Isbister Chapter Summary

In chapter three Isbister explains that social scientists wrestled to justify conditions in the third world, as a result, a mixture of indefinite theories developed. A point often overlooked, by social scientists is that the struggle and growth of Asia, Africa, and Latin America cannot be measured “in statistics, nor in treatises of social scientists and historians.” After reading the chapter, an obvious conclusion stood out poverty is tangible for most of the world’s people and nations. Why is this and who is to blame? Are the poor people to be blamed for their own poverty? The answers are arranged into three different groups: mod¬ernization, dependency, and Marxism.
Isbister describes modernization theory as “the mainstream

school of scholarship about poverty and economic, social, and political development in the coun¬tries of the third world.” The modernizationists do not view themselves as an organize group, but agrees on important ideas. The modernizationists seem to follow Walt Rostow’s five stages, as stated in his 1960 book The Stages of Economic Growth. A common view is that today’s third world societies are mainly traditional, and five hundred years ago Western Europe was once traditional meaning they were stagnant and unchanging this was due to the feudal system. This was also before the era of modern economic growth and cultural change. In addition, the modernizationists’ historians’ discoveries shows that technological innovations were more consistent in Western Europe than the Middle East, in China, in Africa, and in South America. This in turn promoted political modernization and economic modernization. Sadly, the modernization theory blames the third world for its underdevelopment. But the question remain, is it enough to say the people of the third world have been lazy, or made poor decisions, and are they solely responsible for their troubles?
The Dependency and Marxism schools on the order hand blame capitalism for the underdevelopment of the third world countries. Capitalism was not only a geographic, economic and political system, but also promoted change and experimentations. New ideologies were introduced with long distance trading.
Most members of the dependency school claim that economic subservience often leads to political subservience. Groups in power in the third world serve essentially at the convenience of the political and business power centers in the core of the international capitalist sys¬tem.
What about the third world governments? Have they pursued policies that actually harm successful development?
For both the dependency and the Marxist schools, government pol¬icy is far from the central cause of poverty. Writers in both schools are critical—even scornful—of many government policies, but they do not see governments of either the rich or the poor countries as autonomous.
Poverty and inequality are real, but the deeper and more global origins of poverty are not always discussed

Chapter Four: Imperialism

In chapter four Isbister states that imperialism formed today’s third world countries and established its global poverty.

In the past, lives were controlled by European imperialism the practice of a country extending its political power, over conquered territories. The country and the lands it controls were called an empire. The empire enforced its rule on people of different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, and different political systems. The empire had one supreme ruler; sadly, the conquered territories lack effective representation in the empire’s government. Therefore, the conquered countries natural raw natural resources were exploited and their economic growth suppressed. This was evident in Africa, South Asia, Latin America, and North America countries.
The life of the peasant is a series of ritual occasions, planting and harvesting, being born, coming of age, begetting, dying. . . . All are one family, interrelated if not in this generation, in the last or the next. All give unquestioned obedience to the great mother goddess, the earth mother, who can easily be made to wear a Christian

dress.
The European imperialism formed new nations and between 1492 -1176 they practiced global expansion. The Portuguese, Dutch, Swedes, British, French, and Danes traded with Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. Capitalism was not only a geographic, economic and political system, but also promoted change and experimentations. New ideologies were introduced with long distance trading.
By the middle of the eighteenth century, a worldwide imperial sys¬tem of commerce had come into existence!

Cotton, spices, silk, and tea from Asia mingled in European markets with ivory, gold, and palm oil from Africa; furs, fish, and timber from North America; and cotton, sugar, and tobacco from both North and South America. The lucra¬tive trade in enslaved human beings provided cheap labor where it was lacking. The profits accrued in Europe, increasingly in France and Britain as the Portuguese, Spanish, and then Dutch declined in relative power. It was a global network, made possible by the advancing tech¬nology of the colonialists.
Differing perspectives exist on the topic of imperialism. Some of the main causes of imperialism were the need for resources to supply the industrial revolution with raw materials, and maintain a supply of cheap labor. There was also the desire to sustain a steady market for exported manufactured goods.
Various justifications were offered to explain the cause of imperialism, for example the British economist J. A. Hobson and V. I. Lenin’s. Lenin used some of Hobson’s analysis in his 1917 tract Imperialism, the Highest Stage of

Capi¬talism.
The Hobson-Lenin thesis ultimately fails as an explanation of late-nineteenth-century imperialism because, although the Europeans invested heavily abroad, very little of their investments went to the newly acquired colonies; a great deal more of it went to the Americas and to India.
All things considered, Colonialism was a system similar to imperialism it practiced full or partial political control over conquered countries. However, imperialism, in contrast to colonialism, is a centrally developed state program that is endorsed for both economic and ideological reasons. The age of mercantilism established the first transoceanic trade routes, but colonialism enabled the expansion of capitalism on a global scale centered on export crops (cash crops). The effects of colonialism were stronger in certain countries, because it was not just an economic and political system, but also cultural. In the end a question lingers, is it the birthright of the third world countries to take up the White man’s burden and life in poverty?

SUMMARY
John Isbister book Promises Not Kept: Poverty and The Betrayal of Third -World Development gives an insightful and informative look into the impact imperialism and the absolute poverty of the third world countries. For the most part the people are living in a state of reactionary suicide. They are deprived a person of human dignity which renders the individual helpless while inducing spiritual, emotional and intellectual death in such a way that, “The victims have stopped fighting the form of oppression that drinks their blood.” This is caused by external factors that overwhelm, condemn and leaves a person powerless to gradually slip into a life of silent desperation.
The “third world” refers, then, to the poor of the world, those who are disenfranchised in an international system dominated by the industrialized countries: the North, the developed, and the rich. For the most part, the hopes that are inherent in the term “third world” have not been fulfilled.
Mr. Isbister is determined to dispel widespread myths about third world countries gradually slipping into a life of silent hopelessness.
The third world is undergoing rapid and sometimes chaotic social change: pop-ulations are growing and becoming more urbanized. Public health measures are lowering death rates. Within recent memory, nationalist independence movements created dozens of new sovereignties. Since then, governments have changed often, revolutions and counterrevolutions have been instigated, and warfare has ensued. Modern technology has penetrated the third world and transformed production. Educa¬tion at all levels is spreading.
However, “Third world” cannot be a completely neutral term, however, since its origins are revolutionary. If you are modernizationist you may ask “why this is and who is to blame. Is not the people and their tradition?” My answer would be “are the poor people to be blamed for their own poverty or is it your capitalist system? In the end a question lingers, is it the birthright of the third world countries to take up the White man’s liability and live in absolute poverty? The answer is obvious, they have to push against, “the forces that would drive me to self-murder.” Globalization advanced free trade, open markets, and competition in the world economy. However, this worldwide amalgamation and growth contributed to the equalities and inequalities between third world nation-states.