Politics of Development and Collective Economic Development - Case Study Example

Politics of Development Though globalization has improved the interactions between the developed, developing and underdeveloped countries, still because of political and ideological reasons, development becomes a distant dream for many countries. Everybody wants to develop at the expense of others and hence most of the countries have eyes stationed on other’s wealth rather than mobilizing the internal resources. The Iraq war and Afghan war by America, though conducted under the brand name “War on Terror” many people believe that the actual reason for these wars are the exploitation of natural wealth in these countries. Many people believe that America is experiencing severe shortage of oil resources and drinking water resources and hence they have definitely some hidden agenda behind these attacks. Iraq is blessed with immense oil and drinking water resources while Afghanistan also has huge deposits of minerals and metals. Neo-colonialism Neocolonialism can be defined as the continuation of the economic model of colonialism after a colonized territory has achieved formal political independence. This concept was applied most commonly to Africa in the latter half of the twentieth century. European countries had colonized most of the continent in the late nineteenth century, instituting a system of economic exploitation in which African raw materials, particularly cash crops and minerals, were expropriated and exported to the sole benefit of the colonizing power. The idea of neocolonialism, however, suggests that when European powers granted nominal political independence to colonies in the decades after World War II, they continued to control the economies of the new African countries (Falola &Heaton, 2009) Neo-colonialism is the involvement of developed countries in the developing world. Most of the developing countries were under the rule of the colonial powers earlier. Now even after getting independence, these colonial powers are trying to interfere into the politics of developing countries. In short Neocolonialism may refer as the involvement of powerful countries in the affairs of less powerful countries. As per the common belief the independent countries may grow faster both politically and economically because of the less barriers they have to face in economic activities. Bu the above theory was not correct at least the African countries are concerned. Their economy has even worsened under independence and many economic Gurus now seeking answers for the above problem. Now many people believe that the situation was far better in Africa under the foreign rule compared to the present. Freedom has been misused by the African people and politicians. Even after independence, the main revenue source for African countries was the export of raw materials to the colonial powers who ruled them earlier. But these colonial powers refused to pay adequate prices for these raw materials and hence the economy has never grown up. Moreover the poor African countries did not have any industrial facilities or expertise to utilize these resources in a fruitful manner. They were forced to export it to these colonial powers who ruled them earlier for whatever the prices determined by the colonial powers. The colonial powers refused to pay the adequate prices which resulted in the underdevelopment of African economies, while Western industries thrived. “A good example of this process is the West African cocoa industry in the 1960s: during this time, production increased rapidly in many African countries; overproduction, however, led to a reduction in the selling price of cocoa worldwide” (Falola &Heaton, 2009) The African countries were forced to depend foreign aid since they were unable to grow through the exports of their natural resources. But most of the foreign aid sources were controlled by these colonial powers themselves and they never allowed the African countries to grow through such aids by imposing high interest rates and strict rules and regulatiuons for the repayment of these loans. “Most foreign aid has been given in the form of loans, bearing high rates of interest; repayment of these loans contributed to the underdevelopment of African economies because the collection of interest ultimately impoverished African peoples.” (Falola &Heaton, 2009) Another important reason for the underdevelopment of African countries is the political instability and internal and external agitations. The colonial powers before giving independence to African countries has implemented a process called "balkanization" in which the colonizers had broken Africa into dozens of administrative units in order to govern it more effectively. (Falola &Heaton, 2009) Balkanization is a political term used to describe the process of fragmentation or division of a region or state into smaller regions or states. The hidden agenda behind these balkanization was to prevent economic developments of these countries. Colonizers believed that if the African countries were able to grow economically they will not be able to exploit the African wealth anymore. Moreover the balkanization has resulted in reducing the economic strength while increasing the problems between the countries which undergone balkanization. India and Pakistan are other examples of balkanization process implemented by the colonial power Britain when they granted freedom to these countries. On the other hand the opponents of neocolonialism theory argue that the concept is merely an attempt to continue to blame colonialism for Africas problems rather than confront the major issues hampering independent African governments, such as corruption, inefficiency, and protectionism (Falola &Heaton, 2009) Corruption and illegal activities are seen in African cultures more than anywhere else. In fact corruption and bribery is a social custom and political instability is one of the worst problems seen in many African countries. The agitations and violence between different ethnic groups in Africa is immense so that economic development is almost impossible. In short, both the colonial powers and the African culture has equal responsibilities in the underdevelopment of these countries. Relationship between developed countries and developing countries in the modern times The colonial powers, super powers or developed countries who engaged in the political matters earlier are trying to interfere into the economic matters of developing countries as per the new trends. For example, World Trade Organization (WTO) International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asian Development Bank (ADB) etc are seen as the toys in the hand of developed countries to interfere into the economy of developing countries. In order to get aids from these bodies’ developing countries need to implement the strict rules of these bodies in their domestic and international economic activities. For example, in order to get aid from ADB, India like developing countries needs to implement lot of reforms in their public and private sectors. As per the reform strategies suggested by ADB, India needs to privatize many of its profitable public organizations, stop public distribution systems, stop governmental involvement in public utilities systems like water, energy and transporting etc in order to get aid from ADB. Since privatization of public utility systems and organizations will prepare way for the entry of foreign organizations in these sectors, many people believe that the above proposal by these international bodies is motivated by the pressure exerted upon them by the colonial powers. No developed countries wanted to see another developing country becoming developed since they fear that their influence and bargaining capacities will be reduced in world matters if more and more countries achieve the same status as their own. For example, India is rapidly becoming a super power and as per the secret report given to the American administration by some of their governmental agencies, the sustained economic growth in India will make them a super power within 20 years of time. The current economic crisis has affected America drastically while the Indian economy has escaped without much injuries. America though reluctant in establishing any ties between India earlier because of India’s polarization towards former Soviet Union, at present they have realized the importance of India in south Asia in order to tackle the stiff challenges from China. The recently signed nuclear agreement is one of the best examples of the increased cooperation between a developed country (America) and a developing country (India). In both the countries these agreements has supporters and opponents. In India, the opponents believed that this agreement will impose restrictions on India’s further nuclear experiments while the government has rejected such a claim saying that India is already a nuclear power and this agreement will never prevent India from conducting further experiments. Dr. Subhash Kapila in his article, Indo-US Nuclear Deal: The 123 Agreement argues that air of suspicion and speculation would have been cleared had the Indian Prime Minister chosen to once again re-assert what he had asserted twice on the floor of the Parliament that India’s strategic autonomy, its strategic nuclear programme, and the attendant questions of reprocessing and future nuclear tests would not be compromised (Dr. Kapila, 2009)On the other hand in America also the opponents argued that more restrictions on India should be implemented in the agreement in order to prevent India from misusing the technology and the nuclear fuels provided by the nuclear material supplier groups. “U.S. negotiators faced the challenge of circumventing U.S. law, which prohibits the export of reprocessing technology to countries that have not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while their Indian counterparts fought an uphill battle to convince parliament that the agreement did not undermine sovereignty” (Clifton, 2009) The developments in Information & Communication Technology (ICT) have re defined the relationships between countries, especially between developed and developing. ‘It offers increased opportunities for economic development and plays a critical role in rapid economic change, productive capacity improvements and international competitiveness enhancement for developing countries. ICT is believed to be a powerful enabling tool to address some of the key barriers and challenges for entering the global economy and for future growth potential. It can transform old challenges and create unprecedented possibilities for sustainable economic development, just as it has done for businesses in the industrial world.’ (Ndou, 2004). Internet and other communication technologies cannot be utilized effectively within the boundaries of a country. Information are scattered all over the world and all the countries are in need of these information from around the world in order to formulate their strategies. Most of the optical fibber cables using for the transmission of information through internet to all over the world are passing through the underwater cables. Any damages caused to these cables will affect the business of the concerning countries. The interdependence of economy of different countries is evident from the recent global economic recession. Any changes happening at one country may affect other countries as well because of the globalization policies adopted by many countries. Healthy relationship between countries is the main element required for the successful implementation of globalization policies. Even China which is following the socialist rule, is keen in improving the relationship between America like democratic countries in order to utilize the globalization and liberalization advantages. They wanted to sell out their products in global markets and for that purpose they were even ready to obey the World Trade Organization (WTO) laws though many socialist republics blame WTO as a toy in the hands of capitalist countries like America and England. Conclusions Economic development and politics has definite relationships. Mutual relationship building is the core of collective economic development. In African countries, the economy is not developing as fast in some other countries because of the so many reasons like political agitations, corruption, violence between different ethnic groups etc. Moreover the colonial powers also responsible for the underdevelopment of African countries because of their policies to exploit the wealth of these countries. On the other hand the relationship between developing countries and the developed countries has improved a lot in the current century mainly because of the globalization policies adopted by many countries. No country can economically grow without establishing a healthy relationship with the other developing or developed countries. In short internal and external politics plays a vital role in the proper shaping of economies of different countries. References 1. Falola Toyin & Heaton Matthew (2009), Neocolonialism – Bibliography, Retrieved on April 27, 2009 from http://science.jrank.org/pages/7920/Neocolonialism.html 2. Dr. Kapila Subhash, (2009), Indo-US Nuclear Deal: The 123 Agreement Retrieved on April 27, 2009 from http://www.boloji.com/plainspeak/084.htm 3. Clifton Eli, (2009) US-INDIA: 123’ Nuclear Agreement Completed, Retrieved on April 27, 2009 from http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=38700 4. NdouValentina(Dardha),(2004) E-Government for Developing Countries: Opportunities and Challenges Retrieved on April 27, 2009 from http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:JUQj7HzV90YJ:unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/untc/unpan018634.pdf+Relationship+between+developed+countries+and+developing+countries&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk Read More