Historical analysis of domination patterns identifies phases of ongoing dialectics between rich and poor world areas, claiming instances of self-determination and empowerment in international programs of cooperation. At the same time, new major imbalances in relations of power emerge between new global players, who appear to be committed in a competition towards the Western model of development, mainly characterized by the control over technologies and knowledge/. /Such practices of emulation provide examples of complicity with the hegemonic rhetoric, and help strengthen pairs of opposites (emerging/advanced, technological/intuitive, hegemonic/subaltern) increasingly polarized and less dialectical.