The Latin American Revolution: a Theory of Imperialism,Not Dependence

Abstract

Our central concern in this issue is to raise new questions about dependency theory, elaborate and refine ideas, and generate new thinking on the subject. Timothy Harding, who was deeply involved in the dialogue and revision on the Fernández-Ocampo article, is Associate Professor of History at California State University, Los Angeles and author of a recent study of labor in Brazil. Raúl A. Fernández and José F. Ocampo argue for discarding dependency theory altogether and identify a number of weaknesses in that theory. Fernández is Assistant Professor and Ocampo is Visiting Professor in the Program in Comparative Culture at the University of California, Irvine. Critical comments on their paper are offered by Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Marvin Sternberg. Cardoso, director of the Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento in Sao Paulo and author of major contributions on dependency strongly attacks Fernández- Ocampo. Sternberg, Associate Professor of Economics at the State University of New York, Albany, attempts to move toward a reconciliation of theory by dependentistas and traditional Marxists. Now associated with the Latin American Institute of the Free University of Berlin, André Gunder Frank reviews his own writings on dependency and underdevelopment in the light of many criticisms he has received in recent years, and he offers a negative prognosis on the work of dependistas. Guy J. Gilbert, a graduate student in political scince at the University of California, Riverside, delves into another area; he examines and rebuts the proposition that dependency is of crucial significance in socialist countries.