From the back cover:

Social and economic development is a universal aspiration in the Third World today. In a cogent analysis of the meaning of the term ‘development’, the editor stresses that development problems and policies should be understood in the broad economic sense but within a historical perspective.

In this book of Readings which features material on Latin America Asia and Africa, the relevant sociological, anthropological, philosophical and political factors are also underlined. Part One considers underdevelopment as a historical process while Parts Two and Three examine the agricultural and industrial sectors as spurs to development. Differing development strategies are discussed in Part Four, which includes a penetrating analysis of the Chinese model. The political dimension in economic strategy is outlined in Part Five. Underdevelopment in an unequal world is the subject of the last Part.