power-sharerswith imperial interests. Import–exporters tied to foreign
markets, shipping and credits are likely to be dependent power-sharers.
Joint ventures, in which industrialists produce for foreign markets, draw-
ing on foreign technology, capital and management, and with little direct
representation in the state, are likely to be subordinatecollaborators.
(Petras, 1981, p. 18)
Indigenous élites, the most important being the bureaucracy and indige-
nous management cadres employed by foreign companies, develop an
interest in maintaining economic arrangements in which foreigners hold a
major stake. The close contacts between members of the national politico-
administrative élite and external organizations ‘makes the distinction
between domestic and international affairs meaningless’ (Berman, 1974,
p. 9). The ‘mutuality of interest’ across national boundaries between
national economic élites and the senior management of transnational corpo-
rations and banks produced a ‘transnational class formation’ of an interna-
tional oligarchy or ‘corporate international bourgeoisie’ with local and
international ‘wings’ which ensured that public policy supported the
interests of international capital (Becker and Sklar, 1987).
The foreigners are usually the dominant partners because of their supe-
rior resources, information and negotiating skills compared with national
governments. With the possible exception of the military, governments,
labour organizations and most non-business institutions and associations
are ‘far behind’ multinationals in terms of financial, technological and
administrative strength (Hymer, 1982). While foreign interests are thus
included in the policy process, indigenous interests not represented by the
élite are excluded. Institutions for representation and participation (parties,
local governments, trade unions, youth organizations) have been left pow-
erless relative to the bureaucracy.
Dependent economic development also often required the demobilization
by repressive governments of the popular forces which had formed move-
ments for independence. Non-popular, pro-Western regimes, often resting on
alliances between the military and indigenous propertied classes, were the
political prerequisites of economic growth (McMichael et al., 1974, p. 94).
Aid dependency
Another source of external influence on public policy was and still is offi-
cial aid, which increasingly has been linked to ‘conditionalities’. Aid is used
as a lever to determine domestic government policy. Donors can withdraw
82 Understanding Third World Politics