Once upon a time, Africa was considered to be one of the greatest civilizations on earth. They had an advanced social and economical structure far beyond the Europeans. Then came colonization and the total destruction of this thriving culture. The Europeans with their "Gun Boat diplomacy" ravaged the countryside, taking everything of value. Africa was in a tailspin from which it could not recover.

Within the confine of globalization, some of the western economic powers have tried to facilitate their economic growth by imposing their own economic models. However, time has shown that this system cannot be sustained due to expanding debts, depressed world prices for natural resources, and an increase in farming subsidization by the industrial countries. Further, industrial countries have continued without success to reform their policies toward Africa with the same results. The world community has to rethink their whole approach or Africa and other nations like it will continue to live in the Dark Ages.

The major problem is that the world is separated into two spheres; the rich (north) and the poor (south). Like any good capitalistic society, the north wants to get richer. To do so, they must find a way to increase capacities and decrease costs. With unionized workers and environmental laws, it becomes extremely difficult for companies to achieve this goal within their own borders. So they move south, to take advantage of the more favorable climate. However, the jobs that are moving are not for skilled labor but for basic labor, which does not increase the knowledge base of the population. In other words, there is no transfer of knowledge or technology; therefore, growth cannot be achieved or sustained because the profits, the technology and the knowledge do not stay within the border and a greater dependence is created toward the north.

External dependence is by far the greatest challenge underdeveloped countries face. The exports of underdeveloped countries taken collectively or separately are mostly farming or mineral goods and their imports are for the most part manufactured goods coming from the industrial countries. In fact, underdeveloped countries depend far more on industrial countries than industrial countries depend on them. Statistically speaking, 80 percent of the total world trade is between industrial countries, compared to trade between underdeveloped countries and industrial countries, which represents only 20 percent. This also has the effect of a major disparity in their trade balance: underdeveloped countries always end up owing more money to the industrial countries.

Also, underdeveloped countries trade between themselves less then 20 percent of their total exports and imports. Therefore, their internal continental trade structure is less admirable. What is needed in Africa and other nations like it is a more comprehensive long-term plan instead of always trying to fix short-term economic shocks. To do so, they must become more self-reliant as a region. They must learn how to depend on each other instead of on industrial countries. They must basically enclose themselves and develop their own growth models or face being the industrial countries' bitch for another millennium.

Copyright © 2000 Philippe Duford All Rights Reserved

Philippe E. Duford is a Law School student at Ottawa University with a background in Economics and Political Science.