UnderstandingThi rdWorldPolitics TheoriesofPoliticalChangeandDevelopment SecondEdit ion B.C.Smith UnderstandingThirdWorldPolitics Also by B.C Smith FieldAdministration:AnAspectofDecentralizationAdvising Ministers AdministeringBritain(with J.Stanyer) PolicyMakinginBritishGovernment GovernmentDepartments:AnOrganisationalPerspective(withD.C.Pitt)The Computer Revolution in Public Administration(edited with D Pitt)Decentralization:TheTerritorial Dimensionof theState BureaucracyandPoliticalPower ProgressinDevelopmentAdministration(editor) BritishAidandInternationalTrade(withO.MorrisseyandE.Horesh) C UnderstandingThirdWorldPolit ics TheoriesofPoliticalChangeandDevelopment SecondEdition B C Smith ©B.C.Smith1996,2003 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthi spublicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission Noparagraphofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted s avewithwritenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsof theCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicencepermitingli mitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,90TottenhamCourtRoa d,LondonW1T4LP Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublicationmaybeli abletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages Theauthorhasassertedhisrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright,Designs andPatentsAct1988 Firstedition1996 Secondedition2003 Publishedby PALGRAVEMACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, HampshireRG21 6XS and175FifthAvenue,NewYork,N.Y.10010 Companiesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the PalgraveMacmillan division of St Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.Macmilan®isaregisteredtrademarkintheUnitedStates,UnitedKingdom andothercountries.PalgraveisaregisteredtrademarkintheEuropeanUnionandothercountries ISBN0–333–98653–9hardback ISBN0–333–98654–7paperback Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfullymanageda ndsustainedforestsources AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress 10 12111009080706050403 PrintedandboundinChina Contents ListofTablesandFigures vi Preface vii TheIdeaofa‘ThirdWorld’ Theories ofImperialism and Colonialism 22 ModernizationandPoliticalDevelopment 44 Neo-colonialismand Dependency 75 TheStateintheThirdWorld 108 PoliticalPartiesandPartySystems 135 BureaucracyandPoliticalPower 156 MilitaryInterventioninPolitics 173 Nationalismand Secession 194 10 InstabilityandRevolution 219 11 DemocratizationintheThirdWorld 250 12 Conclusion:DemocracyandDevelopment 275 Bibliography 283 Index 310 v ListofTablesandFigures Tables 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 4.1 4.2 10.1 Growthofreal percapitaGDP, 1966–2007 Valueadded asa percentageof GDP Humandevelopment, 1999 ThirdWorldpoverty, 1987–98 Debt servicing, 1990–9 Aidasapercentageof regionalGDP,1990–2000 Inequalities of income and consumption: percentagesharesofincomeandconsumption,poorest andrichest 20per centof population,high and low income countries 10.2 Womenin nationalpolitics: selectedcountries 11.1F r e e d o m : r e g i o n a l v a r i a t i o n s , 0 15 84 85 236 238 251 Figure 10.1N e e d s s a t i s f a c t i o n and revolution vi 230 Preface This second edition has been extensively revised in order to sharpen itsfocusandreflectthecurrentpreoccupationsinthestudyofThirdWorldpol-itics, especially the potential for sustainable democracy The chapters onmilitaryintervention,bureaucracyandpoliticalpartieshavebeenrevisedtoenablethe implicationswhichtheseinstitutionshaveforprocessesofdemocratization to be explored The old chapter on political stability hasbeen divided into two so that proper attention can be paid to theories ofdemocratic transition and consolidation The Conclusion contains a discus-sion on whether democracy or authoritarianismispreferableforapoorcountrytrying todevelop economicallyand socially The provision of a critical introduction to the attempts of political scientiststounderstandthepoliticsoflessdevelopedcountriesremainsthemainpurposeoft hebook.Whileitprovidesaverywiderangeofempiricalexam-ples from many countries in severalcontinentsitscentralfocusisontheissues and controversies that have dominated the social science of ThirdWorldpoliticssincethe1950sandinparticularonassessingthemaintheoriesthathavebeenformulatedthatattempttomakesystematicandrigoroussense of political change Thebookcommenceswithdiscussionsoftwotopicsthatareanessentialpreparationfor whatfollows:thequestionofwhetherthereisa‘ThirdWorld’; and the colonial backgrounds of most of today’s less developedcountries.Toidentifythetypesofsocietywithwhichthebookisconcerne dChapter1dealswiththeconceptofa‘third’world.Differentterminologyisused to label thecountriesandthecircumstancesinwhichtheyfindthem-selves – developing, underdeveloped, poor, less developed – as well as‘ThirdWorld’.Thesearenotsynonymsbutdenoteinterpretationsofhistory.The significanceoflabelsisthattheydefinesubjectsforanalysis.SoChapter distinguishes the different meanings that have been attached tothe term ‘Third World’, to explain why doubts have been expressed aboutthelegitimacyofsuchalabel.Thisalsointroducesthemainsocioeconomic problems facing Third World countries and the major changesthathavetakenplacesincetheendoftheSecondWorldWar Anunderstandingofimperialismisnecessarynotonlytoknowthenatureofoneofthem ostformativehistoricalinfluencesontoday’sThirdWorld, vii viiiP r e f a c e but also to comprehend the debates within the social sciences about thelegacy of that episode Imperialism, a foundation of contemporary ThirdWorld status, has been defined in different ways: obtaining sovereignty;forceful annexation; a stage of capitalism; and colonialism Imperialism is,however, mainly an economic concept, while colonialism is mainly socialandpolitical.NotallThirdWorldcountrieswerecolonies,butallhavebeenaffected by imperialism The development of imperialism is briefly out-lined,fromprecapitalistimperialism,throughthetransitionfrommerchantcapital to industrial capital, to the acquisitionofcoloniesinthenineteenthcentury Chapter draws a distinction between imperialism and colonialism, setsout the main elements of the economistic explanations of imperialism, par-ticularly that of the nineteenth century, evaluates these and alternativeexplanations, and distinguishes between the different forms of Europeanimperialism and their impact on indigenous society It notes the variabilityof colonial intervention, the pragmatism contrasted with the assimilationismofcolonialpolicy,andthevariabilityoflocalconditionsintermsoffertilelandforcashcropping,thestructureofcommunications,thepresenceofmineral wealth, climatic conditions, indigenous social structures, levels ofurbanization, and forms of political organization Consequently differentforms of colonial presence were felt: plantations, mining enclaves, theencouragement of peasant cash cropping, European settlement, and combi-nationsofthese The next two chapters deal with the main theoretical perspectives on theoverall quality ofpolitical change in theThird World, which try to explainthesituationinwhichsuchsocieties find themselves in terms of ‘modern-ization’, ‘development’, ‘neo-colonialism’ and ‘dependency’ Chapter 3locates the origins of modernization theory in evolutionary social theoryand its key concepts of continuity, progress, increased complexity and spe-cialization.Themaindimensionsofmodernizationtheoryarediscussed inaneoevolutionaryperspective;theinterrelationshipbetweeneconomicandsocialvalueswhichit embodies;theconceptofdifferentiationderivedfromDurkheim and Parsons and entailing the specializationofpoliticalroles;Weber’s concepts of secularization and rationality; and changes in culturalpatterns, exemplified by Parsons’ ‘pattern variables’ following the concep-tualization of modernandpre-modernsocialpatternsproducedbyTönniesinterms ofGemeinschaft(community) andGesselschaft(association) Modernization theory inspired an organic approach to comparative politics which was intended to integrate Third World political phenomena intoan e w t h e o r e t i c a l f r a m e w o r k T h e m a i n a r g u m e n t s o f t hefunctionalist Prefacei x perspectiveoncomparativepoliticsarepresented,especiallythec o n - cepts of function and ‘structural differentiation’ when applied to politicalsystems, the motivation behind this theoretical position, and the main criti-cismsthat have been levelledagainst it The idea of neo-colonialism explored in Chapter questions the significance of formal independence for post-colonial societies It was assumedthatconstitutionalindependencewouldmeanthatindigenousgovernments,rep resenting the interests of local people rather than alien groups, wouldhave sovereign state power at their disposal However, what the new rulersofmanyex-coloniesfoundwasthatthemajor proportion of the resourcesavailable to them were controlled from metropolitan centres that hithertohadruledtheircountriesdirectly.Withinpoliticalsciencethepoliticalmanifestationsofthisdominationproveddifficulttodescribeinconcreteterms,except for those for whompolitics was merely an epiphenomenon oftheeconomic The nature of the economic linkages could easily be described,butthe domesticpolitical effects wereleft to beinferred from them Dependency theory, which had its roots in the crisis of US liberalism inthelate1960sandamajorcritiqueofmodernizationtheory,addstheideaofperipherality, or satellite status, to the concept of neo-colonialism It originatedi n a n a n a l y s i s o f L a t i n A m e r i c a w h e r e c i r c u m s t a n c e s t h a t m i g h t be expected under conditions of colonialism or only recently liberatedex-colonies were found in states that had been independent since the earlyormidnineteenthcentury.Themainconstituentsofdependencytheoryaretheideaofahiera rchyofstates,theconceptof‘underdevelopment’,aviewabout the nature of capitalism, propositions concerning ‘disarticulation’,andtheeffectofeconomicdependencyonthestructureofpoliticalpowe r Thenextfourchaptersturntospecificinstitutionalarrangementsandtheattemptsb ypoliticalscientiststoproducevalidtheoreticalstatementsaboutthemostsignificantpoli ticalinstitutionsinThirdWorldsocieties:thestate,politicalparties,thebureaucracyan dthemilitary.Interestinthepostcolonialstatehasinpartbeenareactionagainsttheeconomicreductionismfoundindep endencytheoryandinpartanextensionofaresurgenceofinterestinthenatureofthecapital iststatewithinmainstreamMarxistthought.InChapter5adevelopmentalistview ofthestate,orpoliticalsystem,iscontrastedwithneoMarxisttheorizingaboutthestateinThirdWorldsocieties.Acontroversyabout theimplications ofglobalization forthe stateis alsoexamined Chapter6dealswiththeoriesexplainingtheimportanceofpoliticalpartiesin Third World politics Ideological foundations in class,European politicalideas, religion, ethnicity, and populism with its attendant factionalism andpatronagepolitics,areconsidered Theconditionsrequiredforthesurvival