An alternative view of the links between the western world order and the third world economic and environmental crisis

An alternative view of the existing world order is adopted, since, it is argued, the orthodox view (of a benevolent First World tirelessly engaging the development problems of a Third) is illusory. The parlous condition of debt-ridden Third World countries is explained by locating them within the confines of this order and drawing an interrelationship between their lack of beneficial development and the rapid deterioration of their environments. Some of the mechanisms by which the now unrestrained western economic system are examined where the residents of one hemisphere are 'managed' to service and support the profligate lifestyles of elites in the other. It is argued that a western order has straddled a reconstructed world economy since 1945 and has been sustained by the hegemonic power of the United States and its major industrial allies. It is further argued that the archaic exploitative nature of this order has rendered it inappropriate for new world conditions and the present general turmoil is a symptom of its decline. The world is moving from an old to a new set of imperatives, which must be socially-just and ecologically-benign. Thus movements for socio/economic justice and the environment can no longer be perceived as separate ends but as parts of the same larger global process.