ABSTRACT

This chapter presents the basic structure of the dependency approach to the study of the Third World. Dependency analysis was an ideological expression of the Cold War, pitting leftist nationalists in poorer and weaker countries against the international economic system, which they blamed for all manner of problems at home and around the globe. During the 1970s, the contest between the new dependency approach and the older developmental perspective seemed to be being won by the former with surprisingly little struggle. The reason for this was twofold: developmentalism was already in a state of decline when the new paradigms of dependency made their appearance in force; and the more established school simply lacked the conceptual arms to defend itself. The analytical paradigms put forth by the dependency school represent a powerful challenge to the study of change in the Third World as it has been conceptualized in the United States.