THE DEVELOPING WORLD SINCE 1945

1
CHAPTER 30

• THE DEVELOPING WORLD SINCE 1945

2
The Future of the Developing World

• For a long time the developing world after World
  War II was seen as one in which Marxism or some
  form of socialism would be particularly
  applicable and successful.

3
Jettisoning Capitalism

• Free enterprise and free trade capitalism or the
  stigma of imperialism and decolonization led many
  to jettison capitalism as well.

4
Socialism

• Promised a more purposeful and scientific
  program.
  
• Could balance the needs of a poor population with
  the needs to industrialize rapidly to catch up to
  the rest of the world.

5
Western Europes Socialism

• Even Western Europe caught the fever.
• Began a whole series of government-initiated
  social welfare programs.
  
• Could free enterprise capitalism survive?

6
Confrontation in East Asia

• In East Asia there was a kind of confrontation
  that would decide this.
  
• China, which after 1949 was among the most active
  communist systems, confronted a new Asian-style
  capitalism just taking root in U.S.
  Occupation-managed Japan.

7
Economic Paradigm

• This form of capitalism put business and the
  government in partnership.
  
• It become the paradigm for the new fast-growth
  economies that spread from Japan to the "Four
  Tigers" of the Pacific Rim.
  
• South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore.

8
Muslim Fundamentalism

• Another alternative to Western liberal secular
  models.
  
• Its power was first demonstrated in the Ayatollah
  Khomeini's overthrow of the Shah of Iran.
  
• Fundamentalist Islam quickly became a strong
  political current, especially in the Mideast.

9
Revolutions Contemplated

• The revolutions that were fought in China to gain
  a communist state were contemplated
  enthusiastically by dozens of nations in
  
• Africa
• The Middle East
• South and Southeast Asia
• Latin America.

10
Optimism was Unrealistic

• Disappointing patterns became widespread
• internal ethnic or tribal division
• failed economic plans
• military coups.

11
Shortcomings Appeared

• Gradually, the shortcomings of ideological
  panaceas became apparent.
  
• Observers have come to appreciate the magnitude
  of the problems facing most of the so-called
  Third World.

12
Unrealistic Expectations

• Remember that the rise of rich and powerful
  European states had taken centuries to develop.
  
  
• Expecting tribal societies to transform
  themselves into modern nations within a
  generation was clearly unrealistic.

13
Population Explosions

• Many Third World societies are experiencing
  population explosions that are creating enormous
  stresses.

14
Population Stresses

• Any country that doubles its population in
  twenty-five years has to provide enormous
  increases just to maintain existing living
  standards
• food supply
• education budgets
• job creation
• medical care.

15
The Cold War Rivalry

• The post-World War II history of developing
  nations involves not just the choice of economic
  systems.
  
• There was also a Cold War in which the U.S. and
  U.S.S.R. for almost fifty years tried to extend
  their respective influences politically and
  militarily.

16
The Cold War Effects

• This rivalry influenced virtually every
  diplomatic and political decision.
  
• No developing country could avoid being deeply
  affected by this bipolar conflict.
  
• Wars were fought in Korea, Vietnam, and
  Afghanistan.
  

17
Collapse of the Soviet Union

• After the collapse, the major powers are no
  longer so quick to intervene in developing
  areas.
  
• This leaves countries freer to indulge their own
  quarrels, often at the expense of both world
  order and the innocent civilians caught in these
  wars.

18
Dangerous Confrontations

• Major-power arms exports have given a decidedly
  military character to the Third World.
  
• Religious and ethnic confrontations are becoming
  uglier and more dangerous all the time from
  Kashmir to East Timor to Chechnya to the Balkans.
  

19
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• Mao Tse-tung's victory in China and the changes
  made under Communist rule.
  
• The policy directions taken by the post-Mao
  leadership

20
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The new power balance made possible by opening
  relations and trade with the United States and
  the rest of the world.
  
• The political and economic connections in
  Southeast Asia that link it to the Pacific Rim.

21
YOU SHOULD UNDERSTAND

• The course of Indian politics following
  independence and partition.
  
• The realignments in the Middle East accompanying
  the Arab-Israeli conflict and the rise of Islamic
  fundamentalism in the post-Cold War era.

22
YOU SHOULD UNDESTAND

• The process of creation of new nations in Africa
  and their subsequent problems.
  
• The problems of Latin America and its
  relationship with the United States.