Third World Development essays

Third World Development essays Understanding the nature and types of underdevelopment is the key to analyzing the degree of severity in which a state is underdeveloped. The term underdeveloped can describe several different situations. These different types of underdevelopment are economic, social, and political. Underdeveloped nations may experience a combination of these types ranging in different degrees of severity. These different types also affect each other as they naturally interact. Handelman explained this perfectly when he said that wealthier, more educated countries...tend to be more stable, responsive, and democratic than desperately poor nations (11). More economically advanced countries can educate more of their population and provide better health care. An educated citizenry, in turn, contributes to economic growth and participates in politics more responsibly (10). These aspects clearly influence each other, and thus can influence progress or regression. Religion also plays a huge role in the nature of a society. If that society is based on a particular religion and the government subscribes to that religious doctrine, then the society will follow the religion before it follows the example of other societies, thus impeding progress. However, depending on the religious movement, progressive religion can actually provide a median for progress. In Latin America, the progressive Church offered a shield against political repression and a voice for the poor. As different as they are, Islamic revivalism and the progressive Catholic Church both received much of the impetus from government repression and corruption. In short, the resurgence of Third World religion was, in part, a reaction to the deficiencies of modernization and the political-economic order (43). Religious fundamentalism can cause hostility within a state as well as strained relations with other states. ...