This text introduces analytical approaches and their use in the study of Third World politics and development. The author presents a critical overview of the main schools of thought, illustrates how students can apply a framework for research, and offers insights into Third World democratization.

Introduction PART ONE: THE STUDY OF THIRD WORLD POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT The Problem Area The Sub-Discipline Analytical Approaches Political and Scientific Conjunctures PART TWO: THE DISCUSSION ON THIRD WORLD POLITICS AND DEVELOPMENT Modernisation and Political Development Revised Modernisation and Guided Development Dependency and Politics Class Politics and the Relative Autonomy of the State Rent-Seeking Politicians and Bureaucrats The Primacy of Institutions Post-Marxist Alternatives PART THREE: FROM A SCHOOL TO A PERSPECTIVE AND STUDY OF ONE′S OWN THE CASE OF DEMOCRATISATION Towards the Study of Democratisation in the Context of Late Development From Civil Society and Social Capital to the Politics of Democratisation

`If it′s a lucid, concise intellectual history of development theory you′re looking for - one with originality and political bite, you′ll find it in T[um]ornquist′s fine book′ - James C Scott, Yale University `This book introduces the student to the politics of development in the postcolonial world by familiarising them with the main debates on the subject. I can think of no better way of doing it′ - Mahmood Mamdani, University of Cape Town `Through a wide ranging critique of influential conceptualisations of the ′Third World′, and by focussing on the symbiosis between politics and development, Tornquist opens the way for a fresh understanding of how late developing societies can be democratised′ - Neera Chandhoke, University of Delhi `A pleasant, wide-ranging and ambitious textbook Olle Tornquist has written. It is pleasant because of the authors frankness about his own preferences combined with an openess towards diverging views; it is wide-ranging in the theoretical space it covers; and it is ambitious in the way it proposes a "best practice" within the study of politics and development....I recommend the book to anyone interested in entering a stimulating discussion on the subject′ - The European Journal of Development Research