This comprehensive study traces the evolution of the international debt crisis from its beginnings in the early 1970s to the present. The author uses a sample of 24 major borrower and heavily indebted countries to explore the economic forces within developing countries and the external conditions which led to the build-up of serious debt and their subsequent inability to carry it. He focuses attention on the changing roles of multilateral lending agencies such as the IMF and the World Bank and examines the role played by U.S., European, and Japanese commercial banks in creating conditions...