Poor Nations Are Poor Because the First World Is Rich - Essay Example

? Poverty in third world nations Introduction There is an evident divide among the nations of the worlds today. The developed world is characterized by remarkable infrastructure, the best educational systems, and good health care systems. On the contrary, there are poor nations with people living on less than a dollar a day, deplorable health care systems, malnutrition and lack of clean water. The sharp contrast could be argued to have been caused by exploitation of the poor by the rich countries. The following discourse seeks to analyze the fact that poor nations are so because of the rich nations. The reasons outlined are unfair monopolization of resources in the poor nations by the rich nations, slavery, and unfair money lending policies by leading financial instituitions. The reason as to why poor nations are lagging behind is the unfair monopolization of their mineral resources by rich first world countries. When third world countries discover some lucrative resources within their borders, in most cases they lack the resources and skills to exploit these minerals. First world countries are quick to come in and offer the much needed skilled workforce and machinery which come at a price to the poor nations as the first world countries end up with the greatest profit from any such mineral exploitation. An example of this is in the mining industry in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The country has the largest deposits of cobalt as well as a sizeable amount of gold, diamonds, copper and tin. Yet the government’s deals with unscrupulous foreigners have robbed the natives of much needed funds thus failing to enrich them (Finkelhor, 2009). The richest countries are the leaders in energy consumption and pollution. The world’s largest economies are to a greater extent responsible for the environmental problems of this time. The world is however shared by all. Poor nations same as rich nations have to put up with the effects of pollution such as global warming. Unlike the rich countries that can use their vast resources to survive adverse climatic disasters, third world countries are left reeling from such events (Greene, 2005). Many third world countries have to deal with drought, floods, hurricanes, cyclones, tropical storms etc. Examples of such countries that have undergone such natural disasters include Haiti and Indonesia. On July 6th and 7th Hurricane Dennis touched the south-east coast of Haiti causing devastating damage that cost about $4 billion USD. For a country like Haiti that was a big economic blow. However, it is the poor countries who allow the exploitation to take place. Consequently, they re partly to blame. However, exploitation of the poor countries contribute to their impoverished states. Another contributing factor is the issue of slavery. Although slavery was abolished more than a hundred and forty years ago, most of the third world countries have been and still are on the receiving end of this practice. While rich first world countries spent most of their time acquiring wealth and building their superior economies, most of the poor nation's citizens had not gained their freedom. Africa for example has some of the poorest and youngest nations in the world with most of their early years spent being ruled by their colonial masters, most of which are the first world countries (Myers, 2004). In the present day there is also the emergence of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a practice whereby an individual is tricked or coerced into forced labor. The person is then used as a sex slave or for labor. Most victims of human trafficking come from third world countries and are often poor, gullible and uneducated. This continual loss of people through slavery and human trafficking has an adverse effect on the growth of these third world countries (Starr, 2003). However, slavery was facilitated by the natives of the poor countries. Consequently, the blame cannot be squarely put on the developed countries alone. However, this vice continues to contribute to the state of poor countries. As a result of policies of institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary fund many third world countries find themselves in debt. Debt can be a tool used by rich nations to manipulate poor nations into doing their bidding. If a third world nation is indebted to a rich nation, this situation sort of gives leeway for the lending nation to have access to the poor nation’s raw materials and resources at the cheapest price possible. This has increased dependency on the richer countries which further impoverishes these third world countries. Structural adjustment has been put in place to ensure that third world nations eventually repay their debts. This means that debt repayment becomes a priority over national issues such as education, health and infrastructure; this leads the nation to demand that its people lower their standard of living so as to facilitate debt repayment (Hayano, 2010). Some other imposed preconditions on third world countries by the World Bank include prescribing of cutbacks, reduced protection of domestic industries, currency devaluation, and increased interest rates. These preconditions have an adverse impact on the poor nation. Rich nations with the help of institutions such as IMF and World Bank then cement the continued dependency of poorer nation on them by prescribing that the poor nations should import more commodities from the rich nations and also that it must increase its export. When poor nations adhere to this they lose out because they most likely end up exporting commodities which are of a lower price than the finished products and importing finished goods which are more costly as a result of added labor (Geisler, 2000). Such actions result in low money circulation in the economy thus frustrating any efforts to alleviate poverty in the third world country. In as much as there is evidence to prove that the poverty in third world countries is brought about by the actions of the rich nations, this does not mean that the poor nation are not at fault for what befalls their citizens. Poor nations must get their act together, stop their culture of corruption and push for wealth creation by whatever means that is available to them (Myers, 2004). The leaders of these countries are tasked with the responsibilities of meeting set goals such as the Millennium Development Goals. They are also tasked with the task of promoting peace; this is because conflict and poverty go hand in hand. Third world countries should also look into the economic activities they undertake. Countries that focus on agriculture and production of raw materials should search for other alternatives. To conclude, first world countries have been the main set back as far as a development is concerned in the third world nation. Some measures have been put in place to ensure industrialization in the developed world does not limit developing nation’s capacities. For instance, environmental international laws require that each country should not exceed a certain amount or rate of polluting gases to the atmosphere. Developed countries should unite so they operate as a single block, as experienced in Europe and United Kingdom. Such unity will enable improved international trade between the countries, other than depending on export and import trade with Western, developed nations. Such unity is also likely to improve their currency strengths. References Finkelhor, D. (2009). Global warming in developing nations. New York: Willy & Sons press. Geisler, E. (2000). poverty in third world nations. USA: Springer. Green, A. H. (2005). Trade in developed and developing nations. USA: Psychology press. Hoyano, L. (2010). The rich and the poor nations. United Kingdom: Oxford University press. Myers, J. (2004). Legal issues in developed nations. New York: SAGE. Starr, R. (2003). Effects of Western pollution on developing nations. USA: Guilford press. Read More