Dependency theory

According to dependency theory, countries become more dependent upon more powerful, frequently colonial powers, as a result of interaction and ‘development’. As the more powerful country exploits the resources of its weaker colony, the colony becomes dependent upon the stronger power. Goods fl ow from the colony to support consumers in the overseas country.
Andre Frank (1971) described the effect of capitalist development on many countries as
‘the development of underdevelopment’. The problem of poor countries is not that they lack the resources, technical know-how, modern institutions or cultural developments that lead to development, but that they are being exploited by capitalist countries.
Dependency theory has a very different approach from most models of development.
• It incorporates politics and economics in its explanation.
• It takes into account the historical processes of how underdevelopment came about, that is how capitalist development began in one part of the world and then expanded into other areas.
• It sees development as a revolutionary break, a clash of interests between ruling classes and the working classes. • It believes that modernisation does not necessarily mean Westernisation and that underdeveloped countries must set goals of their own, which are appropriate to their own resources, needs and values.
However, it is a largely economic theory (from a Western perspective) seeing the outcome as a form of economic determinism.

World systems theory

World systems analysis is identified with Immanuel Wallerstein (1974) and is a way of looking at economic, social and political development. It treats the whole world as a single unit. Any analysis of development must be seen as part of the overall capitalist world economy, not on a country by country approach. Wallerstein argued that an approach that looked at individual countries in isolation was too simplistic and suffered from developmentalism. The developmentalism school assumed that:
• each country was economically and politically free (autonomous)
• all countries follow the same route to development.
Developmentalism suggested that what happened in North America and Europe was best and would automatically happen elsewhere, which is not necessarily the case.
According to Wallerstein, the capitalist world system has three main characteristics:
• a global market
• many countries, which allow political and economic competition
• three tiers of countries.
The tiers are defined as core, largely MEDCs, the periphery, which can be identified with
LEDCs, and the semi-periphery. The semi-periphery refers to countries where there are class struggles and social change, such as Latin America in the 1980s and eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It also includes the NICs where large-scale economic growth has occurred. Some of these NICs, notably China, India and Brazil, may be superpowers in the future.
Wallerstein argued that capitalist development led to cycles of growth and stagnation. One of these cycles is a long-term economic cycle known as a Kondratieff cycle. This identifies cycles of depression at roughly 50- to 60-year intervals. The last two were in the 1920–
30s and the late 1980s. Stagnation is important for the restructuring of the world system and allows the semi-periphery to become involved in the development process. Indeed, the recent financial crises may see some mini-superpowers emerging, notably the oil-rich Gulf
States, with their vast financial resources. According to the world systems approach, capitalism includes feudalism and socialism.
They are extreme variations on the division of labour. As the world develops and changes, there will either be a swing towards a more socialist system or there will be a transition towards a more unequal (feudal) system.
Modernisation theory is largely based on the view that to develop means to become ‘modern’ by adopting Western cultural values and social institutions. It is suggested that undeveloped societies subscribe to value systems and institutions that hinder the development process.
Modernisation theory
Rostow, suggested that development should be seen as an evolutionary process in which countries progress up a development ladder of five stages.
1) Undeveloped societies are ‘traditional societies’ dominated by institutions such as families, tribes and clans, within which roles are ascribed (i.e. people are born into them) rather than achieved. Production is agricultural.
2) The ‘pre-conditions for take-off’ stage involves the introduction of material factors such as capital and technology from the West in the form of capital investment by Western companies and official aid.
3) The ‘take-off stage’ is the most important and involves traditional attitudes and social institutions being overcome and replaced with their Western equivalents. For example, achievement replaces ascription and the nuclear family replaces the extended family or clan/tribe as people become more geographically mobile in their search for work in the factories set up by Western companies.
4)The ‘drive to maturity stage’ is marked by export of manufactured goods to the West as the country takes its place in the international trading system.
5) Development is achieved in the final stage which Rostow calls ‘the age of high mass consumption’. In this stage, the majority of citizens live in urban rather than rural areas and enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. Life expectancy is high and most citizens have access to health-care and free education.