ABSTRACT
This chapter shows 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 manners of problems at home and around the globe. The chapter also shows distinction between dependency, which is the fact that some nations are smaller, less powerful, less wealthy, and therefore more dependent than others on international political and economic forces, and dependencia, which is the political-ideological expression of grievance over these issues. The political role of the dependency approach explains a good part of its resolve to stay united. It must be emphasized that for the dependency approach the preponderant or decisive strength of the class locally is central, even if no easy measurement is available.
