ABSTRACT
It has been noted earlier that the key problem in the failure of the developing societies to take off towards industrialisation, modernisation, and welfare is the ruling elites. By this we mean the political, industrial, financial, economic, and bureaucratic elites. They constitute the power elite in the developing societies. This power elite reacts to the objective situation and sets the course for the masses. Our emphasis on the elites here does not imply the neglect of other factors conditioning a country’s development. There are objective problems that come into being independent of the elites. The population explosion is one such problem. Natural catastrophe is another. Unemployment is yet another, no matter which elite there was. These problems would exist no matter what sort of leadership was in power, but what is done about them is very much affected by the character of this elite. Given the objective fact that the developing societies of Asia inherited many problems from their colonial rulers, what has been done about them? The poverty of the masses in Indonesia and India, for instance, was inherited from colonial times. So was the low level of education. But since independence, what has happened? In many developing societies things have become worse. Problems have multiplied. Corruption has developed to become a national plague. The lethargy and inefficiency of the bureaucracy have increased. Some of these countries are politically unstable. From the economic point of view their planning has not resulted in increased welfare.
