Understanding Third World Politics : Theories of Political Change and Development : 2nd ed.

B. C. Smith

Understanding

Third World Politics

Theories of Political Change and Development

Second Edition

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.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

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

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

viii Preface

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 of the resources

available to them were controlled from metropolitan centres that hitherto

had ruled their countries directly. Within political science the political man￾ifestations of this domination proved difficult to describe in concrete terms,

except for those for whom politics was merely an epiphenomenon of the

economic. The nature of the economic linkages could easily be described,

but the domestic political effects were left to be inferred from them.

Dependency theory, which had its roots in the crisis of US liberalism in

the late 1960s and a major critique of modernization theory, adds the idea of

peripherality, or satellite status, to the concept of neo-colonialism. It origi￾nated in an analysis of Latin America where circumstances that might

be expected under conditions of colonialism or only recently liberated

ex-colonies were found in states that had been independent since the early

or mid-nineteenth century. The main constituents of dependency theory are

the idea of a hierarchy of states, the concept of ‘underdevelopment’, a view

about the nature of capitalism, propositions concerning ‘disarticulation’,

and the effect of economic dependency on the structure of political power.

The next four chapters turn to specific institutional arrangements and the

attempts by political scientists to produce valid theoretical statements about

the most significant political institutions in Third World societies: the state,

political parties, the bureaucracy and the military. Interest in the post-colonial

state has in part been a reaction against the economic reductionism found in

dependency theory and in part an extension of a resurgence of interest in the

nature of the capitalist state within mainstream Marxist thought. In Chapter 5

a developmentalist view of the state, or political system, is contrasted with

neo-Marxist theorizing about the state in Third World societies. A contro￾versy about the implications of globalization for the state is also examined.

Chapter 6 deals with theories explaining the importance of political parties

in Third World politics. Ideological foundations in class, European political

ideas, religion, ethnicity, and populism with its attendant factionalism and

patronage politics, are considered. The conditions required for the survival

Preface ix

of party systems, such as economic growth and social stratification, are set

out. The survival of parties as institutions is also of concern as the move￾ment for democracy gathers momentum in the Third World.

Bureaucracies are important political organizations in all political sys￾tems. Theories of the post-colonial state have employed the concept of a

bureaucratic oligarchy, clearly implying that government is in the hands of

the paid officials of the state. Chapter 7 distinguishes between different con￾cepts of bureaucracy and shows that all are contained in the analyses that

have been carried out of the role of the bureaucracy in Third World societies

and states. Sources of bureaucratic power are categorized, as well as bureau￾cratic features which have been taken to be signs of the emergence of a new

kind of ruling class. Bureaucracy also implies a certain kind of rationality in

the context of the official allocation of scarce resources. Thus Chapter 7

considers the theory of ‘access’.

Chapter 8 examines military intervention and the coup d’état. Different

types of military intervention in politics are distinguished and explanatory

factors identified as accounting for the coup as the most extreme form of

intervention are considered. The problems associated with statistical causal

analysis as a means of explaining military intervention are outlined, since

this has been a popular method of analysis in the past. Some prescriptions

for ensuring that the military ‘remain in barracks’ after democratization are

examined.

The final chapters deal with challenges to the status quo and therefore the

political instability which is so frequently found in Third World societies.

First, Chapter 9 examines the demand for independence on the part of ethnic

or national minorities: the phenomenon of secession. This is a very wide￾spread feature of Third World politics. Three theories of separatism are

examined: political integration, internal colonialism, and ‘balance of advan￾tage’. It is suggested that explanations of nationalism and secession need a

class dimension because of the social stratification found within cultural

minorities, the petty-bourgeois leadership of ethnic secessionist movements,

and the significance for the outcome of nationalism of the reaction of the

dominant class in the ‘core’ community to nationalist political mobilization.

Chapter 10 examines the theoretical preconditions for political stability

that have been formulated in terms of poverty, the rate of economic growth,

the revolution of rising expectations, foreign influences, ethnicity, the polit￾ical culture, inequality, crises of authority and political institutionalization.

The theoretical or empirical weaknesses of these conclusions are identified,

namely that correlation does not necessarily prove causality, that poor and

underdeveloped countries can be stable especially if authoritarian, that

x Preface

political stability might cause affluence and economic growth, and that high

rates of growth and stability have gone together in some countries. Problems

with the concept of ‘political stability’ itself are addressed: its normative

content, the question of whether the analysis is concerned with stable gov￾ernment whatever the type of regime or just stable democratic government,

and the lack of a satisfactory operational definition of ‘instability’.

Chapter 11 covers theories of democratic transition and consolidation,

and the contribution of economic and political factors to stable democracy:

national affluence, with its implications for equality and class development;

the political culture and the problem of the direction of causality; civil soci￾ety as a counter-balance to the power of the state; the balance of power

within democracies; and the importance of institutional development to

democratic consolidation.

The concluding chapter considers the prospects for Third World democ￾racy in the light of the theories of political change discussed in the previous

chapters, and examines the argument that development and democracy

might not be compatible, especially in view of the success which some

authoritarian states have had in developing their societies economically and

socially. The weight of evidence suggests that a democratic developmental

state should be able to secure economic progress, as well as providing polit￾ical benefits in terms of political rights, freedoms and participation.

I owe a debt of gratitude to a large number of people for insights into

Third World political development, especially Monojit Chatterjee, Paul

Collins, Richard Dunphy, Des Gasper, Edward Horesh, Philip Mawhood,

Oliver Morrissey, David Murray, Dele Olowu, Jeffrey Stanyer, Ole

Therkildsen, Neil Webster and Geof Wood. I am happy to acknowledge that

debt here. I should also like to thank Keith Povey and Steven Kennedy for

their patience and meticulous editorial work. The librarians of the

University of Exeter were also unfailingly helpful. What I have done with

the ideas of the theorists reviewed here remains my responsibility alone.

Exeter B. C. SMITH

Every effort has been made to contact all copyright-holders, but if any have

been inadvertently omitted the publishers will be pleased to make the neces￾sary arrangement at the earliest opportunity.

Preface xi

1

The Idea of a ‘Third World’

Introduction

Since this chapter examines a controversy over the label ‘Third World’ it is

appropriate to begin with a definition. In order to identify the subject-matter of

this book, to convey the diversity of the social and economic conditions found

within the Third World, and to provide an outline of the major changes taking

place in Third World countries, an indication of the key characteristics of Third

World status must be given. For the purpose of this survey the Third World will

be defined as a group of countries which have colonial histories and which are

in the process of developing economically and socially from a status charac￾terized by low incomes, dependence on agriculture, weakness in trading rela￾tions, social deprivation for large segments of society, and restricted political

and civil liberties. This definition acknowledges the process of change and

therefore the likely diversity of countries within the group.

The following sketch of Third World status and trends will follow the

components of the definition: the achievement of political independence; aver￾age income levels; industrialization; integration into the world economy; and

human development (Thomas, 1994, p. 10). By this definition the Third World

comprises approximately 100 states in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin

America and the Caribbean. Their combined population of over 4 billion

accounts for 77 per cent of the world’s total and their territories cover nearly

58 per cent of the world’s land area (World Bank, 2001b, p. 14).

Political independence

Only a tiny minority of countries that would be regarded as part of the Third

World by other criteria have not experienced colonialism at some stage in

their recent histories. The picture of the Third World in this respect is

becoming more complex with the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the

1

emergence of a number of independent states that were formerly part of it

(Berger, 1994, p. 257). Most of these, such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan,

rank as lower-middle-income countries along with, for example, Senegal,

Thailand and Peru.

A significant variation in Third World status is the length of time that

countries have been independent from their colonizers, with most Latin

American countries gaining political independence in the early nineteenth

century and most African only after the Second World War. There are still a

few small territories that have yet to achieve independence from a European

power: the French colonies of Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guyana,

for example. Experience of imperial political control and economic pene￾tration varied considerably, as did the routes to independence which were

taken (roughly divided between constitutional negotiations and armed

struggle). However, the legacy of imperialism and colonialism was every￾where profound, transforming political institutions and processes. New

geo-political boundaries were drawn. Reactions against alien rule mobilized

new political forces and alliances. Indigenous social structures and political

systems were altered by European economic interventions and settlement.

National incomes

Most Third World countries are poor by international standards. The major￾ity are found in the low-income or lower-middle-income categories used by

the World Bank and defined in terms of gross national income per capita.

Differences in per capita incomes vary greatly between regions of the world

and, as Table 1.1 shows, the regions of the Third World continue to lag

behind the developed economies. The gap in real incomes between some

Third World countries, such as those in East Asia, and the industrialized

countries has narrowed considerably since 1945. East Asia’s share of devel￾oping countries real income increased from 22 per cent in 1965 to 35 per

cent in 1999. Per capita incomes throughout the Third World rose relatively

quickly in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite a levelling out in the 1980s, the

average level of per capita income in developing countries rose by 2.1 per

cent per year from 1960 to 1997.

However, in some regions of the Third World incomes have stagnated or

fallen. The divergence between regions mainly occurred in the 1970s so that

whereas by 1980 per capita GDP was growing at 6.7 per cent in East Asia and

3.2 per cent in South Asia it was falling in Latin America and Sub-Saharan

Africa. Per capita incomes in Sub-Saharan Africa have fallen in real terms

2 Understanding Third World Politics