In attempting to explain the persistent underdevelopment of the Global South, some theorists direct attention primarily toward what happens within these countries whereas others focus on the position of developing countries in the world political economy. Compare the modernization and dependency theories on the causes of the economic gap between rich and poor countries. Which one do you find more

Question

convincing? Why?

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Modernization theory is a view of development popular in the Global North's liberal
democracies that wealth is created through efficient production, free enterprise, and
free trade, and that countries' relative wealth depends on technological innovation and
education more than on natural endowments such as climate and resources.
Dependency theory emphasizes international factors, specifically the Global South's
dependence on the dominant great powers. Its central proposition is that the
structure of the capitalist world economy is based on a division of labor between a
dominant core and a subordinate periphery. As a result of colonialism, the Global
South countries that make up the periphery have been forced into an economic role
whereby they export raw materials and import finished goods. Whereas classical
liberal theorists submit that specialization in production according to comparative
advantage will increase income in an unfettered market and thereby help close the
gap between the world's haves and have­nots, dependency theorists maintain that
global inequalities cannot be reduced so long as developing countries continue to
specialize in producing primary products for which there are often numerous
competing suppliers and limited demand.