SYP3456

rhe skill into I operations led or semi- skill level is nplishments :he develop- e men, petty r require not .des. Now, I rho, in some :h some wire ry would be am far from e class as the :corations of chiseled the nan capacitY that human problem of

testion of the cial problem: ;ations which : question we :ed countries w can theY be

lin this paper e not tried to nply that such ination would : impediments ng in develoP- 'e for develoP- ls to the most nd expression with different * of the same ln. The execu- y higher living rtain to lead to n of regarding

Thinking about DeveloPment 27

economic development as a cure-all one is wont to overlook or belittle diffi-

culties which migirt stand in the way of the easy attainment of too frequently all

too ambitious t;rgets. An honesi and critical evaluation of economicr0 and

non-economic barriers to such development, may therefore have the

wholesome effect of inducing the drawing up of plans which are capable of

actual realization and will avoid the emergence of unforeseen by-products

which may jeopardize the attainment of the objectives of developmental

efforts.

Andre Gunder Frank, 'The Development of Underdevelopment'

Reprinted in full from: Monthly Review (September) (1966)

2

We cannot hope to formulate adequate development theory and policy for

the majority of the world's population who suffer from underdevelopment

withoui firsi learning how their past economic and social history gave rise to

their present underdevelopment. Yet most historians study only the developed

metropolitan countries and pay scant attention to the colonial and under-

developed lands. For this reason most of our theoretical categories and

guides to development policy have been distilled exclusively from the histor-

ical experien"" bf the European and North American advanced capitalist

nations. Since the historical experience of the colonial and underdeveloped countries

has demonstrably been quite different, available theory therefore fails to

reflect the past oi the underdeveloped part of the world entirely, and reflects

the past of ihe world as a whole only in part. More important, our ignorance of

the underdeveloped countries'history leads us to assume that their past and

indeed their present resembles earlier stages of the history of the now

developed countries. This ignorance and this assumption lead us into serious

misconieptions about contemporary underdevelopment and development'

Further, most studies of development and underdevelopment fail to take

account of the economic and other relations between the metropolis and its

economic colonies throughout the history of the worldwide expansion and-

development of the mercintilist and capitalist system. Consequently, most of

our thiory fails to explain the structure and development of the capitalist

r0 I have not stressed economic barriers to economic development in this paper because they

have been summarized in a brilliant fashion by Professor Jacob Viner in Chapter Yl of his Lectures

on the Theory of International Trade, (published in Portuguese translation in Revista Brasileira de

Economia, Ano V, Numero 2, June, 1951).

28 Development Studies

system as a whole and to account for its simultaneous generation of under-development in some of its parts a;;i;rt is genera'if ierd that ;";;;;; ;i:i#ff ,.:::l",iffi , ff l*:; ",capitalist stages and that tooay's underi-everopeo ..";;;, ur."rr,,r in a stage,sometimes depicted

T, -"" ::,r,""i ,;d;, of history through which the nowdeveloped countries passed ro"ng ugo. %t even a modest acquaintance withhistory shows that underd"""r.i.!", ii. r,o, originar or tradiiionar and that t ::::Yrl-'-r:' nor the pr"r"ntiiii" uio"ra"o"roped countries resembresinI any lmportant respect the past of the now developed countries. The nowI developed countries-were never underdeveroped, though they may have-'idnI undevetoped. It is arso.widely b;ii;;i;", the contemporary uirderdevetofiment of a country ca.n !e understooJ u, it

" -proou.t o, ,"n""'tion solery of its

;,1:fi:i,H:.;.ff ':,:.:l j"li:l!*1:urtu,ui"r,u,*tJst#;,,ructure.yerhi stori car'"." urth de m on stra te.,r' u, .o n, Ji,l;:T""x'J::: ffi jIfi H:*"fllarge part the historicat proauci;il;; continuing economic and orherrelations between the sate'ite uni"ra"u"top"o unJ- tr,"-^n"or' orurroprometropolitan countries- Furthermor", il;; relations ur" un ,r-r"ntiur purt ofthe structure and development .;1;; ""pihi" system on a worrd scare as awhole' A rerated and arso targety ;;;;#;, view is ,r,utit

" oJurropr.nt or

[i'":J:j"::"#f,:"1":""""":,:t -",9"

{r,1" them of their mosr undepdeveloped domestic areas, must uno ritt'ui ffi:'r"ht:?t*ffii*:lt; *tt:::f ::iifitl'il:utions, ""rd;;.:,'io,r,"n, r.on, ir," int",n"tion.r .oi develooert c..,,r n rrjpo, ̂ llipj-tll,,

Historical perspective Uas"a on -itre

unOerr._I d eve I ope d co u n t rie s, p u, i ""p"ri" ;;;".^r.# ff ltff .H:r:Tff:,

:::"::ffiI development in the underde'v;l.o* .liirr.i", .un no* o"i", "ry

indepq:J dently of most of these relations of JiifGon. 4: ,0L",,*_.:,,:"11"":lli:::

or in"o." uni'liir"r"nr". in culture have led manjo b se rvers t o s ei . d u a' soci e ti ". ; ru;;ffi::; ril, ."HHi#,:J:l

fi:';?::i::,j:"::,: f:,*:"d;+;l;Fve a history orits own, a stru:l il il: H il XTff I lr::: ;;;:,'' r"."iffi ;:':'J;: "ff :l' ;"ilH intimate econornin,^, ;,.:l:T.lllj,:"i"lt has been importantty affecteOintimateeconomicrerationswitliil".l"u;rriJ?ffi ilrlTt"?iflllf; :lt,"iiJ:::11:Tif:'lf :l'3'::;,$;',"'"erydeveropedpreciseryror this contact. rhe othei p-, i' *iffi';"J"ffi;'::"lLifi:1l1 ::?:"Hil:

based' reudal, ;'-p';-.;;,"ist, -and,r,","ror."i,or.

I believe on the contrary that the entire 'dua. society thesis is farse andthe policy recommendations .o *rtiJiii"ais w'1, if acted upon, serve on/intensify and perpetuate the ""ry;;;;;;s of underdeveiopment trfsup3osedll

fesigned to remedy.A mounting bodv o-f evidence suggests, and I am confident that fi lil]tfr',",lff l,:*t#f::llT, j11fq.*iun,ionorthecapitaristsysremthepastcenruriesemectiverf ai j;;;j;ffi #;"J jiff ?f fi fi,,'J:fi Iisotated sectors of the

"1g"rg"""l"p"i'#-ro. rr,.r"r*" ii.TJ#ortu,itical, sociar, and culturar institution's -i i"rutions we now observe thex

3ration of under- rent in others. n a succession of ire still in a stage, h which the now cquaintance with ditional and that tries resembles in mtries. The now )y may hive been ry uhderdevelop- ction solely of its or structure. Yet levelopment is in rnomic and other now developed

r essential part of r world scale as a r development of reir most under- or stimulated by international and d on the under- Intrary, economic :ur only indepen-

e have led many rdeveloped coun- iown. a structure, ther. Supposedly .antly affected by l; and that part, it precisely because ariously isolated, )re more under-

is is false and that pon, serve only to lopment they are

fldent that future italist system over e apparently most re economic, pol- observe there are

Thinking about Development 29

the products of the historical development of the capitalist system no less than are the seemingly more modern or capitalist ieatures- of the national metropoles of these underdeveloped countries. Analogous to the relations between development and underdevelopment on the international level, the contemporary underdeveloped institutions of the so-called backward or feudal domestic areas of an underdeveloped country are no less the product of the single historical process of capitalist development than are the io-called capi- talist institutions of the supposedly more progressive areas. I should like to sketch the kinds of evidence which support this thesis and at the same time indicate lines along which further study ind research could fruitfully proceed.

The Secretary General of the Latin American Center for Research in the Social Sciences writes in that center's journal: 'The privileged position of the city has its origin in the colonial period. It was founded by the cbnqueror to serve the same ends that it still serves today; to incorporate the indigenous population into the economy brought and developed by that conqueror and his descendants. The regional city was an instrument of conquest ind is still today an instrument of domination.'1 The Instituto Nacional indigenista (National Indian Institute) of Mexico confirms this observation whenlt notes that ,the mestizo population, in fact, always lives in a city, a center of an intercultural region, which acts as the metropolis of a zone of indigenous population and which maintains with the underdeveloped communities an intimate relation which links the center with the satellite communities.'2 The Institute goes on to point out that 'between the mestizos who live in the nuclear city of the region and the Indians who live in the peasant hinterland there is in ieality u

"16r",economic and social interdependence than might at first glance appear, and that the provincial metropoles 'by being centers of intercouise are alio centers of exploitation.'3

. Thus these metropolis-satellite relations are not limited to the imperial or international level but penetrate and structure the very economic, political, and social life of the Latin American colonies and countries. Just as the colonial and national capital and its export sector become the satellite of the Iberian (and later of other) metropoles of the world economic system, this satellite immediately becomes a colonial and then a national metropolis with respect to the productive sectors and population of the interior. Furihermore, the prov- incial capitals which thus are themselves satellites of the national metropblis - and through the latter of the world metropolis - are in turn provincial centers around which their own local satellites orbit. Thus, a whole chain of constell- ations of metropoles and satellites relates all parts of the whole system from its metropolitan center in Europe or the United States to the farttrest outpost in the Latin American countrvside.

I Amtrica Latina, Afio 6, No. 4 (October-December 1963), p. g.2 Instituto Nacional Indigenista, Los centros coordinadorei i;digenistas (Mexico, 1962), p. 34.3 lbid., pp.33-34, 88.

30 Development Studies

'i W.!en we examine this metropolis-satellite structure, we find that each of thesatellites, incruding now undeideveloped Spain and'portugar, serves as aninstrument to suck capitar or economii surprus out oi i;r;;n satelrites and tochannel part of this surplus to the world metropolis oi*rti.r, ail are satellites.Moreover, each national and local metropolis ierves to impose and maintainthe monopolistic structure and exploitative relationshif "iirrir

system (as theInstituto Nacionar Indigenista of Mexico .uil, it)-ur';;; u, it serves theinterests of the metropoles which take advantug" or trrir-giolur, nationar, andlocal structure to promote their own development and the enrichment of theirruling classes. These are the principal and still surviving structural characteristics whichwere implanted"in Latin America by the,c"onquert- e"y-o examining theestablishment of this colonial structuie in its hisioricat cJntext, the proposedapproach calls for study of the development - and underdevelopment _ of thesemetropoles and satellites of Latin America throughout the iollowing and stillcontinuing historical process. In this way we can understand why there wereand still are tendencies in the Latin American and world capitalist structurewhich seem to lead to the development of the metropotis ana the under.development of the satellite_ and why, particularly, the satellized nationar,regional, and local metropoles in Latin America find that their economicdevetopment is at best a limited or underdevetopeo l;;.i;;;""t.

That present underdevelopment of Latin America is the result of its centuries.Iong participation in the process of world capitalist o"n"roprrii, r berieve I !ave.1!own in my case studies of the economic and social histories of chile andBrazil.a My study of chilean history suggests that the conquest not onryincorporated this country fulry into ire Eipansion and deveffient of theworld mercantile and later inaustrial capitalist system but that'it also introduced the monopolistic metropolis-satelliie structure and developmentof capi.talism into the chilean domestic economy and society itsem. itris structurE :*irl"ll1'"d

u,nd permeared a' of chile very quickly. Since that time and inthe course of world and chilean history during the epochs of colonialism, freotrade, imperialism, and the present, chite has become increasingly marked bythe economic, social, and poritical structure of satellite underieveropmentThis development of under-development continues today, uoit, in ct itrt stiuincreasing satelrization by the woird metropolis and th;;"gh;; €v€r mor!:acute polarization of Chile's domestic economy. The history of Brazil is perhaps the clearest case of both nationar and,regional development

.of .underdiveropment. The expanrion oi the worrceconomy since the beginning of the sixieenth century ;".;;r;;;.r; convertod I

a 'capitalist Deveropment.of^Underdeveropment in chile, and .capitarist Deveropment ofUnderdevelopment in Brazil'in capitarism ani urdirirr"rop^ent in Lain Amenca lxewyort&London: Monthly Review press, lb67 and 1969).

I

I

I

i a I ! { i

.,l fs "g il

each of the )rves as an lites and to e satellites. rd maintain tem (as the serves the

rtional, and rent of their

istics which lmining the re proposed rnt-of these 'ing and still r there were ist structure i the under- ed national, ir economic t .

its centuries- t, I believe I rof Chile and est not only rment of the it also intro- ment of caPi- 'his structure at time and in rnialism, free

;ly marked bY levelopment. rn Chile's still he ever more

national and of the world ely converted

Development of rica (New York &

Thinking about Development 31

the Northeast, the Minas Gerais interior, the North, and the Center-South (Rio de Janeiro, 56o Paulo, and Paran6) into export economies and incor- porated them into the structure and development of the world capitalist system. Each of these regions experienced what may have appeared as economic development during the period of its golden age. But it was a satellite development which was neither self-generating nor self-perpetuating. As the market or the productivity of the first three regions declined, foreign and domestic economic interest in them waned and they were left to develop the underdevelopment they live today. In the fourth region, the coffee economy experienced a similar though not yet quite as serious fate (though the develop- ment of a synthetic coffee substitute promises to deal it a mortal blow in the not too distant future). All of this historical evidence contradicts the generally accepted theses that Latin America suffers from a dual society or from the survival of feudal institutions and that these are important obstacles to its economic development.

During the First World War, however, and even more during the Great Depression and the Second World War, S5o Paulo began to build up an industrial establishment which is the largest in Latin America today. The question arises whether this industrial development did or can break Brazil out of the cycle of satellite development and underdevelopment which has char- acterized its other regions and national history within the capitalist system so far. I believe that the answer is no. Domestically the evidence so far is fairly clear. The development of industry in 56o Paulo has not brgught greater riches to the other regions of Brazil. Instead, it has converted them into internal colonial satellites, de-capitalized them further, and consolidated or even deepened their underdevelopment. There is little evidence to suggest that this process is likely to be reversed in the foreseeable future except insofar as the provincial poor migrate and become the poor of the metropolitan cities. Externally, the evidence is that although the initial development of S5o Paulo's industry was relatively autonomous it is being increasingly satellized by the world capitalist metropolis and its future development possibilities are increas- ingly restricted.s This development, my studies lead me to believe, also appears destined to limited or underdeveloped development as long as it takes place in the present economic, political, and social framework.

We must conclude, in short, that underdevelopment is not due to the survival of archaic institutions and the existence of capital shortage in regions that have remained isolated from the stream of world history. On the contrary, under- development was and still is generated by the very same historical process which also generated economic development: the development of capitalism itself. This view, I am glad to say, is gaining adherents among students of Latin America and is proving its worth in shedding new light on the problems of the

s Also see, 'The Growth and Decline of Import Substitution,' Economic Bulletin for Latin America,IX, No. I (March 1964); and Celso Furtado, Dialectica do Desenvolvimiento (Rio de Janeiro: Fundo de Cultura. 1964).

32 Development Studies

;:;tf.:t in affording a better perspe*ive for the formuration of rheorv and

The same historjclland.srrucrural approach can also read to better deverop_ment theory and poricy uy g.n.*tiTja series or rrypoir,"r", uuout deverop-ment and underdevelopmenisuch ;;-;ior" I.am testing in my current research. I: : J;ffi f ,ffi ;fi ,iT l$ j:,".T #; ̂ eln

r ric al o-r,'s^5rv,,, i,', " o th e o re t i ca rm e rropor e s ten d to . d e ve rop ;;J ;; Hi.i,ffi':i'Ji:l?::*H:TiTxt:hypothesis has arready u""n *"niion.i utou", ,r,", i,."""#r ro the deverop_ment of the world metropolis which i, no.on",, ,ut"rrit" , trr" oluelopment of thenationar and other suu"ioinut"-r"rr"pir., is rimited by their satelrite status. Itis perhaps more crifficur,.. i.ri,r*'ilil,n"rt, ,r,* ilrr"il"r,n, on., becausepart of irs confirmation depends ""

iili"., of rhe orher hypotheses. Nonerhe_Iess, this hypothesi s app";;, ;;;" ;'.;u'y "onn.n'.a u;.i,i;;"_r"ronomousand unsatisfa*orr,T^r_"r"ic anairpJary indusrriar ieveropmenr of Latin

i#T:ffi::,:X', T""iT,t?f;iljnl-en te d i n ilr e s tu Jie i arre ady ci tedm e t ropo r i t a n re gi o n s o r e u " n o, ;;ffi ; i1i!:Xli H::"JI ff il*LT:Jl:in rhe ninereenti cenrury, was rherefore targery

";;;;;:o'0, un, coroniar heritage ' bur was ano remains;;;;;irt;;;.vero^pment

rargerv dependent on rheoutside merroporis, first of e.i,;;;tir.n or the United Srates.- A second hypothesis ir ti,urirr" rul",rii", exp-erience their greatest economicdeveropmenr and especiary their -"ri '. i"rri.iry.rpir.irri ', io'ur,r,u, deverop.

ffi::f ilX,,:;r;tnii. ties to ti,", *,,.p"ri. uL *.ur";;.iiis hypothesis ism e n t i n, n " u n o " iJ" ffi f",ff ,S: }:i,t y, "r::j, :f ";:::,::1,Jil;$conract with and diffusion r.o,n tt. r*tropolitan oeveropld countries. Thishypothesis seems t,, ue confirm.i o, i-J'ut1ds. of rerative isoration that LatinAmerica has experienced in ,r,. ."'".r"""f its historf."o".lr?. remporaryrsorarron caused bv rhe crises of *u.oi a"pr..rrron-in ;;;;; merroporis.Apart from minor ongs, lve p..ioo, orlui malor crlses stand out and are seento confirm the hvpothesrr. These r..' irt"'er.;i"; 6;1,ill*,,, Spanish)depression of the seventeenth century, ttre Naporeonic wars, the First worldwar, the Depression or tr," ig3oi;;;i;" Second wr;rd \i;;. rt is ctearlyestabrished and generaty .".ognl"olt l, in. n'osr important recent industriardevelopmenr - especiatv "r

a?g"r-J"# iazir, anaMexico, but arso of orhercounrres such as chile - has takJn ptac!p"recisety during the periods of the rwo

. o. Others who use a s imi l

l og i ca t l y r o r t ow ing ; ; ; ; i ; ' l app roach ' t hough the i r i deo log iesdono tpe rm i r t hemrode r i ve rhe (santiago: roi,.rfu-u"i"srons'

are AniLral Pinto. y!i, u, ;;''t";;";;r:;r';*u frusrrodo 1n-o.i"nJ.o,i""0#"ft:'rar'.'

1957); celso Furtado, o r'r^'"*)' ,;;;;;"" do Brairy,11, ryi,"^,;;;;",i;;;;:::,;fi',|,,ff|JilT::.,1I:*",r,."Ji".iffinunoouo,,** Historia Econ<imica do Brasitrz,r, .i.. ia. p;;;:"ir:l;:'ij[l',i.iill';,i;ri.aio praiorunior,

a

t fr

tz tl g( TI w( an nir bet Co wal ope Eur evel incc syst(

In partt Japa unsat while and t l years damet the IV limiter

A c r from i re-incc incorp< vious c channe, happen trade ar

.heorY and

:r'develoP- rt develoP- rt research. theoretical :ructure the L The first he develoP- rment of the itestatus. It nes because s. Nonethe- autonomous ent of Latin LreadY cited. nples are the h onlY began any colonial :ndent on the

est economlc rial develoP- hypothesis is that develoP- est degree of runtries. This ion that Latin he temPorarY id metroPolis. rt and are seen :ially SPanish) he First World r. It is clearlY pent industrial rt also of other iods of the two

them to derive the

esarrollo frustrado m6mica do Brasil

rglish and Published Caio Prado Junior'

I I

Thinking about DeveloPment 33

world wars and the intervening Depression. Thanks to the consequent loosen-

ing of trade and investment ii,es during these periods, the satellites initiated

mirked autonomous industrialization and growth' Historical research demon-

strates that the same thing happened in Latin America during Europe's

seventeenth-century depresiion. i{anufacturing grew in the Latin American

countries, and several, such as Chile, became exporters of manufactured

goods. The Napoleonic Wars gave rise lo independence movements in Latin

imerica, and these should perf,aps also be interpreted as in part confirming the

development hYPothesis. Tne bther kind of isolation which tends to confirm the second hypothesis

is

the leographic and economic isolation of regions which at one time were

,"tu,In"iy weakly tied to and poorly integrated into the mercantilist and capi-

talist system. My preliminary research suggests that in Latin America it was

these iegions which initiatld and experienced the most promising self-

g"n"rutirig economic development of the- classical industrial capitalist type'

ih" .ort irrrportant regionaicases probably are Tucum6n and Asunci6n' as

well as other cities, ,u.iu. Mendoza and Rosario, in the interior of Argentina

and Paraguay during the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the

nineteenti cinturies] Seventeenth- and -ighteenth-century 56o Paulo, long

before coffee was grown there, is anothei example. Perhaps -Antioquia in

Colombia and Puebla and Quer6taro in Mexico are other examples' In its own

way, chile was also an example since before the sea route around the Horn was

opened this country was rel,atively isolated at the end of a long voyage from

Europe via Panama. All of these regions became manufacturing centers and

evenexporters,usuallyoftextiles,duringtheperiodsprecedingtheireffective incorpoiation as sateilites into the colonial, national, and world capitalist

system. Internationally, of course, the classic case of industrialization through

non-

participation as a satellite in the capitalist world system is obviously that of

i"p". "tt*

the Meiji Restoration' Wtty, one may ask' was resource-poor but

uniatellized Japan able to industrialize so quickly at the end of the century

while resource-rich Latin American countriei and Russia were not able to do so

and the latter was easily beaten by Japan in the war of 1904 after the same forty

years of development efforts? The second hypothesis Suggests that the fun.

damental reason is that Japan was not satellized either during the Tokugawa or

the Meiji period and therefore did not have its development structurally

limited u. OiO ttt" countries which were so satellized'

Acorol laryofthesecondhypothesisisthatwhenthemetropol isrToy:f from its crisis and re-establishes the trade and investment ties which

fully

re-incorporate the satellites into the system, or when the metropolis expands to

incorpoiate previously isolated regions into the worldwide system, the pre-

vious development and industrialization of these regions is choked off or

channeled into directions which are not self-perpetuating and promising' This

happened after each of the five crises cited ibou". The renewed expansion of

trade and the spreal of economic liberalism in the eighteenth and nineteenth

34 Development Studies

centuries choked off and reversed the manufacturing development whichLatin America had exp"ri"nceJ a""r,g rrrr ,.""ilili.ilr"ury, uno in somepraces at the beginning of ,rt" nin"i""n?rr..arter iiie nr., #.r,0 war, the newnational industry of Brazil ,"ff";;-;economicinvasion.^rh".in"r"ur"in;";::T;H':?H;r',o*Lf ffi::Xland particularly of industrializar;;;' ,ir".,gt out t-utin a*erica was againreversed and industry became increasingly-rut"rrir"J uii";;; Second Worldwar and especiary aiter the p.rl-ii"."", war recovery and expansion of themetropolis' Far from havingbecome more develop"o ,ii""-,hen, industrialsectors of Brazil apd most conspicuously-ot arg"ntinu-t uuJi".on," structur_ally more uno .*,:ra"ro"""'r"ffi,io ,"r. ;"J i";;l! io g"n"rute con_tinued industrialization and/or sustain oernetopmeni;;-t';"o"omy. Thisprocess' frory which India also suffers, is reflected ln ,-..rror" gamut ofbalance-of-piyments, inffationary,-un-o"otrr",

""ono-i. ini potiticar diffi-

ff-,:: and promises to yield to no ,oiution short .f i".-r"".r,ing structural

Our hypothesis suggests that fundamen-_.,: .g:;aticar; *-itr, tr," r,...n.,"fi tll'.?il 3J.,ffi. ilT::","".fi ;unsatellized resions. The expansioti oigu;n..'irr., # "

,i1",,,r" of GrearBritain and rhe introduction ,irii." iiJ-n.the interes, "r

il"l"rirg groups ofboth metropoles destroyed the manufaciuring and much of the remainder ofthe economic base.of irt" p."ui*riiletativety prosperous interior armostentirely' Manufacturing. wai aestry/rla ty foreign competition, rands weretaken and concentrated into rurifriiiu I

an", rapaciousry growing exporteconomy' intra-resionar distribution of income became ,nu"n?or" unequal,and the previousli developing regtir'u".u-" simpre satelrites of BuenosAires and throueir ,: :i

f;,;.j.. iir" p-"i"cial centers iiJ no, yietd tosatellization with6ut a struggre. rnis metioporis-satelrite conflict was much ofthe cause of the tong politic-ar una ur-"a struggre between the unitarists inBuenos Aires and thi'Federarir,r;;;;;ovinces. and it may be said to havebeen the sole important cause of the war of the Triple Ailiun"" in whichBuenos Aires, Mlntevideo. u"o nioi"'jLo n do n, o "' t'ov"J n o t o n rv tr' " u u t o no', Jl,if, l; fJ',1"oll-tji.::il'jffii,:lguay but k'red off nearty att or its p;;;-i;rir" unw'ring to give in. Though this isno doubt rhe most spectacurar e.,,rn'pr. *ii.h tends r" ""#r,n

iireiypothesis,Ibelieve that historicar research ;J-il ,;;"lrization "i;;;;i""rry rerativeryindependent yeoman-fa'ing unJin"ip-i# -unufacturing regions such as thecaribbean isrands wit confirfir il f#;; ihese regions did not have a chanceagainst the forces of expanding and oevetoping capitarism, and their owndevelopment had to be sicrificei to tt ritt otir"ri. rri" "".".-l

u"o industryof Argentina ,Brazir,and other co"";;; iuri.n rruu" experienced the effects of 7 See for instance Ramiro Guerra y S6nchez, Azricar^y probraci,n en ras Ant,ras, 2nd ed.

fi.l:Trlit'' also published

"' srs"i

"ri i"ri",yiiin, coritt"orz (New Haven: yare universitv

i t l

a d

ri ! I

I

dr \4 Br na tur wh the an( pat ther exp disa alre, prol alter unde

Th latifu wasq whicl byexl its prc sistenr produ, narnec declinr geopte Ject, a( Amerir feudal i

The r and req confirm century

)pment which ', and in some War, the new rm American tional Product ica was again Second World pansion of the ren, industrial )ome structur- generate con- conomy. This role gamut of political diffi- ring structural

occurred even of previously lllite of Great rling groups of : remainder of nterior almost rn, lands were rowing export more unequal, tes of Buenos d not yield to ct was much of e Unitarists in be said to have iance in which and helped by rnomy of Para- . Though this is re hypothesis, I rusly relatively ons such as the t have a chance and their own ry and industry ld the effects of

s Antillas,2nd ed. en: Yale University

Thinking about Development 3b

metropolitan recovery since the Second world war are today suffering much the same fate, if fortunately still in lesser degree.

- A third major hypothesis derived from the metropolis-satellite structure is that the regions which are the most underdeveloped ind feudal-seeming today are the ones which had the closest ties to the metropolis in the past. They are the regions which were the greatest exporters of primary products to and the biggest sources of capital for the world metropohjand werl abandoned by the metropolis when for one reason or another business fell off. This hypotiresis also contradicts the generally held thesis that the source of a region'i under- development is its isolation and its pre-capitalist institutions.

This hypothesis seems to be amply confirmed by the former super-satellite development and present ultra-underdevelopment of the once sugir-exporting west Indies, Northeastern Brazil, the ex-mining districts of Miias Gerais in Brazil, highland Peru, and Bolivia, and the central Mexican states of Gua- najuato, Zacatecas, and others whose names were made world famous cen- turies ago by their silver. There surely are no major regions in Latin America which are today more cursed by underdevelopment ind poverty; yet all of these regions, like Bengal in India, once provided the life blood oi mercantile and industrial capitalist development - in the metropolis. These regions' partici- pation in the development.of the world capitalist system gave their, ahjady in their golden age, the typical structure of underdevelopment of a capitalist export economy. when the market for their sugar or the wealth of theiimines disappeared and the metropolis abandoned them to their own devices, the already existing economic, political, and social structure of these regions prohibited autonomous generation of economic development and left them no alternative but to turn in upon themselves and to degenerate into the ultra- underdevelopment we find there today.

These considerations suggest two further and related hypotheses. one is that the latifundium, irrespective of whether it appears today as aplantation or a hacienda, was typically born as a commercial enterprise which created for itself the institutions which permitted it to respond to increased demand in the world or national market byexpandingthe amountof itsland, capital, andlaborandto increasethesupplyof its products. The fifth hypothesis is that the latifundia which appear isolated, sub- sistence-based, and semi-feudal today saw the demand tor ttreii products or their productive capacity decline and that they are to be found principitty in the above- named former agricultural and mining export regions whose economic activity declined in general. These two hypotheses run counter to the notions of most people, and even to the opinions of some historians and other students of the sub- ject, according to whom the historical roots and socioeconomic causes of Latin American latifundia and agrarian institutions are to be found in the transfer of feudal institutions from Europe and/or in economic depression.

The evidence to test these hypotheses is not open to easy general inspection and requires detailed analyses of many cases. Nonetheless-, some important confirming evidence is available. The growth of the latifundium in nineieenth- century Argentina and cuba is a clear case in support of the fourth hypothesis

36 Development Studies

and can in no way be attributed to the transfer of feudar institutions duringcolonial times. The same is evidently the case of the post-revolutionary andcontemporary resurgence of latifundia, particularly in the north of Mexico,which produce for the American market, and of similar ones on the coast of peruand the new coffee regions of Brazil. The conversion of previously yeoman-farming caribbean islands, such as Barbados, into sugu.-"*fo.trngeconomresat various times between the seventeenth and twentieth"centuries and the resultingrise of the latifundia in these isrands wourd seem to confirm the fourth hypothesisas well' In Chile, the rise of the latifundium and the creation of the rnstitutionsofservitude which later came to be called feudal occurreo in ttre eigh-t..nth r.nturyand have been concrusivery shown to be the result ofand response to the openingof a market for chilean wheat in Lima. s Even the growth and consolidation of thelatifundium in seventeenth-century Mexico - which most expert students haveattributed to a depression of the economy caused by the decline of mining and ashortage of Indian labor and to , .onr"quent turning in upon itserf.and rurariza_tion of the. economy - occurred at a time when urb"an popurutron and demandwere growing, food shortages were acute, food prices styr".t.ti"g, and thepro-fitability of other economicactivities suchas mining and foreign trade decrining.eAll of these and other factors rendered haciendiagricultui more profitabre.Thus, even this case would seem to confirm the hypoihesi, tr,ut it . g.owth of thelatifundium and its feudal-seeming conditions of servitude in Latin America hasalways been and is stil l the commeicial response to increased demand and that itdoes not represent the transfer or sun'ival or uti"n institutions that have remarnedbeyond the reach of capitalist development. The emergence of latifundia, whichtoday really are more or less (though not entirely) isoi-ated, .ighitlr.n be atrri-buted to the causes advanced in the fifth hypothesis - i.e.] the decline ofpreviously profitable agricultural enterprises whose capital wur, und *hor. runrently produced economic surplus stilr is, transferred

"tr"r"t "r. uy owners andmerchants who frequently arcthe same persons or families. Testing this hypo-thesis requires stil l more detailed analysis, some of which I have undertaken in astudy on Brazilian agriculture.r0

-

o Mario G-6ngora, origen de ros 'inquilinos' de Chite centrar (santiago: Editoriar Uni-versitaria, 1960); Jean B-orde and uaiio congora, Evoruci6rt de ra propiedad rurar enel valle del puango (santiago: Instituro de soci"ologia de la Universiduo ai ir,'.); srrgioSeprilveda. El ftigo chileno en el mercado mundial (santiago: Editorial Universitaria, 1959)." woodrow Borah makes.depression the centerpiece,of his explanation in .New Spain s centuryof Depression,' Ibero'Americana, No.35 (Berkeley, rqsrl. err"EJra;;;;.;irof turninginupon itself in the most authoritative_study of the ,uu;".,, 'La formaci6n de los grandes latifundiosen M6xico,' Problemas Agricoras e Induitriates de Mexico, vIII, No. 1,1956(transratedfromrheoriginal French and recently published uy ttre universrty of california press). The data whichprovide the basis for my contrary interpretation are supplied by these authors themselves. Thisproblem is discussed in my '6Con qu6 modo oe produccion convLrte tu guttinu ,,uir.n huevos deoro?' and it is further anarvzed in lstu!1.or rvrexicun ug.rcuttur. una., pi.furutroi'iy tt , ,unor.10 capitalism and the vyth of Feudalism in s.uriliun Agricurture,, in Capitarism and under.developmenr in Latin Amitca.

s e c Cr

ci d, dr

3

u( /n . " V o

4Po

topo^

, nnrn,, ",n ,nJf,rs

"' t ' 6

r . I

The und aPpr refe the r polir the I rathr depe consl

fons during rtionary and of Mexico,

:oastof Peru sly yeoman- :conomiesat the resulting h hypothesis rstitutions of enth century rtheopening dationof the iudents have mining and a and ruraliza- and demand , andthepro- ledeclining.e 'e profitable.

rowthof the Americahas nd and that it ave remained undia,which then be attri- re decline of rdwhose cur- y owners and ng this hypo- .dertaken in a

Editorial Uni- iledad rural en r Chile); Sergio taria,1959). 'Spain's Century eaks of turning in andes latifundios rnslated from the The data which

themselves. This raiz en huevos de rn by the author. ilism and Under'

Thinking about Development g7

All of these hypotheses and studies suggest that the global extension and unity of the capitalist system, its monopoly structure and uneven developmeni throughout its history, and the resulting persistence of commercial rather than industrial capitalism in the underdeveloped world (including its most industrially advanced countries) deserve much more attention in the study of economic development and cultural change than they have hitherto received. Though science and truth know no national boundaries it is probably new generations of scientists from the underdeveloped countries thimselves who most need to, and best can, devote the necessary attention to these problems and clarify the process of underdevelopment and development. It is their people who in the last analysis face the task of changing thiino longer accept- able process and eliminating this miserable reality.

They will not be able to accomplish these goals by importing sterile stereotypes from the metropolis which do not correspond to their satellite economic reality and do not respond to their liberating political needs. To change their reality they must understand it. For this reason, I hope that better confirmation of these hypotheses and further pursuit of the proiosed histori- cal, holistic, and structural approach may help the peoples of tt" under- developed countries to understand the causes and eliminate the reality of their development of underdevelopment and their underdevelopment of deveiopment.

3 David Booth, 'Marxism and Development Sociology: Interpreting the lmpasse,

Excerpts from: World Development 13 (71,761-gl (1gg5)

l. Dependency theory and the sociology ofdevelopment: fifteen years after

The dominant feature on the horizon of radical development theory today is undoubtedly the decline and threatened, but nevei quite realized, dis- appearance of the dependency perspective as a widely aciepted approach. I refer here to the general belief, influential in research on a number oi parts of the world, that the development problems and hence the social structures and politics of less developed countries are to be understood primarily in terms of the particular nature of their insertion into the internationil capitalist system _ rather than in terms of largely domestic considerations. Different writeis in the dependency tradition have, of course, assigned different weights to the several constituent properties of 'dependent' or 'peripheral' staius, emphasizing