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Although many international relations (IR) theory and international political economy textbooks consistently reference dependency theory, it is commonly considered a passé , outdated, or defunct theoretical approach. This paper challenges conventional wisdom, stressing the continued relevance of dependency as an analytical approach. Overall, it argues that Dependency theory represents a successful effort at decentering IR. To do so, it first discusses decentering as an effort to challenge and engage core concepts in IR to transform the "universal" understandings of global politics. In this sense, Dependency theory decentered IR by introducing an understanding of the world in which Western and non-Western spaces are mutually constitutive, highlighting the role of non-core contexts in creating and maintaining the status quo of the universal. Second, the paper analyzes the influence of Dependency theory in modern discourses of political economy like the resource curse, globalization, Post-Colonialism, and Post-Developmentalism. These parallelisms show Dependency's effectiveness at decentering IR and transforming the way the discipline studies non-core spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper generates a framework to understand Latin American foreign relations through the use of Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) role theory. The use of roles to describe and analyze regional interstate relations has previously been found in the literature on Latin America, but these studies have not taken advantage of the full range of concepts and theoretical implications associated with role theory to analyze the region. The paper develops a typology of states with associated national role conceptions (NRCs) and generates expectations for the sources of those NRCs, as well as elements of the role enactment and role location processes for Latin American states. The paper then illustrates the framework's applicability through a brief analysis of the role location process for Venezuela during the Presidency of Hugo Chávez. The analysis of NRCs selected by the leader of Venezuela, and their reception by role partners and the audience of interested states during the role location process demonstrates the fruitfulness of role theory for understanding Latin American regional relations. The analysis also suggests some modifications for FPA role theory itself as a result of the Venezuelan case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]