ABSTRACT
Over the last decade there has been a major transformation of the global political
economy. The formerly ignored and powerless members of the Organisation of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC) suddenly asserted themselves in relations with petroleum-
importing countries and two resulting massive oil shocks have reverberated for years in the
world economy. The industrial countries have been plagued, first, by double-digit inflation, and then a depression supposedly designed to cure inflationary ills. In most OECD countries there has been relatively little growth in real per capita income over the last ten years. The
previously developing Third World is now divided into two parts: countries that have a
reasonable chance of economic survival, and a never-to-be-developed world composed
of numerous small countries with so little to market in international trade that they are
consigned to seemingly permanent stagnation. The newly industrialising countries (NICs) have weathered the worst of these economic storms, but are now faced with massive oblig-
ations to international banks that may tie up the bulk of export earnings for many years.
