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Sunday, January 30, 2011

Uneven Development occurs solely due to a historical reason like colonialism.
Do you agree? Or are social, cultural, economic and political reasons just as important in determining a country's development progress?
In addition to your opinion backed by research, do respond to any one of your classmate's view.

Carol left a message of fall at 6:05 PM

25 comments

25 Comments:

At January 31, 2011 at 6:02 AM, Blogger ZheXian said...

Uneven Development occur due to many reasons. Uneven development occur due to reasons such as colonialism,presence of raw materials, climates, high literacy level, over population, corrupted leaders and political conflicts.Colonialism can result in uneven development due to a colony natural resources being ship over to its colonial master who then use this raw materials to help improve their own economy. This result in rapid development in colonial masters which colonies lose their raw material which they might need in the future.
Presence of raw materials is another factor which affect development of countries. Raw materials are natural resources use to manufacture goods. This manufactured goods are then sold to make a profit. This result in economic growth of countries. Some countries naturally have more of such resources compared to others and this give them a edge over other countries. This leads to faster development of the country. The climates also affect the rate of growth of countries as countries with lots of natural disasters will experience slow financial growth as money will have to be use on repairing infrastructure and healthcare for the people. High literacy level will result in better jobs for the people. Having a better education means job with better pay and this will raise the standard of living in the country. Over population will slow down the growth of a country and affects the standard of living. This is due to the increase in the country population so much that the country is unable to sustain the population growth. Also corrupted leaders who will pocket state funds, accept bribery or solicitate will result in the slowing down of development in a country. The money use to develop the country will be put in the corrupted leaders own pocket. Having conlicts with people different opinion might lead to war which will result in destruction of infrastructure, shortage of food and poverty of the country. This will lead to slowing down of economic growth.
I feel that corrupted leaders is the main reason for uneven development as many LDCs have corrupted leaders in the past. This often cause civil wars to break out in countries such as indonesia. As having corrupted leaders might lead to countless possiblilty of wars and lack in literacy level i feel that its the most important factor

 
At February 1, 2011 at 11:40 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Uneven development does not occur just because of colonialism, rather it occurs because of many reasons, namely: presence of raw materials, climate of the country, its location (whether is it favorable or not), the literacy level (education), the county's population, the country's leader and political conflicts.

Colonialism causes uneven development because the colonists are only interested in making money for themselves and their country therefore; they only focus on some aspects of the country, for example: the country’s infrastructure, and neglect other aspects such as education, causing the country to only develop in certain areas which will affect them in the future.
Presence of raw materials is a factor to the uneven development of countries because countries with raw materials can develop faster than countries without raw materials as they have to import in the materials which will result in the country spending the money which could be used to develop the country. Countries with resources might also not be developed because they are either being exploited or they are not spending the money wisely by developing the already developed parts of the country rather than developing the undeveloped parts of the country.
Climate is an important factor because if a country suffers from too many natural disasters, the government would have to use the money to aid the affected people, therefore missing out on the chance to develop the country.
The location of the country also decides whether if the country is developed or not. If the country is located at a place where businesses are thriving and always expanding, they would have to be considered as a developed country because multi-national companies will only locate in places where they can maximize their profits; therefore they would set up in developed countries where the people there are rich and affluent.
The literacy level is another important factor which decides whether the country is developed or not. A country with a low literacy level will not be developed to its maximum because the citizens do not have the knowledge needed to develop the country, while a country with a high literacy level is developed to its maximum because there are people with the knowledge and skills to develop the country.
Overpopulation is another factor which will decide whether the country is developed or not because with a huge population, some governments might not be able to support it as they do not have the means to do so.
The country’s leader/s is a very important factor because with a strong, capable and uncorrupted leader, the country is able to be developed to its maximum potential. But with corrupted leaders/ government, the country is as good as dead because the leaders will pocket all the money meant for the development of the country and ruin the country.
Political conflict is another factor which will affect the development of the country. If a country keeps on waging wars, it will affect the country as its infrastructure and economy will be destroyed. The money used to develop the country will be used to fund the war effort, causing the developmental process to slow down and if the war does not stop, it will finally grind to a halt.

Therefore, I agree with Zhe Xian that corrupted leaders are the main cause of the uneven development around the world as they will prevent the country from developing to its maximum by pocketing all the money used to develop the country.

 
At February 2, 2011 at 2:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Uneven development does not occur solely due to colonialism as there are many more factors that make its to occur. Presence of raw materials, climate of the country, its location (whether is it favorable or not), the literacy level (education), the county's population, the country's leader and political conflicts are the reason behind uneven distribution.

Colonialism is the domination of a more powerful country over another country. They are only interested in making money for its country and themselves and only focus only on one aspect for example the country’s infrastructure and neglects about education, causing the country to only develop in certain areas which will affect them in the future.
Presence of raw material is important to a country development. Countries that have plenty of raw materials develop faster than countries that have few or no raw materials. As the money earn can be spent on projects to develop the country. But in some country which is rich in natural resources do not develop well as it is thought because the money earned is mainly used to develop urban areas which is already develop instead of developing the rural areas.

Climate is also important as natural disasters would have make the country to suffer as the industrial/products located/manufactured there may be destroyed. The government could also miss the opportunity to have TNCs or any other foreign investor to invest in your country if any natural disasters occur.

Location of the country is also one key factor which will affect the countries development. If the companies are located at places with its businesses thriving and always expanding they would attract more foreign investor to locate their company there as it can maximize their profits. Thus, they like to set up companies in countries that are affluent and rich.
High literacy level could attract more foreign investor to the country and it will affect the country development. When a country is high in literacy rate, for example, India, people tend to set up operations in place like this as they do not need to spend extra money on training the employees. As what Douglas had said, ‘A country with a low literacy level will not be developed to its maximum because the citizens do not have the knowledge needed to develop the country, while a country with a high literacy level is developed to its maximum because there are people with the knowledge and skills to develop the country.’ Is what many of the country is facing today.

Overpopulation is an important factor which will affect the country development. It could cause problems like spread of diseases more easily; the government may not be able to support such huge population.

Leader is important to the country as if the leaders are corrupted and pocket money which was meant to develop the country, the country will be strongly affected by this corruption.

Political conflicts could results in war. If the countries keep involving in war, infrastructure and economy will be destroyed. The money that is initially meant for development is used to fund the war effort. This will badly affect the development of the country.

Thus, I agreed with both Zhexian and Douglas view that corrupted leaders are the main causes for this uneven development. They will prevent anything from developing their country as they will pocket the money in to their pocket.

 
At February 4, 2011 at 10:09 PM, Blogger chaoxiang said...

I disagree greatly that it is all due to historical reasons. Besides that, there are many other reason that lead to uneven development. I'm not saying that colonialism does not play a part but there are more factors.

Colonialism's aim is just simply to obtain raw materials from other colonies that have taken over. With that, they extract the "wealth" from these countries for their own usage. Of course, these countries will be deprived of the ability to earn profit with the raw materials. On the other hand, it helps the colonial power greatly therefore, there is a big difference between the development of countries.

Another reason is the climate. Due to geographical locations, different countries experience huge climate difference. Some place might experience droughts, floods or even none. This is seen as a development barrier. For example, in a flood-prone area, there will be frequent disruption of work and also affect the help as these places are prone to diseases such as malarial. This in turn affect the development.

Economically, there is also a huge gap between DCs and LDCs. This is partly due to the businesses and industries that are set up in countries. Most of the big industries are set up in DCs hance having this cumulative causation, causing the rich to be richer and the poor to be poorer hence the uneven development.

Socially, there is the literacy rate of people. With education, a country will then experience a higher literacy rate. With high literacy then there will be more development. Therefore, there are some LDCs with superbly low literacy rate and countries with very high literacy rate hence the big gap.

Politically, if a country has internal instability, there will of course be slow down in the development. Which country can operatewith riots everyday? None!For instance, tourism is a source of income and it is discouraged by instability. Therefore, a strongand incorruptible government is needed to counter this problem. Singapore is one country that is really experiencing stabilty for a long time. However, there are also instability at times like the Maria Hertogh Riots. Therefore, we must be aware of what we are doing to stop such things from happening again.

I agree with Thengchew, Douglas and Zhexian that corrupted leaders is the worst thing that can happen to a country. Imagine a country with corrupted leaders, there will not be fairness! And what for stay in that country? It will just collapse anything. Therefore, I think the political reasons are more important but the others are just as important.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I agree to a certain extend that uneven development occurs solely due to reasons like colonialism.

Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Colonists are only interested in making profits for their country to overtake another country. They tend to focus more on their infrastructure and ignore basic things like education and all the following factor, like social problems, cultural problems, economic problems, and political issue are largely due to colonialism as it is the source of problems of uneven development.

The presence of raw material is also a problem that lead to uneven development. As raw material is scarce and limited and it is important to carry out colonialism. Countries with more raw materials tend to develop faster than countries that has lesser. This results in the rapid growth of some countries and causes the rich to be richer and the poor to be poorer.

Social, economic and political reasons are just as important in the development of an country.
with social riots, social segregation, racial disharmony, it will affect a country's progress to slow down. Also, economic crisis like the wall street crash also can determine a countries progress. Even until now, countries like USA are in trillions of debt.

I agree with Zhe Xian that currupted leaders is a major problem that lead to the uneven development around the world.
However, the main problem of uneven development is largely due to colonialism because when there is more competitive between countries, some ares are more rapidly developed than the other and result in the unbalance of development in some countries.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:20 AM, Blogger Jeffery said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:20 AM, Blogger Jeffery said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:25 AM, Blogger Jeffery said...

In my opinion, Uneven Development does not occur just because of colonialism. There are many other factors like raw materials, climate, location, literacy level, population, political leaders and conflicts that contributes to Uneven Development.

Colonialism causes Uneven Development because it leads to net transfer of wealth from the colonized to the colonizer. This allows the colonizer to develop and causes the colonized to suffer from political, psychological and moral damage.

The presence of raw materials is also a factor of Uneven Development. Countries with raw materials are able to develop faster than countries with none. This is because countries with raw materials need not import materials from other countries to make products. They can earn from selling the finished products. Besides that, they can sell their raw materials to countries that have nothing. All this causes the economy to grow, leading to development.

Next is the climate. Due to different geographical locations, different countries experience different climate. Some countries experience natural disasters like droughts, floods, earthquake, volcanic eruption etc and some countries experience none. Those countries that are not affected any disasters are usually more developed because alot of money could be saved. The country do not need extra revenue to aid in the recovering from the disasters. This money saved could be used to develop the country.

The forth and fifth factor is the location and population of the country. Companies like to invest in places where there is a market for their products and service. And when a country's population is huge, with a huge demand for certain products and services, it creates a market for companies and therefore, leads to development. However, a country which is overpopulated will not be very developed because the government might not be able to support the huge population.

Next is the literacy level. A country which has a high literacy rate is usually more developed because as their people is more educated, they know how to develop their country. Also, it attracts companies to invest as there is talents. This brings about development to the country.

The next factor is the leaders and government serving the country. A country can only develop with a strong, capable and uncorrupted government. With a good government, it will only do what is good for the country. However, if a country has a lousy government, the country is gone as they do not know what is best for the country and how to manage the country. Furthermore, if they are corrupted, they will pocket the money of the country meant for development for their own use.

Lastly, conflict. If a country keep having political conflicts, war and Ethnic Clashes, there wont be peace in the country. People will be killed and infrastructure will be destroyed. Money will be needed to clear dead bodies on the streets, build new houses and transport and communication networks etc. The money which could have been used for development is used on unnecessary things like this. Therefore, a country which is peaceful is usually more developed.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:26 AM, Blogger Jeffery said...

All 8 factors contributes to Uneven Development. After much thinking, I agree with Zhe Xian, Douglas, Theng Chew, and Chao Xiang that corrupted leaders is the most important factor that lead to Uneven Development.

With a strong, capable and uncorrupted government, many of the factors mentioned could be solved. For example, a good government know what is best for the country and its people. They will definitely know the importance of education and ensure that their people are educated. When most of the people in the country are educated, it will attract many companies to invest, leading to development. Also, a good, uncorrupted government will know how to manage the country's finance well and will never pocket the country's money for their own use. Lastly, a good government will definitely be able to solve conflicts and wars between people easily, bringing peace to the people. When a country is peaceful, naturally it will attract development. Therefore I feel that corrupted leaders is the most important factor that leads to Uneven Development.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:52 PM, Blogger ChianWooi said...

Uneven development occurs due to many reasons such as the overpopulation, corrupted leaders, political conflicts, and not just colonialism. Though colonialism can cause uneven development due to a colony's natural resources being shipped over to it's colonial masters, who uses this raw materials to improve their own economy, resulting in rapid development in there colonial masters whose colonies lose their raw materials which they might need in the future.

This brings to another point, that the presence of raw materials plays a part in affecting a countries' development. These raw materials are used to manufacture goods, which is sold for profit. Hence, countries with more natural resources would naturally stand out from countries with lesser materials, giving them an edge over these countries.

Overpopulation, on the other hand would burden the growth of the country due to the increase in population so much so that the country is unable to substain the population groeth. Thus the standard of living drops. Adding on to this point, literacy rate also affects the development of the country. Only with high literacy rate will better jobs with better pay be given to people, and with high level of literacy in a country, the standard of living will increase, along with the development of the country.

However, with the presence of corrupted leaders, state funds often would be taken for their personal needs, and with the lack of state funds, development of the ocuntry will be affected. Such immoral leaders also accept bribery or solicitate, hence biased and development of the country would be affected.

Conflicts with people with a different opinion can lead to undesirable results like war, which would cause the destruction of infrastructures, which in turn would hinder country's development, shortage of food for people and poeverty, as state funds are used to repair damages, and if corrupted leaders are present in this case, the country would be thrown in greater chaos and thus a slowing down in economic growth.

In response to ZheXian's comment, I do agree that corrupeted leaders are the main cause of uneven development as indeed many civil wars broke out due to such immoral leader. Also, for their own benefit, they can ignore state problems and the development of country will be affected. Also, which reference to my previous point, if corrupted leaders are present in such civil wars, the state funds would possibly been taken by this unmoral corrupted leaders.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 7:55 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Uneven development does not occur solely due to historical reason like colonialism. Social, economic, political and physical reasons are also just as important in determining a country's development progress. These reasons play a part in hindering or promoting a country's development.

First, historical reason like colonialism. The idea of colonialism will hinder a country's development as the colonists do not overlook the whole situation of the country and only focus on developing only a certain part of the country.

Second, social reasons including literacy rate and population growth. With a larger proportion of educated workers, the country's economy becomes more productive and developed. Better-educated workers tend to be more productive than less educated ones. However, in LDCs, the workers are lowly-educated which hinder the country's development. Population growth can affect the development of a country. Overpopulation, which usually occurs in LDCs, is likely to cause food shortage and insufficient housing, affecting the standard of living. Low population growth, which usually occurs in DCs, tend to have lower birth rates due to the high cost of living and high standard of living. As a result, it may lead to underpopulation and affect the future development of the country.

Third, physical reasons which includes availability of raw materials and climate. A country with abundant natural resources does not need to import as many raw materials and can export the materials to other countries. The money earned from selling the raw materials can be spent on projects to develop the country. Climate is also an important factor in why some countries developed faster than others. Climatic disasters such as earthquakes, floods and drought hinder the development of the country as it takes the country a long time to recover from the disaster. Foreign investors are also deterred from setting up operations in countries which are prone to disaster as the businesses may be disrupted any time.

Fourth, economic reason which is cumulative causation. The location of operations may be the basis of more investment, more jobs created, and have a better infrastructure which would, in turn, attract more industry and foreign investors. With more investments, the economies of countries will grow, enabling development to occur.

And lastly, political reasons which includes political conflict and leadership. Some qualities that are essential for a good leader are strong communication skills, self-confidence and the ability to develop the country. Corrupt leaders use the country's revenue for their own use and neglect the importance of developing the country. Thus, this will hinder the country's development process.

In conclusion, i agree that having a strong leadership is critical for a country's development. A good leadership builds the foundation of a nation. With a strong foundation,, the country is reliable and are able to develop. As a result, foreign investors would also have confidence in the way a country is govern and will put more investments in the country.

 
At February 5, 2011 at 9:56 PM, Blogger K.K said...

I do not agree that Uneven Development occurs solely due to historical reasons like colonialism. There are other reasons that leads to uneven development as well such as economic, social, political and physical reasons.
Colonialism led to uneven development as workers in the colonies would harvest the cash crops for export to the colonial powers which they would then process and sell it at a higher price. The colonial powers became richer from the sales of the products which enables them into developing their thier colonies. The colonies, however, had slow development. Although they had developed infrastructure such as roads and railways, they did not have other aspects of development such as education and environmental sustainability. As a result, many colonies remained poor till now.
Physical reasons such as presence of raw materials and climate has affected development in certain areas as well. countries with more raw materials tend to develop faster than countried with few or no materials as money earned from the sale of raw materials can be spent on projects to develop the country. However, is does not always guarantee that the whole country would benefit from the sale of raw materials as exports revenue are sometimes spent on developing the urban areas instead of improving the lives of the poor. Climate of a country determines the occurance of natural disaters. In certain areas, floods and droughts occurs frequently due to the climate. Droughts results in insufficient water for agricultural activities which would then affect the development process as agricultural produce is a major source of income. Similarly, floods also affect the development process of a country as money and resources are used heavily to manage floods and to rebuild areas damaged by floods. Hence, if a flood were to hit a LDC, it would take a longer time for it to recover which would then slow down its development.
The one and only economic reason that leads to uneven development is cumulative causation. A core area often recieves new investments and creates employments whcih attracts workers from the periphery area to the core areas. As more people live and work in the core area, there is an increase in demand for goods and services. This then leads to the expansion of existing industries and establishment of new businesses. The core country would then improve its infrastructure and services and other developments. This process is known as Cumulative casusation.
Social reasons includes education and population growth rates. Countries with higher literacy rates develops faster than countries with low literacy rates as more people being able to read and write means that they are more likely to work in the secondary and tertiary industries which can contribute to the higher standard of living within a country. Country with a low population growth rate develops faster than a country with high population growth rate. High population growth rates can lead to overpopulation which would cause problems such as insufficient food and housing. However, if a country with low population risk experiencing underpopulation which would then affect future development of the country.
Political reasons include political conflict and leadership. Countries enjoying peace and political stability develop faster as local businesses are able to flourish and foreign investors have confidence in setting up in the country. Leadership is a process of setting directions and motivating the people into action of working towards a common goal. Countries that develop fast tend to have governments that are efficient and development-oriented as they are dedicated to meeting the needs and aspirations of their people.
In conclusion, I feel that uneven developments does not occurs solely due to historical reasons alone. I feel that uneven development occurs due to all of the reasons I have mentioned above and each of the reasons above can greatly affect the development gap between DCs and LDCs

 
At February 6, 2011 at 12:28 AM, Blogger Nick Peh said...

"Urban Development occurs solely due to a historical reason like colonialism." I do not agree with this statement as there are other reasons that cause Uneven Development to occur. The factors can be grouped under Historical, Social, Cultural, Economic and Political reasons.
Under Historical reasons, we have Colonialism. Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. Trough Colonialism, resources and money are channelled towards the colonial powers as these countries often make use of their colonies to expand their country themselves, resulting in the colonies to be undeveloped. Even tough these colonial powers built railways and infrastructure in their colonies, the people in the colonies have not seen an improvement in terms of education, thus, many colonised country still remained poor.
Physical factors like Presence of Raw materials and Climate can also causes Uneven Development. Countries with large amount of raw materials available often would develop faster compared to other countries with low resources available. Countries that experience Natural disaster frequently would not be able to develop the country as quick as others as resources and money are often used to repair the country. However, the money earned via exports might be used only for developing urban areas only.
Social reasons include Literacy level and Population. Countries with High literacy level would developed faster as there would be more investments from other countries as there is a large amount of people that can read or write. As there are more people that can read or write, there would be many people that would be able to work in tertiary or secondary industries, therefore, attracting investors. Overpopulation would result in the country to experience shortage of food, housing and land, therefore, large amount of money would be spend on these issues instead of developing the country.
Political reasons include Political conflict and Corrupted leaders. As political conflict occurs, the country is unable to attack foreign investors and the tourism industry would also be affected as Riots and strikes often discourage Tourist from coming to the country. Corrupted leaders often take much of the money from the government revenue, thus, the amount of money used for developing the country has decreased.
I feel that Historical reasons are not the biggest reason that resulted in uneven development. Instead, Political reason holds the biggest role. This is due to the fact that the economy can be badly affected as Investors dare not to invest in the country. With Chaos ongoing, the economy would decline, resulting in the country to be unable to catch up with the other country. An example would be Thailand. The Political conflict between the two parties has resulted in Thailand's Tourism industry to be badly affected. This is due to the fact that the riots have even escalated to the extent that the strikes have taken over the airport and media.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 2:48 AM, Blogger zlax said...

I do not agree with that statement. Other than historical reasons such as colonialism affecting uneven development, there are other factors revolving around it. Factors such as social, physical, economical and political reasons. These reasons are just as or if not more important than historical reason.
Colonialism is one of the factors affecting the country’s development. This happens when there’s a exploitation by a stronger country of the weaker one. During their term of colonizing, the colonies gain economical ties and has better standard of living such as better education system and infrastructure. This seems advantageous however if the ties and systems left by colonial masters are not sustained, colonialism is a less impactful factor. Even if it is sustained, system used decades ago may not be able to be applied to our ever changing world.
Economical reasons such cumulative causation is indeed influencing Uneven Development. Wealth and knowledge from core countries is transferred to periphery countries through the help of the governments. This outsource of information such as skills can be transferred to periphery countries thus helping them develop. However, there is the other side to this coin. A fear of human resources going to core countries for a better life, leaving periphery countries little labour. This effect known as backwash effect is another reason for Uneven Development.
Physical reasons such as climate and presence of raw materials give an advantage to countries that have favourable climate and abundance of raw materials. These creates and unfair competition to the countries which has non- favorable climate and inadequate resources. However, technology has overcome some of the limitations that climate and raw materials has thus it is much less impactful to Uneven Development.
Social reasons such as education and population attributes to Uneven Development. Eduacation, which is the transfer of experiences, skill and development of character. This in line helps to contribute to the standard of living by making themselves a desirable working resource in which companies can tap on. Overpopulation which refers to the over exceeding number of occupants than you can provide. This creates a problem of food and resources not enough to support themselves.
Political reasons like corrupted leaders and civil conflicts indeed causes uneven development however this can be avoided with sets of laws as deterrence to them. Or legislative power could be given to a group of people rater than a person thus political reasons are less impactful given dealt appropriately.
In my opinion, social reasons are the most impactful to uneven development as education forms the basis of a society. The government comes from the people and is by the people thus if education is lacking, the government would less likely to be of much value. Without education, there is less desirability in TNCs wanting to invest in them. Thus I do not agree with douglas comment. Even though there is a link between corrupted leaders and poor developing countries, they are also from the people which has low education. Education is not all books but also the development of character thus low education births out corrupted leaders.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 5:18 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Numerous factors play an important part in the uneven development of a country. These factors are colonialism, presence of raw materials, climate including natural disasters, favourable location for investments, high literacy level, overpopulation and corrupted leaders as opposed to strong and capable leaders.
Firstly, colonialism is the establishment and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. This leads to the net transfer of wealth from the colonised to the coloniser and inhibits successful economic development. Therefore, it slows down the economic development
The next factor is presence of raw materials. The more amounts of natural resources a country has, the faster it will grow. The country can consume its resources for their own development. Raw materials such as food are also important. Without food, people will be malnutrition and unable to work.. natural resources in excess can also be exported our fot profits or it could be used in their secondary industry so that it will make them into products of a higher value and quality which can be exported for even more profits for the country’s development.
Natural disasters are another factor which could affect the growth of countries. Natural disasters that affect energy production centres can lead to a sudden increase in prices of per unit of energy. This affects the entire economy because energy represents a key element in production of goods and services. Natural disasters could also affect trade centres and affecting trade ultimately. In addition, people living in a country would be tempted to move out of that country and into a country with few or no natural disasters. This could affect the standards of its working population.
Literacy rate is an important factor in this topic. This is because it affects what kind of jobs a person living in that country can take up. With a population of people who has a high literacy rate. The standard of its services would rise. Thus, this would help the country to improve its economy as these people would earn more money and help increase the Growth Domestic Product of a country.
Overpopulation in a country would result in the country not being able to sustain its population growth. This would result in the stand of living in that overpopulated area.
Having corrupted leaders in the country would affect the growth of the country drastically as they would pocket the money which can be used for country development as theirs. This would mean that the country would experience slow growth.
In my opinion, having corrupted leaders is the main reason for uneven development. As leaders, they should set the right path for the country and not pocketing the country’s money as their own. This may also lead to the leaders not focusing on what is best for the country thus, derailing the path of growth of the country.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 6:28 AM, Blogger Kai Xin said...

I do not agree that uneven development occurs solely due to a historical reason like colonialism. There are also other factors affecting it. Factors such as social, physical, economical and political reasons.

Colonialism is one of the factors affecting the country’s development. It is the domination of a more powerful country over another country. Colonial powers obtain their raw materials from their colonies and convert them into useful products which would be sold more higher profits. These will cause their colonies to be deprived of the ability to earn profit. Hence, there will be a great difference between the development of the colonial powers and the their colonies.

Another factor which is the physical reason; presence of raw materials. Countries that have plenty of raw materials develop faster than countries that have fewer raw materials. This is because raw materials can help the country to convert them into useful products or to be export for profits. Of course, the country which more raw materials will earn more profits, therefore creates an uneven development between countries with fewer raw materials than countries with plenty of raw materials.

Socially, the difference of literacy rate of people will also affect the development in the country. A country with a higher literacy rate, tends to have a higher standard of living as their GDP per capita are higher. They will also be able to afford to build schools and hire teachers to educate it's people. Whereas, countries with lower literacy rate might not be able to do so.

Politically, a country needs a efficient and development-oriented leader in order to progress well. This is because if a country always has internal conflicts, a decision will never be done fast. Hence, leading to the slowing down in the development.

In my opinion, I think that all these factors are important as they are the reasons that lead to the uneven development in the world. However, I agree with many saying that corrupted leaders is the most important factor. When a country is always in a chaos, development could not take place. Higher rate of death will also cause the country to lose its resources because there will not be enough men to help in to growth when the country is settled down.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 6:55 AM, Blogger eustacia said...

I do agree with the statement to a small extent. However, I feel that social, cultural, economic and political reasons are just as important as historical reasons such as colonialism in determining a country’s development progress.

Historical reasons such as colonialism, which is the domination of a more powerful country (colonial power) over another country (colony – dominated power). In colonialism, the colonial power makes use of the advantages of the colony such as raw materials, talented workforce or cheap labour, mainly for their own benefits. Consequently, the colony would be drained of their talents, decreasing their standard of living, making the poor poorer. On the other hand, when a colony is unable to benefit the colonial power, they would turn to another country and dominate them. This selfish act only improves the economy rapidly, increasing the standard of living, allowing the rich to the richer, causing uneven development.

Physical reasons include the presence of raw materials and climate. The presence of materials in Low Developed Countries (LDCs) that attracts foreign investors and Allowing the export of raw materials, earning profits, this in turn can develop the country by improving infrastructures. An example of uneven development occurs in Nigeria, where the money earned in Nigeria is used to develop urban areas and not to improve the lives of the poor. As a result, the poor remained poor. In addition, the floods along the major rivers in 2005 and droughts required monetary aid and resources to manage people and repair damages caused.

High literacy level and overpopulation are examples of social factors. High literacy rate refers to the high percentage of citizens able to read, write and understand simple statements. An example is in Bangalore, India where it has an educated workforce, attracting investors, leveraging technology, improving work productivity. Overpopulation occurs when a country’s population increases quickly due to a higher birth rate than death rate, straining available resources and facilities. This results in the depletion of resources and a decrease of import and an increased import, losing capitalism. Many children would also lack educational opportunities, causing a low skilled labour force such as in Haiti and Nigeria.

To sum up, I feel that colonialism is the origin of the other factors. However, this doesn’t avoid the fact that the other factors played a part in the uneven development.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 7:37 AM, Blogger Kai Shen said...

Uneven development is caused by several reasons, and historical reason such as colonialism is only one of them. Other reasons include political reasons, geographical reasons and social reasons all affect the development of a country.

Firstly, there are historical reasons such as colonialism and political conflicts. Colonialism refers to the exploitation by a stronger country of a weaker one by using their resources for the stronger country’s own good. The weaker country would lose its natural resources and does not boost its own economy. Moreover, their resources would be gone and they can’t use it for the future. However, the stronger country would have its own economy improved without using its own resources, leading to the big gap in development between the countries.

Another historical reason is the aftermath of a war. For example, during the Cold War, Europe is divided into two by the ‘Iron Curtain', Western Europe is backed by the USA, with the Marshall Plan to help Western Europe recover from World War 2. Some US $13 billion in economic assistance were given to help the recovery of Western Europe. Eastern Europe formed COMECON, which is USSR plans to help Eastern Europe financially. However, it does not have much success as they focus more on politics instead. Thus, after the Cold War, Western Europe is far more developed than its Eastern counterparts and it can still be seen today. Countries in Western Europe, such as Germany, France and Britain are very developed whereas countries in Eastern Europe such as Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are less developed.

Other than history, there are also geographical reasons on the uneven development of countries. It’s no coincidence that the poorest countries are in the tropics, where it is hot, the land is barren, and water is scarcer. In hot places, industries have to irrigate where others can depend on rainfall. Thus, hot countries deter foreign investors as it may also be too hot to work in the afternoon. Also, some countries are more prone to natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes. All these factors will keep out the foreign investments as they are scared the factories will be destroyed and they will lose a lot of money. This will in turn lead to the poor development of the country.

Also, there are social reasons. An example of such is overpopulation. This is an important factor, as some countries have seen their population increased rapidly without their economies keeping pace. That leaves more people to feed. Conversely, with fewer children, each household can invest more in the health and education of each child, thereby equipping the next generation with the health, nutrition, and education that can lift living standards in future years. This will then lead to high literacy rate. High literacy rate can develop a country well as people have the knowledge to govern the country well and they will more likely to be not corrupted as they know what is best for the country as they are educated. Also, people will more likely to be employed in jobs that require skills such as IT sector. This results in higher pay and people getting more affluent, attracting companies to set up factories here. Thus, it leads to the fast development of a country.

There are also political reasons such as corruption. While some investors might well conduct their business through bribes, the overall implication of corrupt environments is that many investors avoid them. Incidences of corruption deter investment because higher bribes imply declining profitability on productive investments relative to rent-seeking investments. Furthermore, if the public knows of the corruption of the government, they would go on strike to request for the government to step down. This results in instability of the country. Thus, foreign investors would avoid countries with corrupted countries and it affects the development of a country.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 7:37 AM, Blogger Kai Shen said...

I do not agree with Zhe Xian’s comment that political reasons are the most important factor that results in uneven development. Although he is right that corrupt leaders will hind the country from developing, I feel that social reasons are the most important factors. As the people live in places that are not overcrowded, they can receive good education and health services. This in turn led to high literacy rate. As people are more educated, they can receive jobs with high salary, thus they do not need to be corrupted to gain monetary gains. Moreover, they would be smart enough to choose the right government for themselves. Also, the government is educated enough to understand what is best for the country and corruption is definitely not one of them. Thus, I think that corruption is a result of poor education and that social reasons are the most important reasons which results in uneven development around the world.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 8:02 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

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At February 6, 2011 at 8:04 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I disagree that uneven development occurs solely due to a historical reason like colonialism. Other than just the factor on ‘Colonialism’ alone, there are some other social, cultural, economic and political factors which create affects on a country’s development.

The given factor is Colonialism. It is the domination of a more powerful country over another less developed country. The objective of colonialism is to obtain raw materials and plan or control strategic routes. Colonialism can mean an enhancement to a country when there is a better standard of living. Colonialism may bring about better education and transportation as to facilitate transports and raw materials and goods. However, for some situations, education maybe neglected due to the large emphasis on agriculture especially when the colonial power wants to gain raw materials from the colonized country. Thus, colonialism may mean success for some country while the others poor development, depending on the aim of the colonial power.

One of the physical reasons is the presence of raw materials. Countries with more raw materials tend to develop faster due to the sufficient supply of resources. This is a factor which can enhance development as foreign investors look into the amount of resources and invest into the country’s growth. However, countries which are less vulnerable in resources will lose out in this aspect. Though capable in the vast amount of resources, some countries will still be slow in its development due to the lack of support in other aspects of development like education.

One of the social reasons is the level of education in countries. Countries with better education tend to develop better as they will have more accumulated wealth due to the high paying jobs the working class do. This will enhance the growth of countries as there is more revenue to develop the country in many aspects. Differently in LDCs, those people usually receive low education and unskilled thus deprived of high paying jobs. Thus, these people can only working in primary industries like agriculture. This will hinder the development of LDCs as there is no financial support from the working population.

One of the political reasons is the corrupted leaders as opposed to strong and capable leaders. Those economically and socially successful countries are usually led by leaders who are efficient and put in effort to develop the country. Development was enhanced as those steadfast leaders have and plan goals to foster a better country. On the other hand, there are also some corrupted leaders who not only bring down the development of the country but also bring in poverty. Nigeria is an example of a country with corrupted leaders. Though Nigeria is successful in oil production, it is economically undeveloped in the standard of living. The political administration and the management of financial resources were in a mess as the leaders only care about personal gains.

With my strong opinion against corrupted leaders, I therefore agree with most of my classmates that this factor strongly affect the development of a country. Those leaders are selected with the ability to lead and the country is counting on them. They are there to play a part in fostering the country. If they are corrupted, a country will not be considered prosperous or even independent. Having strong and efficient leadership is crucial for a developing country. With that, the country will then be able to grow and attract other countries for investment and perhaps residential. However, not to neglect, the other factors mentioned give rise to uneven development as well.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 8:05 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

In my opinion, I disagree that uneven development occurs solely due to historical reason as there are other reasons such as social, political, economic and physical reason affecting it.
Colonialism is the governing influence of colony in one territory by people from another territory. The wealth of the colonized countries are transferred and taken by the colonizers. Hence, it slows down the development in the colonized country. However, this is not the main reason which affects the uneven development of a country.
Education and population growth rate are examples of social reasons. Countries with high literacy rate tend to be able to read and write; hence these people are more likely to work in the secondary and tertiary industries which can contribute to a higher standard of living within the country. When a country’s population increases rapidly, it may lead to overpopulation and causes insufficient food and housing. Thus, it affects the standard of living which also slows down the country’s development rate.
With political conflicts and corrupted leaders, tourism will be affected as riots will occur frequently under lousy rule of the corrupted leader. Corrupted leaders may also scam away the government revenue hence decreasing the amount of money spend in the development of the country.
Most industries are set up in the developed countries as thus causing cumulative causation which also leads to the larger gap in the development between the developed countries and less developed countries.
Lastly, the physical reasons consist of presence of raw materials and climate. Raw materials are something that is acted upon or used by human labour or industry for use as the basis to create products. Plenty of raw materials can help in the development as selling raw materials can earn profit and spent on project to develop the country. If a country suffers from many natural disasters, money is needed rebuild infrastructure and aid people.
Overall, I agree with Darryl that corrupted leaders is the most important factor affecting the uneven development as without proper law, the country will be in chaos, hence development will not be able to take place.

 
At February 6, 2011 at 8:52 PM, Blogger nickalo said...

I do not agree with that statement. Other than historical reasons such as colonialism affecting uneven development, there are other factors revolving around it. Factors such as social, physical, economical and political reasons. These reasons are just as or if not more important than historical reason.
Colonialism is one of the factors affecting the country’s development. This happens when there’s a exploitation by a stronger country of the weaker one. During their term of colonizing, the colonies gain economical ties and has better standard of living such as better education system and infrastructure. This seems advantageous however if the ties and systems left by colonial masters are not sustained, colonialism is a less impactful factor.

Other reasons include the presence of raw materials and climate. The presence of materials in Low Developed Countries (LDCs) that attracts foreign investors and Allowing the export of raw materials, earning profits, therefore increasing the development of better infrastucture.

Social reasons included the level of education in countries. Countries with better education tend to develop better as they will have more accumulated wealth due to the high paying jobs the working class do. This will enhance the growth of countries as there is more revenue is generated to develop the country in many aspects. Differently in LDCs, those people usually receive low education and unskilled thus do not have high paying jobs. Thus, these people can only working in primary industries like agriculture, etc. This will slowen the development of LDCs as there is less revenue generated from these primary industries.

But in my opinion, a improper government and corrupted ruling of the country is the most crucial reason for the speed of development in a certain country. Without proper law and order, the country will not abide by the rules and regulations. The people will rob and steal, etc.

 
At February 7, 2011 at 2:06 AM, Blogger YingYing said...

Indeed, Uneven Development occurs due to colonialism, but there are other crucial reasons as well. Colonialism is the domination of a more powerful country over another country. Countries wanted to obtain cheap raw materials, cheap labour and have a captive market for manufactured products, which could not be found in their own country. With the advance of technology, the colonial powers could convert the raw materials into useful products, and sell them for a higher profit, thus improving their economy and development.

Secondly, the presence of raw materials helps a country develop faster, as the money earned from selling the raw materials can be spent on projects to improve the country and infrastructure.
However, Nigeria has benefited a lot from crude oil, yet the rural parts still remain poor as the money earned from oil exports are used to improve only urban areas.

The third reason is climate. Cool climates help in the growth of some crops, and DCs with modern technology has overcome climate limitations, improving their development. However, LDCs are more prone to harsh conditions and it takes a longer time for LDCs to recover, thus slowing down their development.

Fourthly, literacy level/education. It affects the skill set of jobs and economic development of a country. For example, a higher literacy level leads to a higher standard of living and a better economy as the GDP per capita increases accordingly.

Fifthly, population. Countries that experience overpopulation will also have a decline in their development. There are too many people living in crowded and dirty areas, insufficient resources such as food, which will lead to a higher death rate.
However, DCs may experience underpopulation which will also slow down their development.

The sixth reason is political conflict. The lack of political stability deters investors, and the people in the country are faced with hardships. Innocent people will be in danger and wars make countries become very unorganised. All these will slow down the country's development rate.

The last reason is leadership. Materialistic and corrupted leaders are not capable enough to run the country. Only strong, capable leaders know how to improve the country's well-being and economy. Corrupted leaders are not dedicated at all and they turn a deaf ear to the country's aspirations, in turn slowing down the country's development as well.

 
At February 7, 2011 at 5:57 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Well, I strictly disagree that the cause of uneven development is due to a historical reason like colonialism. If we blame it solely on colonialism, this problem has a bias solution.

Definitely, our problem discuss here is Uneven Development. And there are a few factors that I believe it plays a part too.

1. Presence of Raw Materials
2. Climate
3. Favourable Location for Investment
4. High Literacy Level
5. Overpopulation
6. Corrupted Leaders

In my personal view, I think the sixth factor, which is having corrupted leaders in the country is the most important factor that causes uneven development.

Well, I believe nobody would invest in a country that is corrupted and in a chaos. So, in order to start attracting investors, I think a stable government is very essencial and needed.

 

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