INTRODUCTION
Third
world countries were dominated by colonial masters during the early years of
their existence, the colonial masters in search for new colonies and new
markets to sell their products which were as a result of over production of
goods at the industrial revolution. Colonial masters came to Africa and other
third world countries of Asia, and Latin America. They colonized our
territories, dominated everything including the mode of production, also they
decided the types of goods we should produce; that is African states were only
meant to produce cash crops or raw materials which were taken to their home
countries and refined in those countries, this raw materials were used to
develop their countries at the detriment of African states and other third
world countries.
However in the 1950s and the 1960s when
African countries and other third world countries started gaining independence
from their colonial masters, people celebrated that at least we could enjoy our
own freedom and government dominated by people who will serve our interest. But
as time went on, it dawned on us that we are still under some of control by the
colonial masters, this time a new form or advance method of domination called
Neo-colonialism. The colonial masters after departing our lands still left
behind structures, institutions and authorities. Also they built a ruling class
called the comprador bourgeoisie, so this time they dominated us through the
comprador bourgeoisie set up by them to continue their activities of
exploitation. Neo colonialism means new colonialism, that is it is the new form
of colonialism, it is the domination of a country through indirect means such
as loans from International Monetary Fund (I.M.F) and World Bank to third world
countries, multi-national co-operations e.t.c it is the exploitation without
redress (Nkrumah, 1974).
In this work, our discussion will be on the
concept of neo-colonialism, the explanation of third world countries, origin of
Neo colonialism, the characteristics of Neo colonialism, the negative and positive
impacts of Neo colonialism, before going down to give our final conclusions and
reference
DEFINITION OF TERMS
The Concept of Neo-Colonialism
Neo
colonialism is a critical concept in the study and understanding and analysis
of African politics in particular and in its subject matter of political
science in general. The concept of Neo colonialism is not new to any political
scientist; it has been subjected to much analysis and commentary by different
scholars at different times. However we shall attempt a definition presented by
some scholars.
According to the dictionary of political
economy, Neo colonialism is taken to mean “a system of economic political,
military and other relations imposed by the imperialist states on the
developing countries in order to keep them within the framework of the
capitalist economic system (Votkov, 1981), it is further explained that Neo
colonialism is based on the economic backwardness, unequal and dependent state
of Neo colonial countries within the scheme of the world capitalist economic
and political systems. Two major material base of the Neo colonialism are
identified as: one, the Neo colonial states belong to the system of the
international capitalist division of labour. And in being so, they remain
economically dependent on imperialist/metropolitan powers. Two foreign finance
capitals, in terms of imperialist monopolies retain important positions in the
vital economic sectors of the Neo colonial states.
On the other hand, M.B. Brown sees Neo
colonialism as the “survival of the colonial system in spite of formal
recognition of political independence in emerging countries, which became the
victims of an indirect and subtle form of domination by political, economic,
social, military or technical forces” (Brown, 1978). As an aspect of
imperialism, Neo colonialism involves continuing economic dependence on the
former colonial countries, superficial integration of the Neo colonial
countries into Neo colonial and socio economic blocs and “infiltration” through
foreign capital investments, aid and technical partnerships.
Another definition we consider relevant here
is that given by late Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana. Nkruma defines neo
colonialism to mean “the worst form of imperialism” he added that it means it
is exploitation without redress. (Nkruma, 1978)
Third World Nations
The
name third world nations are a collective name for most of the nations of
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Many of which share a colonial
past and are variously termed as developing, less developed or least developed
countries. They support about 75 percent of the world’s population but consume
only 20 percent of its resources and are generally characterized by.
(1) Slow
pace of industrialization
(2) Low
to very low levels of per-capita income
(3) New
literacy levels but high rate of population growth
(4) Poor
health facilities and transport infrastructure
(5) Dependence
on agricultural and commodity exports as main foreign exchange earners.
The
concept was coined in the 1950’s by French writer Alfred Sauvy, it was
originally used in the cold war era (1945-1989) to distinguish non-aligned
nations from western capitalist economies aligned with the United states (first
world) and the eastern communist economies aligned with the USSR (the second world)
Bhatia; 1978)
Theoretical Framework
Dependency theory is to be used in
this work because it seems to provide the best framework for this study. This
is because it vividly explains how the third world countries and Nigeria in
particular are economically dependent in the western world. It was as a
reaction to the modernization theory that this theory came about. This theory
was principally propounded by scholars of the third world countries, scholars
like: Paul Baran, Dos Santos, Andre Gunder Frank and Samin Amin among others.
According to Dos Santos (1979):
Dependency
relates to a situation which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by
the development and expansion of the other to which the former is subjected
.The relation of inter dependence between two or more economies, and between
these and the world trade, assumes the form of dependence when some countries
the dominant ones which are the capitalist nations like America can expand and
can be self-sustaining while other countries the dependent ones like Nigeria
can do this only as a reflection of
expansion which can have either a negative or positive effect on their
immediate development.
The basic assumption is that there
is a dialectical relationship between development and underdevelopment. In the
words of Andre Frank (1975) “Development and under development are two
different sides of a universal historical process.” To him what causes under
development in third world is as a result of what brought about development in
Europe and America. This dependency concerns the center which refers to the
technological and industrial advanced countries of the world and the periphery
refers to the third world countries, also, when looking at this theoretical
framework we talk about the center of the center which refers to the urban
areas of the world.
Baran argued that the backward
countries were characterized by dual economies, that is, a large agricultural
sector and a small industrialized sector. Thus profit margins and the
potentials to generate economic surplus from agricultural sector are still
minimum. Amin also argued that the relationship between the center and the
periphery is characterized by an unequal exchange in the international system.
Although they are differences between the leading scholars most of them tried
to identify external factors to explain the backward economies of the third
world relating it to the developed world. This theory is going to explain the
cause of dependency in the third world countries and thereby tracing it back to
the developed economies (Garry, 1998).
Origin of Neo
Colonialism
Neo
colonialism could be traced to the political history of the origin and
development of capitalism and imperialism respectively. In the same manner,
colonialism is closely associated with capitalism and imperialism.
Historically, it is right to state that capitalism, imperialism and neo
colonialism are three sides of the same triangle, they are originally
intertwined. It will be noteworthy to point that the capitalist era of
mercantilism marked the origin of foreign trade, commerce and the role of the
state in the whole process of capitalist expansion and the development outside
its immediate environment.
Neo-colonialism is a direct offshoot of
colonialism in its classical sense. However, it does not follow that
neo-colonialism could only exist in the ex-colonial territories. Such countries
as Liberia, Egypt and Ethiopia that suffer from neo-colonial activities today
did not pass through former colonial experience as other territories in Africa
did. As a modern equivalent of decayed colonialism, “imperialist stage of
capitalist expansion and development on a global scale marked the historical
origin of neo-colonialism. The search for external sources of and profits by
individual merchants and later transitional cooperation from western capitalist
centres culminated into direct seizure of foreign lands through conquest and
military operations. Such imperialist operations and adventures resulted into
formal colonization of territories and peoples worldwide. In most cases, the
major political, economic and socio-cultural ideas, beliefs, norms, values,
practices, structures and institutions, introduced or establish by the
respective colonial imperialist powers were not dismantled at independence.
Neo-colonialism operates through the various imperialist or colonialist links
earlier established by capitalist powers before and during the era of
colonialism. Therefore, the historical origin of neo-colonialism is firmly
entrenched in the political history of capitalism, imperialism and colonialism
(Garry, 1998).
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEO-COLONIALISM
The following
are the features or characteristics of neo-colonialism.
Survival of Colonial
Structures and Values: In any colonial state
one finds that most of the imperialist structures and institutions continued to
be strengthened rather than being decisively dismantled. Such institutions or
structures include the bureaucracy, the military, the police, the legal system,
the economy, the educational system and the pattern of foreign relations. All
these tend to follow the pattern direction and dimension established during the
colonial rule, with minor medication, which in most cases are superficial.
Foreign Investment/Aid
Neo-colonial
powers infiltrate into the politics and economies of neo-colonial countries
through such things as foreign investment and foreign aid. Severe
conditionality’s are imposed by a net power of imperialist/neo-colonialist
financial monopolies on specific financial assistance sought by neo-colonial
countries. Such conditionality’s and strings usually attached to certain loans
and aid often render the receiving neo-colonial states subservient to the
imperialist donor powers. Nigeria has often been referred or described as a
subservient neo-colonial state.
Intermittent
political instability, economic crisis and social dislocation are yet another
feature. Many neo-colonial states display fragile political structures and
processes, resulting into political and economic chaos. Countries such as
Ghana, Kenya and a host of them in Africa continue to experience the crisis of
neo-colonialism.
Dependency and
Distorted Development
Any form of development that takes place in a
neo-colonial country is usually distorted and superficial as a result of the
dependent nature of a neo-colonial economy. The nature, scope spate and
dimensions of development initiated by neo-colonial countries are teleguided
and controlled by the forces of international imperialist finance capital. The
international division of labour and the pattern of trade/commercial relations
between the neo-colonial states and the international capitalist powers are in
favour of the latter. This is because the neo-colonial states have no control
over international capitalist markets operate on global scale.
There is usually a competitive economic
environment where the neo-colonial states strive to increase or promote the
national character of the state economy while the neo-colonialist powers strive
harder to strengthen the superficial international character of the same
economy; thereby keeping it at the peripheral levels of world capitalist
economy. This reinforces the dependent nature of a neo-colonial economy.
The struggle for a self reliant economic
system and a virile democratic polity in neo-colonial states remain endless as
a result of the multidimensional obstacles already posed by the forces of
imperialism and for neo-colonialism
Negative Effect of Neo-Colonialism
The
negative effects of neo-colonialism among states are obvious. Politically, a
neo-colonial country often finds it extremely difficult to establish a viable,
stable and virile democratic polity. This is because the bourgeoisie ruling
elites of neo-colonial states lack the capacity and the political will for
embarking on a genuine autonomous political development after the granting of
political independence.
Economically,
the neo-colonial economies are susceptible to imperialist manipulations and
distortions emanating from the centres of international capitalist economies.
The involvement of transitional co-operations and other multilateral capitalist
agencies in the economic activities of neo-colonial states to exercise any
meaningful control over their economic resources (Garry, 1998).
The populace in any neo-colonial state
experiences exploitation and the marginalization by two parts. These are the
internal and the external parts. Internally, the emergent bourgeoisie ruling
and business as well as traditional elites are engaged in primitive
accumulation to the detriment of the generality of the populace. In some cases,
the intra-elite scramble for political powers and economic positions result
into severe crisis, and at times civil wars. Nigeria is a good example of this.
Neo-colonialism exploit third world nations
through comprador bourgeoisie left behind by them, this comprador bourgeoisie
only serve the selfish interest of the neo-colonialist without putting that of
their home countries at heart. The neo-colonialist exploits them through Multi-national
Corporation.
Externally, the metropolitan neo-colonialist
powers penetrate into the neo-colonialist economy through the indigenous
bourgeoisie, who serve as commission agents and the transnational co-operations
to exploit the state and the people indigenous elites, neo-colonialist
collaboration in this strategy of dual exploitation and distortion of the
economies of neo-colonial countries have continued unabated to most African
states since independence. This act of un-patriotism perpetuated by the
emergent African ruling class has been aided by the neo-colonialist environment
created and strengthened by imperialist powers and their agencies throughout
the continent of Africa.
EVALUATION
To
Lynn (2011), the timeline of imperialism right from the slave trade period to the
global age accounts for “Enforced dependency”. This is a form of reliance upon
external resources or externally created conditions. For such dependency to
function as enforced dependency it must, once established, progressively
undermine the self-sufficiency and resilience of the dependent person,
community, institution, or government, making the dependent party increasingly
vulnerable to exploitation. The “enforcement” of enforced dependency derives
from the increasingly dangerous and or destabilizing results that would entail
from severing the dependent relationship. Under conditions of enforced
dependency, the resiliency of the dependent party diminishes progressively over
time. Typically, dependent parties are also progressively co-opted into supporting
the system of enforced dependency upon which they have come to rely, even as
the system progressively robs them of freedom, independence, and resiliency. As
the dependency deepens, the social power of dominant people, institutions, or
governments who provide there sources or create the conditions that enforce
dependency increases relative to dependent parties. Dominant parties may
increasingly constrain the decisions and actions of dependent parties in order
to enhance their opportunities to gain material and financial wealth and
increase their social power.
CONCLUSION
In
conclusion we can say that neo-colonialism has brought negative effects on
third world countries more than how it has contributed to the growth of the
economies of third world countries. Economically third world nations have been
left in worse possible conditions after independence through neo-colonial
activities of their former colonies.
However we can recommend that in order for
third world nations to develop and escape the domination of their former
colonial masters, they should first of all dismantle all colonial structures
left behind by the colonial masters, also the comprador bourgeoisie should show
high level of patriotism by not exploiting their own nations and taking the resources
to foreign lands of their former colonies which are been used in developing
their regions at the detriment of third world nations, they should be able to
convert their resources into finished products and also encourage infant
industries to produce massively so they can rival foreign goods.
REFERENCES
Andre
F. G. (1975) On Capitalist Underdevelopment. Boulbay: Oxford University Press
Bhatia, H. (1978), History of Economic
Thought. New Delhi. Viktas publishing house.
Brown, M. B. (1978), Economics of
Imperialism. London: Penguin Books.
Garry
B. (1998) Globalisation: Confronting fear about Open Trade, Washington DC.
Brookings Institute Press
Lynn,
E. (2011), Understanding the Political Economy of Enforced Dependency in the
Globalized World: Prescott; Prescott College Press.
Nkrumah, K. (1974), Neo-Colonialism, the
Last Stage of Imperialism, London, Panaf
Publishers.
Volkov, M. I. (ed) (1981), A Dictionary
of political Economy, Moscow. Progress Publishers.
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