DEPENDENCY, WORLD-SYSTEM POSITION AND POLITICAL VIOLENCE IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES

Previous cross-national analysis has focused on the domestic determina nts of violence. This study integrates dependency/world system theory with theses of relative deprivation and resource mobilization to expla in the occurrence of political violence in less developed countries (L DCs). Using an event count analysis, the effects of foreign assistance , foreign investment and semi-peripheral status are evaluated by contr olling for the domestic causes of violence. The findings indicate that most dependency variables and world system position do not have robus t effects on collective violent behavior. In fact, the long-term effec t of foreign investment actually has a negative effect on LDC politica l violence. This result rejects the argument that dependency must dest abilize Third World countries and lends some support for the alternati ve hypothesis that the structural effects of the international economi c system may actually reduce political violence in LDCs.