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Leicester University Press/Cassell, 1997 A critique of political development theory from a Marxist/historical materialist perspective. I argue that what political development theorists from the 1950s onwards (Almond, Pye, Verba, Rustow,... more
Leicester University Press/Cassell, 1997

A critique of political development theory from a Marxist/historical materialist perspective. I argue that what political development theorists from the 1950s onwards (Almond, Pye, Verba, Rustow, Huntington, etc) took to be a universal theory of political development is better understood as a theory of political change in societies undergoing a process of capitalist modernization, and that the driving force behind it, through all its various theoretical twists and turns, was the desire to produce a doctrine which would aid the promotion of capitalist rather than socialist development. There is an intimate relationship between the 'revisionist' theory of democracy associated with Schumpeter and Dahl, and political development theory: while the former is a theory of politics in already constituted capitalist states, and a doctrine aimed at maintaining the capitalist character of the societies concerned, the latteris a theory of politics in the process of capitalist modernization, and a doctrine aimed at guaranteeing the capitalist direction of change.
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First edition: Macmillan, 1988; second edition, Macmillan, 1993 Co-authors: David Pool and William Tordoff Introductory textbook. First edition covered Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Second edition added East and Southeast... more
First edition: Macmillan, 1988; second edition, Macmillan, 1993
Co-authors: David Pool and William Tordoff

Introductory textbook. First edition covered Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Second edition added East and Southeast Asia.

Second edition chapter structure: Introduction; the Heritage of the Past; State and Society; Political Parties and Participation; The Military; Revolution; Women in World Politics; The International Context; The Third World in the Global Economy.