With great clarity, this updated edition explains the complex changes of the late-20th and early-21st centuries, including the transformations in Eastern Europe and in the world economy, the growth of capitalism in China and--despite the West riding on the crest of new technologies--its materialist goals being increasingly questioned by new social movements including the Greens. Written by a well-known political economist, this analysis addresses problems specific to the third world, with particular emphasis on the crisis of the African continent. As it examines the failure of development from a political standpoint, this account argues that the world needs to be remade on the basis of an alternative social system that is national, popular, and based on cooperation between the countries of the southern hemisphere.