Answer to Question #126074 in Economics for Prince Wonsongmah

Question

“It is unfair to compare the experience of now developing countries under colonialism to what might have happened without foreign domination”. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this assertion.

Answer 1

The deepening and expansion of economic ties in the world for a long time (especially during the period of the dominance of colonialism and neocolonialism, actually until the 1980s) was due to the transformation of many economies into raw materials or agricultural appendages of developed states. Therefore, many believed that the center (West) can exist only by constantly exploiting the periphery and imposing economic specialization on subordinate countries, which retains the leadership of developed countries.

However, the modern policies of a number of developing countries that have had the experience of a colonial past have proven successful in terms of supporting industrialization and accelerated development of these countries. But without a favorable flow of capital and technology from developed economies, their success would be extremely limited. Reforms succeed (ceteris paribus) when there are favorable circumstances for them.

That is, the colonial past of countries is largely ambiguous. From an economic point of view, these countries received, albeit on a very limited scale, access to the achievements of civilization, technology, and some of the civilization's balgs. On the other hand, historically it happened that the colonialists did not have a great deal of understanding of the features of the development of the colonies, which led to the loss of labor and other potential in some colonies.