Introduction

Indeed, imperialism has been one of the most dominant forces in world politics over the last four
centuries, carving up whole countries while oppressing indigenous peoples and obliterating
entire civilizations. Imperialism is not just about armies, labor and gold. Imperialism has a
cultural dimension. When one part of the world systematically oppresses another, it changes not
only the material make-up of those societies, it also affects the cultures.
According to Rodney (1972):
Africa in the fifteenth century was not just a jumble of different tribes. There was a pattern
and there was historical movement. Societies such as feudal Ethiopia and Egypt were at the
furthest point of the process of evolutionary development. Zimbabwe and the Bachwezi states
were also clearly on the ascent away from communalism, but at a lower level than the feudal
states and a few others that were not yet feudal such as those in Western Sudan.

This above insight by Rodney shows that Africa had a particular pattern of development before
interference from without the continent. As it was and still is with Africa so has it been with the
rest of the third world countries in Asia and Latin America. This is why we can say that the
political and economic life of the so-called Third World countries cannot be discussed or given
a cursory glance without taking consideration of the influence of the developed or industrialized
nations of the west and North America. This view came as an antithesis to the Modernization
paradigm of political economy, which stated that the third worlds economic and political life can
be studied as a closed system meaning; underdevelopment in the third world is an original
situation.
However , the above thesis remains what the neo-Marxist scholars of the school of imperialism
have come to contradict, because truly the politics of the third- world countries of Asia ,Africa,
and Latin America ,cannot be studied outside the imperialist incursion of the third world , which
is an offshoot of the growth of advanced capitalism. This is why Lenin in his book considered
imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism.

Capitalism as an economic ideology was influenced greatly by the Industrial Revolution in the
west, starting from Britain in 1760(Collins concise encyclopedia) , and later spreading to other
parts of Europe in the 18th century. The growth of capitalism and its spread around Europe further
brought about the saturation of the European markets. So in essence there was need for markets
elsewhere for these goods. So the continents of Africa, Asia and Latin America became seen as
veritable markets for for these goods.
Thus was born the idea of colonialism, which was consequently a manifestation of imperialism,
whereby territories were turned into colonies of the principal authority for the main purpose of
plunder. The colonization of the third world countries by imperialist Europe halted and distorted
the development patterns that were being followed by the now called third world countries.
Where these imperialists were not allowed to peacefully assume power, they took it by force.
Today, even after the decolonization of the countries of the so-called third world, the
industrialized nations are not only exporting goods but also capital in the form of machinery,
technology, investments and loans. This paper is aimed at elucidating the concept and
phenomenon of imperialism vis--vis the underdevelopment situation in the third world today.
Conceptual Clarifications
In the course of this academic exploration it would be pertinent to explicate the concepts of
imperialism, Development and Underdevelopment for the sake of clarity and putting them in the
right context for the sake of good comprehension.
Imperialism: imperialism has been a concept and phenomenon fraught with so many
contradictions as regards its existence or authenticity. Modernization scholars like W.W.Rostow
in his book the stages of economic growth have expressly disputed the existence of the concept
of imperialism. On the other hand the

Neo-Marxist scholars mostly from the third world,

scholars like; Andre Gunder Frank, Walter Rodney and Ake Claude have come to defend the
existence of the phenomenon, further seeing it as a major force in the life of the third world. So
what is this imperialism?
According to Parati( 1995)imperialism means the process whereby the dominant politicoeconomic interest of one nation expropriate for their own enrichment the land ,labor raw2

materials and markets of another people. This definition shows that imperialism is a highly
parasitic relationship between territories, because the so-called industrialized expropriated the
resources of the third world to feed their own industrialization. These acts are usually done with
impunity.
Ake (1981:20) also saw the concept as the economic control an exploitation of foreign lands,
arising from the necessity of counteracting the impediments of the accumulation of capital
engendered by the internal contradictions of the domestic capitalist economy. From this
definition, it is implied that imperialism is as a result of the growth of advanced capitalism.
Given the expansionist nature of capitalism it has little inclination to stay at home. Almost 150
years ago, Marx and Engels described a Bourgeoisie that chase over the world surface for the
globe for capital accumulation and surplus value.
Barratt cited in Ake (1981:20) also sees the concept as the outward drive of certain peoples to
build empires both formal colonies and privileged positions in markets, protected sources of
materials and extended opportunities for profitable employment of labor. The concept has thus
been associated with an unequal economic relationship between states not simply the inequality
of large and small ,rich and poor trading partners but the inequality of political and economic
dependence of the latter on the former.
This above definition is useful because it comes from the perspective of some common sense
view of imperialism but it did not establish a link between capitalism and imperialism.
After exploring the above definitions by these authorities in the field it is now pertinent to see
imperialism as the economic and political control of a geographical entity by another, whereby
the former is dominated by the latter for the main purposes of plunder and extraction of, material
and surplus value in a relationship that ends up leading to dependence. This definition could be
seen as appropriate in the context of this paper because;
1. It establishes the relationship between capitalism and imperialism and
2. It establishes the role of dependence in imperialism.

Development and Underdevelopment: indeed the twin concepts of development and

underdevelopment have remained problematic in terms of conceptualizations in the field of
political science. It has elicited various definitions from scholars of diverse backgrounds and
ideological underpinnings.
According to Rodney (1972:21) development in human society is a many sided process. At the
level of the individual, it implies increased skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self
discipline, responsibility and material well being. Some of these are virtually moral categories
and are difficult to evaluate depending as they do on the age in which one lives, ones class,
origins and ones personal code of what is right and what is wrong. However , what is
indisputable is that the achievement of any of those aspects of personal development is very
much tied in with the state of the society as a whole".
This above exposition of development by Rodney posits that the societal and economic variants
of development are all hinged on the individual. When individuals making up a society are
developed, then the society can be said to be developed.
According to John Montgomery and William Siffin cited in Abah (2000:5), development is
planned mobilization and direction of scarce resources to achieve constantly rising national goals
and objectives formulated by the national machinery. To them government must be involved in
the development process of a given geographical entity or a semi-autonomous political unit.
Fred Riggs also cited in Abah(2000:5) is however more inclined to equate development with
freedom as he defines it as increase I the level of of autonomy and discretion of social system.
In the context of this paper it is better to see development as the qualitative and quantitative
increase in society, which is as a result of the creative energies of the individuals in that society.
This definition covers the fact that development cannot be given to a group of people or
community but could only be said to have happened when the people in a given society are able
to transform nature or manipulate it for their own betterment.
Underdevelopment on the other hand does not connote the absence of development because
every society has developed in one way or another to the extent possible. Underdevelopment
therefore makes sense only as a means of comparing levels of development. It is very much tied
4

to the fact that social development has been uneven and from a strictly economic point of view,
some human groups have advanced further by producing more and becoming wealthier. Hence in
comparison with the greater affluence of the countries of Europe and North America, the
economically backward countries could only be called underdeveloped. This perspective was
aptly presented by Walter Rodney in How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, where he stated that
virtually all underdeveloped countries of the Third World without exception passed through a
colonial era and the trauma of colonialism impacted upon them the condition of
underdevelopment.
This view by Rodney (1972) blamed the underdeveloped status of the third world on
imperialism. It is also instructive of how the underdeveloped post colonial economies Of Africa,
Asia and Latin America, fused into the global capitalist economy to compete side by side with
the industrialized economies of Western Europe and North America.
So we can say today that the communities in Africa, Asia and, Latin America that are now
impoverished and pauperized were as a result of imperialism. Today the gap between the socalled developed countries and the underdeveloped countries is so wide. Dependency is the order
of the day in which the countries of the third world depend on the industrialized nations for
almost everything ranging from goods to services. The third world countries have been relegated
to

the background and only made relevant in the area of supply of Raw Materials in the

international division of labor. Backwardness in science and technology is also another major
area where the third-world lags behind in the balanced of world economy. Major projects that
require the employment of advanced science and technology are now being contracted out to
European multinational and transnational companies.
There can be no doubt that there is still a widening gap between the central and peripheral states
in world economy and politics today. This is because the imperialist nations have seized control
of five monopolies, which are (1) technological monopoly (2) monopolistic control of worldwide
financial markets (3) media and communications monopolies and (4) monopoly of weapons of
mass destruction and other advanced means of destruction.
This above situation puts the third world countries in a competitive disadvantage when it comes
to trade and investment.
5

Theoretical Perspective: The theoretical perspective that best suits the thesis of this paper is
the dependency theory as propounded by Andre Gunder Frank, Immanuel Wallenstein and a host
of other third world scholars.

Generally dependency is the reliance on a person, or something for support, survival or

enhancement

In development studies dependency speaks of a situation in which a particular country or region

relies on another for support, survival and growth.
Dependency is a Neo-Marxist perspective that maintains that Third World countries are
Underdeveloped because of the activities of the First World (developed and industrialized
nations)
Dependency theory holds that the condition of underdevelopment is precisely the result of the
incorporation of the Third World economies into the capitalist world system which is dominated
by the West and North America (Randall and Theo bald 1998, 120)
Dependency Theory emerged in the 1950s as a critique of Modernization
Argues that these Classical theorists failed to recognize that Imperialism, Colonialism and NeoColonialism is solely responsible for the development of the First World and the subsequent
underdevelopment of the Third World.
These below are the features of the dependency critique:

The existence of a Capitalist World System as a conduit pipe

for the siphoning of the

resources of the third world.

In this capitalist system countries are divided into Metropoles and Satellites (Frank) or
Core and Semi-periphery and Periphery (Wallenstein)

Core Countries/ are the Rich Industrialized Countries of the West, whose GDP and per
capita income exceed 7% per annum
6

Peripheries are those countries whose annual rate of growth is less than 5-7% and are
primary producers of goods and services.

Semi-peripheries: Newly industrialized countries, China, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea (Asian
Tigers), Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Mexico, Indonesia, Egypt, Portugal, Spain and Italy.

The capitalist system operates where peripheries/Satellites provide raw material for the
Core/Metrpole countries who manufacture and sells it. Thus the basis of dependency and
Underdevelopment.

Dependency according to scholars emerged as a result of Europes drive to capital accumulation.

Thus led to the colonization of Latin American, Caribbean, African and East Asian States. The
extraction of wealth (Natural resources and capital) followed leading to the transfer of this
wealth to Europe facilitating industrialization and development (Rodney, 1972).
According to Andre Gunder Frank, monopoly control of trade and unequal exchange between
metropole and satellite resulted in the extraction of surplus value (Potter and Binns et al, 1999).
In general the theory of dependency holds that both ;political and economic dependency are
inversely and significantly related economic prosperity, that is more dependent countries are also
less prosperous. In order for these backward to countries to develop they must disassociate
themselves from all relations with the first world. This is because the imperialist nations of the
west have created artificial underdevelopment in the third world through imperialism.
Imperialism and Third world Underdevelopment
As has been earlier posited in this paper, the political and the economic life of the third- world
cannot be studied imperialism. This is because imperialism has made a major impact amongst the
so- called third world or less developed countries and has even altered their modes of production
that should be historically determined.
According to Rodney (1972:3) every people have shown a capacity for independently increasing
their ability to live a more satisfactory life through exploiting the resources of nature. Every
continent independently participated in the early epochs of the extension of mans control over

his environment which means in effect that every continent can point to a period of economic
development.
Drawing from Rodney above even the so-called third-world countries today showed some form
of development pattern before external interference from the imperial nations such as ; Britain,
France and the U.S.A.
A classical example of this above statement was the situation of India. In 1810, India was
exporting more textiles to England than England was exporting to India. By 1830, the trade
flows was reversed. The British had put up prohibitive tariff barriers to shut out Indian finished
goods and were dumping their commodities in India, a practice which was backed by the British
Gunboats and military force.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the influence of imperialism on the third world cannot be overemphasized given
its immense impact in determining the politico-economic standing of the third-world today.
Whole civilizations have been altered, countries carved up and mode of productions artificially
changed, and dependencies created. The situation now remains where the third world finds a
solution for the further imperial exploitation and domination of the third-world. A veritable
solution to this situation is for the third-world countries to delink from whatsoever link they have
with the imperialist nations. But immediate delinking may be fatalistic. So a slow process
delinking will be advised so as to combat imperialism and underdevelopment in the third-world
forever.

REFERENCES
Abah, N. (2000) Development administration; A multidisciplinary approach Enugu: John-Jacobs
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Ake, C. (1981) Political economy of Africa. New York. Longman Inc.
Andre, G. (1967) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America .New York: Monthly
Review Press.
Baran, P (1957) the political economy of growth. New York: Monthly review press.
David, C. (2004) Maps of time. Berkely: University of California.
Parati, M (1995) Against an Empire. Losangeles : city light books.
Potter & Binns et al(1999) Geographies of Development. New York: Oxford University Press.
Randall & Theobald (1998) Political change and Underdevelopment: A Lynn Reiner publishers
book.