The originality of a copy: CEPAL and the idea of development

Towards the end of the 1940s and in the early 1950s, CEPAL prepared certain documents which had far-reaching repercussions on Latin American thinking about development. The present article outlines the central ideas expressed and relates them to other doctrinaire and academic positions which have also found echoes in the region during recent decades. For example, it presents the conventional ideas on international trade and development which CEPAL’S ‘thinking’ combated from the very start: the critical reactions arroused by this thinking among liberals and marxists; the alternative theories formulated by ‘orthodox’ writers (such as G. Haberler and J. Viner), ‘heterodox’ liberals (G. Myrdal. R. Nurkse, A. Hirschman) and marxists (such as P. Baran). It also describes how CEPAL’S ideas modelled development policies and adapted themselves to new situations. Lastly, it analyses the relation between the ‘CEPAL’ ament of thought and others even more recent: those relating to the ‘malignant’ style of development, structural dependency and ‘another development’. The author concludes that while CEPAL thinking has undergone a change on coming into contact with new situations and theories, it still keeps its basic nucleus alive and valid.