New Soviet Doctrines on Underdeveloped Areas

Abstract

Confronted with the realities of social change in underdeveloped areas, the theorists and policy-makers of the Soviet world find it increasingly difficult to draw operational inferences from classic Marxist generalizations, which were derived from European historical experience, about the stages of social development. Two recent Soviet articles that reveal this, one stating a new doctrinal interpretation, the other applying the interpretation to Latin America, are abstracted here, followed by com ments on each. Andrew Janos is on the staff of Princeton University's Center of Inter national Studies.