Lara Dakermanji

Essay Paper: Colonialism as a major cause of third

world poverty

By:Lara Dakermanji

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Lara Dakermanji

  Colonialism as a major cause of third world poverty

Introduction:

A big number of people around the world suffer from poverty. Thus poverty can be define as a

need, that affect people when they lack enough income and resources to live adequately by the

accepted living standards of their community 1. Poverty is not only limited to need but also is

considered as a type of suffering that spreads its influence among millions of people. Hence

those poor human beings are eager to find food in order to survive and stay healthy, as they

cannot afford to pay for a good medical care when they are ill. To be in a poverty condition, this

brings despair, anger or lack of interest in anything. Most of severe poverty cases are found in

third world countries where there is more than 100 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia

(including the Middle East) that are categorized as developing countries 2. They are former

colonies of industrial nations, and one of the causes of their present poverty is their colonial past.

Thus the best definition for colonialism is “the practice of dominance, which involves the

subjugation of one people to another, it also involves political and economic control over

dependent territory; and includes the exercise of power of one country over the other; and this is

through settlement, sovereignty or indirect mechanism of control” 3. When developing nations

colonized most of third world countries they deprived them of much of their wealth. As a result

these developing nations have faced many problems in their search for economic modernization

strategies. Their search for a successful strategy contrasted with the strategies of the western

1
Encyclopedia Britannica, “Poverty”, pg 1( The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica publisher, 2014).
2
Gordon, Gonway, “ Rural poverty report” pg 9-10, ( IFAD Imperial college London publisher, 2013)
3
Stanford University, “Colonialism”, pg 1, (Stanford publisher, 2012)

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Lara Dakermanji

capitalist systems and the communist systems4. However the problem is that most of the third

world nations still face severe obstacles in discovering their own successful strategies for

economic development. In this paper I will discuss how colonialism is the major cause for

poverty in the third world countries also interpret and analyze the factors that helped poverty to

spread in the developing countries. Thus my thesis statements will be a study on: How did

colonialism affected third world countries and caused them poverty and

underdevelopment?

Body paragraph 1:

Nowadays the leading forces of modernization in the western capitalist nations were the

enterprising native business class and the mechanical technologies which were locally developed

and controlled to serve -initially- a domestic market; later those businesses started to grow and

became interested in maintaining a leading role in the international trade. As a result they started

seeking for better new places (countries) where they can sell their products in order to become

richer and start to operate on an international level 5. As for the Soviet model of communism, the

state used military-like mobilization techniques in launching a fast and forced industrialization

focusing on heavy and defense industries. So, the strong centralized state monopolized the

leading role. This type of industrialization which implied full control of the national economy

and neglected the international trade caused problems to the soviet countries in the post-

communist era6. As a result, the soviet countries had featured some of third world problems. At

the same time, most developing countries are still searching for economic success in the

4
John Nagle, “ Introduction to comparative politics”, pg 284, (Fourth edition, Nelson Hall, 1995)
5
John Nagle, “ Introduction to comparative politics”, pg 286, (Fourth edition, Nelson Hall, 1995)
6
John Nagle, “ Introduction to comparative politics”, pg 286, (Fourth edition, Nelson Hall, 1995)

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Lara Dakermanji

international economy, but at the same time most of these countries are still facing problems of

economic development without having the native business class and the locally developed

technology of classic capitalism and the strong state with mobilization and control capacities of

communism7. Hence, Third world regimes are weak, and most of them lack the resources and

skills to implement a comprehensive development project. In addition, many third world regimes

have been overthrown by military coup or civil uprising. Thus, the lack of knowledge, resources

and security is good enough to leave most of third world countries unstable and unable to

develop on their own.

Body paragraph 2:

Adding to the problems that prevent third world countries from developing efficiently is their

high growth rate of population which has complicated all the attempts to raise their people’s

living standards. Thus this growth depletes resources and requires higher level of economic

growth just to maintain the current living standards 8. This is due to the advanced medical

practices of the west used throughout the colonies, causing to a rapid drop in death rates while

birthrate remains high. Population planning might lower the birthrate significantly, but the

effects of population growth will continue to affect the prospects of development, because most

of the developing countries are made from agricultural societies where people bring a lot of

children to help them in the land. As for the people who do not have lands but are still affected

by the idea of a big family, their children are pushed to work in factories and big corporations of

first world countries with low wages to help supporting their big families. This trend introduced

many developing nations to the phenomena of child labor where many children are dropped out

7
John Nagle, “ Introduction to comparative politics”, pg 287, (Fourth edition, Nelson Hall, 1995)

8
Carrol Joy, “Recurring Questions on Third World development”, pg 1, ( Share international publisher, 1987)

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Lara Dakermanji

of schools and pushed to work in factories to help their parents in providing a better living

conditions9. When generations of children are being used to help either in the land or work in

factories, this increase the level of illiteracy among third world countries which further leave

these nations struggle in poverty and keep them underdeveloped. Most of first world countries

which have big international corporations do not pay attention to the harm that they are causing

when they accept children to work in their factories with low wages, thus most of the developed

nations seek behind their economic interests on the advance of increasing poverty and illiteracy

in third world countries.

Body paragraph 3:

The rapid growth rate in third world countries took place before the developing countries had

achieved food security. In developed countries, when populations started to grow they were able

to provide a good living conditions thus their development was build upon traditional techniques

using modern industrial technology10. However, when this demographic transition (population

growth) occurred in the developing countries, they lacked modernity and good economy that can

support the advancement of agriculture. In return when agriculture stayed limited to primitive

techniques of growing crops, it became hard to feed the increasing amount of people and provide

them with the required standards of nutrition. As a result, there was several attempts by

developed countries to help improve agriculture in the third world nations, thus the Green

Revolution that took place in East Asia and Latin America in the 1960’s was found to improve

the agricultural productivity of certain types of crops, such as developing new rice varieties in

East Asia, and new wheat varieties in South America and the Middle East 11. When the green

9
Carrol Joy, “Recurring Questions on Third World development”, pg 2, ( Share international publisher, 1987)
10
Gordon, Gonway, “ Rural poverty report” pg 35-40, ( IFAD Imperial college London publisher, 2013)
11
International food policy research institute, “Green revolution”, pg 1-2, (Washington. DC, 2003)

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Lara Dakermanji

revolution was launched, it was thought that it will improve agriculture in third world countries

and turn hungry nations into crop exporters. However, though the green revolution was able to

increase the crop production, but it did not spread in many developing countries, thus the new

seed varieties required more fertilizers and pesticides, and new irrigation methods that needed

newly-developed machinery, all of which cost money12. So, only the minority of big landowners

in the poor countries can afford to adopt the new technology. As a result only rich farmers

profited from the green revolution, while poor peasants did not profit because they could not

afford the new technology. This lead to social polarization, a minority of more productive rich

farmers on one side and a majority of less productive poor peasants on the other side 13. The green

revolution proved that a western technology with western experience may not produce the

expected development that satisfies basic human needs in the third world. Thus despite the great

results that the Green Revolution has achieved however the agriculture in the third world

countries is still suffering due to cost factors for poor farmers (they need financial support), the

lack of attention to sustained agricultural research, and the domination of private-sector

commercial interests in priorities for agricultural research 14. Therefore, in order to produce basic

food security for the whole population, the advancement of agricultural strategy should take into

account social equity and not rely on technological advances that are costly.

Body paragraph 4:

When the third world countries entered the international system they entered it mainly to export

inexpensive raw material and fuel to the rich western countries and import expensive
12
International food policy research institute, “Green revolution”, pg 2, (Washington. DC, 2003)
13
International food policy research institute, “Green revolution”, pg 2-3, (Washington. DC, 2003)
14
International food policy research institute, “Green revolution”, pg 3, (Washington. DC, 2003)

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Lara Dakermanji

manufactured goods and high-technology equipment from them. This unfair trading kept the

third world under-developed and made the first world more developed and richer. The reason

behind this is that most governing elites in the third world have accepted this unequal

relationship in order to benefit from the cooperation within the international trading system,

although it does not satisfy the basic human needs of the poor 15. Inequalities in power between

rich and poor nations are clear in military intervention, and there were several cases where the

western powers have intervened militarily even after formal decolonization such as the

intervention in Lebanon in the 1980’s16. For this reason, the military and police forces of many

third world nations have been depending on the developed nations for their armaments,

leadership and training17.

Body paragraph 5:

As for the liberty in third world countries it is still lower than any of the Western liberal

democracies. Thus the intervention of strong outside forces from the rich Western nations into

third world dependent systems has placed limitations on the exercise of political and civil

freedoms. The realization of personal liberty in the third world is tied to both transnational and

domestic factors. Those most frequently permitted liberties are the rights of property ownership

and emigration, which support the continuation of dependency. These most frequently

suppressed, are the rights of free trade unions, workers political organizations, free speech and

press, and peasant activist movements, which generally challenge local power structures and

international dependency relations18. When any of the third world countries seek for complete

independence and liberty in a way that threaten the western interests, first world nations attempt
15
Ofeish, Sami. PSIA 202Class notes, Fall 2014.
16
Ofeish, Sami. PSIA 221Class notes, Fall 2014.
17
Ofeish, Sami. PSIA 202 Class notes, Fall 2014.
18
Ofeish, Sami. PSIA 202Class notes, Fall 2014

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Lara Dakermanji

to re-impose acceptable limits or suppress the political liberty of the developing countries. Thus

for Western nations, almost any government is acceptable as long as it does not threaten the

freedom of western-owned multinational companies to invest and repatriate profits or the social

existence of the local propertied elites 19. Even dictatorships are accepted if they receive trade

investments and military aid from Western resources. On the other hand, third world nations that

accepted economic and military aid from the Soviet Union have been also minimally accepted

because, from the west’s point of view, they are dealing with the enemy20.

The most obvious form of western intervention is direct military invasion. So, because it is so

obvious a limitation on political freedom, direct military action is only used after other more

limited tactics are judged to be insufficient or ineffective such as economic sanction and threats

of economic reprisals are common weapons for affecting the politics of third world nations.

Talking about the case of India:

India is the second largest country in the world in population. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, the

population increased by around 18 million per year. The main reason for this “population

explosion” is that improved sanitation and health care have caused a fall in the death rate. Since

the its independence in August 1947 the Indian constitution which was adopted in November

1948 declared India as an independent, democratic republic and followed the policy of

neutrality. Despite the large economy that India owns in terms of its gross domestic product

(GDP), poverty is still widespread. This goes to the large population and the imbalance division

of wealth among the Indian people where most of the money lay in the hand of the elites that

operate directly with western powers21. However, in order to cause more balance in the
19
Ofeish, Sami. PSIA 221Class notes, Fall 2014
20
Ofeish, Sami. PSIA 211Class notes, Fall 2014
21
John Nagle, “ Introduction to comparative politics”, pg 355-360, (Fourth edition, Nelson Hall, 1995)

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Lara Dakermanji

distribution of wealth, the Indian state increased its interference in certain industries also

supported domestic technology. Thus India was trying to promote a private market economy in

addition to heavy state sector involvement and privileges. Despite the efforts that the Indian

government is doing to modernize India and cause equality, one can still see forms of repression

and exploitation on labors and women in addition to high level of pollution. To improve this

situation, a locally based market-type way of development from the bottom up should be

followed with greater self-reliance and freedom of initiative. This can be achieved under

democratic politics that can eliminate elite privileges peacefully22.

Conclusion:

Last but not least one can say that colonialism has had both good and bad effect on colonies. The

good effects lay in the introduction of western agricultural, industrial and medical techniques. At

the same time the colonial powers often exploited their colonies economically. They also limited

the colonies to producing mainly raw materials and obliged them to buy expensive manufactured

goods which left most of third world countries drown in debt. Although there were advantages

for the colonies in becoming part of the worldwide economic system, but at the same time most

of third world countries stayed underdeveloped Due to this complicated dependent relation

between first world countries and third world countries it will be hard to eliminate poverty

because this needs a major change in the formation of the world system to guarantee complete

independence and equality to the third world nations.

Word count: 2500

22
John Nagle, “ Introduction to comparative politics”, pg 355-360, (Fourth edition, Nelson Hall, 1995)

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Lara Dakermanji

Reference list
Encyclopedia Britanica. Poverty. 4 June 2014.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/473136/poverty (accessed December 14)

Gonway, Gordon. Rural poverty report. IFAD. Imperial college London. 2013.
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Lara Dakermanji

http://www.ifad.org/rpr2011/report/e/rpr2011.pdf (accessed 27 November 2014).

International food policy research institute. Green revolution. Washington. DC. 2003.

http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/pubs/pubs/ib/ib11.pdf (accessed December 14)

Joy, Carrol. Recurring Questions on Third World development. Share international.

July/August 1987.http://www.share-international.org/archives/hunger_poverty/hp_3rdworld.html

(accessed December 14)

Nagle, John. Introduction to comparative politics, Fourth edition, Nelson Hall. 1995.

Ofeish, Sami. Class notes by Dr. Sami Ofeish. PSIA 202. Spring 2013.

Ofeish, Sami. Class notes by Dr. Sami Ofeish. PSIA 221. Fall 2014.

Ofeish, Sami. Class notes by Dr. Sami Ofeish. PSIA 211. Fall 2014.

Stanford University. Colonialism. Stanford press. 10 April 2012.

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism (accessed December 14)

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