Satellization and Stagnation in Latin America

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Abstract
The present low level of socioeconomic development in Latin America is a deplorable, if well-established, fact. Yet, what are the causal conditions which can explain the developmental change (growth, stagnation, deterioration) in this region? A number of sociologists and economists, many Latin American, seek an explanation in the structured yet asymmetric economic exchanges between developed and underdeveloped countries. Two principal structures of asymmetric exchange are the “international division of labor” and the “international feudal structure.” At least three actors in the international system appear to be responsible for maintaining these exchange structures: institutions of aid, multinational corporations, and clientele classes in underdeveloped countries. If these explanations are tenable, a nation's rate of developmental change should vary with its position in the two exchange structures. Statistical tests involving 18 Latin American nations in the 1960s lend systematic evidence in support of this “satellization produces stagnation” thesis.

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