ABSTRACT
The developing countries exert pressure on the richer nations with respect to such issues as trade and price arrangements, and the provision of credit – pressure which the core nations cannot afford to ignore, even if they also are unwilling to accede in full. Since the second world war, two other groups of nations have come forth from the international wings. Industry-led development has been notably successful in countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, and to a lesser extent in Mexico and Brazil, and elsewhere. The circumstances of Europe in the eighteenth century provide some important parallels. Culture as a variable affecting the development process is impossible to quantify. As with land resources, the utility of particular characteristics may change over time. The individualism which characterized the emergence of Europe allowed a great deal of energy to be creatively employed.
