Latin America is a region showing extremes of great wealth and utter poverty in country after country. Theorists have indicated that one of the reasons for this is the nineteenth and early twentieth century patterns of political and economic development as Latin America was tied to the countries of the so-called First World, meaning Europe and the United States. One of the elements cited in these views is dependency theory, which provides a way of seeing the relationship between the First World and developing countries such as those of Latin America both during and after the colonial era.
Throughout the modern era, Latin American countries have sought to achieve political and economic independence from colonial, imperial, and neo-imperial powers. Latin America presents a series of contrasts in its history and in its current reality. Latin America is a region both old and young, old in terms of the national entities formed there, young in terms of political independence. Throughout its history, the region has shown tendencies to be both tumultuous and stable. Latin America has also managed to be both dependent and independent, autonomous and subordinate. As noted, the region is also both prosperous and poor. At the end of the nineteenth century, the region emphasized wealth as it was penetrated by external powers, beginning with Britain and France and then including the United States--after which economic and political weakness with reference to Europe and the United States was accompanied by a lust for riches on the part of the foreign influences, creating the image of endless wealth (Skidmore and Smith, 5-7).
Dependency theory refers to the theory that development involves the dependency of the Third World on the developed world in a relationship defined by the exploitation of resources. Dependency theory was developed as an explanation for the patterns of development found in Latin America, finding that this pattern...