Introduction

Abstract

The world has moved into the 1980s with prospects and problems radically different from those of earlier decades. These changes in the world situation are not merely conjunctural; underlying the day-to-day signs of the global crisis that surrounds us are far-reaching structural changes. To study them is to look at the continuities and to identify fresh issues and new debates that will, in turn, inform our perspectives on the future. The aim of this volume is to identify and elucidate issues at the center of contemporary debate about the nature and characteristics of so-called developing societies while locating them in historical and global contexts.