Book Review

In this book author Michael Tanzer focuses upon the familiar and prolific theme of oil\u27s impact upon the under-developed countries (UDC\u27s). Tanzer does, however, approach the subject from a different angle: he concentrates upon oil\u27s effects on the oil-importing UDC\u27s rather than its effects upon the oil-exporting UDC\u27s. One expects at first that this change in emphasis would produce a vastly different account of the plight of the UDC\u27s. It turns out, however, that despite the basic dissimilarity between importing and exporting of oil, the problems facing the importing UDC\u27s are quite similar to the well-known problems long experienced by the oil-rich exporting UDC\u27s. This is so because those problems, insofar as they involve oil in its international aspect, all arise from the same root cause