Economically, different countries fall in three cadres either underdeveloped, developing or developed countries. Categorically, developing countries are from the continents of Asia, Africa and South America. However, Japan is the only Asian country, which falls under the class of developed nations, the issue of economic ability of China and South Korea is still under debate. Although some countries from the continents have good economies, the recent political upheavals like in Egypt and Libya have shrunk their capabilities. Except in few cases, the economic, social and political systems are similar. Developing countries have uniform characteristics, which range from political instability, poverty to low life expectancy. The next discussion, which expounds on the characteristics of developing countries, alludes from Thomas Magstadt book Understanding Politics.
Characteristically, developing countries not only present the same features but also, share similar history. Except in a few cases, the economies of the developing countries are unstable. With low GDP value, the social lives of the members are below average. Corruption and political instability contributes to the same but poor economic systems. Investors from the western world are unable to penetrate their economy mainly because of frequent political uprisings. Magstadt a political analyst describes developing countries in terms of “endemic poverty, ethnic, religious or tribal conflicts, widespread illiteracy, political turmoil and glaring inequalities” (262). Therefore, the economic systems of developing countries reflect their politics. Dilapidated infrastructures like road and bridges, poor education systems, underdeveloped health systems and low workforce lead to a slow development of the economy. According to Thomas, infrastructures are, “necessary for integrated national economy” (271) but that is the major problem dragging behind developing countries. Apart from the Asian countries, which have high mineral depots, the developing countries from Sub-Saharan Africa highly depend on agriculture for survival. However, according to economic analysts, “in subsistence Agriculture, there is often little or nothing to tax” and so the governments are unable to build the economy (Magstadt 271). The high level of illiteracy contributes to low labor and so leads to a decline in the economy. Furthermore, the poor health systems not only lead to low life expectancy but also contribute to high maternal and infant mortality rate.
A major result of the similar economic systems is the wide gap between the rich and the poor. There is non-uniform distribution of the resources and so, people cannot adequately contribute to the development of the nation. Thomas writes, “Extremes of wealth and poverty can easily lead to a pervasive sense of injustice and, in turn, to mass revolt” (272), which means workers and community strike or demonstrate citing injustice as their major problem. Consequently, they paralyze economic development. However, Magstadt gives solution to the aforementioned issues by stating that, “readjusting tax burdens and initiating income redistribution are the two other obvious approaches to solve this problem” (272). Therefore, if development countries adjust their traditional beliefs, values and practices then, social and economic change will be inevitable. Promotion of equality especially while distributing resources will make sure that every person contributes to the development process in their country.
Historically, most of the developing countries are former colonies of developed nations like Britain, Belgium, Italy and France among others. They have a similar colonial past and most of them thrive in colonial effects. The post-colonial heritage of the developing nations is uniform. The structures of the political systems are similar to those of their colonizers (western world). Before colonization, most of developing countries had Kingdoms but contemporarily only Morocco and Lesotho still use the same system of ruling. Others like the Buganda kingdom still exist but are powerless because of the presidential system. Most of the leaders practice capitalism, imperialism and favoritism, which are some of the ruling methods perpetrated by colonizers. Socially, they have adapted the languages of the western countries. French and English are the acceptable national languages in most of the developing countries. Surprisingly, the countries have other indigenous languages, which they can adapt. Cultural heritage is almost distinguished because of the perception that their colonizers were superior. Frequent interaction with the western world has led to culture erosion.
Contemporarily, the impact of colonialism still lingers in the developing countries. According to Thomas, “the colonial empires were created without regard to the preexisting ethnic identities, territorial boundaries or loyalty of native populations” and this leads to social or political unrest in the countries (270). Therefore, Thomas blames the western world for the “chronic political instability, coups, revolution, civil wars and even genocides” that often occur (271). Similarly, the issue of Neocolonialism also still bites the developing countries. The western countries indirectly control their economy to enrich themselves because all their investments in the developing countries are to pull resources for their industries back home.
Democracy correlates closely with economic development. Comparing the political and democratic situation in developing countries with developed countries, Magstadt says that “not all rich democracies are rich (although most are), nor are all rich nations democratic (although again most are)” (272). Therefore, the lack of democracy in developing countries leads to social, political and economical instability. When African countries like Kenya, Nigeria, Liberia and Ivory Coast among others decided to practice democracy, election had many irregularities while others the military groups took over the governments. The developing countries should put in place reforms to spur economic growth. Equality, honest and peace are some of the aspects, which would boost the democratic reforms. In addition, the developed countries should play a hand in accelerating democratic reforms, which may promote economic stability. On one hand, democratization is possible because the political offices in the third world countries are accessible by the lucky few. Thus, if the leaders and political parties decide to accept the electorate results then democracy will prevail. On the other hand, it is hard to break a tradition that has existed for a long time, therefore bringing in a new wave of leadership is difficult.
In brief, Magstadt defines developing countries as nations, which “are less developed economically and less modernized socially than are western liberal democracies” (291). The characteristics of developing countries as poor and politically unstable attribute to the impact of colonialism. However, for the nations to become stable they first have to discard their traditional practices like wealth distribution, election irregularities and corruption among other problems. In addition, they have to emulate their western counterparts who are rich. Finally, Magstadt motivates the developing countries by saying, “development is good- always and everywhere” (290) and all nations should embrace it. The economic, political and social stability lies in the hands of the citizens in developing countries, they have to embrace democracy and equality for a better life.
Works cited
Magstadt, Thomas. Understanding politics. United Kingdom: Longman publishers, 2006
