Introduction

During the 1980s, governments in several post-revolutionary Third- World societies introduced a series of economic and planning reforms which represented a major departure from orthodox socialist principles and practice. These reforms generally sought to deal with problems associated with shortages of consumer goods, public-sector and balance of trade deficits, inflation, parallel markets and popular discontent by: (a)encouraging a partial shift away from centralized planning and direct state control of production and exchange, towards decentralization and the regulation of the economy through macroeconomic policy instruments;(b)expanding the role of petty commodity production1 in the economy;(c)lowering the investment ratio2 and shifting the accumulation/ consumption balance in favour of the latter;(d)altering the domestic terms of trade in favour of agricultural producers and increasing the provision of goods and services to rural areas;(e)reducing government and balance-of-trade deficits through devaluation, stricter controls on social expenditures and reductions in subsidies.The purpose of this study is to analyze why the shift from ‘orthodoxy’ to ‘reform’ occurred in these countries at this point in time. Obviously this subject covers an extremely broad area. In the 1980s, there were in the world approximately twenty-five countries which could be classified as Third-World socialist countries3 and many with economic policy reforms. Apart from the number of countries involved, the reforms affected diverse policy areas associated with economic and social development as well as the political system itself. Given the scope involved, I have chosen to delimit the subject area in certain respects.