In the world today we have seen much technological advancement in transportation which has allowed the world to be a much more connected place in communication and trade. However, many landlocked countries in Africa still face an uphill battle when it comes to international trading. Much of their economic issues are a result of their distance from the coast, this paper will however will look at how dependency on foreign relations is the biggest factor on whether the country will be This paper will shed light on how the geography of a country play a significant role on how successful a country is economically. How landlocked countries’ economies are dependent on the policies of bordering countries. The paper will conclude with a set of policy recommendations that will attempt to offer solutions to landlocked countries
In 2002, a study was done called the Human Development Report concluded that the countries with the lowest levels of Human Development Index scores were all landlocked countries. Trade is the biggest reason why these countries has a continually battle to grow their economy. Landlocked countries have to travel long distances to be able to reach ports for international trading. As a result, many landlocked countries would have to go through either one or two neighboring countries. These relationships always favor coastal countries because they will place high transportation costs on landlocked countries in order to gain a distant advantage over them. If we look at the statistics from, Human Development Report 2002 the ratio of transportation and insurance to value of exports for Mali is 35% compared to South Africa which is 8%. This is nearly 4 times the amount which is a costly disadvantage for Mali. Growth of an econo...
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...Least affected areas The most notable exception to the administrative burdens of transit is found in Bhutan. All Bhutanese transit trade through India is handled by Bhutan’s own customs agency. Hence, administratively Bhutan can trade as if it were not landlocked. This is largely a result of strong Bhutanese–Indian relations and the minimal amount of Bhutanese transit trade. In other instances, efforts to reduce administrative charges and delays have taken place at the regional level. The countries of SADC and the
Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), for example, have introduced common licenses and third-party insurance guarantees across countries, significantly reducing transit costs (see more details in the
Appendix). Similar efforts are being made in South America through the regional trade institutions to simplify transit procedures.
Summary
Rodney, Walter, A.M Babu, and Vincent Harding. How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. Washington, D.C.: Howard UP, 1981. Print.
The War of the Triple Alliance is regarded as the bloodiest war in the history of Latin America, taking place from 1864 to 1870. In a seemingly uneven match up, the country of Paraguay took on an alliance of three countries: Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. Paraguay started this conflict under the rule of Francisco Solano López, the country’s dictator. What would make Fransisco Solano López, dictator of Paraguay, exponentially increase his military forces and attack an alliance of three countries, two of which are much larger than Paraguay? I will use operational code to study the dictator who started the war and examine reasons as to why he made such the rash and risky decision that he did. After examining Francisco Solano López’s operational code, I will delve into the topic of prospect theory to further evaluate the reasons for mobilizing a military and starting a war, and the risks involved with doing so. The topic of militarized interstate disputes, otherwise known as MIDs, will be the last subject I discuss in relation to the causes of the war, and I will explain his motives for the dispute as well as the motives of the opposition
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
Fund, I. M. (2011, April 1). International Monetary Fund. Retrieved March 18, 2012, from World Economic Outlook Database, Ethiopia: http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2011/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?pr.x=52&pr.y=2&sy=2008&ey=2011&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=644&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=#cs1
Africa is a continent rich in natural resources and it may be surprising that its resources haven’t been enough to pull it out of poverty. Although there are many resources, there are also many issues. Many of Africa’s industries are focussed on raw materials. For example, agriculture is the main industry in Africa, employing two-thirds of the working population and contributing 20% to 60% of every country’s GDP. Forestry is also an important industry and contributes up to 6% of Africa’s GDP, which is higher than any other continent. Fishing, another main industry in Africa, is valued at $2.7 billion USD and provides income for 10 million people. Africa also focusses on exporting raw materials such as metals and minerals, including uranium, platinum, nickel, bauxite and cobal. These raw materials are used around the world to produce nuclear energy, industrial
India and China however, were landlocked and were by far the greatest industrial powers in the world till the Industrial revolution. Technology, not geography, helped temperate agriculture and industry to zoom ahead. One way a country overcomes geographical isolation is to improve its transportation infrastructure. Better roads, ports, paths, and other modes of transport provide access to world markets. But a country can only derive full benefits from these investments against a backdrop of good trade and macroeconomic policies. Consequently this leads to the belief that people again control the thought of their own geography.
Today Ethiopia is ranked 173rd of 187 countries on the Human Development Index.1 The country has struggled with civil wars within the country, and conflicts in neighboring states. Not only have the people suffered due to civil war, but the agriculturally based economy has been caught in the middle of the wars and droughts which lead to famine. The political coalitions are the legacy of Ethiopia having been a pawn in the cold war. There are many factors that have caused the current state of Ethiopia. The military conflicts with Eritrea combined with disputes within Ethiopian borders have weakened the country, led to starvation and inhibited progress. Furthermore, Ethiopia's government under the cold war - the Derg - was inept and through its economic and land reform policies hindered development and devastated the country. Lastly, Ethiopia’s infrastructure for its agricultural economy is very poor. It lacks proper means of transportation and communication which are essential to economic and social development. The current state of post-independence Ethiopia is a result of mostly internal forces. The absence of proper infrastructure in the country to support its economy, detrimental policies by the government, and a number of armed conflicts have led to an underdeveloped and poverty stricken Ethiopia.
Priscilla. “The World Economy and Africa.” JSpivey – Home – Wikispaces. 2010. 29 January 2010. .
Today climate change and the fearsome competition for land, has made rural life in Africa critically unsustainable and borderline to poverty because of declining productive resources. As more African countries begin to industrialize and it’s agricultural sectors decline, urbanization rates have begun to accelerate. These migrants, who are normally low skilled/unskilled, are moving from the rural areas to urban areas in the hopes of securing a job and experiencing the glamorous big city life. However this reality is flawed, a mass rural urban migration has had a negative impact on development. Rapidly growing populations in urban areas has put pressure onto African authorities that are now struggling to accommodate everyone through social services jobs and education.
The location and vast array of natural resources in Africa have led it to settled and exploited by many Asian and European countries in the past. The events in Africa’s past have greatly influenced its political, social, and economic well being today. Africa is situated below the continent of Europe and is west of the continent of Asia. It is boarded on its north coast by the Mediterranean sea and lies in between the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Because Africa is almost completely surrounded by water and near large trading areas like the Mediterranean, it became very susceptible to colonialism from European and Asian countries. Colonialism and the discovery of natural resources in Africa’s past have caused the volatile political climates, social inequality and economic opportunities, that are seen throughout Africa today.
Madagascar is among the countries that are termed as least developed in the world today (United Nations, 2001). The implementation of trade agreement based on agriculture sector led to sluggishness in the various market dynamics of the available grains. In addition to this, the quantity of grains was declining and as a consequence of this, the revenues generated declined at an alarming rate. The country was therefore obliged to opt for food import. This step was taken as a result of reduction in the amount of aid granted to the government, and subsequent subsidization of exports. Since Madagascar could not afford to offer export subsidization, the country’s exports were highly affected by the established policies such as non-tariff measures.
I shall advance the thesis that geography is a significant factor in economic development. By saying that geography matters, I mean that an economy is highly dependent on it’s geography because it explains why certain economies prosper, while others, in contrast, struggle. I have two reasons for asserting my thesis that geography is a significant factor in economic development. First, there is a strong correlation between geography and productivity (McArthur, Sachs 2001,p. 3). Second, geography directly shapes the sorts of institutions that evolve and thus indirectly affect economic development (Engerman, Sokoloff 2002, p. 3). As mentioned above, my thesis stresses the importance of geography and it’s related variables in economic development; for although there are many different attributes that contribute to economic development, it is, without a doubt, obvious that geography plays the most significant role in determining the success of an economy, thus I will illustrate that geography shapes the performance and institution of economies, which, in turn, means it heavily influences economic development, and accordingly concludes that geography matters.
1.) The Democratic Republic of Congo, with a population of over 75 million people is currently the second largest country in Africa. However, despite being this large of a country it is the poorest country in Africa and in the world, experiencing extreme poverty. The Democratic Republic of Congo has the lowest gross domestic product per capita in the world, which is defined as a measure of the total output of a country that takes the GDP and divides it by the number of people in the country, in this case the Democratic Republic of Congo. GDP per capita helps determine the global success of a country and portrays the country’s overall standard of living,
In Africa, one important feature of the urbanization process is that a lot of the growth is taking place in the industrial increase. Urbanization also finds expression in external expansion of the built-up area and the changing of prime agricultural lands into residential and industrial uses (Saundry, 2008). An alternate to the present expansion of the urban population across a wide area of the country in order to save crucial land for agriculture is to construct high-rise buildings and support commercial development in specific zones, which would depend on efficiency, and the right technology and resources (Hanson, 2011). In Africa, the urbanization processes are largely driven by market forces and government policies. This will lead to methods at the same time of change in incomes, land use, health and natural resources management including water, soil and forests and often reactive changes in local governments (The Economist, 2010). So this is saying that government development policies and budget divisions, in which urban residents are often favorites over rural areas and will tend to pull more people into the urban areas. I...
Throughout the chapter the text exerts more emphasis on the economical evaluation of a country's development rather than the alternative method. It begins to branch off quickly into the classification of countries deriving new topics all relating back to the economical approach. Beginning this discussion is the topic of underdevelopment.