ABSTRACT
As indicated earlier, I do not wish to be guilty of over-simplifying the problem by suggesting a reductionistic approach to the problem, based on one cause, the dominant elites. In the cluster of causes, the dominant elites are simply the most significant. Let us clarify this by illustration from the historical context. The developing societies of Asia have been subjected to colonialism, some of them as far back as the sixteenth century. Capitalist exploitation and complete hegemony over the colonies date back to the nineteenth century, when the economic drain of the colonies started transforming the colonies into suppliers of raw materials and markets for European commodities. The colonies themselves were brought into a relation of dependence on the imperial powers. Apart from legal independence after the Second World War, the dependent relation has continued. For the developing world as a whole, the external public debt of the developing countries rose by 14 percent per annum in the 1960’s. In June 1968 the recorded debt was US $47–5 billion. Debt service payment amounted to US $4*7 billion. These loans come mostly from the Western countries, more than half from the United States. 1
