Socialism, Internationalism, and Development in the Third World : Envisioning Modernity in the Era of Decolonization

Abstract

In the wake of colonial and racial exploitation, political leaders, technocrats, activists, and workers across the Third World turned to socialism to offer a new vision of post-colonial development.Against a backdrop of decolonization, white supremacy, and the Cold War, they fostered anti-colonial solidarity and created cooperative frameworks for self-reliance. In following these actors, the contributions to this volume show that “development” was not merely exported from North to South: people across the Global South collaborated with each other while engaging with a diversity of socialist ideas, from European Fabianism and Marxism to tailored African, Asian, and Latin American models. They led debates on race and inequality from the 1920s and 1930s and spearheaded local, regional, and internationalist efforts to re-envision modernity by the 1950s and 1960s. By examining the limitations and legacies of socialist development initiatives in and across the Third World,Socialism, Internationalism, and Development in the Third Worldoffers new perspectives on the intertwined histories of socialism, development, and international cooperation, with lessons for both past and present.