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This book draws upon data and theories from economics, political science, anthropology, demography, and environmental studies to provide a broad interdisciplinary overview of the Third World. A brief history shows how the expansion of Europe in the 15th century created dependencies in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. The Third World is shown to be not a natural or innate phenomenon, but a consequence of its relationship to the First World that involved economic dependency, rapid population growth, inflated and internationally supplied militaries, and governments trying to provide attractive investment climates for huge multinational corporations. Traditional agriculture, world markets, models of development, human rights violations, environmental degradation, and the demographic transition are examined from a balanced theoretical perspective that synthesizes modernization and dependency approaches.
List of contents
Preface
Does the Third World Exist?
The Creation of the Third World: A Brief History
Modernization and Dependency: Theories of Underdevelopment
Import Substitution, Basic Needs, and the PQLI: The Domestic Economy
Between Debt and the Deep Blue Sea: The Third World in the International Economy
Dictatorship and Democracy: Politics in the Third World
So Many People, So Little Time: Population, Urbanization, and Migration
In Search of Sustainable Development: The Threatened Environment
Death Squads and Disappearances: Human Rights in the Third World
Toward the Twenty-First Century: The Third World in the New World Order
Bibliography
Index
About the author
TED C. LEWELLEN is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Richmond.
