Dependent development in South America: China and the soybean nexus

Abstract

This article examines the expansion of the soybean complex in South America and the role of Chinese firms in expanding their presence in different sectors of the oilseed complex. The growth in trade relations between the two parties has been built on the export of primary commodities from South America and the import of Chinese manufactures—a trade pattern that reproduces core‐periphery dynamics identified by dependency theory scholars. Of particular importance in this bilateral trade is soybean, a crop that has been consolidated as the main export for several South American countries, fuelled by growing demand from China. This article explores China's role in the global political economy as a key agri‐business player and the implications for new relations of dependency by studying the strategies deployed by Chinese firms to increase their influence in the governance of the soybean nexus.

Underutilized African indigenous fruit trees and food–nutrition security: Opportunities, challenges, and prospects

“…In addition, agro-processing involves a set of techno-economic activities carried out on agricultural commodities for diverse purposes (Mhazo, Mvumi, Nyakudya & Nazare, 2012). In relation to the selected indigenous fruit trees, the agrofoods processing industry could play a fundamental role in the creation of income and employment opportunities in developing countries (Giraudo, 2020;Ren, Zhang, Zhang, Mao, & Li, 2020). The agro-processing sector is a significant component in the agro-food industry and covers a broad area including postharvest activities, packaged agricultural raw materials, industrial and technology-intensive processing of intermediate goods, and the fabrication of final products (UNDP 2012).…”

Beyond the Stereotype: Restating the Relevance of the Dependency Research Programme

“…In addition to the neo‐Marxist strand that emerged with Baran (1957) and Frank (1967b), ideas associated with dependency theory can be found in literature across the world and spanning centuries, such as colonial drain theory, French scholarship on the need to protect French industry from Italy in the 16th century (Harsin, 1928), Japanese scholarship on the power relations between centre and periphery (Ohno, 1998), radical African scholarship (Amin, 1974; Offiong, 1982; Rodney, 1972), Soviet development theory (Mark and Feygin, 2020), Canadian ‘staple theory’, and the Caribbean dependency school. What's more, dependency theories have also evolved over the past half century, addressing different regions of the world, and addressing new challenges as they have presented themselves, such as the increasing dominance of multinational corporations (MNCs), international financialization, centre–periphery relations in Europe, and Chinese investment in Latin America (Amin, 2010; Bruszt and Vukov, 2017; Casanova, 1970; Giraudo, 2020; Higginbottom, 2013).…”

“…Hettne (1983) speculates that Paul Baran may have been Japanese scholarship on the power relations between centre and periphery (Ohno, 1998), radical African scholarship (Amin, 1974;Offiong, 1982;Rodney, 1972), Soviet development theory (Mark and Feygin, 2020), Canadian 'staple theory', 4 and the Caribbean dependency school. 5 What's more, dependency theories have also evolved over the past half century, addressing different regions of the world, and addressing new challenges as they have presented themselves, such as the increasing dominance of multinational corporations (MNCs), international financialization, centre-periphery relations in Europe, and Chinese investment in Latin America (Amin, 2010;Bruszt and Vukov, 2017;Casanova, 1970;Giraudo, 2020;Higginbottom, 2013). Two prominent early attempts to develop a broad definition of the family of dependency theories were by Cardoso (1977) and Kay (1989).…”

Foreign policy, development, and international strategies towards Asia pacific: the cases of Argentina and Chile

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