The Crisis of Developing Countries Results from Two Sets of Factors. Clearly Identify and Critically Discuss Both Sets of Factors. in Your View, Which Sets of Factors Weigh More for the Development Crisis and Why?

Economic development can be defined generally as involving an improvement in economic welfare, measured using a variety of indices, such as the Human Development Index (HDI). A developing country is described as a nation with a lower standard of living, underdeveloped industrial base, and a low HDI relative to other countries. There are several factors which may have the effect of limiting economic development in such countries. Factors such as these include: primary product dependency, the savings gap and political instability.

Today Nigeria still has social, political, religious, cultural, and economic problems, but they aren’t as serious as before, still, some problems are decreasing in the society, there are new ones or/and some problems are

Economic development can be defined generally as involving an improvement in economic welfare, measured using a variety of indices, such as the Human Development Index (HDI). A developing country is described as a nation with a lower standard of living, underdeveloped industrial base, and a low HDI relative to other countries. There are several factors which may have the effect of limiting economic development in such countries. Factors such as these include: primary product dependency, the savings gap and political instability.

The first was the weak sense of nationalism caused by all the ethnic groups where religion played a major part of the division. The main three ethnicities in Nigeria are Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo; the former is Muslim while the two latter are Christians. The second cause mentioned was the “divide and rule” which was a British tactic to employ ethnic groups against one another, and thus “helped ensure that ethnicity would be the main line of political cleavage after Nigeria became an independent country.” The third cause is the personal rule system based on “big men” and what this means is that Nigerian’s who worked for the British used their personal relationships to gain power and wealth, and in a certain way it is still used today in the Nigerian government. The fourth devastating cause was the “creation of an increasingly active and interventionist state during WWII and after until its independence in 1960, but that opened the doors to patronage, which would be used to gain political power and wealth. The past reveals the problems Nigeria has had for several decades, some of which have not disappeared but seem to get progressively worse. (CITATION)

Nigeria is an Agricultural and oil rich nation but characterised by Political instability, corruption, poor

Nigeria is located in West Africa along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean and bordered by Cameroon and Benin to the east and west respectfully. It is comprised of over 180 million and is considered one of the most populated nations in the world. It is a nation that is ruled by a caste of politicians, wealthy business men, and the educated elite. The rest of the nation is subjugated to sub-par living standards and mediocre health care. At a glance one would think that Nigerians are doing well for themselves as they have one of the largest economies on the continent; however most Nigerians are forced to live in squander and are not given much of a chance to improve their lot.

Corruption can be defined as the use of entrusted power to accumulate public wealthy for personal benefit. Corruption is not peculiar to any country, continent or state; it is sure a global issue which is an endemic to all government all over the world. However, corruption is prevalent in the Niger delta region of Nigeria; public officers in this oil producing state of Nigeria are corrupt. Consequently, it has defied the Niger delta from developing politically and economically which has left the states reputation in a mess. Radicalization of youths, abject poverty and -political instability are the three leading effects of corruption in the Niger delta region of Nigeria.

Development is defined as “the process of change operating over time- the process by which countries and societies advance and become richer’’. The modern 20th century defines development as” the process of change which allows all the basic needs of a region to be met, thereby achieving greater social justice and quality of life and encouraging people to fulfill their potential’’. Todaro defines development as “the process of improving the quality of all human lives through raising people’s living standards, their incomes, consumption levels of food, medical services, education, raising people’s self-esteem through the establishment of social, political and economic systems and institutions that promote dignity and respect and increasing people’s

The term developmental state has been widely utilised to describe any state experiencing a period of economic development and improvement in living standards (Pham, 2012). One of the most significant arguments in this scope is the performance of developmental state model. A number of scholars have attempted to investigate this issue and arguments can be divided into three categories. Proponents of state intervention indicate that the state plays an indispensable role in directing economic development and utilising the resources of the country to achieve development goals. On the contrary, those who oppose state-led model argue

Lack of development in countries in the so-called `Third World' has many political and economical reasons. Historians explain the inadequacy of developing countries with the early imperialism and the resulting colonization of the South. Exploitation of mineral resources, deforestation, slavery, and the adaptation of foreign policies shaped the picture of today's suffering and struggling civilizations and natural rich continents. The omission of concessions and equal negotiations between dependency and supremacy give rise to the contrast of enormous resources and immense poverty in developing countries is. In the last years the outcry of justice and the emancipation of the Third World became louder throughout developing and industrialized

Development is central to political economy. For instance, when Adam Smith (1776) spoke of “improvements in machinery” (p. 31), “a propensity to truck, barter, and exchange” (p. 32) and a “great society” (p. 40), he was referring to development- engaging in activities that enhances one’s quality of life. Marxism’s dialectic materialism or the idea that change in the means of production influences social order (Marx & Engels, 1848) also concerns development by highlighting how new technology influences power relations and resource allocation. In this regard, development and political economy are inextricably linked. As Professor Michael Vaseth (2013) states, without ‘development’ and the focus on unequal relations and means of production, political economists would not be able to explain concepts such as (uneven) globalisation, hegemony and north-south relations. It is therefore important to understand what development is.

Nigeria got their independence from Britain on 1st October, 1960. Within the country of Nigeria, they have over 371 tribes, but the main three that is well known are, Igbo, Hausa, and Yoruba. Within that 371 tribes, they have 521 language. Nigeria is well known for their petroleum, and they have other natural resources include natural gas, tin, iron ore, coal, limestone, niobium, lead, zinc and arable land. The maximum crude oil production capacity of Nigeria is 2.5 million barrels per day, and the whole world consume an average of about 19.4 million barrels per day. One might ask, what is the problem with a country with the maximum capacity of oil production at 2.5 million a day? The problem is that people in that country are living in poverty. According to the Food Aid International organization (FAI), “3000 adults and children die everyday of hunger and poverty,” (Xinhua). My research shows that there are many contributing factor why people are living in poverty, which are: Unemployment, bad education system, inequity, and corruption. But my research focuses on the leading cause of poverty in Nigeria, which is corruption within the government system. According to “BBC News,” it shows that almost 100 million people living in Nigeria lives under $1 a day.

Only now, did I have the chance to really reflect on why we develop and why do we not. Before and up to now I usually associate development with technology, but at this very moment, I just contradicted myself. Although technology does play an important part in determining it, I don’t think it’s enough to give justice to what development really is because technological development is just a part of the whole. Development takes different forms; it could pertain to individualistic, universal, materialistic development and many others, so development itself is very broad

This paper is a result of the Development Research Group. It is a piece of a bigger exertion by the World Bank to give open access to its examination and make a commitment to development approach exchanges the world over. Approach Research Working Papers are additionally posted on the Web.

This essay is an attempt to compare the modernization and radical approaches to development and deciding which approach of the two offers a plausible explanation to what is prevailing in LDCs like Zambia. It will start by defining the major concepts which are development, modernization and radical approach, and then it shall proceed to make a full analysis of the two approaches respectively. The advantages and criticism will be given specifically for the two approaches, and it shall evaluate which one is better helping us in understanding the problems faced in less developed countries. Finally a conclusion will be drawn in summation of the topic.