole and indivisible, and that the neo-Marxists have either misunderstood
nic basic Marxist theses (i.e. they arc poor Marxists), or that they should
u l be thought or as Marxi st s at all. 9 The concept of nco-Marxism will
robably not survive for long and we merely use it as an heu ri st ic concept to
ndicate a specific stage in the history of Marxism, during which there
were
eat gaps in the Marxist analysis of the problems of underdevelopment .
he Differences between Marxism and Nco-Marxism
At this point it might be interesting to take a closer look at an at
t
cmp t to
dent ify the
phcnomcnun of
nco-Marxism and the differences between
neo
Marxism and Marxism. Aidan Foster-Carter has brought forward a
number
of
oints which. in his opinion, contrast the two truditions.l Somewhat
modified. they arc as follows:
Imperialism
and
ationalism
Marxism (as int erpr et ed by Len in )
sees
imper ia lism in a
centre
perspective, that i s, as a s tage in the development
]l J
t
Ba
ckgroun t
to thc DCflClldt l /cy j pproact:
of cnpitalism
(monopoly
capitalism): nco-Marxism, on the other hand, sees
imperialism from the periphery s. or the vict ims. p oi nt of view, which in
turn implies that the interes t has shifted
Ir
om development to underdevelop
ment. This bre ak with what is, for the classical .vlarxism , such a typical
evolutionary perspective is
qui te impor tant
to the di st inc ti on b etwe en
Marxism and nco-Marxism. Marxist-inspired leaders
of
the Third World, such as
Mao
Zcdong or Amilcur Cabra l have often
h.i.
a nationalistic appearance
which has always be en mor e a cc ep ta bl e to nco-Marxists than orthodox
Marxists.
2 Classes:
Ilere
we
find several important differences. The Marxist analysis
of classes is based on specifically European experiences, while that
of
the
neo-Marxists is based on the revolut ionary s truggle in the Third World with
a much more generous view
of
different groups revolutionary potential.
Whereas
Marxists have difflcult ics seeing
anyone
but the industrial proletariat
asthe revolutionary class
par preference.
the nco-Marxists wil l tend to let the
peasant s play this role - c la iming tha t the indus tr ia l worke rs of the Third
Worlu
in real it y form a
labour
aristocracy , Marxists believe in the existence.
eventual emergence,
of
a nat iona l bou rgeo is ie in the Thi rd World: nco.
Marxists, on
the
other hand, see the bourgeois ie as the creat ion and tool
of
imperialism, and as such incapable
of
fulfilling its role as the liberator
of
the
forces of production.
3
Revolution
and
Ethics:
The nco-Marxists view the possibilities of starting
arevolution with greater
optimism.
even if the conditions may be uufavour
able
and in this
context
emphasize the importance of guerrilla warfare.
Marxism. on the
uther
hand. emphasizes organization and patient party work,
panicularly amongst the workers. In
other
words, the nco-Marxists emphasize
the role
of
the subjective factors, moral stimuli, the new man, etc. Marxists
retain materialism and the emphasis on objective conditions that gave Marx
his distinctive mark as a social scientist.
4 Ecology:
Marxism st il l shows traces
of
the 1 9t h Century development
optimism, and many Marxists consider the concept of s ca rc ity to be a bour
geois i nven tion for the purpose of legitimizing economic inequality. Sonic
neo-Marxists now integrate the growing ecological consciousness and the
demands
of
environmental movemen ts with the ir theory
of
development:
the bl ind fai th in indus tr ia lism as the l iberator of humanity has at the same
time
undergone sonic major rev is ions . S imilar ly , there is now a tendency to
think
of
the cit ies as being paras it ic , and to ideal ize the countryside - con
trast ing sharp ly with Marx s own comments on
th e
idiocy of rural lire .
The nco-Marxist concept has caused considerable irritation among Marxists,
part icular ly as they have been accused
of
being Palaeo-Marxists . We shall
return to this subject in connection wi th the Marxist c ri ti ci sm of the
dependency school.
Obvious ly , the dif ferences which we have pointed out above are merely
37
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Dependen cv Theory Transition
rough indications of gener al t endenc ie s. On this bas is it might be
difficult
cl early to de fi ne two t heo ret ic al c amps with
contrasting
but internally
identical views. t might be said that neo-Marxism has accepted the changes
through which Marxism has passed a ft er its transplantation from European
to non -European soil , while the Marxists have been anxious to safeguardt
the pur ity of Marxism. Contrary to Foster-Carter, we believe, as suggested
above, that it is i nadequat e to speak of two distinct 'schools'; instead, we
are
witne ss ing a dial ec ti c, i nt el le ctua l p roce ss in which Marx i s the the si s
and
nco-Marxism the antithesis, i.e. a phase in the universalization of the Marxist
tradition. This i s the way in which we shall use the concept.' The theoretical
deficiencies in
orthodox
Marxism with r egard to i ts ana ly si s of the social
condi ti on s in the Thi rd World are now being mended and i ts gaps fi lled,
as
will be discussed later on.
E L Development Thinking
During the inter -war per iod a growing number of ideas and analyses basedli
on concrete, Latin American condi t ions, as wel l ason more systemat ic social
science r esea rch began to appea r. Unti l then soc ia l sci ence had
mainly
consisted of specula tions in socia l phi losophy, st rongly inf luenced by Euro-[
penn culture and socia l debates. The Lat in American authors were isolated[
pensadores
('thinkers' or amateur philosophers) who mechanically grafted
European, 18th-Century evolutionism, Auguste Comte's positivism and social
Darwinism on to Latin American
conditions.P
The indigenous analyses of Latin America which appea red at the end of
the l Oth Century were orgies in self-cr it ic ism and catalogues of
Latin
American weaknesses (Hirschman, 1971 l. as , for examp le , Bunge s Nuestn
merica
(1903)
and the Chilean Francisco Encina s Nuestra
il ferioridad
econoniica sus
causas
Sl S consecueucias (Our Economic Inferiority: Its
Causes
and
Consequences)
(1912).
The obvious conclusion from this type of
analysis was the idea of economic development through imitation. In 1895,
the Argentinian
B. Albcrdi
said: 'North America is South America s
great,
economic
example' (Hirschman, op. cit., p 275).
As a result of the First World War, the Mexican and the Russian Revo-
1
lutions and repeated i nt er vent ions by the US in the Latin Ameri can states ]
internal affai rs , there was a change towards f inding the faul ts in the surround
ing wor ld , rather than in Lat in America . At the same time, the socia l analysis
began to be based on more systematica lly conducted research, rather than on
the
pensadores
and their more or lesssubjective ideas influenced by European
social research and debates.
As far as the social sci ences were concerned, Chile appea red to be the
country providing the most favourable conditions for research. particularly
in the area of economics. Systematic instruction in that subject was given
as
early as R13, the economic journal
Revista Economica
was founded in 1886,
The department of economics at the Catholic University was formed in 9
38
Background
to
the Dependencv
and that
of
the Chile Unive rs it y in 1935. Led by Pre sident Agu i
the Popular
Front
government
founded
the orpor cion de
Fo
Producion (CORFO) in 19 39. This age nc y constituted the l ink
academic research and practical social planning. CORFO initiated
of emp ir ic al s tudi es which later formed the basis for a macro
analysis, which broke a number of economic taboos because of its o
towards domestic, economic problems. Chile developed
inter
alia
att itude towards central economic planning; this view was further
when the Unit ed Nat ions
located
the E con om ic Commi ss ion
America (ECLA) in Santiago.
t is interesting t not t ha t the debate on economic research r
a cer ta in polariza t ion between the economists of the ECLA and the
university on the one hand and t ho se from the Catho li c Unive rs
o ther. The latter had be en i nf lu en ce d by the Chicago Scho ol ,
known as Los Ch icago Boys . On a more theor et ic al level this con
ifested i tse lf in the famous debate between 'structuralists' and 'mo
to which we shall return below.
Raul
Prebisch
and E L
The Great Dep re ss ion in the 1930s was a great divide in economic
the indus tr ia li zed wor ld and it is also in these exper iences
that
w
roots of a specifically 'peripheral' theory of economic development
figure her e is undoubtedly Raul Prebisch who from 1935 to
Director-General of Banco Cen tr al in Argen tina . a
country
t ha t
severe ly h it by the depression. The idea of a centre-periphery struct
world economy was imp li ci t in Prebi sch s ear ly economic pol icy
concerning Argentina, in which inward-directed development and
izati on were seen as the remedy (Love, 1980, P 54) . t should, ho
noted that this industr ia l izat ion dr ive is a recur rent phenomenon. w
be structurally exp la in ed as the ideology
of
latecomers in dev
This ideology goes back to Friedrich List and the German react ion
as the
workshop of
the wor ld ,
subsequently
emerging in other indu
countries; the United States in the mid 19th Century , Russia in the
Century, Eastern and South Eastern Europe i n the int er -war pe
Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Mexico in the 1930s and 1940s. It w
periences
of
t he se count ri es which p rovided the r at iona le for th
substitution strategy recommended by ECLA in the 1950s .
The formulation of a distinctly Latin American view of underdev
and of development i s int imately r el at ed to [CLA, founded in
Santiago, Chile. In
addition
to
twenty-one
Latin American countr
Britain, France and the Netherlands also became members.
As opposed to most of the other regional UN agencies (the
commissions for Asia and Afr ica) , the ECLA soon developed i ts o
on the problems of underdevelopment and development. The on w
should be credi ted with this ach ievement is Raul Prebisch, who bec
of the ECLA in 1950. A few years befor e, P rebi sch had wri tt en a d
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Th
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rv Transition
entually to become t h e ECLA Manifest :
The Economic Development
of
t in mer ica and its
Principal
Problems
(Prebisch,
1950 .
This document
ins as follows:
In Latin Ameri ca , r ea li ty is undermining the out-dated schema of the
international division of labour, which achieved great importance in the
nineteenth
century
and , as a theor et ic al
concept, continued
to exert
considerable inf luence unti l very recently. Under t hat schema, the
specific task tha
t
fell to Lat in Ameri ca , as part of the
periphery
of the
world economic system, was that of producing food and raw materials
for the great industr ia l cen tres. There was no place wi thin it for the
industr iu liza t ion of the new countries . is nevertheless being forced
up on them h
y
events. Two wor ld wars in a sing le generat ion and a great
economic crisis between them have shown the Latin-American
countries their
opport
unit ies, c le ar ly point ing the way to indu st ri al
activity.
From this passacc it is obv ious tha t P rcbi sch sough t the causes for Latin
rican undcr
dcv
ciopment outside the
continent,
and he found them in the
stem of internat ional free trade . Consequently, his first attack was
011
the
theory of t rade . According to Prcbisch. this theory supported
e existing international division of l abo ur . in which the pe ri ph ery had
cialized in the production
of
primary products an.l the cen tr e in the pro
of
i ndus tr ia l goods , as well as the idea that this division
of
labour
u ld result in the g reat es t possibl e advan tage to all the par ti es involved.
s an e xampl e he s howed wh at . a cc ord ing to the theory. would happen if
chn ical prog re ss was more rapid in the centre s production of industrial
than
in the periphery s
production
of primary products. Assuming that
he fall in prices wou ld be inversely
proportional
to the g rowth
of
produc
ty, the prices of industrial goods would fall more rapidly than those of raw
ate rials . The pe ri phe ry wou ld then be able to pu rch as e mor e indus tri al
for the same amount of p rima ry p roduct s, and thus p rog re ss would
crue to all countr ies of the wor ld even without an industrialization of the
Prcbischs own emp ir ic al s tudi es . howeve r, showed tha t this p redi ct ion
s not general ly valid. He had found that Great Britain s terms
of
trade had
adual ly improved since I
SS
and since Great Br itain was predominant ly
importer of primary products he concluded that during this long period
he terms of trade of the primary producing countries ( i.c. the per iphery)
SCI
iously deteriorated in relat ion to Great Bri ta in (i .e , the centre).
l rcbischs
explanation
of
the deterioration of the per iphe ry s t erms of
was tha t mos t
of
the profi ts from the various increases in product iv ity
d bcucf it cd only the industrial ized countries . Il l a lso tried to show that
his had not been a u ni qu e
phenomenon,
hut a sign of underlying structural
elations which the nco-classical theory
of
t rade had not taken into account .
On t ile
production
side the
theory
had primarily neglected the true market
ackgroun
to
t
h c ependcllcy ppro ach
structures. Technical progress may favour the producer by reducing costs
(which in tu rn ma y increase profits and/or wages). Prebisch claimed that
development in t he c en tr e rarely led to price reductions, mainly because of
the high degree of monopolization of the factor and goods market there. The
fact that imperfect competition was dominating meant that price falls could
beavoided, and also that the labour unions, because of their strength, could
cla ima share in the technical progress in the form of increased wages.
In the p er iph er y, the opposite was supp os ed to be the case. Here, the
consumer received th e fruits
of
technological change via reduced prices,
mainly because p ri ma r y p ro du c er s o p er a te u nd e r competitive conditions.
However, in r ea li ty it was the consumer in the centre who was favoured,
since technical progress in the periphery primari ly occurred in the export
industry. Thus, the centre would benef it both fi om the periphery s technical
progress as well as from its own.
On the
demand
side it was
noted
t ha t the goods
produced
for expor t in
the centre and in the per iphery had dif ferent income elast ic it ies. The income
elasticity of imported primary products in the centre was considerably lower
than the income e la st ic it y of imported industr ia l goods in the per iphery .
This was a resul t, il l fer alia of Engels s Law, which states that the percentage
share s pe nt on f ood is a dimi ni shi ng fu nc ti on of income. An increase in
income in the centre would therefore lead to a lower per cent age change in
the demand for impoi ted primary products than a similar increase in income
in the per iphe ry wou ld change the demand for imported industrial goods.
Thus, even the demand side held clements that would lead to a deteriorat ion
ofthe primary producing countries t errus of trade.
Through this ana ly si s I r eb isch came to the conclus ion tha t the unde r
development of Lat in America was due to Its re li ance on exports of pruu ry
products (also called the Prcbisch-Singer thesis. since Hans Singer published
similar ideas at th e t ime (Singer . IlJ50). P rebi sch also c la imed tha t a con
tinued emphasis on the export
of
primary products would inevitably lead to
a further deterioration
or
the per iphery s terms
or
t rade . In turn. this would
affect the durucst i r uccumular ion
of
capital , However . the internat ional
mechanisms of equalization would function as predicted hy the nco-classical
theory
or
t rade if the per iphery were to expor t industr ia l goods instead . Thus,
Latin Ameri ca wou ld he able to keep the f rui ts of its ll n technical progress.
The natural solu tion to the problem was therefore
industrialization
As we shal l sec later . \V.A. lewis came to similar conclusions through his
analyses of the Caribbean. llowevcr, his development strategy Was rather the
opposite to that which emerged in latin America. lewis
proposed
an export
or ien ted indus t r ializut ion, whe reas Prcbi sch s and the
L e lA
strategy,
roughly, may be summarizcd as follows:
- The process
of
industrializatiun to be s pe ede d up by the substitutiun
ofa large part
of
current imports hy doincstic pro dur tiou. Initially, dorucst ic
industries were be
protected
from fureign
competition
hy tariffs and
other
support measures, hu t once their competitive ability had improved, the firms
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e
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cv
Theon Transition
s ho ul d b e a bl e t o m an ag e o n t hei r o wn .
.- The p ro du ct io n of raw mat eri al s would c ont i nue t o pla y a n important role
i n t he Latin Am er ican ec on om ic s. The i nc om e e ar ne d from e xp or ti ng
r w
mat er ial s s ho ul d be used to pay for i mp or te d ca pi ta l goods, and th us
help
i nc re ase t he rat e of e conomi c growt h.
- In it ial ly , forei gn businesses were to help speed up th e p ro ce ss of capital
a cc um ul at i o n. Ho we ver . t he re w as a c er ta in f ee li ng of reservation towards
gre at er de pe nde ncy on forei gn subsi di arie s Ca rdoso, 1977, p 29).
.- Governme nt s shoul d a ct ivel y pa rt i ci pat e a sc o-ordi na t orsof the industrial
i za ti on p ro gr am me . I ncr eas ed g ov er nm en t i nv ol ve me nt w as n ec es sa ry t o
break the chains
of
underdevelopment.
- Later t owa rd s the end
of
t he 1950s), t he ECLA bec ame t he dri vi ng
force
b eh in d t he e ff or ts a t c re at in g a L at in A me ri ca n
common
m ar ke t i n o rd er t o
facilitate further industrialization.
Programmed Industrialization
t he FCLA s t heoret i ca l e xpl a na t ion of underdevelopment and its sketches
o f a lt er na ti ve d ev el op me nt s tr at eg ie s a re ca ll ed t he f ir st p has e, t he s eco nd
p has e ma y b e s ai d t o h av e b eg un wh en t he C om mi ss io n t ri ed t o t ra ns la te t he
straicgy into practicul pol ic ie s. The i nit i al gui del i ne s for t hi s work were dra wn
up at a co nf er en ce in Rio de J an ei ro in 1953. A well -prepared policy of
i ndust ria li z at i on was sai d t o be required i f t he proce ss of underdevel opment
was to be reversed. and the
[CLA
t he re fo re tri ed to co nv in ce t he
Latin a
Ame ri ca n gove rnment s of t he nec essi ty of t hi s, o ff er in g t o as si st i n t he pre-
pa ra t ion of det a il e d devel opment progra mmes for e ac h
cOLIn
t ry. The phrase
programmed industrialization became popular.
Initially,
[CLA
st ra t egy was ra ther c ol dly rec ei ve d by t he Lat in Ame ri ca n
gove rnme nt s, whi ch i s a lso why most of the Commission s development pro-
gra mmes remai ne d pa pe r e xe rc ises. Thi s resista nc e t o i ts i de as e xpla ins why
t he EC LA c ou ld n ot , a nd s ho ul d n ot , p ro po se m eas ur es t h at w er e t oo r ad ic al ,
of af fe ct ed i nt er na l p ro bl ems . LInd r ef or ms and o th er basi c, st ru ct ur al
c ha nges never rec ei ve d a high priorit y on t he l ist of nec essa ry c ha nges.
A c ou pl e o f y ear s l at er s ev er al Lat in A me ri ca n g ov er nm en ts d id , i n f act ,
begin to collaborate more closely with the
[CLA:
Argentina, Brazil
C ol om bi a an d P er u we re a mo ng t he f ir st c ou nt r ie s t o f ol lo w
[CLA
strategy.
The Commi ssion c oul d now di re ct l y i nfl uenc e t he deve lopme nt st ra t egi es
y
offering t ec hni ca l a ssista nc e i n t hei r pl anni ng a nd a ppl i ca t ion, but , wha twas
e ve n more i mport ant , i t c oul d i nfl uenc e t he deve lopme nt proce ss i ndirec tl y
b y t ra in in g l oca l p la nn er s i n t he E CLA w ay o f t hi nk in g. T he C ommi ssi on s
doctrines were therefore quickly spread across the
continent.
Th e b el ie f t ha t i nd us tr ia li za ti on wa s t he r em ed y t o u nd er de ve lo pm en t
s pr ead not onl y to the Lati n American c ou nt ri es d ur in g the 195 05, but t o
most of t he c ou nt ri es i n t he T hi rd Wo rl d.
It
was generally assumed that the
proce ss t hrough whi ch t he i ndustri al i ze d c ount ri e s had gone was e ssenti al ly
repeatabl e, and t hat the c ur ren t c on di ti on s in these co un tr ies were the
u lt i ma te g oal o f d ev el op me nt . A w el l- de ve lo pe d i nd us tr ia l s ec to r w as
con
Background to the Dependencv
sidered to be t yp ic al of a m od er n s oc ie ty ; the various c ha ra ct er
u nd er de ve lo pe d s oc ie ty w ou ld a ut o ma ti ca ll y d is ap pe ar i n t he
i nd us tr ial iz at io n. The t ra di ti on al o li gar ch y, for e xa mp le , w o
diminishi ng rol e, whi ch would l ea d e ve ntual l y t o
both
economic a
democracy; this, in
turn
w as t ho ug ht t o b e n ec es sa ry f or t he d ev
a mode rn mass
consumption
s oc ie ty wi th a h ig h l ev el of technolo
and scientific activity.
Because
of
t he ir b el ie f i n p ro gr es s t hes e L at in A me ri ca n s c
g iv en t he n ic kn am e desarrollistas or developmentista t he B ra
F ur ta do w as o ne o f t he m. H av in g e xp er ie nc ed t he r ap id e xp an si
during t he 1950s, he wrote :
By now the Brazilian economy could
count
o n i ts o wn d yn am
i nd us tr ial i nv est men ts s up po rt ed by the i nt ern al mar k
q ui ck ly b ec am e t wo -d im en si on al . Ea ch n ew i mp ul se f or w
mea n a n i ncrea si ng di ve rsifi ca ti on, a l arge r mass of resourc e
m en t, a q ui ck er e xp an si on of t he i nt er na l m ar ke t and the
of such impulses being permanently surpassed.
quoted
f ro m H ir sc hm an , 1 96 8, p 2 )
TheE L Theory of evelopment
We
sha ll now re turn t o ECLA s t heoret i ca l work. Prebi sc h s a na ly
o f- tr ad e i s u s ua ll y t he o nl y o ne r ef er re d t o i n t hi s
context
but it i
to realize that E CLA an d P re bi sc h h ad m or e t o s ay ,
13
i n s pi te o f t
most of the i nt er es t was f ocu se d on an anal ysi s of the e xt er n
They act ua ll y t ri ed to p resent a co mp let e
theory
of developm
p ar ti cu la rl y e mp ha si ze d t he st r uc tu r al im b al an ces b et we en
p er ip he ry . T he ir a pp ro ac h n ot o nl y d eal t w it h q ue st io ns r el at ed t o
of t rade a nd t he st ra t egy of i ndustri al i za t ion, but a lso e nc ompasse
complex of development. ECLA
attempted
to s ho w that
underd
is not the same as
undevelopment
i .e . l ac k of de ve lopme nt . Un
ment was i nst ea d to be t ho ug ht of as t he r es ul t of a spe ci fi c proc
t o unde rde vel opment i n one
part
o f t he w or ld an d d ev el op me nt
ECLA, however, never did manage t o formul a te a general
theor
d ev el op me nt . I ns te ad , a n ew
method
o f an al ysi ng the c om pl ex
devel opme nt was i nt roduc e d, t he structuralist method but in sp
t he p ar ad ig m o f m od er ni za ti on w as n ev er r eal ly a ba nd on ed . Ap
rat he r unconve nti ona l t re at ment of i nte rna t ional rel at i ons, t he
was
quite
t ra di ti on al . We h av e p re vi ou sl y d is cu ss ed t he g re at o
ECLA e co no mi st s a bo ut the a bi li ty of i nd us tr ia li za ti on to put
u nder dev el opmen t. Like m an y o th er econ omis ts at the time,
t heori st s overe mphasi ze d t he rol e of c ap it al i n t he d ev el op me
A ft er a ll , t he ma in p oi nt w as that the periphery s deteriorating ter
a ff ec te d t he a cc um ul at io n of capi tal and c on seq ue nt ly also t
economic growth.
T hu s t he p ar ad ig m o f m od er ni za ti on w as st il l
pretty
a li ve , but
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Theon
Transition
n ew approach fo rmed the b asis for its ev cn tual ab olitio n, Th eir structural ap
w hi ch i n C h a pt e r I w e c al le d e ar ly structuralism was extremely impor
o n ot o nl y i n t he t he or et i ca l d eb at e on d ev el o pm en t , bu t a ls o i n a number
other
theoretical contexts suchas
the
Latin American inf1ation controversy ,
Thc cau se of i nf1 at ion h ad b ee n k ee nl y d is cu ss ed i n L at in A me ri ca s in ce
early 1 95 0s . This
debate
is not as well known o ut s id e L at in A me ri ca a s
about the d evelop men t of the t er ms of t ra de . T he [CLA rarely p ar
ipatcd o fficially. b ut some
of
t he e co no mi s ts w or ki ng a t t he C om mi ss io n
. At an early point they attempted to f orm ul at e a theory
of
inf1ation
ich was to be an alter native to the prevailing nco-classical one, and
to
thc theory o r n rulat cd by the monctarists.
of
whom the
extreme c la im ed t ha t i nf1a ti on was not a r es ul t of a g iv en e co no mi c
stem. but rather a problem of
the
p ri nt i ng p re ss . I nf la ti on w as p ri m
ly due to
h e irresp on sibility of i nd iv id ua l f in an ce m in is te rs . w ho
too
m uc h m on ey to cover the g ov er nm en t s budg et d efi ci t. The
lution to the problem was t he re fo re s im pl y
to
stop the printing
e ss es . w hi ch e ss en ti al ly i s the same t hi ng as r ed uc in g g ov cr Il ll lc nt ex
urcs.
The s tr uc tu ra li st s. on the other h and , claimed that t he L at in A me ri ca n
u nt ri e s f ac ed s eve ra l structural p rob lems which automatically created
ionary pressures. Basically they were attributable to supply inelasticities:
cco n ou uc s with such p ro bl em s. l im it at io ns
of
thc quant ity of money
oul d not s top inflations except in tire very long run at the cost of, for
a mp le . a rise unemployment to unacceptable levels). The monctarists
l ut io n to the p ro bl em . w hi ch was s im pl y a proper monetary p olicy , was
rcfo rc rejected . With referen ce to the FC LAan aly sis of the general process
~ r w t in Latin A me ri ca . which p ri ma ri ly saw d ev el op me nt as a r es ul t
t he s up pl y of c ap it al , t he s t ruc t r al is ts c ri ti ci ze d t he o rg an iz at io ns t ha t
oweu the monetarists recommendations e .g. t he IMf) for h av in g far too
strictivc criteria for lending moncy.
The p olitical rccommcndations made by [CLA had a common dcnorn
at or the demand for increased govcmmcnt i nv ol ve me nt . It w as t he t as k
the g l) \< ,r nm cn t t o c or re ct a ll structural c le m en ts s t an di ng i n the way
development
However,
EeLA
always
pointed
out
vcr
c ar ef ul ly t ha t i t
i d not propose a p la nn ed economy. Thc R u ssian mo d el was as v ig orou sly
j ec te d as the
laisscz fairc
mod el. The market economy was to r em ai n, but
er the su rv eillan ce of t hc g ov er nm en t. T hi s K e yn es i an v ie w p la ye d a n
l Ip or ta nt r ol c i n L at in A mc ri ca . b ut i t w as a ls o a cc ep tc d i n a lm os t a ll of the
i rd W orl d. S inc c t he 1 95 05, g ov er nm cn ts ha vc p la yc d a mu ch m or e a ct iv e
l c i n t he sc c co no mi cs t ha n i n an y
hcr
part
of
thc capitalist worlo.
An cx tcn sivc dcbatc f ol lo wc d in t hc wakc of t hc LC LA . Attacks wcre
n chcd fro m both l ib cr al and r ad ic al c or ne rs . The d eb at c bctwccn the
b er al c co no mi st s and thc ECLA is of l it tl e i nt erc st tn thc grl)wth of the
s ch oo L a nd i s t he rc fo rc not includcd hcrc.
16
Of morc relcvance,
ow cv cr . i s t he c ri ti ci sn l
of
thc modcrnization p arad ig m co min g fro m Latin
Amcrican social scientists.
44
Background to
the
Dcpcnd cncy
ppro
a
ch
The Latin American Critique
of
the Modernization Paradigm
The econ o mic g rowth of the mo re in du strialized co un tries of Latin America
i mp le me nt in g ECLA p ol ic ie s came to a halt d ur in g t hc llJ60s_ I ns te ad of
taking of f into self-sustained growth there was general economic stagnation,
a nd , as a r es ul t of tha t, both s oc ia l a nd p ol it ic al p ro bl em s c am e t o t he f or e.
The shortcomings of the policy of import substitution were becoming obvious.
Th e p ur ch as i ng p ow er w as l im it c d t o c er ta i n s oc ia l
strata.
a nd t he d om es ti c
m ar ke t s h ow e d n o
tendency
to expand after its n eeds h ad b een fulfilled . The
import dependency had s im pl y s hi ft ed from consumption g oo ds t o c ap it al
g oo ds. The conventional export g ood s had been neg le ct ed in thc general
frenzy
of
in du strializa tion : the result was acute balance-of-payment problems
i n o ne country af ter another. T he o pt im is m of g rowth chang ed into deep
depression.
R au l I rcb isch and C clso
Furtado. two
veterans
of
Latin American develop
mcn t econ o mics, n ow both realized th at altho u gh in du strializatio n h ad b een
i ni ti at ed , i t d id n ot automatically continue by i ts el f. I Ic re i s a comment from
1966 by Fur tado: In Latin Am eri ca t he re is a general cons cious ne ss of
living t hr ou gh a period
of
decline The phase
of
easy development,
through increasing exports of primary products or through import substitu
tio n h as ev ery wh ere b een exhausted (quoted from Hirschman, 196R).
The growing consciousness
of
the fact that e c on om i c g ro wt h - - I m a s l o ng
as it las ted -- did not n ec es sa ri ly ha ve an y s oc ia l o r p ol it ic al
counterparts
also
contr
ibu t cd to the w id es pr ea d pe ss im is m. D ur in g the 1 96 0s t he ECLA
p ub li sh ed a r ep or t o n t he s oc ia l situation in Latin America, to gether with the
annual economic review. T og et he r, t he se p ub li ca ti on s o ff er ed a p ec ul ia r
picture
of
the d ev el op me nt : on the one h an d i nd us tr ia li za ti on and g ro wt h,
and on thc othcr unemployment and marg inalization . Man y students of
d ev el op me nt s aw t hi s a s confirmation of t he f act t ha t e st ab li sh ed d ev el op
men t th in k in g was g oing th ro u gh a crisis, 17
Stavenhagen
e ha ve a lr ea dy d ea lt w it h t he [CLA critique of simplified growth theories
and the vir l\
of
f or ei gn t ra de as the p ri me m ov er b eh in d d ev el op me nt . In
t hi s c on t c xt w e s ha ll d ea l w it h a m uc h b ro ad er d is cu ss io n w hi ch q ue st io ne d
t he e nt ir e, e st ab li sh ed p ar ad ig m of m od er ni za t io n. I n a n i nf lu en ti al es sa y
f rom 19 66 t he M cxi ca n s oc io lo gi st R o do lf o S ta vc nh ag en c Ii ti ci zc d w ha t h e
called Thc Scvcn Erroneous Thcses on Latin AnlCrica Stavenhagcn, 19 6).
(l )
77
Latin mericancOlintries arc dual societies
This proposition states
that two d if fc rc nt a nd , to a c er ta in cxtcnt, indepcndent societics exist within
thc L at in A mc ri ca n c ou nt ri es : one t ra di ti on al a gr ar ia n s oc ie ty and one
mod crn, u rban ized so cicty . Thc fo rmer is often associatcd with feudalisnl and
t he l at t cr w it h c ap it al is m, w hi ch a ls o i mpl ie s
that
feu dalism is an o bstacle
to
devclopmcnt that
m us t bc r cp la ce d by p ro gr cs si vc c
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Dependency Theory ill Transition
2) Progress in La ti n Ame ri ca will
come
about by
the
spread industrial
products
into
the backward, archaic and traditional areas: This thesis assumes
t ha t t he m od er n e xp an si ve s ec to r a ut om at i ca ll y s ta rt s a p ro ce ss
of
develop
m en t i n t he t ra di ti on al s ec to r, t ha t t he t ra ns it io n f ro m t ra di t io na l t o m od er n
s oc ie ty i s a p ro ce ss wh ich i ne vi ta bl y i nc lu de s al l t he t ra di ti on al s oc ie ti es i n
t he w or ld t od ay , a nd t h at t he c en tr es of modernity ar e n ot h in g b ut t he r es ul t
of the propagat ion of e l ement s origi na t ing i n a lrea dy devel oped c ount ri es.
Sta ve nhagen obj ec t ed t o t hi s by c la iming inter alia t hat t he sprea di ng
out
of
modern
consumption
g oo ds d id n ot i mp ly a n i nc re as e i n w el far e per se, and
t ha t it i ns te ad m an ag ed to drive
out
l ocal i nd us tr ie s an d t ra de s, an d e ve n
t ua ll y l ed t o c la sses
of
mi ddl emen a nd usure rs. As far a sc a pit al i sc onc erned,
the s pr ead in g seemed to go i n th e opposite direction from t he bac kward
a re as t o
the
developed areas. The progress of the modern area was,in reality,
achieved at the traditional area s expense.
3 The exis tence
backward, traditional and archaic rural areas is an
obs tacle to the formation
an internal market and to the development ofa
progressive and national capitalism: In Sta ve nhageri s opini on t hi s was fal se
be cau se i n Lat in Amer ica t he re was n o p ro gr es si ve , n at io na l c ap it al is m, n or
were t he c ondi t ions suc h t ha t one might devel op.
4) The nat iona l bourgeo is ie has an inter es t in break ing the powerand the
dominion the landed oligarchy: The landowners , financiers and industrial
i st s i nt er es ts we re, i n r ea li ty , j o in ed i n t he s ame e co no mi c g ro up s, t he s ame
companies,
an d
o cc as io na ll y ev en i n t he s ame f ami li es . T he re i s n o r eas on
why the national bourgeoisies and the land oligarchy
shouldn t
get along.
5) Lati n American development is the work and creation a nationalist,
progressive, enterprising anddynamic middle class,and
the
social and economic
policy objectives
the Lat in American governments should be to s timulate
social
mobility
and the development
that
class: Those c la sses c al l ed t he
mi dd le cl as se s ar e v er y cl ose ly connected w it h t he e xi st in g e co no mi c a nd
political structure an d l ac ke d t he d yn am ic t ha t m ig ht m ak e t h em c at al ys ts i n
a process of independent economic development.
6) Nat iona l integra tion in Latin America is the product miscegenation:
Th is t he si s su gg est s t ha t t he d ev el op me nt was mo vi ng t o wa rd s so me ki nd o f
universal s oc iet y i n which the d if fe ren ce s b et we en the d om in an t whit e
m in or it y and t he mass of natives in the rural areas w ou ld d is ap pe ar . This
t hes is w as w ro ng b ec au se a b io lo gi cal an d c ul t ur al m ix in g d oes not i mpl y a
change i n the ex is ti ng s tr uc tu re per se. the internal Latin American
colonies the mestizos represent t he l oc al a nd regiona l rul ing c la sses, a nd do i n
fact suppress the natives.
7) Progress in Lat in America will only take place by means an alliance
between the workers and the peasants, as a resul t the identi ty interests
46
ackgroundto
the Dcpe
ndcncv A
of these two classes. Thi s t he si s has primari ly bee n e xamine d by t he
l eft, but t he workers and pea sa nts i nte re st s were, i n rea li ty, not i d
Latin A mer ic a i t is a fact that t he s tr on ge r t he i nt er na l c ol on ia li sm
gre at er t he di fference s be twe en t he met ropoli s a nd i ts dome st i c c o
ss
opportunities t he re a re f or a t ru e p ol it ic al a ll ia nc e b et we en w o
peasants.
Cardoso
Sta ve nhagen was here t hinki ng of t he e xp er ie nc es i n M ex ico w hi ch
were common to a n um be r of Latin American countries. Brazil was,
the country i n w hi ch t he d ev el op me nt o pt im is m of the 1950s had
most uninhi bi t ed e xpre ssion. Eve ryone. right a cross t he pol i ti ca l s
t ho ug ht t ha t Brazi l was i n the
take-off
s ta ge , an d t hat t ho se m o
sible for t hi s condition were t he growing number
of
entrepreneur
this time s oci ol og ist s i n Sao Paolo e st ab li sh ed t he C en tr e for
Soc iology whe re t he various i ndust rie s i n t he Sao Paolo a re a were st
S ch um pe te ri an p er sp ec ti ve . Th e r es ul ts w er e n ot a lway s as
e x pe
Brazilian businessmen did not turn
out
to be the b ac kb on e of t he
Lat in Ame ri ca n bourgeoi si e: t hey were found t o be t ota l ly devoi d of
a nd e ne rgy,
totally
de pen den t on the g over nmen t and foreig
Cardoso, 1967, pp 94-1 14). Doubt t here fore a rose a bout t he Lat in
bourgeoisi e. The t ho ug ht t ha t it was i nc ap ab le
of
ful fi ll ing i ts
mission - to release the p ro du ct iv e po wers and cr eat e a t ran si
f eu dal is m t o c ap it al is m - t ur ne d
out
to be a most important aspe
dependency theory.
F er na nd o Hen rique C ar do so was am on g the so ci ol og is ts wh
o ut t he s oc io lo gi ca l s tu di es of the
entrepreneurs
in Sao Paolo,
wrote a general c rit i que of the current social sciences, particularly th
of mode rni z at i on wit hin t he disci pl ine of soc iology Cardoso a nd
1969, pp 8 -1 0) . C ar do so and F al et to p oi nt ed
out
t ha t the
patte
traditional to modern wasa reincarnation of the German sociologist
old dichotomy
of
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft.
The y rai se d t wo obj ec t ions t o t hi s: first l y, ne it herconcept i s broa
t o co ver a ll e xi st in g s oci al s it ua ti on s, n or i s i t s pe ci fi c e no ug h t o d
t he s tr uc tu re s t ha t d et er mi ne t he l if e- st yl es
of
various societies. S
t hese c on ce pt s d o n ot s ho w h ow v ar io us st age s of economic develop
li nked to the var io us t yp es of soc ia l st ruc ture c harac t eri ze d a s e i
itional or modern .
With this kind of ch aract er izat io n it co nt in ues to be imp
expl ain the t ran si ti on from one type of society to an ot her
c ha nge i n soc ia l st ruc tures, far from bei ng onl y a c umul at i ve
i ncorporat i ng new vari abl es , i nvol ve s a serie s of rel at ions a m
g ro up s, f or ces , an d cl ass es , t hr ou gh wh ich s om e o f t hem t ry
t hei r domi nat i on ove r soc ie ty. Ibi d. p 10)
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Dep
endcn
C l Theory in ransition
What t he y call the historical structural method is the a lte rna tiv e to the
prevailing. schematic and mechanical analysis:
Fo r
us i t is necessary to recognise from the beginning
that
social struc
tures are the product of man's collective behaviour. Therefore, although
endur ing, social s tructures can be, and in fact are , cont inuous ly trans
f ormed by social movemen ts . Consequen tly, our app roach is both
structural and h ist ori cal : it empha si ze s not just the s tr uc tu ra l con
ditioning of social life, but also the historical
transformation
of
structures by conflict, social movements, ancl class struggles. Thus our
methodology is his t orical-st ruct ural. (Ibid., p.x).
This criticism
of
t he p reva il ing development theory and the search for
alternative approaches was obvious ly an express ion of a more widespread
intellectual climate in Latin America in the miu-I960s.
Dos Santos
Thcoronio Dos S ant os. also a Brazilian, sums up the tra dit i onal ideas on
development as follows (Dos Santos, 1968b [1973 J :
Development means advancement towards cer ta in well-defined general
objectives which corrcspond to the specific condition of man arid society to
be found in the most advanced soc ie ti es
of
the modern world . The model is
variously known asmodern society. industrial society, mass society anu so on.
L'ndcrdcvcloped countries will progress towards this modcl as soon as they
have eliminated certain social. political. cultural and institutional obstacles.
These obs tacles arc rcpresemed by 't radi t ional societies ', feudal systems,
or ' feudal residues' . depending on the particular school of thought.
Certam economic. polit ical and psychological processes can be singled out
as allowing the mus t rat ional mobil ization of nat ional resources and these
can be categor ized (or the usc of economic planners.
To a ll this is added the need to co-ordina te cer ta in socia l and politi cal
forces in support of a development pol icy and to devise an ideological b sis
which urgani/es thc will
ofvarious
nations in the ' tasks ' of development.
Once the c on vent io na l de ve lo pment t he or ie s have been proven to be
indefensible. Dos Santos goes on to provide the bas ic prerequis ites for a more
solid theory of development:
The theory of development must analyse the process of development in
its various historical and concrete manifestations.
It must ext ract . t hrough such an h is to ri ca l analysis, the general lawso f
development of the societies it chooses to investigate.
: \
ackground
to the
Dependency
p p roach
- In f ormu la ti ng t hese laws, d ev el opmen t t he or y must t ak e i nt o a cc ou nt
the international contradictions of the process , abandoning any formalist ic
att empt to re du ce it to a un ilineal t ra nsi ti on from one t yp e of so ci ety to
another. R at he r t he t he or y wou ld have to sh ow how thr oug h these very
con tr ad ic tion s s oc ie ty as a whole can reach h ighe r forms of organization.
These forces, and the social forms they imply, are better described as social
trends than as models of a future s ituat ion to which we should aspire.
Moving now (rom Bruztl to Chile (and keeping in mind that both Cardoso
and Dos S an to s wen t to Chile a ft er the Brazilian mi li ta ry c ou p in 196 ;)
wef ind the s ame phenomenon: great d is su tisfucuon at the way in which the
estab lished social sciences explain the Lat in American reali ty , and at their
inability to provide guidelines for an adequate policv of development.
unk l
e have chosen the Chilean economist Osvuldo Sunkel (Formerly with the
EeLA) as an examp le of this d is sa ti sf ac tion (sec Sunke l, 1l J69 and 1 lJ 7 ,
as well as S unk el and Paz, InO . Sunkcl claimed that the problem with the
prevailing analysis
of
the de ve lopment qu est io n was that it was based on
conventional theories
of
g rowth and mudcrniza t ion. As c la imed by other
Latin Americans, t o whom we have referred earlier. this the ory saw the
mature capitalist economy as the goa l
1
all development efforts: the under
developed nat ions were analysed in terms of a previous ami imperfect stage
011
t he way to thi s goal . Sunkc l bel ieved tha t this ideal ized and mechanica l
vision ought to be r ep laced by a more h is to ri ca l method, the result of which
would be a better understanding of the real natur e of the underdeveloped
nation's structure and i ts changes . The approach suggested by Sunkcl s imply
meant
that
the characteristics of underdevelopment should be viewed as
normal
results of the f un ct io ni ng of a specific sy st em. In the case of the
underdeveloped nations these results arc wei] known: low income. a slow rate
of g rowth. regional imbalance , inequal it y, unemployment. dependency.
monocul turc and cul tural. economic. social and pol it ical marginalizat ion.
e tc . The convent ional theory considered these symptoms to be deviations
( rom the ideal pattern which. like children's diseases, would disappear with
growth and moderniza tion . It did not rc.ili zc tha t beh ind this l ay system,
the formal functioning of which produced these resul ts , and that this would
continue fur as long as development policies attacked the symptoms of under
development rather t ha n the basic s tr uc tu ra l c lement s t ha t had c re at ed
undcrdcveIopm ent.
According to Sunkcl, once Latin America is seen in this perspec tive it
becomes obvious that considcrublc influence exercised by external tics;
howeve r, t he ir impor tance should not cove r up the exi st ence of int erna l,
s tructural problems. A realist ic analysis of l .atin American development
should therefore be based on the assumpt ion that the socioeconomic sys tem
has been sh aped by two t ype s of structural clements: external and internal.
The fo rmer have been more impor ta nt fa ctors as far as Latin American
l)
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Depe
ndencv Theory
ill
Transit ion
developrncnt is concerned.
An adequate ana lytica l scheme for the
study
of underdevelopment. and
for t he formula ti on of devel opment st rat eg ies , must be based upon know.
ledge of the process. the structure and the system. Underdevelopment cannot
be seen as a stage in the d evel opmen t
of
an economically, poli t ically and
culturally autonomous society. Underdevelopment should rather be thought
of as part of the global historical process of development. Underdevelopment
and development are two sides
of
the same universal process, i .e , they inter.
act and are mutually conditional . Their geographic expression is manifested
in two pol ar iz at ions : first , t he pol ar iz at ion of t he world between the ri ch
industrialized and developed nations on the one hand and the underdeveloped
backward, POOf. periphera l and dependent nat ions on the
other;
secondly,
the interna l polar izat ion between advanced, modern industr ies and the so.
called traditional sector .
The concepts of development and underdeve lopment must there fore be
seen as part ial yet mutually dependent structures forming
one
single system,
One important character is ti c which separates the two structures i s tha t the
devel oped sys tem , mainl y because of its ab il it y to grow, t o a great ext ent
dominates whi le the underdeve loped system is dependent . par t ly because
of
the nature
of
i ts own dynamics , Al l of t his can,
of
course, be used both
between
nations, as well as between regions within a
country.
This school of
t hought focused on two types of polar iz ing processes: one at the level of
international relat ions. the other at the nationalleve So
much
for Sunkel.
rank
As far as the group of scholars who
were
soon to be known as the depen-
dentistas and t hei r c ri ti que of the prevai ling t heory
of
development is con
cerned, i t i s diffi cult to ignore Andre Gunder Frank s inf luent ia l paper The
Sociology of Development and Underdevelopment of Sociology from 1969.
In it F rank c ri ti ci zed the Research Cent re on Economic Devel opment and
Cul tu ral Change and i ts per iodi ca l
Economic evelopment and ultural
h nge
( the EDCC) t o whi ch Frank h imsel f had been a
contributor.
Frank s
Latin American experiences have obviously led him to question the paradigm
of which thi s per iodica l i s the foremost representat ive. I t should be noted
that in it F rank acknowledges his debt to Rodo lf o
Staverihagen,
amongst
others - and there are certain similari ties between Frank s and Stavenhagen s
crit ique; Frank s crit ique is, however, more theoretical while Stavcnhagen s
discussion, more concretely, is t ied to Latin American, part icularly Mexican,
empir ical s tudies . Frank s cri t ique was al so more direc tly aimed at speci fi c
scholars, par ti cula rly the group around the EDCe, e.g. Manning Nash, Bert
F. Hoselitz, Marion Levy, Everett Hagen and David McClelland. Through his
cri tiq ue F rank want ed to show t hat the moder ni zat io n persp ectiv e, as
developed by the above-mentioned scholars was
I)
empirically untenable,
(2) theoretically insufficient and (3) practically incapable of stimulating a
process of development in the Third World.
n view of the importance of his c ri tique during the late 1960s i t might be
50
Backgrou nd
to
the
Dependencv
jus ti fi ed to quote Frank s arguments about these three point s. Ho
s ll l imit ourselves to an account of one of the variants of the pa
modernization, namely the one he calls
th e
ideal-typical index
met
idea of this
method
is to compar e an under dev el op ed
countr
developed one by means of various indicators: the diffe rences thu
are t hen e st ab li shed as the subst ance of development . This ap
mani fested in two ways: by pattern variables and by stages
gr
shown in Chapt er I the tradit io n of
pattern
vari abl es goes back
classical soc iology, and was applied to the problems of underdev
by Bert Hoselitz.
n
that chapte r we a lso deal t with the foremost
tative
of
the school of stages , Walt Rostow.
Frank argues t hat many devel oped nat ions show s trong par t
tendencies,
that
ascr ibed s ta tus i s widespread and tha t the
structur
isnot as functionally specific as our official ideology might have it.
t raits of universalism , achievement and specificity might be fo
underdeveloped nations. After having destroyed the empirical ba
pattern variable analysis on the problems
of
underdevelopment Fran
to question the theoretical bases for analysis:
Hosel i tz leaves far from clear jus t which is the soc ia l whole
pat terns he would change from one set of variables to
anothe
to effect developmen t Here the theoret ical inadequacy is e
glar ing, for i t contravenes the general ly accepted rule of soc
sci en ti fi c t heory to l ook for and refer t o the sys temic whole
of which the rea li ty ( in thi s case underdeve lopment ) can be
and changed, The social sy stem which is t od ay the
determ
underdevelopment certainly is
not
the family, t ribe ,
comm
part o f a dual soc ie ty , or even, as I shall argue bel ow, any u
loped
country
or countries taken by themselves.
As an example of the l im it at ions of pat tern variable analysi s,
terms of development policy mentions the fact that the growthof th
cl ass g roups i n Lati n America has not l ed t o a hi gher l evel of dev
- qui te the contrary.
Growth stages are a fur ther development
of
the pattern variabl
inthe sense that the two ideal ized poles are uni ted through a ser ies
As the reader might recal l, Rostow
mentions
five such stages: I)
itional stage; (2) the p re-t ak e- of f st age; (3) the take-o ff; (4) th
maturity; and (5) the mass consumpt ion soc ie ty.
It
i s diffi cult to
stagesin reality.
Rostow s stages and thes is are incorrect primari ly because th
cor re spond at al l to the past or p re sent reali ty o f t he under
countries whose development they are supposed to guide. It
i n Ros tow, as it is impli ci t in Hosel it z, that underdeve lopm
original stage of what are supposedly traditional societies -
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DC JCI/(ICIICl
Theory
ill
Tra nsit io n
were
110
stages prior to t he p re se nt
stage of underdevelopment. It
is
further explicit in
Rosto
w tha t the n ow
de ve lope d soc ie
ties were once
underdeveloped. But al l t hi s is quite c o nt r ar y t o fact.
According
to Frank,
underdevelopment
was
no t
an o ri gi nal s tag e, but
rather a created
condition:
to exemplify. he points to the British
dcindus
t rializ at ion of India, t he d e st r uc t iv e e f fe c ts of th e slave trade on African
societies
a nd th e obliteration of
the
Indian civilizations
in
C e nt r al a n d S o ut h
Anie ri cu . T he
greatest
problem in Rostow s
analysis
was,
h ow ev e r. t he
fact
ih.u
not all
of
t h e c o un t ri e s
which