DEVELOPED DEVELOPING UNDERDEVELOPED COUNTRIES

Developed, Developing, and Underdeveloped Countries

Developed, Developing, and Underdeveloped Countries

Introduction

Developed economies are those economies which have been developed in terms of resources and economic conditions. These include economies from the global north such as Germany, Britain, France, United States of America etc. Developing economies are those economies which are striving to come out of their social, economic and political crisis. They currently lack what developed economies owe such as political stability, strong economic indicators, free market system, democracy etc. The developing economies include economies of global south or rapidly emerging economies such as India, China, Brazil, Turkey etc. These economies have greater chances to become stronger in coming future. However underdeveloped countries are usually referred to third world countries which are in worse conditions as compared to the developing and developed countries. These economies lack political stability, face military intervention, very high poverty line, greater unemployment, greater default risks and greater economic problems.

Many liberal theorists would argue that by ignoring the underlying problems of their economies, and by using private banks to fund serious balance of payments problems, governments in the under-developed countries were avoiding the issue of economic adjustment (Jackson, 2006). An alternative reading of events, mostly to be found in the under-developed countries itself, argues that while the collapse of the international financial system appears to have been avoided, the issue of underdeveloped-countries debt remains a crisis of development. Here more responsibility is assigned to the commercial banks that, with the support of governments in the West, engaged in a reckless lending strategy.

Discussion

It is assumed that the under-developed countries represents a stable set of countries, nations, and territories, but the geographic boundaries between first, second, and under-developed countries countries is vague. The under-developed countries, as a term, has also been used in political movements. (Trish, 2004) suggests that during the anti-Vietnam War and civil rights movements, a number of organizations used Under-developed countries to identify themselves as liberation oriented, anticapitalist, and anticolonialist or postimperialist.

Patterns that Characterize Developed and Underdeveloped Countries

Under-developed nations share some broad characteristics. Most were at one time European colonies and share a postcolonial legacy of political instability and repressive governments. They fall within a wide spectrum (Isbister, 2003). While some of these countries are now stable, others are burgeoning democracies. A large number of Under-developed countries countries still struggle under dictatorial governments and lack well-organized political structures. Civil wars and ethnic conflicts are yet other legacies of both colonization and the arbitrary repartition of traditional lands (Farmer, 2003). Weak political infrastructures are often associated with less engaged civil societies and a lack of national identity—pitting predatory states against exploited and voiceless masses. Most people in the Under-developed countries still do not have access to appropriate sanitation, clean water and electricity, good roads, and communication (Escobar, 2005).

They have experienced rapid shifts toward export production at the expense of production for local consumption and traditional methods that used to ensure sustainability. These changes inevitably lead to marginal economies characterized by high unemployment rates, low ...