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Table of contents
1.Introduction……………………....................................................Page 2
2.Understanding underdevelopment……………………………….Page 2-3
3.Underdevelopment in the light of the theory of dependency…….Page 3-4
4. Underdevelopment in the light of the world system theory……..Page 4-5
5. Our understanding of Underdevelopment……………………….Page 6
6. Potential solutions………………………………………………. Page 6-7
7.Conclusion………………………………………………………..Page 7
8.Reference…………………………………………………………Page 7
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Introduction

In international relations we study the international arena also we study the world economy,
relations among states and other non-state actors. Underdevelopment is a important phenomena
in international relations. Underdevelopment is a curse for many a countries that are suffering
from stagnation and a vicious cycle of poverty. In this following paper we will discuss about
underdevelopment at a global scale using the two theories of neo-Marxism which are ‘Theory of
dependency’ and ‘The world system theory’. We will try to understand underdevelopment, their
causes different factors also we will see real life examples of this phenomena
‘Underdevelopment’ that has been keeping most of the countries in a poor state we will also
discuss the lackings and criticism of the following theories and concepts.

Understanding underdevelopment
According to Merriam Webster dictionary underdevelopment is,
“having a relatively low economic level of industrial production and standard of living (as
from lack of capital)”
Underdevelopment is an externally driven process that is sustained by a tiny but potent domestic
elite who forms a coalition with the global capitalist system. Therefore, systemic and path-
dependent factors influence the “development of underdevelopment “.In our modern world
underdevelopment is a widely used term to explain the current situation of non developed
countries with the exception of western democratic countries which are often deemed as
developed countries. Mainly underdevelopment is a phenomena that is used to refer to the
countries that are poor and are among Least Developed countries (LDC) these have economic
inequalities in their social structures and have a low rate of growth may that be economic or
other social indicators. There are many factors for referring a country as underdeveloped such as,
 Inadequate technology & capital.
 Low saving rates.
 Dual economy.
 Varying dependence on international trade.
 Rapid population growth (1.6% to DCs’ 0.1% yearly)
 Low literacy & school enrollment rates.
 Unskilled labor force.
 Poorly developed institutions.
But the main Three factors that are used by ECOSOC to identify LDC’s or underdeveloped
countries are
1.income 2.Human Asset 3. Economic and environmental vulnerability.
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Photos are a collected from: https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/least-developed-

country-category/ldc-criteria.html
There may be other hidden causes that we cannot see but they are there and we can analyze those
causes through ‘The Theory of Dependency’ and ‘The World System Theory’ and that is what
we are going to do next.
Underdevelopment in the light of The Theory of Dependency
‘The theory of Dependency’ or often referred to as ‘Underdevelopment theory’ is one of the neo-
Marxist theory and it is also the most radical critism of economic liberalism. The Theory of
Dependency originated during the 1970s and the objective of this theory was to explain the gap
between the rich and the poor nations. The theory has some of its influence from classical
Marxist analysis but isn’t truly Marxist. This theory favors a socialist model unlike that of the
Soviet model and is more decentralized and democratic. According to dependency theorists,
Underdevelopment Is not a natural phenomena rather it is a byproduct of a capitalist world
system which made the international structure and system and the relationship between the Core
and the periphery is not of mutual interest but rather one of subjugation and exploitation where
the Core countries have the resources and the means but they do not share them with the
countries that are underdeveloped without some strings attached to it.There are three core
assumptions of dependency theory. Those assumptions are
1. International division of labor between countries: Core countries dominate the industry
and technology and control capital intensive industries. Whereas countries in the
periphery are dependent upon resources extracting economies, agriculture and providing
cheap labor.
2. Class Distinction: Rich elite cooperate with one another to ensure – they stay in power
and increase their wealth. They collaborate with each other to keep the system going.
3. Global Capitalism: In this system, liberal economic theory dominates. They all serve the
interest of the core countries. In this system, MNCs, Banks like World Bank, IMF all
serve the Core countries richest people and countries even global media.
Dependency theorists contend that the development of today’s wealthy nations has
impoverished the third world and that the dynamics of global capitalism continue to impede its
advancement and we can trace this phenomena to the time of ‘Colonialism’ when the European
power subjugated most of the countries of the world and kept them in a chain of opression. The
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theory as presented by Brazilian economist ‘Theotonio dos Santos’ is that capitalism produces
underdevelopment among the LDC’s as a way of economic exploitation .To many theorists
underdevelopment is a tool for the capitalists to exploit the LDCs. An example of
Underdevelopment trap as we can say to some extent is that Between the early 1970s and 2002,
billions of dollars were loaned to Africa by developed nations. Interest on those debts was
compounded. Africa still pays billions of dollars in interest even if the initial investments in its
land have been effectively repaid. As a result, Africa lacks the resources to invest in its own
development, whether it be economic or social. Africa is unlikely to ever prosper unless the more
powerful countries who provided the initial loan forgive the interest, wiping out the debt. This is
the truest example how the developed nations or countries keep the poorer countries poor
through this kind of systematic subjugation and the current world economic structure is a big
example of this.

Two Satire Dipicting The world inequality and world order

The theory of dependency describes Underdevelopment with a very good argument but like
many other theories it isn’t without it’s criticisms. During the 1970s a number of countries in
South East Asia mainly the countries known as ‘Four Tigers’(South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan
and Hong Kong) experienced economic growth and became integrated to the world economic
and they graduated from being a peripheral country to a Semi-periphery country and even one
can argue that they are now a Core country because of their economic success and also domestic
development even now this countries are also leading the world in technological and innovative
ideas and advancement for example south Korea is one of the world’s 3rd largest smartphone
manufacturers and Taiwan supplies 65% of world’s semiconductors and 90% of advanced chips
so it shows us that a country may be integrated into the system but can still manage to overcome
the barrier of so called misery and stagnation.
Underdevelopment in the light of World system theory
To understand this phenomena called Underdevelopment we need to also address the status quo
world structure and then we need to go to the reasons and to do so we must thoroughly
understand the world system theory and what is it all about. This theory also known as ‘The
Capitalist World Economy’ was first coined by Immanuel Wallerstein, this is one of the core
ideas of neo Marxism an according to this theory the world economy is defined by an unequal
development which has a hierarchy of ,
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 Core(USA and northwestern Europe,Japan):These countries control most of the world

economy and have plenty of resources and technology.
 Periphery(eastern Europe and Latin America, Africa):These countries provide the semi-
periphery and core with raw commodities like cash crops. Additionally, these are the
developing markets where the main manufacturers try to sell their manufactured goods.
 Semi-periphery(Mediterranean Europe and some emerging Asian countries like
Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea):These countries have some core countries
characteristics and some peripheral characteristics and are on the verge of becoming core
countries.

A Model of World system theory A Map of the world

According to Wallerstein the core countries are industrially developed , highly urbanized, has
high wage and income rate and low rate of labour exploitation , Peripheral countries on the other
hand are more dependent on the core countries for their technologies and other resources because
of being underdeveloped , less industrial and less rate of urbanization also they do not have
proper social, political and economic structure that can help them to be more developed and
according to this theory the core countries are somewhat responsible for this situation ,an
interesting fact is that the semi periphery countries also exploit the periphery countries but they
themselves are exploited by the core countries who owns maximum of the capital of the world
and they also set the so called ‘Rules’ that helps them to systematically exploit the countries. For
example they impose unfair trade rules and barriers that become tough for the already suffering
countries a real life example of this is,Africa’s largest economic sector is agriculture. It has the
capacity to produce much more food and export it to Europe and America, but it is unable to do
so because of the EU's and America's annual billions spent on farmer subsidies, making imported
goods from Africa more expensive this is how the countries are being exploited and thus a
vicious cycle of capitalist system is running in the world though one might argue that this isn’t
entirely the Core countries fault and they give argument behalf of this and I have discussed it in
the previous paragraph where we can see the example of emerging Asian countries or the ‘Four
Tigers ‘who have become a semi periphery or one may even go to the length of addressing them
as Core countries based on their economic, technological prowess. Although the world system
theory is a response to the critism of theory of dependency world system theory can also be
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criticized in the same manner the theory sometimes treated as a part of dependency theory.
Lastly we can also think that Wallerstein’s definitions of Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery
are ambiguous, making it impossible to evaluate his theory in actual use.

Our understanding of Underdevelopment

Underdevelopment as a phenomena can be traced back to the colonialist period and in our
modern time we can analyse the cause to neo colonialism and in some cases it can be said as
corporate colonialism where the MNCs are now implementing their goals to achieve maximum
profit.Neo-colonialism has some characteristics which are

 Dependence economy, Where the country is economically dependent

 A country is characterized by underdevelopment
 A country is a puppet regime
 A country has no natural culture
 Lack of political freedom and will inside the countries
All of these can be seen in a modern LDC country where underdevelopment is dominant and
according to our group finding we have learned that though we left our colonialist ideas in the
past still countries like Bangladesh and many other LDC countries are being exploited one way
or another and as a result the countries are still underdeveloped and most prominent example of
it can be seen in Africa where many countries and NGOS are investigating and many MNCs are
also investing and FDI is booming but still Africa is in underdevelopment and the reason behind
it should be properly exploited and we as a group

Potential solutions

The phenomena known as Underdevelopment is as we have so far known is not a natural

phenomena rather it is a product of the status quo and we can identify it as a social problem and
like all social problem it has some solutions.These solutions are discussed below,
Firstly, the underdeveloped countries must have a good governance and a strong central
government because if the government is weak than they will easily succumb to foreign powers
and as a result the country will take projects that are useful to those foreign powers
Secondly, Reduce import dependence because one of the main reasons that these countries are in
underdevelopment is this specific dependence on foreign product if the countries are sufficient in
essential products than they need not to import anything from them countries and as a result the
dependency is lessened
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Thirdly, The countries must endorse local industries if we look at the developed countries they
give utmost importance to their local industries and products this helped them to be developed
even if the developed countries export products they give some conditions that makes the foreign
products expensive and thus the local products flourish if the underdeveloped countries can
follow this strategy.
Fourthly, educational development is a must as education is the backbone of a country it cannot
be developed if the people of the country are illiterate if they are illiterate they will be easy to be
exploited by both foreign powers and corrupted powers in the country.
Finally, the people must be conscious of their rights as a result they won’t be easily manipulated
by foreign powers and they will be economically conscious and won’t take any decision that will
hamper their development.
There are also many other solutions that can be taken but that is for the future social scientists
and the future generations to find out.
Conclusion
Underdevelopment is a phenomena that defines most of the countries which are currently in a
state of poverty and the capitalist economy and their systemic structure of exploitation is behind
this. From the following Paper we got a understanding of Underdevelopment and we did so by
the help of ‘Theory of dependency’ and ‘The world system theory’ we also saw some examples.
After discussing the aforementioned topics we Can come to the conclusion that the current world
structure is a structure of exploitation of the periphery by the core countries, but here the main
argument is that there are other factors than just capitalism as the cause of underdevelopment
both the theory of dependency and world system theory Mainly puts emphasis on economy and
capitalist dominance but there can be other ways to exploit this can be by tyranny, by religious
fundamentalism and other political and socio-economic factors can lead to Underdevelopment.

Reference:
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