Abstract
The rise of China’s economic and political power and its increasing influence over Latin America and the Caribbean are concerns for the United States. Questions arise as to whether these relations will strengthen or weaken. In Dependency in the Twenty-First Century?, Barbara Stallings revamps the international relations dependency theory to interpret China’s new relationships with Latin American and Caribbean countries. The book provides interdisciplinary and methodologically diverse intellectual contributions towards the analysis of the socio-economic development of these countries in the face of serious challenges and remarkable opportunities. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the theory of dependency has lost its shine, with one common criticism being that it does not allow room for epistemology, but that it still holds onto an ontological framework in the analysis of trade relations, international investment mechanisms, and political relations. Stallings has addressed this common criticism through ample use of electronic sources to support the conceptual approach in her analysis of the relationships of Latin American and Caribbean countries with China.
The book contains seven chapters – with subsections in each chapter allowing the reader to navigate the text with ease. Chapter 1 introduces the structure and methodology of the book. Stallings keeps her approach simple while providing valuable sources and information for readers. In Chapter 2, Stallings recounts the development of dependency theory – its origins and rise and fall in popularity among academia – and reviews influential academic works. Various criticisms against the dependency theory are discussed, such as the lack of specificity, its approaches and methodology, and concentration on the international system instead of internal domestic factors and conditions. Countering the criticisms, the author sees value in the theory with the inclusion of other dependency mechanisms inherent in markets, leverage, and linkage. Chapter 3 concentrates on the development model of the Latin American and Caribbean regions during the post-war period and after the debt crisis of the 1980s. The chapter discusses the role of the United States and the intervention of the CIA and US military in these governments and how these historical legacies constitute a form of leverage for China. Chapter 4 discusses the development of China’s closer relationships and economic cooperation with developing countries in Latin America, the Caribbean, and other regions as well as the latter’s concerns with regard to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In Stalling’s analysis, the mechanisms that China adopts in its relationships with these developing countries are leverage based. In Chapter 5, Stallings argues that the dependency framework is a useful tool for analysing the shift towards improving economic and political relationships with China. The year 2000 marked the beginning of closer relationships between China and Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Leftist ideological actors (Bolivia, Brazil, and Venezuela) took the lead in establishing closer ties with China. They perceived the Chinese state as an alternate development model vis-a-vis previous failed Western approaches. Chapter 6 analyses multilateral diplomacy, bilateral diplomacy, person-to-person diplomacy, and security military relations in the regions concerned. China uses bilateral diplomacy as the primary means to establish relationships with Latin American and Caribbean countries since these states differ in political ideology, natural resources, and socio-economic interests. The final chapter discusses key questions on whether China’s relationships with these countries demonstrate relations of dependency, the implications of these relations for the development of the region, and the applicability of dependency theory to these relationships. The author believes that all these questions deserve further analysis and research.
Overall, the book is a refresher on the applicability of the dependency theory in the analysis of international relations between the Latin American and Caribbean regions and China. Its main strength is the overview of the these countries’ political behaviour through the lens of China’s political and economic approach. As Stalling points out, the book is not intended to answer all questions regarding relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean. Rather the book sets a foundation for the application of dependency mechanisms in individual countries’ relations with China. This is necessary during an important time of China’s increasing global influence and the shift in the dependency of developing countries on China. The book is not only recommended for college students majoring in international relations and political science, but also a good read for anyone interested in relations between China and Latin America and the Caribbean.