The contribution of Cardoso and Faletto beyond the "theory" of dependence

Abstract

In this paper, I propose that recovering and updating the intellectual tradition of dependency involves, first, resolving the semantic problem regarding the meaning of the word "theory" in the work of Cardoso and Faletto. To this end, the next section examines the polysemic character of the word theory. Then, the text discusses what is the theoretical contribution of Dependencia y Desarrollo en América Latina (DyD) based on the analysis of the first edition of 1969 and the preface to the English edition written 10 years after the original text. The last section, on the other hand, briefly reflects on the current situation of the dependency tradition in relation to the so-called Latin American "intellectual anthropophagy" and the semantic debate surrounding the word "theory". This semantic controversy not only crosses the debate around dependency research in general and DyD in particular. For this reason, the following exercise may be of interest beyond the DyD debates