ABSTRACT
The central argument of this book has been that the use of the term, ‘The Third World’, implies a degree of common characteristics amongst the countries that have been included within it. These countries have some similarities in their levels of income relative to the most affluent countries and as measured by various other criteria, but the major feature they share is the constraints imposed by the nature of their past and contemporary involvement in the world economy. They are brought together mainly by the relationship they have with the global economy in their dependence on the economic conditions and social and political processes dominated by countries of the developed world.
