Latin America

Question 1

What was the process by which the United States developed into an Empire, consequently aiding the underdevelopment of Latin America?

United States was an agrarian country concerned with settling of the land that was now under its control. Many immigrants came from northwestern Europe to work on farms. The first century of its existence, the country by choice and circumstance, did not pay much attention to the foreign affairs and was no near to a global power. The scenario changed in the late 19th century when it started creating an empire for itself. In the year 1898, industrial development of the United States and its exploration of natural resources increased manifold and reached a level where it can stand in line with the great industrial powers of Europe.

With this development is associated the underdevelopment of Latin America. The economy of Latin America moved at a pace that was too slow and lagged far behind the level of income of some privileged states whose level of income sore to new heights as a result of rapid industrialization and international exchange of goods and capital (Alonso, 1968). The dependency model of Latin American underdevelopment has been elaborated by many economists who attribute the underdevelopment of this region to the economic expansion of these capitalist countries especially United States. Latin American economies and their development has been determined and limited by the needs of the dominant economies in the international capitalist market. According to this model, thus Latin American underdevelopment is not something that existed before capitalism but it is actually a result of capitalism.

Latin American countries are some of the most underdeveloped countries in the world making up a very low percentage of the world's GDP. They depended heavily on the United States for investment since the local investment was not ...