Rethinking Third World Politics

"Rethinking World Politics" provides a reassessment of our understanding of politics in Third World societies. The severity of the political and economic crisis throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America in the 1980's has highlighted the inadequacies of existing political science theories. This book aims to redress this by setting a new agenda for the 1990s. In particular it examines the shortcomings of the two schools of thought that have dominated the field over the last 25 years - the "political development school" and the "dependency" school. It includes 12 specially commissioned essays written by a team of leading international political scientists from both the developed and developing worlds. It also examines previously neglected areas such as the role of the theatre and magic in addition to re-examining relationships between the state, society and its political institutions. It is aimed at students and lecturers in Third World politics, development studies, comparative politics and political sociology.