THE STATE IN LATIN AMERICAN DEVELOPMENTALIST AND DEPENDENTIST THEORIES
Within the discussion of development (or its absence) in Latin America, two theoretical contributions stand out that had a great impact on the local debate on the topic: ECLAC's developmentalism (or structuralism) and dependency theories, produced between the 1950-1980. Starting from the recognition that the issue of development, addressed in Latin American developmentalist and dependentist literary production, reflected more on the economic dimension of the subject, leaving a gap regarding the political dimension, and, consequently, the question of the State, we set out to examine the conception of state adopted by these schools of thought. In general, it is worth asking: what do structuralists and dependentistas understand by the State? What is the concept of State that is rooted in your analysis of the economic and social dynamics of Latin America? Are there elements of the state structure that change in peripheral/dependent countries in that region? In order to delimit the vast bibliography
available within these perspectives, we elected a representative from each school/strand of Latin American thought, using the criterion of selecting works and authors that dialogue with each other or referred to each other. These were: Raúl Prebisch, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Enzo Faletto, and Ruy Mauro Marini. In order to theoretically
base our investigation, we reviewed the theories of the State of Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau, Weber, Marx, Lenin and Poulantzas.