Adrian Leftwich has recently identified two problems that assail the study of Third World politics. First, there has been 'a drift away from some of the fundamental questions to do with the role of power, politics and the state', so that in studies of the Third World, the discipline of politics has 'to some extent lost its way'. Second, the reluctance of many western governments and international aid agencies to consider the political dimension in their policy studies has distanced political analysts from research exposure to the role of politics and the state in the development process.

These two problems are related but different, and they need to be tackled in different ways. Political analysts at IDS are at work on both fronts. The second problem is being addressed through research on the 'developmental state' in various Third World settings.

This Bulletin arises out of an effort to address the first problem by redirecting the attention of political scientists to fundamental questions such as those outlined above.