Poverty and development in the 1990s

Hunger and famine, disease, unemployment, environmental degradation--all these accompany appalling poverty in the so-called 'Third World'. Before possibilities for improving the situation in the 1990s can be assessed, an analysis of how this 'Third World' came to exist is necessary, as is an appreciation of the range of political, technical and cultural factors relating to development. This book is an introduction to some of the major issues and ways of understanding involved in analysing poverty and development in the 1990s. It will help readers to discern over-simplified solutions and to begin to find their way into what is perhaps the world's most complex and pressing problem area. The book is arranged in three parts. The first presents 'a world of problems', relating different aspects of poverty to a discussion of what is meant by 'development' in the context of global capitalism and a world of nation states. The second part analyses the historical context which made the 'Third World' what it is: pre-capitalist diversity, European colonialism, the development of capitalism as a world system, and post-war, post-colonial trends including the influence of socialist models of devel