Introduction

There has been a revolution in the world within the past quarter of a century—a revolution no less important because it erupted only sporadically and at scattered points, each event seemingly a unique occurrence with its own set of causes and goals. The Third World has emerged from the shadowy position it occupied in the nineteenth century, when it was either the domain of or irrelevant to the western world of advanced capitalist development, and has become a force which increasingly challenges the balance of power "worked out" in the Northern hemisphere between the First (capitalist) and Second (socialist) Worlds. Demographically, it now represents the largest majority of mankind and is growing the fastest; economically, it contains the bulk of growing labor power and the largest future markets; and politically, it has won victory after victory in the United Nations where it has demanded a "New Economic Order," i.e., a redivision of the wealth. The Third World can no longer be ignored. It must be taken into account by scholars, politicians and citizens on this shrinking planet.