The deep state is fighting reforms in Latin America

As a graduate student of International Relations in the 1970s, many of my professors were enamored with the Dependency Theory argument that resources flow, in an exploitative manner, from a “periphery” of poor underdeveloped states to a “core” of wealthy states. 

A byproduct of Latin America’s wound collecting is that the region has developed a sense of victimized self that manifests itself in a disdain for the private sector of the economy and particularly for much needed American investments.

Yet, today’s global economy is disrupting old development paradigms so that much can be done with little. 

Consider this: “Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles. Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no context. Alibaba, the most valuable retailer, has no inventory. And Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate” (Tom Goodwin on TechCrunch.com).

To become economically successful, Latin America needs to stop collecting real or imagined wounds, and rethink what makes up economic power.