ABSTRACT
The Third World is usually described as going through "modernization," which is defined as "the process by which historically evolved institutions are adapted to the rapidly changing functions that reflect the unprecedented increase in man's knowledge, permitting control over his environment, that accompanied the scientific revolution. The latter group of countries exemplifies "defensive modernization," the attempt, under state control, to bring political, economic, and military structures up to par with the more advanced West in order to avoid the onrush of imperialism. In discussing modernization, it is customary to distinguish two sets of societies, one called "modern" and the other "traditional," separated from each other by a vast gulf. The economic modernization and political development of Britain or Japan, for instance, occurred before the age of mass participation. The demand that Third World countries should traverse the road to modernity rapidly is the most important source of the political unrest that makes many Third World countries so explosive.
