International Circumstances Affecting the Development and Trade of Developing Countries

Abstract

This paper is divided into five parts. The first section sets out the facts of current international trade and development and summarises the basic elements of current international trade theory. The second and third parts provide a critique of this theory in terms of the circumstances of developing countries today. Borrowing from the methodology of contextual criticism of Gunnar Myrdal, a distinction is made between criticisms which relate to issues inherent or immanent in the acceptance of the theory as a reflection of reality (these are dealt with in Section II) and criticisms which go beyond the domain of or are transcendental to the considerations and presuppositions of the theory (these are examined in section III). Leading on from these, a fourth part adumbrates a new economic order in which developing countries can fashion development paths which are more consistent with their resources and circumstances and which provide them with a more realistic basis for participating in international trade.