When the countries finally began to gain their independence, this generated many other problems, which affected their development. Under the rule of foreign government, all groups of people were treated the same. However, when the countries were left to govern on their own, minority groups and people from different religious backgrounds created enormous conflict, leading to civil wars and political instability.
‘Since independence in 1956, Sudan's political situation has been very unstable. Sudan experienced several coups d'état and conflicts. Shortly after independence, the Christian southerners, upset by the strict Islamic laws, which had been put in place by the government, which was dominated by the Muslim northerners, began a civil war to gain independence for the south.’ (National Economies Encyclopaedia)
Revolutionary wars also broke out during the de-colonisation of nations, which again meant that governments were more concerned with the political situation in their countries and therefore had less time to dedicate to the economy and creating international trade links as well as policies to increase commodity output. They also lacked major capital needed to begin industrialising. Europe and North America experienced industrial revolutions and technological advances, such as the steam engine, which helped increase agricultural and product output and therefore immense capital from exports.
‘Technological innovation was the heart of the industrial revolution and the key enabling technology was the invention and improvement of the ’ (Hudson, 1992)
Another major reason which puts forward the idea that poor countries are poor because of the rich is globalisation, debt and unfair trade. Many MEDCs (More economically developed countries), mainly EU member states, claim to support sustainable development in the poorer countries. However, in reality they oppress the poor through exploitation: ‘For every dollar given in aid, two are stolen through unfair trade, costing the poor world $100 billion a year,'' (Chong Chan-yau: 2002) Multi-national corporations (MNCs), such as Phillip Morris (Unfair Trade.co.uk), set up factories in poorer countries and exploit the cheap labor as well as creating dangerous social conditions, as workers are paid next to nothing to work long hours: ‘it costs a manufacturer like Nike a mere £3.75 to get a shoemaker to make a shoe. The company can then sell off the shoe for as much as £120’. (Gregory, L.) In addition, some countries which produce surpluses in agricultural products dump the excess goods into the markets of poorer economies. As supply increases, so does the price of goods, causing problems for the local economy. Major decisions about trade and the international market are made by the rich countries. Although governments claim to be pro-development for the poorer countries, they are capable of making decisions, which can ruin the less powerful economies:
‘Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) are comprehensive free trade instruments that are set to force countries to eliminate trade barriers to almost all EU imports. This will expose family farmers and fledgling industry to direct and unfair competition from powerful European corporations - driving farmers off their land and causing mass unemployment...this could lead to the collapse of West Africa's manufacturing sector’. (The Guardian: 2007)
However, one the other hand, one can argue that the effect of some countries becoming rich did not cause poverty in others. ‘Before 1492…many of these regions in all three continents were at the same level of development…Europe was not in any way ahead of Africa and Asia in development or even the preconditions for development’. (Blaut, 1993: 2)
While in most rich countries, the political system which governs is democratic, where citizens are able to make free and fair decisions and voice their opinions, in many poor countries, they are controlled by dictatorship. Dictators and their government are often corrupt, using much of the country’s wealth for their own personal gain and creating wars as well as disregarding policies. ‘General Sani Abacha who was president of Nigeria from 1993 until his death in 1998 is reputed to have stolen some 3-4 billion’ (World Bank)
Rich countries have been helping poor countries to develop in various different forms of aid. In many developing countries, education has never been thought of as a priority. It is in fact the developed countries, which are trying to introduce education. NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are setting up programs for educating the local populations to manage their own resources and significant strides have been made to ensure that control of the economy is handled by an increasingly better educated population. As education and social conditions improve, the theory is that these countries will eventually become less dependent on external management of their economies, and the economic growth will benefit the nation rather than foreign corporations. Education will lead to development as both men and women are able to learn the important skills needed to enter the workforce and build networks to boost the economy. This transformation from emerging market to a more industrialised economy depends to a great extent on education to create a better informed people, social reform to assist them when they need this, and a more democratic process that encourages personal aspirations. Such change took centuries to create the industrialised leaders of the world today and in part thanks to the technological revolution of the last 50 years, this progress is likely to be more accelerated in Africa.
Developing countries borrow large sums of money from richer countries in order to compete in the international market, especially for oil. However, as interest rates increase, often the countries are unable to repay their debt, therefore preventing economic growth. Talking about the change in the world economy during the 1980s, ‘The debt crisis in Latin America continued to decline...these countries had difficulty in meeting their foreign debt repayments and were generally unable to borrow additional capital to sustain economic growth’. (Jorge, 1997: 97)
The final point is the environmental and social situation of many poor countries, which is completely disconnected to the effects of rich countries. For example, ‘The countries with the lowest GDP per capita are mostly in sub-Saharan Africa’ (Imperial University, 2006) and the majority of African countries every year are subjected to environmental catastrophes, such as drought or flooding, which has an enormous effect on the economy and the people as it leads to famine and scarcity of resources.
"Scarcities can contribute to heightened grievances and alter the opportunity structure in three ways; first, scarcities can cause social segmentation; second, scarcities damage the relations between state and society; and/or third, scarcities debilitate the strength of institutions, in particular the state.... Factors raising the level of grievance within the population change the political opportunities’ (Homer-Dixon, 1999: 3)
In addition, many poorer countries have severe disease problems, which they do not have the money to prevent. ‘Inhabited by just over 12% of the world's population, Africa is estimated to have more than 60% of the AIDS-infected population’ (BBC News: 2007) However, one could again, argue that this has become a humanitarian issue, and that it is the lack of funding from rich nations and individuals to really make a difference, that is preventing these countries from development.
In conclusion, poor countries are not poor simply because rich countries are rich, but they have perhaps played a significant role in the widening gap between the two. The economic development of the world will always lead to a relative difference between the prosperity of nations and throughout history this has always been the case. However, whilst in the first half of the last century it would have been much harder for poor countries to become rich without the assistance of the rich countries, globalisation, that has come primarily from technology, suggests that by encouraging trade, having benign fiscal policies, and promoting personal development has lead to rapid development in many of the poorer countries. A number of them are beginning to emerge as great contributors in the world economy. For example, in the last decade, China and India have seen economic growth which they could not have foreseen only a decade ago. Today it is the economies of these two countries which determine global growth in a number of areas such as commodities, trade, shipping and manufacturing. The biggest bank in the world by market capitalisation is now Chinese, not American (China Daily: 2007).
Poor countries that have become rich in the last twenty years have done so at a much faster pace than previously. The Eastern bloc countries that were created when the USSR was dismantled and rise of oil-rich countries in the Middle East and finally India and China have completed the cycle from ‘poor’ to ‘rich’ countries in less time than any other of the major economies of the world. (Gerschenkron: 1962) In addition, with many organisations such as the UN assisting the poor countries, great development and prosperity is not unattainable.
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