Introduction

Underdeveloped countries are countries that are face with a lot of problems in terms of,
deficiency of capita, inequalities of income and wealth, lack of entrepreneurial abilities among
others. According to Bauer (2007) underdevelopment is defined as countries usually with level
of real income and capital per head of population which are low by standards of North America,
Western Europe and Australia. Underdeveloped countries are those which have low levels of
living, absolute poverty, low per capita income, low consumption levels, poor health services,
high death rates, high birth rates and dependence on foreign countries according to Todaro
(2009).

In this assignment we are going to look at the causes of underdevelopment in third world
countries like Zambia, which is believed to be externally caused.

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 Under development in third world countries

Zambia is one of the countries believed to be underdeveloped due to many challenges the county
has especially in terms of low income per capita that is (low GDP and low GNP per capita) and
this is believed to be externally caused and this can be explained better in a theory known as
dependency theory.

This theory grew out of a critique of existing development paradigms, which authors saw as
being unable to uncover the third world problems of underdevelopment and development (Kay
and Gwynne, 2000, p.50). Underdeveloped countries like Zambia are caught up in a dependence
or dominance relationship with rich countries such as the United States of America. This theory
has three strings of thoughts according to the author, Andre. G. F () as follows:

 NEO-COLONIAL DEPENDENCY MODEL

This model attributes the continued existence of underdeveloped to the revolution of
highly unequal international capitalist system of rich-poor countries relationship. The
underdeveloped countries such as Zambia are seen as subordinate satellites for the
transfer of capitalism from the peripheral to the center, from exploiting masses with a
country a country mainly from working class to the capitalists at home and overseas, for
example here in Zambia this can be seen through multinational companies who came into
our country to invest in industries such as mining, in which many of the local people who
work for these companies are exploited through low stipends or salaries at the expense of
take our mineral which benefit their home countries overseas. Exploitation of the
peripherals by the center comprising the metropolises is an important characteristic of
this model. Economic surplus from the peripherals are drained by the Western capitalist
system rendering attempts by poor countries to be self-reliant and independent difficult
and sometimes even impossible in the Zambian case mainly the natural resources such as
minerals are the ones which are being drained up to now. There is domestic
decapitalization in underdeveloped countries like Zambia which the turn to foreign aid
and debt which further bind them into economic slavery.

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  FALSE PARADIGM MODEL
This model attributes underdeveloped countries as a result of faulty and inappropriate
advices provided by well-meaning but often unformed, biased and economic advisors
from developed country, assistance agencies and multinational donor organizations such
as the international monitory funds (IMF). These experts are said to offer complex but
ultimately misleading models of development that often leads to inappropriate or
incorrect policies.
- Giving advice that are not well intended
- Keep on shifting goal posts
- Keep on designing new structures for development

 DUALISTIC DEVELOPMENT SYNTHSIS

This synthesis is implicit in the structural change theories and explicit in the international
dependency model. It views the world as a dual society of the rich and the poor nations
and, in the developing countries, pockets of wealth within broad areas of poverty. The
theory represents the diversities between rich and poor nations and between the rich and
poor people on various levels. The concept of dualism embraces four key arguments:-
i. different sets of conditions, of which some are superior and others inferior can coexist
in a given space, such as the following;
- Modern and traditional methods of production in urban and rural societies.
-wealthy, highly educated elites with the masses of illiterate poor people
-powerful and wealthy industrialized nations with weak, impoverished peasant societies
in the international economy.
ii. They have an argument that whenever there is a master there is a servant
This coexistence is chronic and not merely transitional. There is a traditional tendency by
the poor to be antagonist as the poor see the rich as being responsible for their poverty. In
other words, the international coexistence of wealth and poverty is not simply a historical
phenomenon that would be rectified in time.

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 iii. Not only does the degree of superiority and inferiority fail to show any signs of
diminishing, but they even have an inherent tendency to increase. For example, the
productivity gaps between workers in developed countries and their counterpart in
underdeveloped countries seems to widen with each passing year. The rich feel more
superior, they are systematically becoming more superior politically, economically and
socially.
iv. The interrelation between the superior elements are such that existence of superior
elements does little or nothing to pull up the inferior elements are such that the existence,
let alone on trickle down to them. The superior are not ready to elevate the poor to their
level but would rather employ them doing inferior jobs. The rich countries want to
continue the dominance.

Conclusion
In conclusion it is evident to say that third world counties like Zambia lack of
development is truly externally caused, through the so called investors, who come to
inverts in the mining industries and other industries which in turn enrich their home
developed countries, leaving countries like Zambia more poorer and in turn whenever we
as a country want to forester development we tend to foreign debt. For example the recent
road and other developmental infrastructures that are being done in Zambia are all based
on foreign debts, leading our country into economic slavery.

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 Reference

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