TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER, IDEOLOGY OF THE STATE, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE THIRD WORLD: A CASE STUDY FROM SYRIA, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE CEMENT INDUSTRY

Available from UMI in association with The British Library.; This thesis examines the relationship between technology transfer and economic development in the Third World. It suggests that the key factor affecting this relationship is the ideological orientation of the state. Technology transfer has been extensively discussed by the theorists of the two leading ideologies in the contemporary world: liberalism and socialism. These competing theories form the backdrop to this thesis because they have had a major impact on the orientation of the economic and political actors actually engaged in the process of technology transfer.; The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part investigates the liberal and socialist approaches towards technology transfer and economic development. The second part involves a specific case study: the development of the cement industry in Syria. This part examines how the changes in the ideological orientation of the state has affected the process of technology transfer and the subsequent impact of the technology on the economic development of the country.; The study reveals that technology was successfully transferred during the 'liberal' era in Syria whereas socialism failed to create a hospitable environment for assimilating foreign technology, and this in turn has had a negative impact on the development of industry and the economy as a whole. The study suggests that the application of socialism is inappropriate in a backward economy. However, this does not mean that liberalism has won the debate in the Third World. The path of economic development in this part of the world is complicated and requires technology and resources that the mechanism of free market alone is highly unlikely to generate.