it was similarly out of this background that the great, alternative, nineteenth century, developmentalist theories-economic, social, and political, many of whose ideas and debates are still with us today. emerged. For example, in economics, Karl Marx, in his analysis of how societies move through the stages of feudalism, capitalism, and socialism, presented a clear developmentalist per spective. In the field of sociology, the positivist thinker Auguste Comte. whose writings are well-known in Europe and much of the developing world but never achieved popularity in the United States, posited a developmentalist se- quence in which societies move from "supernatural" or traditional forms based on religious or transcendental beliefs, to what he called the metaphysical stage, and finally to the positivist stage where rational or "scientific" laws of behavior take charge. Similarly, the sociologist Emile Durkheim showed that, as societies industri- alize, develop, and become more modern, tasks become more specialized, a divi- sion of labor takes place, and society becomes more differentiated in terms of roles and functions. Finally, in the areas of law and governance, the great German scholar Max Weber showed how societies evolve from traditional authority (chiefs, clan heads, men on horseback) in their traditional stages, to charismatic or colorful and personalistic authority in transitional phases, to regularized, merit- based, bureaucratic, or rational authority at a fully developed stage These writers and theorists of the nineteenth century provided many of the ideas and concepts by which later, twentieth-century scholars and activists would try to analyze and/or promote development in the new or emerging nations