Dependency theory

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Dependency theory (from Spanish dependencia - dependency, subordination; branch or port. Dependência - dependency) is the generic term for a group of development theories , which were originally developed in Latin America in the mid- 1960s , and which in their basic assumptions are closely related to the existence of hierarchical dependencies (dependencies). between industrialized (metropolises) and developing countries (peripheries) and see the development opportunities of the Third World as limited by this hierarchical relationship .

Main messages

The theories of dependency emerged from a critical examination of the modernization theories and, unlike them, assume that it is not because of endogenous factors such as a lack of capital, cultural attitudes and traditional imprints that modernization according to the western model is responsible for underdevelopment, but that, on the contrary, it is external Factors permanently assign developing countries a structurally stable, subordinate position in the world economy .

The epoch of colonialism is primarily held historically responsible here . This one-sidedly aligned the economy of the affected societies to the needs of colonial powers and blocked their development opportunities. This unfavorable power relationship persists even after decolonization , so that the former colonial regions continue to appear only as the economic periphery of the classic industrialized countries that function as “metropolises”. The integration into the world market, the activity of multinational companies and the continued use as mere raw material exporters solidify the dependent position of the developing countries in the “periphery” of the world economy instead of improving it - as assumed by the modernization theories. Because " unequal exchange " between the raw material suppliers of the Third World and the manufacturers of further processed products in the industrialized world undermines the - described by David Ricardo - the theorem of the comparative cost advantages . The internal economic structure of the developing countries is permanently deformed and distorted - not least by local elites who serve the interests of the metropolises and secure their cultural influence. At the same time, according to the Prebisch-Singer thesis, the competitive situation in developing countries is steadily deteriorating . Underdevelopment appears to be a direct consequence of the international economic system.

As Dieter Senghaas explained, this is why there is a lack of development for dependency theorists

“A historically developing component of the international economic system dominated by capitalist metropolises and thus of international society. The development of these metropolises, the centers and the history of the underdevelopment of the Third World are mutually complementary processes mediated by the international system. "

For this reason, the dependency theorists proposed a partial isolation from the world markets in order to be able to develop the internal structure of disadvantaged economies relatively undisturbed. Both “national-capitalist” and “socialist” solutions were considered, so that a pluralistic field of theories exists within the dependence theories.

Representative

Well-known representatives of the dependency theory are Fernando Henrique Cardoso , the Marxist economist Paul Sweezy , Enzo Faletto , André Gunder Frank , the Danish author and activist Torkil Lauesen , Theotônio dos Santos , the peace and conflict researcher Dieter Senghaas and the Zurich sociologist Volker Bornschier . There are points of contact with the theories of imperialism by Lenin , Rosa Luxemburg and Samir Amin .

The dependency theory was also taken up in particular by liberation theology , which saw in it a socio-economic analysis tailored to Latin American conditions, which classical and structural Marxism was unable to provide.

Representatives of a new generation of dependency theorists are Aníbal Quijano , Ramón Grosfoguel and Arturo Escobar .

Historical background

prehistory

The view that Latin America is in a state of underdevelopment compared to the industrialized countries of the north and that it must “catch up” through forced modernization looks back on a long history. As early as the 19th century, the Argentine writer and politician Domingo Faustino Sarmiento saw in South America a pervasive opposition between civilization (which Sarmiento saw realized in European metropolises like Buenos Aires ) and barbarism (identified by Sarmiento with the indigenous and Creole agricultural land) . Political stability can only be achieved through a development towards civilization. Indeed, from the 19th century onwards, the economy of the Latin American countries was based on the massive export of raw materials and agricultural goods, initially mainly to Great Britain and from the early 20th century to the USA .

Predominant was to the 20th century, the explanation, the underdevelopment of Latin America was by the Spanish colonialism and the persistence of the continent at the stage of feudalism caused. This view was shared equally by left and right. Marxist theorists were of the opinion that the Latin American states first had to develop capitalism supported by the national bourgeoisie in order to later be able to liberate themselves completely through socialist revolutions. Bourgeois economists favored models of import substitution , which should enable the establishment of national industries for the purpose of consumer goods production. A notable exception is the Peruvian Marxist José Carlos Mariátegui , who rejected the idea that the development of a “national capitalism” would mean a gain in economic independence for Latin America, thus becoming the forerunner of the later dependency theorists.

The "decade of development"

From the 1950s onwards, Latin American intellectuals and governments became increasingly committed to development ideology (span. Desarrollismo ). In this context, the regimes of Rómulo Betancourt in Venezuela, Arturo Frondizi in Argentina and Juscelino Kubitschek in Brazil should be mentioned. As a result, thousands of Peace Corps volunteers in Latin America provided development aid. Major infrastructural projects such as the construction of the new Brazilian capital Brasília were seen as visible signs of progress.

In 1961, US President John F. Kennedy proclaimed a "Decade of Development" and initiated the Alliance for Progress , which provided extensive development aid and economic investments for Latin America on the part of the USA. The aim of the US government was to prevent deeper cooperation between Latin American countries and the Soviet Union . A number of Latin American governments joined the alliance with enthusiasm.

However, the euphoria subsided relatively quickly. Instead of poverty reduction, in many places there was only a “modernization of poverty” ( Ivan Illich ) through improved access to luxury items. The basic structure of the Latin American economy (export of raw materials - import of consumer goods) remained untouched; the inflation problem, which was rampant in Uruguay and Argentina in particular, also remained unsolved. From the mid-1960s, right-wing military dictatorships also seized power in several countries (1964 in Bolivia and Brazil, 1966 in Argentina).

From CEPAL to dependency theory

As a result, a number of left-wing intellectuals who were centrally involved in the development of the dependency theory, fleeing the military coups, migrated to Santiago de Chile , where the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (CEPAL) is based. Economists close to CEPAL such as Raúl Prebisch and Celso Furtado had developed the structuralist economic theory under the influence of Gunnar Myrdal , which for the first time looked at the inequalities between Latin America and the countries of the north, without, however, completely distancing themselves from the older development model.

Meanwhile, the intellectual climate in Latin America had fundamentally changed due to the influence of the Cuban Revolution , liberation theology and unorthodox currents of Marxism. The crisis of development ideology provoked criticism of the economic concepts of the Cepalists, of structuralist economic policy. The first drafts of the dependency theory focused on the critical analysis of the import substitution model and the role of the national bourgeoisie in Latin America. The dependence theorists proposed radical solutions for eliminating economic inequalities. In particular, they supported the decidedly left-wing governments that came to power in several South American countries in the late 1960s and early 1970s ( Salvador Allende in Chile, Juan José Torres in Bolivia, Héctor Cámpora in Argentina).

The associated hope of being able to translate dependency-theoretical analyzes into concrete politics, however, was abruptly interrupted by a wave of authoritarian-repressive regimes that soon after seized power: Ernesto Geisel in Brazil, Hugo Banzer in Bolivia, Juan María Bordaberry in Uruguay , Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Argentine military dictatorship (1976–1983) . These ushered in a period of neoliberal economic policy in Latin America that lasted until the early 1990s.

Newer tendencies

Criticism of the dependency theories was partly taken up within the related world system theory as conceived by Immanuel Wallerstein . The dialogue with the world system theory is mainly led by André Gunder Frank, Aníbal Quijano and Ramón Grosfoguel.

In addition, the theories of dependency were strongly influenced in their further elaboration by postcolonial theoretical approaches such as those developed in Latin America by Enrique Dussel , Walter Mignolo , Gloria Anzaldúa and others. Quijano's concept of “ coloniality of power ”, which regards colonialism or the racialization of African slaves and the indigenous population of America as constitutive for the emergence and constitution of modernity , became central . By María Lugones Quijano's concept of feminist criticism perspective. The theories of dependency have thus left the critical framework behind and positioned themselves between critical social and cultural sciences.

Reception in Germany

From 1974 the dependency theories were introduced through the work of Dieter Senghaas in the German-speaking area and influenced the development-theoretical discourse until the late 1980s.

Importance of the Dependencia theories

A major criticism of the dependency theories is that they only look for the causes of the lower level of development in the conditions of foreign trade , but not in the internal conditions and political decisions of the developing countries. With the help of the theories of dependency, an attempt was made to explain the ongoing underdevelopment of the African and Latin American regions in comparison to the classic industrialized countries. The success of various emerging countries and regions, however, clearly contradicts the assumption that the industrial and developing countries should develop apart as a matter of principle. In particular, the rise of recently weak Asian economies ( tiger states , panther states ) is difficult to reconcile with the basic theoretical assumptions of the dependence theories.

The diversity of the countries of the so-called Third World with their very different and independent differentiation and development processes is neither taken up analytically by the dependency theories nor explained empirically - with the consequence of their “failure (s) in a very differentiated world”. In terms of content, the dependency theories are nothing more than an empirically unproven reversal of the basic assumptions of the modernization theories attacked by them and the examination of them against this background "today is particularly interesting from the point of view of the history of theory".

Their merit lies less in their explanatory value than in their questioning, with which they challenged the linear progress optimism of the modernization theories. When turning away from the dependency theory, Senghaas' student Ulrich Menzel consequently spoke of a "failure" of the major theories and Franz Nuscheler referred to the need for development theories which, unlike monocausal dependency or modernization theories, allow several explanations for development or underdevelopment.

See also

literature

  • Oliver Alber von Köster: environmental policy and environmental protection economy. The eco-industrial dependency thesis. Köster, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89574-402-6 (= publication series economics , volume 17, also dissertation at the University of Stuttgart 2000).
  • Walther L. Bernecker , Thomas Fischer: Development and failure of the dependency theories in Latin America. In: Periplus , 5th vol., 1995, pp. 98-118.
  • Fernando Henrique Cardoso , Enzo Faletto: Dependence and Development in Latin America. (Original title: Dependencia y desarrollo en América Latina , translated by Hedda Wagner). Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1976, ISBN 3-518-00841-2 .
  • André Gunder Frank : Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America. 2nd Edition. Argument, Frankfurt am Main 1975.
  • Frank, Andre G: ReOrient . Global Economy in the Asian Age. ProMedia, Vienna 2016, ISBN 978-3-85371-404-1 , p. 496 .
  • Franz Furger , Joachim Wiemeyer, German Bishops' Conference , Expert Group on the World Economy and Social Ethics: From Dependence to Interdependence. Bonn 1994.
  • Ramón Grosfoguel: Developmentalism, Modernity, and Dependency Theory in Latin America. In: Nepantla 1, No. 2, 2000, pp. 347-374.
  • Mabel Moraña, Enrique Dussel , Carlos A. Jáuregui (Eds.): Coloniality at Large. Latin America and the Postcolonial Debate. Duke University Press, Durham / London 2008.
  • Aníbal Quijano: The Paradoxes of Eurocentric Global Modernity. In: Prokla 158, Volume 40, No. 1, 2010, pp. 29-47.
  • Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser: The Dependencia School in the context of the globalization discussion. A contribution to overcoming the discontinuity in Latin American social science. InIIS working paper No. 26/03, Institute for Intercultural and International Studies, Bremen 2003.
  • Arno Tausch : Did Recent Trends in World Society Make Multinational Corporations Penetration Irrelevant? Looking Back on Volker Bornschier's Development Theory in the Light of Recent Evidence. In: Historia Actual On-Line 6, 2005.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dieter Senghaas (Ed.): Peripherer Kapitalismus. Analysis of addiction and underdevelopment. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1974, p. 18.
  2. ↑ Andreas Boeckh: Development Theories . In: Dieter Nohlen (Ed.): Lexicon of Politics, Volume 1: Political Theories. Beck, Munich 1995, p. 185.
  3. ^ Harry E. Vanden: National Marxism in Latin America. José Carlos Mariátegui's Thought and Politics. Lynne Rienner, Boulder 1986.
  4. ↑ Aram Ziai, Cord Jakobeit : Ivan Illich (1926–2002). Modernization as the enemy of human development. ( Memento of December 1, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) In: D + Z. 2, 2003. Retrieved on January 9, 2011.
  5. ↑ Ramón Grosfoguel, Ana Margarita Cervantes-Rodríguez (ed.): The Modern / Colonial / Capitalist World-System in the Twentieth Century. Global Processes, Antisystemic Movements, and the Geopolitics of Knowledge. Westport / London 2002.
  6. ↑ Aníbal Quijano: Coloniality of Power, Eurocentrism and Latin America. In: Nepantla 1, No. 3, 2000, pp. 533-580 ( online ; MS Word ; 202 kB).
  7. ^ María Lugones: The Coloniality of Gender. ( Memento of March 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 306 kB) Worlds & Knowledges Otherwise website . Retrieved January 10, 2010.
  8. ↑ Dieter Senghaas (Ed.): Peripherer Kapitalismus. Analysis of addiction and underdevelopment. Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1974.
  9. ↑ cf. Dirk Messner: Emerging countries, in: Dieter Nohlen (Hrsg.), Lexikon der Politik, Volume 4: The eastern and southern countries, Munich: Beck 1997, p. 5393 ff.
  10. ^ Andreas Boeckh: Dependencia theories . In: Dieter Nohlen (ed.): Lexicon Third World . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg, completely revised new edition 1993, p. 165.
  11. ^ Andreas Boeckh: Dependencia theories . In: Dieter Nohlen (ed.): Lexicon Third World . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg, completely revised new edition 1993, p. 165 f.
  12. ^ Andreas Boeckh: Dependencia theories . In: Dieter Nohlen (ed.): Lexicon Third World . Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg, completely revised new edition 1993, p. 166.
  13. ↑ Ulrich Menzel , The End of the Third World and the Failure of the Great Theory, Suhrkamp: Frankfurt am Main, 1993
  14. ^ Franz Nuscheler: The North-South Problem . In: Ludwig Watzal (Red.): Basic knowledge of politics . Series of publications by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Bonn 1993, p. 359.