MATA MERIDIONAL PERNAMBUCANA AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT: AN APPROACH THROUGH THE CELSO FURTADO’S THEORY

Abstract

In the twentieth century the economic debates turned mainly to the classical theories to explain the process of development of the nations, and there is a gap regarding the specific reflection on countries and peripheral regions. Faced with the inability to explain the underdevelopment of these areas, Furtado, among other economists, began to evaluate the persistence of underdevelopment as a historical-structural trait of the formation of peripheral economies. In this context, the Mata Meridional Pernambucana, constituted since the colonial period from the sugar cane industry and which at present maintains patterns of underdevelopment typical. Taking as a hypothesis the validity of Furtado’s reflections for the understanding of microregional underdevelopment and from bibliographical research and data collection, the present text has as general objective to evaluate the pertinence of the theory developed by Furtado in the analysis of the framework of underdevelopment of the Microregion today. Specific objectives are related to the development of central and peripheral economies; describe the process of underdevelopment and; identify socioeconomic elements that characterize the Microregion today. Through the local historical-structural characteristics, it is concluded that the reflections generated by the author are applicable to the understanding of the permanent, but not unalterable, of microregional’s underdevelopment.