Karen_A._Mingst,_Ivan_M._Arregu_n-Toft]_Essentia

The Radical Perspective 91

dynamics of capitalism and economic expansion make such exploitation necessary if the
top dogs are to maintain their position and the cap i tal ist structure is to survive. Whereas
realists see balancing the power of other states to fight and win wars as the mechanism
for gaining and maintaining power, Marxists and radicals view the economic tech-
niques of domination and suppression as the means of power in the world; the choices
for the underdog are few and in effec tive.
One latter- day school of radicalism recognizes that cap i tal ists can apply additional,
more sophisticated techniques of control to developing markets. Con temporary radi-
cals such as de pen dency theorists attribute primary importance in exerting such
fundamental control to the role of multi national corporations (MNCs) and interna-
tional banks based in developed countries. These organ izations are seen as key players
in establishing and maintaining de pen dency relationships; they are agents of penetra-
tion, not benign actors, as liberals would characterize them, or marginal actors, as
realists would. These organ izations can forge transnational relationships with elites
in the developing countries, so that domestic elites in both exploiter and exploited
countries are tightly linked in a symbiotic relationship.
De pen dency theorists, particularly those from Latin Amer i ca (Raul Prebisch, Enzo
Faletto, Fernando Henrique Cardoso), believe that options for states on the periphery
are few. Since the basic terms of trade are unequal, these states have few external options.
Nor do they have many internal options, because their internal constraints, land tenure
and social and class structures, are just as real.^23 Thus, like the realists, de pen dency
theorists are fairly pessimistic about the possibility of change.

Theo Ry In BRIef RadIcalIsm / de Pen dency

TheoRy

Key acToRs Social classes, transnational elites, multinational corporations

V Iew of The IndIVIdual Actions determined by economic class interests

V Iew of The sTaTe An agent of the structure of international capitalism

and the executing agent of the bourgeoisie

V Iew of The InTeRnaTIonal

sysTem

Highly stratified; dominated by international cap i tal ist

system

Bel Iefs aBouT change Radical change inevitable

m ajoR TheoRIsTs Marx, Hobson, Lenin, Prebisch