ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book addresses the question of how the political capacity of the government of a developing country affects its ability to implement structural adjustments in its economy in response to external pressures. It shows how the political capacity of governments influences policy choices that have a significant impact on the success or failure of adjustment strategies. The book looks at how the political strength of nations links the state to the economy and develops one measure of this strength, relative political extraction. It focuses on the efficiency of political extraction and mobilization. The book also looks at the effects of political capacity on a government's choice of industrialization strategy once high rates of industrialization can no longer be sustained by further primary import-substitution industrialization.
