journal

Journal on Andre Gunder Frank 's The Development of Underdevelopment

Andre Gunder Frank 's , The Development of Underdevelopment mainly revolved around the reasons why there are countries that are still underdeveloped up to this day . In addition , Frank also discussed the processes of how country underdeveloped in the past , which gave birth to the name of his

The central idea that he formulated in the was that the underdevelopment in countries today was caused by past and current economic relations between the now developed metropolitan countries and the underdeveloped satellite countries

or previous colonies . Before he expounded on this premise , Frank first stated that one cannot create effective development policies for poor countries without first considering how their social and economic history resulted in their present status . In short , he claimed that in for one to formulate sound development theories and policies for underdeveloped countries one must know why they became underdeveloped in the first place

Moreover , he also noted that it is wrong to assume that the present underdeveloped countries are simply going through a stage that modern developed countries such as Great Britain , China , and the United States went through . These wrong assumptions , according to Frank , resulted in misconceptions on development and other development . In other words underdevelopment was not simply a tradition , a test , or a phase that a country must go through before reaching full stages of development . He further surmised that first world countries today were never underdeveloped but rather undeveloped . The two concepts have big differences and were often ignored by most historians , analysts , and policy makers , among many others . In addition , these developed countries today were also the metropolis countries that benefited from the processes of capitalism , which Frank also pointed out as one of the major factors that caused underdevelopment both in the past and at present

Generally , in his , Frank also rejected the idea of a dual economies and societies in underdeveloped countries wherein both parts had its own history and economic and social structures that were largely independent of one another . In underdeveloped countries with dual societies and economies , one part was largely influenced and affected by the close economic relations with the external capitalist forces or the metropolis countries and this relationship eventually led to its relative development . The other part was isolated and did not observe the capitalist principles which were the reasons they became underdeveloped . These ideas were all rejected by Frank because he claimed that capitalism penetrated even the most isolated areas of the underdeveloped countries

Furthermore , to support his arguments , Frank used several historical accounts particularly the history of Latin America 's economic and social development . He explained that the world economic system was more or less a metropolis-satellite structure . The metropolis consisted of progressive countries like those in Europe or the United States , which were both also the centers of capitalism , while satellite countries or those that are undeveloped included countries such as Chile and Brazil Under this structure...