Dependency Theory and Global Economic Imbalance: A Critique

Abstract

The present world economic order is based on domination and inequality. The world is bifurcated into two asymmetrical groups of countries: the North and the South. While the economies of the North are generally strong, industrialized, and self-reliant, those of the South are predominantly weak, disarticulated, unindustrialized, appendage and dependent on the North. Explanations for this reality of inequality and disparity in the levels of development in the world have precipitated scholarly debates, postulations and theoretical formulations. Among such theories is the dependency theory. As a theory of development and underdevelopment studies and an analytical framework within the discipline of international economic relations, the dependency theory discusses the reality of underdevelopment and global economic imbalance in the international system. It rejects underdevelopment as a natural condition of the poor societies of the South, and links underdevelopment to dependence, a situation which history of colonial imperialism has left and which modern imperialism creates in underdeveloped countries. This paper argues that though the dependency theory possesses appreciable explanatory capability for the unfortunate global economic disparity, but it is not without limitations. The paper challenges the methodological and conceptual correctness of the propositions underlying a number of dependency theoretical assumptions. It recommends that looks should be taken beyond the theoretical offers of dependency for a wholesome understanding of failure of development in the third world, and explanation for the present global economic imbalance.