Global Issues. Kristen A. Hite
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Название: Global Issues

Автор: Kristen A. Hite

Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited

Жанр: Социология

Серия:

isbn: 9781119538486

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ along with the discouragement of local manufacturing competing with manufacturing in the mother countries, prevented the economic development of the colonies. The terms of trade – what one can obtain from one’s export – favored the European nations, since the prices of the primary products from the colonies remained low while the prices of the manufactured products sent back to the colonies continually increased. It was the political power of the “core” that determined the global economic structure, rather than the economic “laws” of the market.

      When most of the colonies gained their independence after World War II, this trade pattern continued. Many resource rich yet economically poor countries still produce food and minerals for the world market and primarily trade with their former colonial powers. The world demand for the products from the poorer nations fluctuates greatly, and the prices of these products remain depressed. The political and social systems that developed in the former colonies also serve to keep the majority within these nations poor. A local elite, which grew up when these countries were under colonial domination, learned to benefit from the domination by the Western countries. In a sense, two societies were created in these countries: one, relatively modern and prosperous, revolved around the export sector; while the other consisted of the rest of the people, who remained in the traditional system and were poor. The local elite, which became the governing elite upon independence, acquired a taste for Western products, which the industrial nations were happy to sell them at a good price.

      Advocates for a state approach point to the adverse terms of trade that many poorer countries face today. There is general agreement that there has been a long‐term decline in the terms of trade for many of the agricultural and mineral products that these resource rich nations export. There has also been great volatility in the prices of some of these products, with a change of 25 percent or more from one year to the next not uncommon for some products. Such fluctuations make economic planning very difficult. There is also clear evidence that the industrialized countries, while primarily trading among themselves, are highly dependent on other countries for many crucial raw materials, including chromium, manganese, cobalt, bauxite, tin, and, of course, oil.

      Finally, the defenders of a state approach argue that there is little chance for many poor nations to achieve as fair a distribution of income as that achieved by Europe after it industrialized. This situation has evolved because controlling elites have repressive tools at their disposal (such as sophisticated police surveillance devices and powerful weapons) that the European elites did not have. This allows them to deal with pressures from the “have‐nots” in a way the Europeans never resorted to.

      Critics of a state approach point to the breakup of the Soviet empire in Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, and to the collapse of communism in the former Soviet Union and the breakup of that country in the early 1990s, as support for their view that the state approach cannot efficiently produce wealth. In fact, it was the dissatisfaction of Eastern Europeans with their economic conditions that played a large role in their massive opposition to the existing communist governments and their eventual overthrow. Dissatisfaction with economic conditions also played a large role in the overthrow of the Soviet government, a startling rejection of the state approach by a people who had lived under it for 70 years.

Photo displaying a poster of a Community Party conference in Nepal, with text “Combat liquidationism and dogmatism! Creatively apply and develop Marxism!”

      Source: Ab Abercrombie.

      Some critics say that central planning has proven to be an inefficient allocator of resources wherever it has been followed. Without prices from the free market to indicate the real costs of goods and services, the central planners cannot make good decisions. And if efficient central planning has proven to be impossible in a country such as the former Soviet Union, it has proven to be even worse in nations where governmental administrative capability is weak. A final criticism of central planning is that it always leads to a large, inefficient governmental bureaucracy.

      Even less invasive forms of state involvement in the economy tend to provoke similar criticisms. The state, lacking a profit motive or the threat of bankruptcy, is going to be less responsive to changes in economic conditions that may necessitate a change in policy. Further, that excessive government involvement in the economy means the state is “picking winners and losers,” a process that virtually invites corruption. And finally, that the state cannot become involved in the economy without making value choices that are better left to individual consumers.

      Finally, the critics of a state approach argue that political elites have used dependency theory, especially in Latin America where the theory is popular, to gain local political support among the bureaucracy, military, and the masses. To blame the industrial nations for their poverty frees them from taking responsibility for their own development and excuses their lack of progress. It also frees them from having to clean their own houses of governmental corruption and incompetence and stop following misguided economic development approaches. According to some critics, the newly industrializing countries have shown that when market principles are followed, economic progress can be made even by nations that have a dense population and few, if any, natural resources.