Discuss the dependency theory of global inequality

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The dependency theory states that global poverty can at least partially be

attributed to the fact that the low-income countries have been exploited by

the high-income countries. Dependency theorists see the greed of the

rich countries as a source of increasing impoverishment of the poorer

nations and their people. Dependency theory disputes the notion of the

development approach, and modernization theory specifically, that

economic growth is the key to meeting important human needs in

societies. In contrast, the poorer nations are trapped in a cycle of

structural dependency on the richer nations due to their need for infusions

of foreign capital and external markers for their raw materials, making it

impossible for the poorer nations to pursue their own economic and

human development agendas. Dependency theory has been most often

applied to the newly industrializing countries (NICs) of Latin America.

Dependency theory makes a positive contribution to our understanding of

global poverty by noting that "underdevelopment" is not necessarily the

cause of inequality. Rather, it points out that exploitation not only of one

country by another, but of countries by transnational corporations, may

limit or retard economic growth and human developments in some

nations.