Chapter 33: The Developing World

Holley Wright

Section 1: The Challenges of Development After World War II, many new nations were formed in Africa and Asia. Development was the main goal in these new nations. They aimed to improve agriculture and industry. They built school in order to increase literacy in hopes to create a strong economy through well-trained workers. Before these countries were developing, the lived and worked in traditional economies, which relied on habit or custom. Agriculture was used only to meet the local need rather than for economic reasons. To pay for development, countries made an effort to get large loans from banks and governments from the north. When developing countries changed to market economies, companies and individuals invested in the industries. New pesticides and agricultural equipment were introduced in developing countries, which led to new farming methods. This became known as the Green Revolution. It increased production and fed many more people. Small farmers were forced to sell their farms due to big landowners causing the price of food to go down. Population had grown in developing countries for the past 100 years. This many people puts a burden on families to provide enough food for the family. Many developing countries have poverty, which puts a burden on the governments who have little funding as well. Many people cannot escape the life of poverty. Due to small farmers selling their farms and moving to the cities, child labor became more popular in large cities. This is because families depended on their children to help the family income. They needed this just for the basic necessities in life. Due to the revolution, women have more opportunities to work. Women have more of a chance to receive a good education. Section 2: Africa Seeks a Better Future African nations had to establish industries, build transportation systems, develop resources, increase literacy, and solve problems of rural poverty in order to develop. But people did have enough money to invest in these projects. Because of this, countries had to make difficult decisions on how to run their countries. Many new countries chose socialism in order to end foreign influence on their economies and to get rid of economic classes. Other nations chose capitalism. These countries had more efficient economies, but allowed foreign influences on the economy. Many countries had to import their food, which was very costly. Other nations became dependent on a single crop and were at mercy to changes in the market. Many government kept food prices low to prevent unrest among the poor. This caused farmers to not want to grow crops. Government then had to use money to import the food from overseas.

African nations faced many challenges to well-being. Droughts in the late 1900s caused many areas of farmland to turn to dust. The loss of farmland and pasture led to famine. The disease AIDS has caused millions of people to die in Africa. The loss of so many workers has damaged the countries economies. Africa also experienced a high rate of urbanization. This caused traditional ways to be lost and weakened traditional cultures. Africa has faced environmental threats due to urbanization, farming, and logging. Animal habitats have been destroyed leading to endangered species. The Green Belt Movement was started to provide lasting well-being for future generations. Tanzania has been very poor since it gained independence. To improve life, the government introduced African Socialism. It was based on tradition African village traditions and shared responsibilities. This experiment failed because farmers refused to leave their land. It resulted in a huge and inefficient bureaucracy. This put the country in debt. Tanzania is still poor, but has received an economic boost. Section 3: China and India: Two Giants of Asia China and India have faced challenges to economic development. Some of them have been addressed while other remain untouched. Deng Xiaoping took control of China and was a practical reformer. He was more interested in improving the economy then political purity. His program, the Four Modernizations, emphasized agriculture, industry, science, and defense. The economic reforms brought a surge of growth. Foreign investment created an economic boom. Some people enjoyed improved living conditions. Many Chinese people wanted more political freedom. Many wanted democratic reforms. Thousands of demonstrators for democracy met at Tiananmen Square and refused to disperse. Troops were sent to kill the demonstrators. Many of them were arrested and tortured. It showed that Chinas Communist leaders were afraid of losing control. China has the largest population in the world. The government tried to control the population by creating the one-child policy. Rural families were allowed two children. Population growth slowed after 1980 due to the policy. Urbanization also occurred in China which led to poverty and limited resources. AIDS also became a new health problem. India, like China, has a large population and had a path of economic development. India set out to use modern technology to expand agriculture and industry. India lacked oil and natural gas which are key resources for economic growth. They had to rely on costly imported oil. India shifted toward more of a free-market system. Indian companies began to sell publishing, computer, and customer-support services to the rest of the world.

Indias population growth hurt efforts to improve living conditions. Demand for food had risen. The population put pressure on the health-care system which faced challenges after the spread of AIDS. Spread of education and a modern economy caused traditional ways to be changed. The Indian constitution banned discrimination against lower castes. Separate jobs were set for the people of the lower castes, yet people still discriminated against them. Under the constitution, Indian women had equal rights. Rich women received a good education and got good jobs while poor women received little education and were expected to do unpaid work around the house. Section 4: Latin America Builds Democracy Like other developing countries, Latin America experienced rapid population growth, poverty, illiteracy, political instability, and authoritarian governments. Latin America relied on one single crash crop to earn money for imports. If the harvest failed, the economy was hit hard. To reduce the dependence, they adopted a policy of import substitution to manufacture goods locally to replace imports. It was of mixed success. Government also backed efforts to open more land to farming. The gap between the rich and the poor has also grown, and the wealthy own almost everything. Latin America also experienced a population explosion that contributed to poverty. The economies were hit hard to keep pace with the population. A shortage of land caused people to move to cities. The church was a powerful figure that stood up for social justice for the poor. Democracy was difficult to achieve in Latin America due to poverty and inequality. Many different groups pressed for reform, but they all wanted one thing, which was to improve conditions for the poor. Conservatives resisted reform, and conflict between Conservatives and reformers were started. Military leaders began to seize power and imposed harsh rules for order. They imprisoned and killed thousands. The United States greatly influenced the Latin American countries. The United States sometimes intervened militarily in Latin America during the Cold War. They did this to stop the spread of communism. Another reason that the United States intervened was because of a new drug. They made efforts to stop smuggling of drugs and destroyed drug cash crops. Civil wars started in Central America to fight authoritarian governments. Many countries fought and eventually came out to be democracy governments, some stronger then others. Pressure from activists and foreign leaders caused most military rulers to return to democracy. Mexico began new reforms due to pressure. Argentina went into political chaos and the military seized control. A sort of civil war started where the military tortured and murdered its own citizens. People were kidnapped by the government and disappeared. However, Argentinas democracy survived this crisis and its economy recovered rapidly after 2003.