Geus

or Was colonization a good thing for the colonised countries?
Obviously it wasn't a good thing. Most of those countries are stiil developing. Besides if it was, there would have been no reason for independence.

But did independence change a lot? Most are victim of neo-colonialism which is even a better arrangement for the west than colonialism was. At least as long as some leaders in those countries are willing to serve the West in exchange for personal profits.

HamBoiBaker

Some countries are on the rise. Libya improved its living standards after overthrowing the King but they aren't first world. Many of the arab oil states use that income to help out the general population. Other countries have been rifed with civil war like Central Africa and have raw minerals but they have unstable governments and they don't have the technology to build for themselves.

Mountain Man

Many countries were stuck in status quo situations involving various forms of monarchies or dictatorships, which led to a suppression of scientific and engineering experimentation, which allowed some nations to get a big lead on the rest.

Many nations are still that way, preferring to either borrow or steal technology from more advanced nations. How many current new inventions can you name that are attributed to a Middle Eastern nation? How about a Far Eastern nation? The Middle East uses oil money to buy modern technology - they have created nothing new for the last 2,000 or so years. China stopped inventing things when the Western world arrived on their doorstep, and since then has routinely stolen it's technology from the West for decades. Japan got it's technological jumpstart into the 20th century by copying Western technology, although they stand alone as having surpassed their former mentors in many areas such as robotics and electronics, but still their success has been built upon the shoulders of the West.

The African nations once had some innovation, thousands of years ago, but their technology today is all taken from the West, and they rely on the West to advance and improve it. Many of these nations have even lost the simple ability to feed themselves or provide themselves with clean drinking water.

The Arab oil nations, like their South American counterparts, have no need or ambition to invent anything because it is far easier to buy what someone else has created; thus there are many nations that are totally dependent on others for just about everything. Even their "technical development" is false and misleading because it is the product of the efforts of other nations.

Without the will to succeed, and the drive to invent and improve, no one is going anywhere. Can the African failures be blamed on colonialism? No, because a full set of working technological infrastructure was left behind when the colonial nations departed, and the African nations failed to even maintain what they had, let alone work to advance themselves industrially.

The entire technology of the world is based upon the constant efforts of a small handful of nations, and so long as other nations can beg, borrow, buy or steal that technology they will never develop themselves in any useful fashion.

NewModelSoldier

The problem is not a lack of will. It's that there were people who took advantage of the chaos that arose and set themselves up in positions of power, arresting progress as they used their nations for their own playgrounds. That is still the case in quite a few nations, but less so. It is essentially the Dark Ages for those nations, having to fight and find their own way as the colonial system is dropped. If globalization was possible back in the early medieval times, the Arabs would be looking at the Europeans and going "These savages keep on fighting amongst themselves and countless warlords knock the last guy of every so often, what a waste, they'll never amount to anything", and the Chinese and Indians would be looking at everyone else and thinking the same things.

It'll change in time, they've got a lot of catching up to do.

cachibatches

Guns, Germs and Steel is a good book on just this subject.

dagul

The age of enlightenment in Europe change it. So here we go, go west.

Can't answer you about the figures but you are right about it. However, innovation of western technology is what China and India are doing.
You mean, the Pacific? Okay, the Philippines is struggling with its economy and it is good that democracy is restored and the progress is going on in the nation.

Technology is available for us because capitalism and democracy opened everything in America and Europe. Only the delicate matters are withhold but who cares about atomic bombs and germs in third world countries. The poor people here needs food, clothing and shelter.

Well, I define election in my nation as, the redistribution of wealth and the greatest festival over the country.

Right, wait till the fossil fuel is all gone. It is going to happen in the near future, but maybe not in our lifetime.

Japan, China, Singapore and South Korea are all economic powers in the Pacific and China is the military power in the region. But they shall remain as such because they can never defeat the west due invasion of western culture in Asia. The home appliances in the region are either from China or Japan but the show that the people watch are from Europe and America. The music that the people like to listen are western, the sports that they like to watch are western, everyone loves the world cup, baseball and basketball, the garment that they wanna wear are western, it is much cooler to talk like an American than a Chinese, because that is what the Hollywood says. Still those nations that I mentioned shall be powers in the region till the end of human civilization.

If it was the Spaniards who conquered them, maybe their lives were changed and so they became Christians and their tribal ways were tamed and so democracy is much easier to be implemented. Preservation of culture isn't always good. Sometimes, people tend to be selfish in not exerting efforts to change the life of other people to cope with the demands of civilization.

The South American countries have better fighting chance in the future than the Arab nations because they are more open for change and progress. They do not harbor the culture of secrecy like women should hide their face and should be kept inside the house. They are more tolerant of different kinds of people like the gays, and so such practices tends to harness creativity among people. Human rights is a recognized value among South Americans and nothing is more important than protecting the lives of their own people.

It's not all about infrastructure. It's change of culture too. Besides the colonization itself is wrong. Who says that it is right to be a master of another person? There are just justifying circumstances for that

So in a sense, their suffering can still be attributed to the colonizers. But as someone who hails from a former colony, I do not like to blame the colonizers, and it is my personal view. The people who should be the first one to resolve their problem are the nationals and citizens of a country or a state.

Actually, they are all there already. Constant innovation of it is the way to reinvent them. This no longer the age of inventions. This is the age of the internet and there is no reason why a nation shall not be prosperous if things are done in accordance with propriety and law. But the wise guys are so cunning to interfere with the business of the government and so instead that the revenue shall be used for the welfare of the many, it goes to the pocket of the few. Elitism harbors corruption.

dagul

The use of the word "Dark Age" is a little bit harsh, but it has the semblance of the truth. Right, corruption and myopic outlook is the primary reason for failing to experience optimum progress. But it is not really dark here my friend. Look at the way I use the language. I might be better than the native speakers of English in terms of clarity and eloquence.

My nation exports not machines but skills of its people. Some of the engineers that man the oil drills in the Middle East are from my country. There are those nurses and teachers who work also there and in Europe and the US. Those who are from very poor families in my nation work as maids abroad and sometimes engage in prostitution in foreign countries. It is so disheartening to accept that fact but that is the consequence of poverty. Anyway, I think prostitution is around the world. Only the sizes and prices varies.

A good military is also a key to success. So Europeans should be thankful for their ancestors for loving war. At least the History Books are interesting to read.

At any rate you said it. Globalization is changing the world we leave in. How can this thing happen where a Filipino is talking with the Europeans and the Americans about their lives? When I was in the school I kept on reading history books even if it is not my lesson. I hate algebra and I'd rather read about communism in USSR. It was written by American authors so here I am. I also love to read the British and American history. Now I am talking and discussing them here. I thought it should only be James Bond who should use a cellphone and a computer. It' nice to talk with a girlfriend or brag with a friend while driving a car, a scene in Hollywood movies and also a thing that can be done in real life. Yes, globalization is now the way people play their kind of games.

can't agree more

Fantasus

A "reverse" of the OP question seems more relevant to me. Something like: Why does there exist "development" in the modern sense at all? If we don´t assume there is anything "natural" about anything modern, the big question is why it exist at all, not why it is not totally dominant.

dagul

I admire those inventions. Well done

Mountain Man

You cannot blame other nations for a lack of innovative and will. That arises directly from the people themselves.

The colonial system left entire nations with a working system of transportation, schools, factories, roads, railroads, power plants and the people trained to operate them and supervise them, yet they failed utterly to even maintain what they had, unlike former colonial nations such as India.

The African nations are infected with a massive social and cultural malaise, mired in centuries of futile tribal hatreds. Even their genocide uses foreign technology.

They go nowhere because they do not want to, being instead content to let life happen to them.