Political Modernization in the Developing World: Contributions from American Experience

The collapse of Western imperial systems at the end of World War II may be seen a century later as a more important structural political change than the revolutions starting with England's in the seventeenth century. The American Revolution was a pioneer movement in decoloni zation. Over a 200-year span, American political experience has had an impact on the development of other countries. For the many new states formed after 1945, American pro cesses of integration and the shaping of a political consensus have been found useful, as have federalism, judicial review, and developmental forms of public administration. American principles of limiting governmental power, however, contrast with the new states' search for concentrated power. In many respects, institutions of political form and style made familiar and natural by centuries of imperial tutelage have been more readily adopted by the new states. The United States has assisted in the process of political modernization in the developing world, but the American system of govern ment grew under special conditions, and, for the most part, is not transferable.