Alfred Maizels' work on commodity trade and prices documented trends in a major area of international economic relations. This book elaborates the ideas in the tradition of Maizels' contributons, and discusses and extends these theories in relation to current problems.

This book argues that development is a comprehensive societal process with two key elements: economic restructuring and sociocultural transformation. While either of these elements alone can initiate change, a strong development plan needs to address both in order to succeed