Can the Third World Fight Back?

Abstract

The press has always been willing to linger over the distress of the Third World and forget the successes - other than of one or two new industrial nations in Asia. In fact, beyond the failures of development, most of them African, a far-reaching transformation is being wrought and it is important to be aware of it. The difficulties of the current economic situation, the debt and declining commodity prices and reduced capital injection into the developing countries in particular, plus the rising tide of neo-protectionism in the countries of the West, are all food for pessimism. But it would be wrong to assume that the data are permanent. Fluctuations are the stuff of history and a long-term analysis of the past helps to put certain aspects of the present crisis into perspective.