In this systematic introduction to the contemporary history of what has become known as the “Third World,” professor Mike Mason poses a double-barrelled question: Why have most of the countries of the Third World failed to “develop” in ways that benefit the majority of their populations? And why have their political problems proved so intractable?

Mike Mason has taught university courses in Third World history for more than twenty-five years. A former editor of the Canadian Journal of African Studies, he holds degrees in Asian Studies from the University of British Columbia, and African Studies from the University of Birmingham, where he specialized in Muslim Africa. He is presently associate professor of history at Concordia University in Montreal.

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"Mike Mason has done an outstanding job in integrating diverse intellectual and epistemological traditions into a clear, readable, and sophisticated synthesis. The introductory chapter, which blends a range of development theories, is superb. My students can relate to this book." -- Jorge Nef, University of Guelph