of general poverty that afflicts the large majority of the peoples of
the ‘third world’ and the ever increasing gap between them and
the peoples of the developed countries. Statistics ranging from
those on infant mortality to the number of doctors per person;
from the number of schools available to the general rate of
literacy; from the intake of calories per person/ per day to the per
capita incomes,'etc., have been compiled and show the abysmal
poverty of the peoples of the ‘third world’. They also bring out the
contrasting high standards of living of the peoples of the
developed countries. The following table drives the point home.

TABLE 1: WORLD INCOME DISTRIBUTION IN 1969

 

Population Income Income
in million % 8 million % percapta §

 

Low-income countries 2,347 67.3 299,866 13.0 127
(8500)
Medium-income countries 253 7.3 181,370 7.9 771
(8 500 — $1000)
High-income countries 883 25.4 1,821,356 79.1 2,062
(% 1000)

Total World 3,483 100.0 2,302,592 100.0 650

 

Source: World Bank Atlas, 1970

But the agreement ends here. There is significant and apparent
disagreement as to how this phenomenon came about, its laws of
motion; the direction in which it is developing and how to get out
of it. It is here that the interests of the relevant parties reveal
themselves behind the ideologies of development. Unfortunately,
it is beyond the scope of this paper to go into this ideological
debate. However, we must briefly make our assumptions clear on
the question of economic development/underdevelopment. This is
crucial because it is against this background that we avaluate the
partnership relations between the public corporations and the
multinational corporations.

Assumption stated:?
(1) The present state of underdevelopment in the ‘third world’
has a history which dates back to the first contacts made
between the now developed capitalist countries (DCC) and

41