policies, the adoption of a poverty reduction strategy, and economic adjust-
ment and reform programmes to maintain macro-economic stability.
The neo-colonialist model of post-colonial politics was prompted by con-
cern with the real, rather than symbolic, significance of independence from
a colonial power. However, continuing economic relationships between
poor and rich countries were not placed in a broad theoretical framework to
produce an interpretation of the continuity between imperialism and inde-
pendence. This was not achieved until the idea of neo-colonialism was
incorporated into a theory about an international system of economic
subordination that had a very strong impact on countries long after their
independence. This is generally referred to as dependency theory.
Dependency theory
Dependency theory had its roots in the crisis of American liberalism in the late
1960s (particularly associated with the war in Vietnam), the failure of many
Third World societies to move in prescribed directions, and doubts about the
credibility of social science’s claims to be neutral and value-free (Higgott,
1983, p. 9). Other influences included the Cuban revolution, de-Stalinization
and Maoism (Leys, 1977, p. 98). It was in part a critical response to modern-
ization theory’s assumption that ‘backwardness’ was the result of the isolation
of less developed countries from the rest of the world, rather than their
exploitation by more advanced countries under various forms of imperialism
(Phillips, 1977, pp. 7–8). The major contributors to what Foster-Carter (1976)
has called a new paradigm in the study of development were Latin American
Neo-colonialism and Dependency 85Table 4.2 Aid as a percentage of regional GDP,
1990–2000Region 1990 2000Developing countries 1.4 0.5
East Asia 0.8 0.3
Latin America 0.4 0.2
Middle East & N. Africa 2.0 0.8
South Asia 1.3 0.8
Sub-Saharan Africa 5.8 4.1SOURCES: UNDP (2001), table 15, p. 194; World
Bank (2001a), table 4.3, p. 89.