Introduction

Abstract

What is the present power structure in the international economic system? What is the balance between capitalism and socialism? Or between rich and poor nations? How has the power balance developed during recent decades? And, in particular, what has the experiment with socialism in Eastern Europe, China and several other nations come to mean for the foreign economic relations of the poor and underdeveloped nations in the South, considering the fact that the Western multinational companies have long had a dominating influence on their economies? Which lessons can the Southern nations draw from the Eastern experience for their relations with the West? These are the main problems that will be treated in this book.