Reassessing Development and Dependency in Latin American Case Studies by

• Author: Joana Salém Vasconcelos,Ronald H. Chilcote
• Date: 01 March 2022
• DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221077994
• Published date: 01 March 2022
• Subject Matter: Introduction

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X221077994

LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 243, Vol. 49 No. 2, March 2022, 3–7

DOI: 10.1177/0094582X221077994

© 2022 Latin American Perspectives

3

Introduction

Reassessing Development and Dependency

in Latin American Case Studies

by

Joana Salém Vasconcelos and Ronald H. Chilcote

This issue complements the January 2022 one, which focused on past and

present theories and debates on development with particular attention to the

relevance of a Marxist theory of dependency. Our introduction to Part 1

reviewed the contributions of Latin American Perspectives since its founding in

1974, with emphasis on Latin American critical thought and intellectual contri-

butions and debates around a broad range of developmental theory and, in

particular, a historical understanding of capitalism and socialism in Latin

America and the relation of theoretical perspectives to the region’s social classes

and the collective activism of social movements, labor unions, and political

parties.

Part 2 extends our concern with development theory to case studies. It begins

with Claudio Katz’s focus on Ruy Mauro Marini’s analysis of the Latin

American industrialization crisis in the 1970s and how a reassessment of the

cycle of dependency leads theoretically to an updated comparison between

Latin America and South Korea in their relationships with China and the geo-

politics of global capitalism. He looks at Chinese domination of Latin American

primary exports and the dynamics of South Korean accumulation. He ques-

tions the bourgeoisie’s abandonment of any development strategy and its reli-

ance on international capital, thereby affirming the relevance of Marini’s

dependency cycle on a new level. According to Marini, there were two types of

industrial crisis in Latin America, one caused by an imbalance in trade and

unequal exchange and the other by the crisis of the superexploitation of labor

and subconsumption. Katz argues that these two types of crises “are resurfac-

ing now with greater virulence.” Profitability due to primary extractivism

strengthens monopoly, increases the volatility of the gross domestic product

(GDP), and consequently oppresses the wage structure as never before. It is a

direct consequence of the robust influence of China on Latin American com-

modities as production intensifies. He also demonstrates that South Korea

occupies a different place in the dependency cycle, attached to the industrial

chain of Southeast Asia and, consequently, being one of those benefiting from

Ronald H. Chilcote is managing editor of Latin American Perspectives and the author of Intellectuals

and the Search for National Identity in Twentieth-Century Brazil (2014). Joana Salém Vasconcelos holds

a Ph.D. in economic history from the Universidade de São Paulo and is a coordinating editor of

the journal and a professor of contemporary history at the Faculdade Cásper Líbero in Brazil. The

collective thanks them for organizing this two-part issue.

1077994LAPXXX10.1177/0094582X221077994Latin American PerspectivesSalém and Chilcote/Introduction

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