Urban Political Movements and Revolutionary Change in the Third World

Abstract

This article considers two theoretical approaches to the question of effectual political participation in the urban policies of Third World societies; the radical and instrumental perspectives. It is suggested that this formulation improves on the vagaries of earlier evidence. It is generally concluded that important changes can stem from instrumental strategies, although fundamental attacks on urban problems require some form of revo lutionary reorganization in the larger society. While redressing many of the characteristic features of urban underdevelopment in the Third World, revolutionary regimes may introduce new forms of inequality suggesting that the achievement of some balance in productivity and egalitarianism presents equally complex problems for socialist and capitalist economies.