From development to dependency in Latin America. A critical stance on Argentina’s developmentalist experiences

Abstract

This article evaluates the potential and limits of developmentalist policies in Latin America. It first traces how the ideas arose in a uniquely Latin American context of ECLAC structuralism and debates on dependence and how these ideas, transformed through neoliberalism, brought life to new developmentalism during the pink tide of the 2000s. Second, it evaluates the tradition’s practical and theoretical strengths and limits from the perspective of Latin American Marxist dependency theory. In this case, the analysis includes the canonical debates within the Marxist dependency theory and reflections based on new debates on value, state, feminist and ecological Marxism.

Finally, the article illustrates these strengths and limitations through the case of Argentina. The article shows how the limits and possibilities of developmentalist strategies relate to theoretical debates and the practical realities of class struggle.