This book assesses the current world order and structural change, drawing on empirical findings of the interaction of Pax Americana and the Bretton Woods system in the post-war period and its impact on the development in Southern Africa. Through its conceptual and methodological framework it identifies when, why and how historical opportunities for change emerge at various levels. The book proposes an analytical model and provides the reader within the fields of International Relations, Development Studies and International Development co-operation with tools for a multilevel analysis of the current room of manoeuvre for structural transformations. Hans Abrahamsson points to the structural opportunity for global change presently at hand based upon contradictory circumstances and coinciding elite interests. Whether such an opportunity can be seized depends on the involvement of the civil society and the normative strength of the social actors.