The Third World is too diverse to allow us to make many meaningful generalizations. No matter how we define the Third World, some countries will fit the definition better than others. Pretty much the same can be said with regard to "underdevelopment". No one theory can explain underdevelopment everywhere, just as no one development strategy can solve all problems of underdevelopment throughout the Third World. In the same way that likenesses are hidden under apparent divergences, so differences are hidden under apparent resemblances.