The role of foreign TNCs in the economic development of Third World countries has been a subject of continuous debates. The contrasting experiences with foreign capital between a group of East Asian countries including Korea. Singapore and Taiwan and a number of African and Latin American countries adds a new dimension to the debates. Whereas the former group of countries is exhibiting spectacular economic growth rates. the latter is beset with one economic crisis after another. A relatively new and evolving approach that recognizes uneven development in the Third World as being one of a number of inevitable outcomes of the activities of foreign TNCs is the Internationalisation of Capital approach. As the name implies, foreign TNCs are seen as one manifestation of the inherent tendency of capital to internationalise as it seeks further accumulation. The outcome of the internationalisation process on a particular country is however dependent on the way in which the forces that are driving the internationalisation process articulate with a host of factors external and internal to the country. Therefore the approach from the outset recognizes that whilst in certain countries dynamic economic development may occur following the inflow of foreign capital in others the result may be disappointing.

The thesis provides the first description and analysis of long-term economic change and development in the Peninsular Malaysian State of Perak from about 1800 to 2000. Although a considerable number of studies have been undertaken on the colonial economy of Perak focusing on tin and rubber production, given the vital importance of these commodities and of Perak's position in the British imperial enterprise, very little research has been done in relating the state's pre-colonial status and its colonial development to post-independence transformations. The thesis coordinates and re-evaluates the material on colonial period concentrating particularly on the available statistical data and the relations between tin, rubber and rice. It then links colonial developments with contemporary change by examining the three key economic elements of land, labour and capital, and utilises a considerable amount of government economic data on the recent period. It also considers the relations between the policies and practices of the colonial and post-colonial state and processes of economic development. It argues that the role of the state, though different and changing, has been vitally important in promoting and underpinning economic transformations from British intervention in 1874 until the present. The major change can be characterised as the transition from a primarily 'natural' economy to a 'state capitalist' one.