acceleration, taking developing countries as a whole. The dependency school had a much
more significant effect on the world economy. In the sellers' market created by high world
demand, the belligerent attitude of the oil-producers, partly inspired by this school, led to the
oil-price rise of 1972-3, creating massive imbalances in the world economy and inflationary
pressures in developed countries. Most oil-importing developing countries borrowed to
finance the resulting trade deficits. There was a massive accumulation of debt as well as
rising budgetary and trade imbalances, made worse by a further increase in oil prices in
1978-9. In developed countries, inflation rates accelerated. These changes were in large part
responsible for a major turnaround in thinking in both developed and developing countries in
the early 1980s.
In general P/C style policies continued to dominate in the 1970s, with neither the COOP
policies associated with some of the BN and redistributive approaches, nor the M, favoured
by the ‘get the prices right’ school, making substantial headway. Politically, norms continued
to be of a P/C type in most countries. Indeed, the tendency towards one party states and
suppression of dissent increased and there was a rise in the number of military dictatorships
in Latin America and Africa.
The environment for group behaviour 1950s to 1970s:
Centralised planning to promote development undoubtedly resulted in a P/C macro-
environment, despite the fact that some of the language of the Keynesian-cum-Fabian
philosophy of development philanthropists was COOP in intention. Moreover, the socialist
model, emulated by many countries, also involved top-down rather than participatory
planning. The role of the market was restricted everywhere, most severely in the countries
adopting the socialist model. As noted, a P/C mode was in tune with the prevalent political
systems. Nonetheless, there was a greater role for COOP relations than in the preceding era,
even within government, and to a much greater extent in the burgeoning non-governmental,
non-market sector, while pre-colonial societies, which continued to be important in many
places, contained some strong COOP elements.
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