Mercantilists believe that economic activity should be based on building a wealthy state. From their perspective, the international economy does not promote cooperation or mutual gain; rather it is an area of conflict between states based on their national interests. Therefore, economic competition is seen as a zero-sum game; one state’s gain is another state’s loss. Relative Economic gain is the materialistic wealth obtained by one state that is used to strengthen their military and political power that can be used against other states.
According to mercantilist perspective, there are two types of economic rivalries between the state; benign and malevolent mercantilism. Benign mercantilism is when the states look after their …show more content…
The causes for these countries to lag in development is the civil war, poverty, and a long period of bad governance and poor economies. Latin American countries are no exception to economic instability and lack of development. This paper will discuss the reasons why the majority of Latin American countries struggle to become …show more content…
Leaders in poor countries tend to give money to the people that are loyal to them because this is one of the ways that they succeed in implementing policies of their choice. Stiglitz argues that the leaders of the poor countries do not implement good economic policies. However, data tends to show that the leaders who cause poverty and are corrupt tend to stay in leadership longer. Therefore, the foreign economic aid will not help decrease poverty rates, rather it will cause more political and economic instability. External aid increases the leadership span of autocratic rulers because they are able to patronize their groups of supporters. This type of poor leadership is considered as the poor governance trap in which the majority of the Latin American countries are experiencing. These types of countries are “recognized” as authoritarian states or