Discuss the importance of the cold war to development on third world/developing countries

There were two camps during the Cold War, two superpowers stood at the summit of the international system. Countries had to choose one side - there are very few examples of real neutrality in that era -. Developing countries didn't escape this ruthless logic and became either American allies or Soviet allies. By doing so, they entered a patron-client relationship with the superpower they chose, getting credits, development assistance, technical support, and weapons and training for their military. There were many proxy wars in the Third World, where one the superpowers supported a a government and the other supported an opposing insurgency, or viceversa.