Understanding Third World Politics

Now revised and updated throughout with additional coverage of the impact of democratization and globalization, this volume provides a critical introduction to theories of political development and the comparative politics of the Third World. Following a review of the nature of the Third World, its commonalities and increasing diversity, and debates about its definition, the book provides an account of theories of its origins and subsequent evolution, an assessment of attempts to theorise political institutions in Third World states and a consideration of the reasons for their frequent instability.