ABSTRACT
There are many different radical theories which seek to explain Third World underdevelopment, but almost all assume that ‘underdevelopment’ is a consequence of, or at least is perpetuated by, relationships with the capitalist West. The non-radical, mainstream development theorists of the 1950s and 1960s had generally assumed that the key causes of underdevelopment were located within Third World social, cultural, economic and political structures. Thus, as French Marxist, Argihiri Emmanuel, has noted: The notion of the diffusion of development by the movement of capital is one of the oldest theses of Marxism. Dependencia theory, which originated as a critique of the non-radical diffusion theories, argues that the problems of underdevelopment arise from the dependence of poor nations on the rich. Trickledown theory, which had long been criticised by radical theorists such as Gunder Frank, has recently come under sustained attack from liberal development theorists who argue the ‘redistribution with growth’ case.
