The Role of Developing Countries

A newly independent country in the 1960s could wake up one year flooded with aid money, tractors, and engineers from Washington—then the next year, see Soviet-built dams and tanks arrive instead. The paradox: development plans doubled as battle plans in a war no one officially declared.

By the late 1950s, leaders in Accra, New Delhi or Jakarta weren’t just drafting five‑year plans; they were fielding competing offers that arrived with fine print written in the language of the Cold War. An airfield wasn’t just an airfield—it was a potential bomber runway or export hub. A university scholarship program wasn’t just about education—it was a pipeline for future allies.

Superpower envoys learned quickly that these governments were not passive recipients. Many experimented with “non‑alignment,” playing Washington and Moscow against each other to extract better terms, more equipment, or political backing at the UN. Some used food aid to calm urban unrest; others leveraged military credits to tame rival factions at home.