num_pages: 336
description: Praise for the first "... this masterful and concise volume overviews the range of approaches social scientists have applied to explain events in the Third World." ―Journal of Developing Areas Understanding Third World Politics is a comprehensive, critical introduction to political development and comparative politics in the non-Western world today. Beginning with an assessment of the shared factors that seem to determine underdevelopment, B. C. Smith introduces the major theories of development―development theory, modernization theory, neo-colonialism, and dependency theory―and examines the role and character of key political organizations, political parties, and the military in determining the fate of developing nations. This new edition gives special attention to the problems and challenges faced by developing nations as they become democratic states by addressing questions of political legitimacy, consensus building, religion, ethnicity, and class.
language: English
title: Understanding Third World Politics: Theories of Political Change and Development
titlecomplete: Understanding Third World Politics: Theories of Political Change and Development
genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Political Science
ratings_count: 19
publisher: Indiana University Press