The current phase of the relationship between the 1st and 3rd world is neo-colonial rather than post-colonial." Discuss in the light of your knowledge about colonial relations, the role of the USA in shaping world society and underdevelopment theory.

The loans agreed from the IMF or World Bank are structured in such a way that they often force weaker nations into agreeing loans to which they both acknowledge the country is unable to repay the debt but has no other option than to choose it if they are to attempt in moving from a 3rd world country. Such companies in the 21st century like Sky Digital have moved their call centres to India in an attempt to maximise profit by reducing their labour costs as the minimum wage is much lower than it is in the U.K. With this in mind, it can be argued that neo-colonialism still exists in a world which is supposedly eradicating debt in an attempt to distribute the wealth of the richer nations amongst the poor. Such events like Live: Aid supports the fact that governments across the world are being pressured from the public to take note and cancel the debt to Africa as well as increase trade in order to expand their economies. Even with the cancellation of debts and an increase in trade, governments such as the U.K are still allowing trans-national firms to relocate parts of the business in order to exploit poorer countries. Although critics of the neo-colonialist theory would argue that these multinational firms are actually aiding the inhabitants of that country as without them they would be unemployed and the firms are modernizing/training the workforce by appointing them particular tasks to achieve. Yet another sign of the difference between rich nations and that from weaker nations is the exchange rate. For a middle class person to emigrate from the U.K abroad to Africa, their savings would be worth a great deal more than if an African middle class person emigrated from Africa to the U.K.

The neo-colonialist theory also shares similar traits to the idea of Andre Frank whose Marxist approach is that the richer countries such as America are the metropolises of the world that benefit economically from the satellite countries. This theory suggests that the metropolises exploit the peripheral countries for cheap labour and cheap raw materials. This theory is evidently based on activities between the 16th and 19th century in which Africa was colonised and the rich countries exploited the poorer countries. Therefore the link between the USA and the underdevelopment theory is that the underdevelopment of the 3rd world countries is the product of development in the centre. Sociologist Frank argues that the under-development began through slavery and colonialism in which Africans were shipped over as slaves and were an exceptionally cheap form of labour allowing the British slave-traders and plant owners to reap the profits. With a huge influx of slaves, British industries were able to have a monopoly on certain goods such as cotton.

Arguably the exploitation and colonialisation has led to benefits for African countries. By western countries attempting to “westernize” Africa, they created the foundations of an infrastructure by creating jobs, creating schools for children to be educated [however it can be argued that the only existence for the schools were so that the children could obtain jobs. This would enable the metropolis countries to exploit the students because they have been indoctrinated with the norms and values through school life and the hidden curriculum to work for the metropolis system] and perhaps established a culture that didn’t exist previously. Through the west “modernizing” the “dark continent” as it was known in the 16th century, through a given period the 1st world countries has tried to establish a democratic government. This has resulted in the small minority of bourgeoisies in the poorer country being shipped to the U.K to universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in which they will be taught how to lead a government. This still supports Frank’s theory that the metropolises are still the core nations and the weaker countries such as Sudan are part of the system and have to accept what is imposed upon them. An example of a way the West has tried to influence poorer countries are the impact the USA had on Argentina. The USA “westernized” Argentinean middle/upper classes by placing them through the education system at Harvard, causing the students to be indoctrinated by Western class values. These graduates then ran for election but were unable to run the country democratically as they lacked experience and didn’t have the same resources/infrastructure the USA had. This resulted in a change of power seven times in one week as no leader wanted the responsibility as well as a lack of knowledge of running a country.