Neocolonialism: the Relationship Between Superpowers and the Developing World
Using examples assess the view that the relationship between superpowers and the developing world is a neo colonial one. (15)
The dominating capitalist ideology from superpowers has led to extreme inequalities between core and peripheral nations, which has resulted in an unstable relationship with the developing world. Neocolonialism is a geopolitical practice in which a superpower perpetuates its economic and political hegemony on underdeveloped nations. This indirect and ‘disguised’ Imperialism has continued in variable degrees between colonial powers and peripheral regions including Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
According to Dr Alice Lyman Miller, a superpower is: “a country with the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world”. Today there is a period of transition as the sovereign USA dominated world gives way to a multi-polar one, including the likes of the European Union and G8 countries (which represent 65% of global GNP, but only 14% world’s population). The Cold War (1947-1991) created a bi-polar world comprising the USSR’s Communist system, where all economic activity should be shared equally, controlled by a dictatorial state; and the USA’s Capitalist system, which many anti-neocolonialists argue has caused extreme inequalities in wealth, affecting the integration of developing nations into the global economic system. Both of these superpowers were accused of practicing neocolonialism in imperial and hegemonic pursuits.
In the aftermath of WWII (1939–45), decolonization and independence began in former colonial countries, as the British Empire declined in economy and military, as well as a loss of land control. However national leaders argued their countries were subject to a new indirect control from former colonial powers. The first president of independent Ghana Kwane Nkrumah, first used the term neocolonialism, which he referred to as ‘the worst form of imperialism’ in his book ‘Neo-Colonialism,
The dominating capitalist ideology from superpowers has led to extreme inequalities between core and peripheral nations, which has resulted in an unstable relationship with the developing world. Neocolonialism is a geopolitical practice in which a superpower perpetuates its economic and political hegemony on underdeveloped nations. This indirect and ‘disguised’ Imperialism has continued in variable degrees between colonial powers and peripheral regions including Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America.
According to Dr Alice Lyman Miller, a superpower is: “a country with the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world”. Today there is a period of transition as the sovereign USA dominated world gives way to a multi-polar one, including the likes of the European Union and G8 countries (which represent 65% of global GNP, but only 14% world’s population). The Cold War (1947-1991) created a bi-polar world comprising the USSR’s Communist system, where all economic activity should be shared equally, controlled by a dictatorial state; and the USA’s Capitalist system, which many anti-neocolonialists argue has caused extreme inequalities in wealth, affecting the integration of developing nations into the global economic system. Both of these superpowers were accused of practicing neocolonialism in imperial and hegemonic pursuits.
In the aftermath of WWII (1939–45), decolonization and independence began in former colonial countries, as the British Empire declined in economy and military, as well as a loss of land control. However national leaders argued their countries were subject to a new indirect control from former colonial powers. The first president of independent Ghana Kwane Nkrumah, first used the term neocolonialism, which he referred to as ‘the worst form of imperialism’ in his book ‘Neo-Colonialism,