ABSTRACT
The discussions so far have dealt with various aspects of government, political theory and development. We suggested in the previous essay that there were some applied or instrumental consequences to such ideas which could provide guidelines for new nations in their search to maximize development on the one hand and political stability on the other. The key variable was the use of information and how a political system could maximize its various forms without becoming bewildered or penalized by so doing. Here we want to extend that notion of information, in the form of a critique and some suggestions, to the practice of overseas aid. Such aid represents the most direct way in which theories and ideologies held by one country are applied to another. In all major industrial countries, experts in the social and applied sciences have served as consultants to government. In this respect, the administration of aid is a kind of test for the status of theory as it is understood by political leaders and administrators.
