From Dependency Theories to Mechanisms of Dependency: The Contribution of Latin American dependentistas to Global IR

The chapter introduces the theories of dependency that emerged in the 1960s and 1970s in Latin America. It argues that these theories should be understood as part of a research program grounded on three core assumptions: first, the global capitalist system is hierarchically structured into core and periphery; second, peripheral economies are dependent on core economies, meaning that changes in the former are conditioned by changes in the latter; and third, the external dependence of peripheral economies is reflected in their internal socio-economic structures. Dependency theories are among the most original Latin American contributions to an agenda of Global IR inasmuch as they are rooted in an older tradition of Latin American social thought, and they link concepts emanated from the reality of Latin American societies with problems of global capitalism. However, dependency theories have theoretical flaws that must be addressed in order to remain scientifically valid for studying contemporary capitalism. The chapter introduces the concept of causal mechanisms of dependency in order to overcome some of these shortcomings. Specifically, this concept provides the microfoundations that classical approaches to dependency lacked. It also connects different levels of analysis, thus braking with the methodological nationalism of classical dependency theories, and it allows to go beyond the description of situations of dependency and make plausible explanations of the endurance of global inequalities.