Understanding Third World Politics Theories of Political Change and Development Second Edition B. C. Smith Understanding Third World Politics Also by B. C. Smith Field Administration: An Aspect of Decentralization Advising Ministers Administering Britain (with J. Stanyer) Policy Making in British Government Government Departments: An Organisational Perspective (with D. C. Pitt) The Computer Revolution in Public Administration (edited with D. C. Pitt) Decentralization: The Territorial Dimension of the State Bureaucracy and Political Power Progress in Development Administration (editor) British Aid and International Trade (with O. Morrissey and E. Horesh) Understanding Third World Politics Theories of Political Change and Development Second Edition B. C. Smith © B. C. Smith 1996, 2003 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First edition 1996 Second edition 2003 Published by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin’s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan® is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 0–333–98653–9 hardback ISBN 0–333–98654–7 paperback This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10987654321 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 Printed and bound in China Contents List of Tables and Figures vi Preface vii 1 The Idea of a ‘Third World’ 1 2 Theories of Imperialism and Colonialism 22 3 Modernization and Political Development 44 4 Neo-colonialism and Dependency 75 5 The State in the Third World 108 6 Political Parties and Party Systems 135 7 Bureaucracy and Political Power 156 8 Military Intervention in Politics 173 9 Nationalism and Secession 194 10 Instability and Revolution 219 11 Democratization in the Third World 250 12 Conclusion: Democracy and Development 275 Bibliography 283 Index 310 v List of Tables and Figures Tables 1.1 Growth of real per capita GDP, 1966–2007 3 1.2 Value added as a percentage of GDP 4 1.3 Human development, 1999 6 1.4 Third World poverty, 1987–98 15 4.1 Debt servicing, 1990–9 84 4.2 Aid as a percentage of regional GDP, 1990–2000 85 10.1 Inequalities of income and consumption: percentage shares of income and consumption, poorest and richest 20 per cent of population, high and low income countries 236 10.2 Women in national politics: selected countries 238 11.1 Freedom: regional variations, 2000 251 Figure 10.1 Needs satisfaction and revolution 230 vi Preface This second edition has been extensively revised in order to sharpen its focus and reflect the current preoccupations in the study of Third World pol- itics, especially the potential for sustainable democracy. The chapters on military intervention, bureaucracy and political parties have been revised to enable the implications which these institutions have for processes of democratization to be explored. The old chapter on political stability has been divided into two so that proper attention can be paid to theories of democratic transition and consolidation. The Conclusion contains a discus- sion on whether democracy or authoritarianism is preferable for a poor country trying to develop economically and socially. The provision of a critical introduction to the attempts of political scien- tists to understand the politics of less developed countries remains the main purpose of the book. While it provides a very wide range of empirical exam- ples from many countries in several continents its central focus is on the issues and controversies that have dominated the social science of Third World politics since the 1950s and in particular on assessing the main theo- ries that have been formulated that attempt to make systematic and rigorous sense of political change. The book commences with discussions of two topics that are an essential preparation for what follows: the question of whether there is a ‘Third World’; and the colonial backgrounds of most of today’s less developed countries. To identify the types of society with which the book is concerned Chapter 1 deals with the concept of a ‘third’ world. Different terminology is used to label the countries and the circumstances in which they find them- selves – developing, underdeveloped, poor, less developed – as well as ‘Third World’. These are not synonyms but denote interpretations of history. The significance of labels is that they define subjects for analysis. So Chapter 1 distinguishes the different meanings that have been attached to the term ‘Third World’, to explain why doubts have been expressed about the legitimacy of such a label. This also introduces the main socio- economic problems facing Third World countries and the major changes that have taken place since the end of the Second World War. An understanding of imperialism is necessary not only to know the nature of one of the most formative historical influences on today’s Third World, vii viii Preface but also to comprehend the debates within the social sciences about the legacy of that episode. Imperialism, a foundation of contemporary Third World status, has been defined in different ways: obtaining sovereignty; forceful annexation; a stage of capitalism; and colonialism. Imperialism is, however, mainly an economic concept, while colonialism is mainly social and political. Not all Third World countries were colonies, but all have been affected by imperialism. The development of imperialism is briefly out- lined, from pre-capitalist imperialism, through the transition from merchant capital to industrial capital, to the acquisition of colonies in the nineteenth century. Chapter 2 draws a distinction between imperialism and colonialism, sets out the main elements of the economistic explanations of imperialism, par- ticularly that of the nineteenth century, evaluates these and alternative explanations, and distinguishes between the different forms of European imperialism and their impact on indigenous society. It notes the variability of colonial intervention, the pragmatism contrasted with the assimilation- ism of colonial policy, and the variability of local conditions in terms of fer- tile land for cash cropping, the structure of communications, the presence of mineral wealth, climatic conditions, indigenous social structures, levels of urbanization, and forms of political organization. Consequently different forms of colonial presence were felt: plantations, mining enclaves, the encouragement of peasant cash cropping, European settlement, and combi- nations of these. The next two chapters deal with the main theoretical perspectives on the overall quality of political change in the Third World, which try to explain the situation in which such societies find themselves in terms of ‘modern- ization’, ‘development’, ‘neo-colonialism’ and ‘dependency’. Chapter 3 locates the origins of modernization theory in evolutionary social theory and its key concepts of continuity, progress, increased complexity and spe- cialization. The main dimensions of modernization theory are discussed in a neo-evolutionary perspective; the interrelationship between economic and social values which it embodies; the concept of differentiation derived from Durkheim and Parsons and entailing the specialization of political roles; Weber’s concepts of secularization and rationality; and changes in cultural patterns, exemplified by Parsons’ ‘pattern variables’ following the concep- tualization of modern and pre-modern social patterns produced by Tönnies in terms of Gemeinschaft (community) and Gesselschaft (association). Modernization theory inspired an organic approach to comparative poli- tics which was intended to integrate Third World political phenomena into a new theoretical framework. The main arguments of the functionalist Preface ix perspective on comparative politics are presented, especially the con- cepts of function and ‘structural differentiation’ when applied to political systems, the motivation behind this theoretical position, and the main criti- cisms that have been levelled against it. The idea of neo-colonialism explored in Chapter 4 questions the signifi- cance of formal independence for post-colonial societies. It was assumed that constitutional independence would mean that indigenous governments, representing the interests of local people rather than alien groups, would have sovereign state power at their disposal. However, what the new rulers of many ex-colonies found was that the major proportion