The U.S. Imperial State in Cuba 1952–1958: Policymaking and Capitalist Interest

1982 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morris H. Morley
Keyword(s):  
National Security ◽  
Third World ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Adequate Explanation ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Trade Relations ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Imperial State

The literature on American foreign policy tends to emphasize nonstructural (national security, ideological, strategic, bureaucratic, etc.) factors in seeking to account for the differing U.S. government responses to nationalist movements that challenge for and/or capture state power in the Third World. In those instances where structural (e.g. economic) factors are acknowledged to be significant, they are still generally accorded a secondary role in the shaping of policy actions. As a result, most interpretations are rooted in discrete policy actions linked to particular and time-bound events unrelated to any core concept that could serve as an organizing principle (e.g. a theory of capital expansion) for understanding the observed continuities in U.S. policy over historical time. In contrast, this study contends that a focus on theinterfacebetween permanent (economic) and short-term (non-economic) objectives provides a more adequate explanation of U.S. imperial state policy in specific conjunctures. It is proposed that while ‘national security’ concerns, strategic interests, ideological outlooks and bureaucratic conflicts may directly influence Washington's policy toward Third World nationalism, these factors must also be understood in a context in which they converge, or are intertwined, with underlying long-term economic concerns (investment, trade relations, access to strategic raw materials, etc.)

The Case against the C.I.A.

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 21-23
Author(s):  
John Stockwell
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Security ◽  
Third World ◽  
The United States ◽  
International Terrorism ◽  
The Third ◽  
The World ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Intelligence Service

Following several years of shocking revelations about the United States intelligence service, we now have a unique opportunity to rethink our objectives in the Third World, especially in Africa, and to modify our intelligence activities to complement rather than contradict sound, long term policies. The revelations, and their related publicity, have been a healthy exercise, making the American public aware of what enlightened people throughout the world already knew, that CIA operations had plumbed the depths of assassination, meddlesome covert wars, and the compulsive recruitment of foreign officials to commit treason on our behalf; activities which, if they did not border on international terrorism, certainly impressed their victims as harsh and cruel, whatever their bureaucratic authentication and national security justification in Washington.

scholarly journals Microlending: What Business Can Do To Facilitate Community-Based Growth

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mackenzie M. Festa ◽  
Alan J. Wilson ◽  
Presha E. Neidermeyer
Keyword(s):  
Third World ◽  
Foreign Assistance ◽  
Business Professionals ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Community Based ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Not For Profit ◽  
The Third World ◽  
Made In

<p class="NormalWeb1" style="text-align: justify; margin: 0in 0.5in 0pt; mso-pagination: none;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Billions of dollars have been expended in foreign assistance throughout the third world, with much of this aid being provided by the not-for-profit community. While frequently effective in facilitating short-term benefits, these projects often do not improve the continuing living conditions for the residents of the community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Not-for-profits generally are in the business of short-term crisis relief; consequently, they do not have a focus on job provisions in the affected community that would increase their living standards in the long-term.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are in the business of job creation, which not only provides long-term benefits for the entrepreneur, but also for the entire community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Microlending, a term coined originally by Muhammad Yunus to describe very small loans made in third-world countries, has had an enormous impact on the lives of entrepreneurs, their families, and their communities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>Many not-for-profits may wish to employ the techniques illustrated by Yunus and other successful microlending institutions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>They may find the task overwhelming, however, without employing business professionals, whose services can be costly.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">&nbsp; </span>For not-for-profits who might be interested in starting such a program, this paper will describe the process of microlending, articulate methods of selecting a loan recipient, and show mechanisms for documenting a microloan.</span></span></p>

Natural Resources and Problems of Development

1974 ◽  
Vol 9 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Per Antonsen
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Third World ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Mineral Resources ◽  
World Market ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
Industrial Enterprises ◽  
The Third World

The author focuses on problems in the economy of the developing countries likely to arise as a consequence of mineral exploitation in the new territories. A general shortage of mineral resources, although predicted, should not uncritically be adopted as a sufficient explanation of the demonstrated interest of industrial enterprises in undertaking heavy investments in the new territories. The economic security claimed by institutions financing large-scale investments, may just as likely force the companies to seek options for long-term supplies from these areas, unhampered by the politically caused instabilities perceived in the Third World. This development may tend to push the developing countries into the role of subsidiary suppliers in the world market. The committees preparing the UN Conference on the Law of the Sea have so far taken no realistic measures to counteract this possibility, which may prove detrimental to the economies of several developing countries. The Conference will, in the opinion of the author, provide little but a settlement of disputed interests among the coastal states.

The “Resource Curse”: Lessons of the Third World

2015 ◽  
pp. 28-39
Author(s):  
V. Shmat
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Natural Resources ◽  
Third World ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
The Third ◽  
National Institutions ◽  
Resource Nationalism ◽  
The Third World ◽  
First World

According to the hypothesis known as the “resource curse”, natural resources abundance is a brake on economic growth of many Third World countries. But is it really so? The author believes there are deeper reasons why the Third World in general – regardless of the amount of raw material resources available in each country – cannot achieve the same level of welfare as the First World. The “resource curse” theory looks for the origins of the resourceful countries’ economic problems in the institutional sphere. But this seems misleading because of excessively narrow “here and now” approach. The economic and socio-political institutions of individual countries are regarded in short periods of time when “curse” declared itself. Its typical manifestations, such as rent-seeking, stagnation or degradation of the institutions, authoritarian power, snowballing public debt and symptoms of Dutch disease, were seen in many Third World countries long before the development of the major sources of raw materials and regardless of the availability or absence of them. Therefore, it seems appropriate to speak of a kind of “three-fold institutional curse” as an explanation of continuing underdevelopment of many countries and territories. Poor national institutions in the Third World countries are not actually caused by the presence or absence of concentrated natural resources. This is the result of prior historical development with series of discrete transitions from one condition to another: from colonial status – to independent statehood; from poverty – to unexpected wealth mostly based on the exploitation of the natural resources. Qualitative transformation of national institutions usually lags far behind. As a consequence, institutional development enters into a state of stagnation (inhibiting or destabilizing economic growth) that can stretch for very long periods of time. The author concludes that the presence or absence of resources, in fact, has no fundamental impact on the nature of socio-economic development of Third World countries. The major reason hindering institutional progress has external nature, that is heavy economic dependence on the First World (coupled with informal political subordination). This circumstance begets the “resource nationalism” by the developing countries – exporters of raw materials and fuel. History of “resource nationalism” provides a useful lesson for Russia whose economy is features by growing dependency on resources. Acknowledgement. The article has been supported by a grant of the Russian Science Foundation. Project № 14-18-02345.

4. American foreign policy during the Cold War

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Saull
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Third World ◽  
American Foreign Policy ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
The Korean War ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The Third World ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter offers a theoretically informed overview of American foreign policy during the Cold War. It covers the main historical developments in U.S. policy: from the breakdown of the wartime alliance with the USSR and the emergence of the US–Soviet diplomatic hostility and geopolitical confrontation,to U.S. military interventions in the third world and the U.S. role in the ending of the Cold War. The chapter begins with a discussion of three main theoretical approaches to American foreign policy during the Cold War: realism, ideational approaches, and socio-economic approaches. It then considers the origins of the Cold War and containment of the Soviet Union, focusing on the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. It also examines the militarization of U.S. foreign policy with reference to the Korean War, Cold War in the third world, and the role of American foreign policy in the ending of the Cold War.

Wanted: A Comparative History of the Modern Mediterranean

2012 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
Edmund Burke
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Third World ◽  
Dominant Role ◽  
The West ◽  
The Third ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mediterranean ◽  
The Third World

There is something seriously flawed about models of social change that posit the dominant role of in-built civilizational motors. While “the rise of the West” makes great ideology, it is poor history. Like Jared Diamond, I believe that we need to situate the fate of nations in a long-term ecohistorical context. Unlike Diamond, I believe that the ways (and the sequences) in which things happened mattered deeply to what came next. The Mediterranean is a particularly useful case in this light. No longer a center of progress after the sixteenth century, the decline of the Mediterranean is usually ascribed to its inherent cultural deficiencies. While the specific cultural infirmity varies with the historian (amoral familism, patron/clientalism, and religion are some of the favorites) its civilizationalist presuppositions are clear. In this respect the search for “what went wrong” typifies national histories across the region and prefigures the fate of the Third World.

Micro-Dependency: The Cuban Factor in Southern Africa

1981 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-345
Author(s):  
Ali A. Mazrui
Keyword(s):  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Third World ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
West African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The Third ◽  
Industrialized Nations ◽  
The World ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
The Third World

We accept the proposition that the worst kind of dependency lies in North-South interaction. But emphasizing this dimension should not go to the extent of ignoring other dimensions. It is simply not true that all forms of international dependency concern interactions between the Northern Hemisphere and the South, or between industrialism and sources of raw materials. There are important forms of dependency among industrialized nations themselves. Increasingly, there are also forms of dependency between one country in the Third World and another; or between one region of the Third World and another. Dependency is a form of political castration. For the purposes of this essay, dependency between one country in the Northern Hemisphere and another or between one industrialized state and another, is categorized as macro-dependency. This involves variations in power within the upper stratum of the world system. Macro-dependency is thus upper-horizontal, involving variations in affluence among the affluent, or degree of might among the mighty. Micro-dependency for our purposes here concerns variations of technical development among the under-developed, or relative influence among the weak, or degrees of power among those that are basically exploited. The dependency of some West African countries upon Nigeria, or of some of the Gulf States upon Iran or Saudi Arabia, are cases of micro-dependency. We shall return to this level more fully later, but let us first begin with the phenomenon of macro-dependency.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document