Based on an historical-analytical review of the social-economic path of Australia, Canada and Argentina, this paper investigates why such countries - that had in common the fact of being British temperate colonies - in spite of starting from apparently very similar conditions, they reached distinct economic and social results. Although the authors do not ignore the typical power relations of the World System at that time, they attribute crucial role to the internal features of these countries in their choices of growth and development strategies. The authors support that only from an analytical combination of the internal and external features, such as their interactions, it is possible to understand why particular strategies were taken.
world system; internal features; power; development
