Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book shows that how Maoist political strategies are concerned to mobilize surplus labour in order to make up for deficits in subsistence production, as a substitute for capital inputs, and as a source of new capital assets. It draws inspiration from Andre Gunder Frank's work on Latin America, and from his suggestion that metropolis-satellite relations can also be found at the inter-regional level; Ian Carter examines the Highlands of Scotland as an underdeveloped area in a developed country. The book provides a detailed analysis of the health system in Zambia, and in so doing also point to the patterns of technological and cultural dependence and their profound social effects. It demonstrates the usefulness of concepts other than class or dependence and of the need continually to extend and deepen them.