Editor’s Introduction

The first purpose of this book is to assses the prospects for cooperation in world development among the three groups of nation states — loosely but conveniently described as ‘East’ (the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe), ‘West’ (essentially the OECD countries) and ‘South’, (basically the developing countries or the ‘Third World’). Thus a special feature of the book is that it brings to the forefront a subject which is relatively little discussed (outside official documents) in the vast literature on development — the extent to which the market and socialist economies can combine forces in the raising of standards and the eradication of poverty in the world. The second purpose is to identify the extent of agreement, and the nature of the disagreements, among concerned scholars coming from the three different ’worlds’. The book contains, too, many illuminating insights into the general problems of development, of which increasing experience is being gained by informed people in all countries.