The Marshall Plan and Development

What was the Marshall Plan?

U.S. program providing aid to western Europe following WW2’s devastation

• who gets to be developed? initially western Europe (Germany, Britain, France)

• 4 year plan

2 major aims of M.P.

1) prevent spread of communism in Western Europe

2) stabilize the international order in a way favorable to the development of political democracy and free market economies

How was the M.P. successful

generated a resurgence of European industrialization and brought extensive investment into the region

Bandung Conference 1955

(Asian/African leaders meeting) decolonized countries working together to stay out of the Cold War, not a part of the marshall plan

The M.P. was the most significant economic program in the 20th century; BUT

it’s only able to work because the nations and systems are already existing

The M.P. was a TOP DOWN model

goes from general to specific, overview of the system is formulated without going into any detail for any part of it

• modernization and dependency theory break this down

Harry S. Truman

signed the M.P. into law