Question

Explain how the maps above depict the relationship between neocolonialism and human development.

Answer 1

The first map shows colonized nations in 1945. European powers had colonized vulnerable and faltering nations to undergird their economies. The second map shows that, even more than 50 years later, the majority of moderately developed or underdeveloped nations were former colonies of the presently highly developed nations. This conclusion supports neocolonialism in that former colonies have moved toward industrialization and economic independence. The economies of the former colonies are still, to an extent, dictated by, and even hampered by, their former colonizers.