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