Are poor countries poor because rich countries are rich?

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Are poor countries poor because rich countries are rich?

‘The GDP of the world’s poorest 48 nations combined is less than the wealth of the world’s three richest people’. (Ramonet, 1998) When the world began to develop, both politically and economically, due to numerous causes, some countries were able to excel, while others trailed far behind. This pattern of development consequently led to a vast gap in wealth between what can now be termed the global north (N. America, Canada, Europe, Russia and most of Australasia) and the global south (Central and S. America, Africa and most of Asia).

On one hand, there are a number of factors which indicate that the main reason for this difference in wealth is due to the impacts that the rich countries had on the poorer countries. For example, colonization played a significant part in constructing the order of the world today. Colonization began as early as the beginning of the 16th century when European countries, such as Britain and Spain, began to form colonies in parts of Africa, Asia and South America. Although at the time, colonialism was seen as mutually beneficial for both sides, it had considerable unexpected negative impacts for the colonies.  The colonial powers continued to expand their empires by exploiting the rich raw materials and establishing highly profitable trade systems. This increase in wealth gave these countries the power to progress from medieval feudalism to the early stages of capitalism and consequently industrialization and economic prosperity.

European 17th century colonial expansion, international trade, and creation of financial markets produced a new legal and financial environment, one which supported and enabled 18th century industrial growth.’ (Deane, 2003: 244)

Whereas, for the colonies, they received an insignificant proportion of the profits and were subjected to social problems and low standards of living due to the large slave trade. It is therefore not only possible, but a definitive function of global growth that countries grow at differing cycles, these being defined by socio-economic change. Historically, in the era of colonies and dependencies, the colony would provide the resources and the coloniser would avail itself of these resources and not transfer the majority of the economic benefit back to the colony. These colonies created economic dependency on the colonial powers they were associated with, meaning without independent development, it was almost inevitable that they were going to trail behind.

‘Despite the achievements of the past two decades, we are still far from a situation in which the developing countries, relying solely on their own resources, can assure effective and early modernization of their economies…The drive toward modernization has inevitably created conflicts between guardians of tradition and those who seek change’ (Glatzer, 2002: 181)

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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 ...

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