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Technology Transfer: West-South Perspective

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FranklinLong and AlexandraOleson, Appropriate Technology and Social Values: A Critical Appraisal. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger Publishing Company, 1980, 215 pp.
Lynn K.Mytelka, Regional Development in a Global Economy: The Multinational Corporation, Technology, and Andean Integration, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979, 233 pp.
Samuel M.Rosenblatt, ed., Technology and Economic Development: A Realistic Perspective. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1979, 191 pp.

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Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2011

Kazimierz Z. Poznanski
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Technology transfer is becoming an increasingly controversial issue in world politics. After many years of enthusiasm among both importers and exporters of technology, views have started to diversify, and the parties involved have found themselves in conflict. The most visible element of the current controversy is the disillusionment among the countries of the South regarding the ease with which they expected to become industrialized through the importation of Western technology. There are also some signs of disappointment in the West, especially in the United States, where the fear has arisen that the exported technology may be underpriced and that the competitive position of the United States may be eroding relative to that of the importing countries. In this article, I will deal with only one dimension of the current debate—namely, the experience of developing countries as importers of technology from the West.

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Review Article
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World Politics , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , October 1984 , pp. 134 - 152
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Copyright © Trustees of Princeton University 1984

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