GOVT-040 Lecture Notes - Modernization Theory, Unequal Exchange, International Trade
Document Summary
Therefore, the countries were not replicating the west. Why did not the modernization theory work? it ignored timing and international context. Dependency theory (gunder frank) - rejected modernization theory and these scholars took into account the obstacles of development. Dependency theory developed out of the study of the developing world itself (latin america). Their focus is no longer on the individual country but the international system since it is imperative to understand how the country fits in the global economic system. Capitalism is not a domestic phenomenon and it"s international. Dependency theorists divided the world into 3 camps. Core (middle of the globe) - wealthy, richest countries (usa, western europe) Periphery - poor, underdeveloped not industrialized countries (africa, asia) Semi peripheries - transitional phase between the two (malaysia, brazil, mexico) Instead of viewing the west as a model dependency theorists viewed the west as a cause of third world underdevelopment: the west developed at the expense of the periphery.
