Dependence and Underdevelopment: Latin America's Political Economy

Résumé du livre

This book challenges all of the most commonly held ideas regarding underdevelopment. The process of development, say the authors, is not a matter of higher Gross National Products, which to the contrary, often serve to increase a country's long-run underdevelopment. Meaningful development is a political as well as an economic process, which improves the quality of life for the people of a country. The authors argue that underdevelopment, far from being an original or natural condition of the countries of the so-called Third World, is a condition imposed by the international expansion of capitalism. The authors go on dispute some common assumptions regarding industrialization, economic aid, and the allegedly progressive nature of the international expansion of capitalism. The authors go on to dispute some common assumptions regarding industrialization, economic aid, and the allegedly progressive nature of native bourgeoisies. The theory of development and underdevelopment presented in this book is supported by case studies of Mexico, Venezuela, Chile and other Latin American nations, but the implications extend to Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the internal colonies of the United States.