History - Undeveloped Countries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

History - Undeveloped Countries - Essay Example Pakistan maintains close relations with the United States, and India’s differences with Pakistan pushed India into closer relations with Russia, to the point where Russia has become â€Å"the centrepiece of India’s global security strategy† (Sieff: 2009, p. 183). In the new millennium, these old ties are still there but the rising economic power of China provides new possibilities for developing trade alliances. The presence of this new trading partner breaks up the old Russia/America choice, and allows India to engage with all three in selective ways, choosing a way that suits India’s own purposes. Less powerful countries, such as many in Africa, are poor in resources and this pushes them into dependence on aid and trade with the superpowers. Some analysts argue that American debt problems and financial instability are likely to result in a shift in the superpower of choice for many smaller states towards the rising giant of China and away from America (G arrett, 2010). References Garrett, G. (2010) G2 in G20: China, the United States and the world after the Global Financial Crisis. Global Policy 1 (1), 29-39. Sieff, M. (2009) Shifting Superpowers: The New and Emerging Relationship between the United States, China and India. Washington D.C.: Cato Institute. ... rica Libyan dictator Qaddafi is a contemporary example of these traits, and has been characterized by suppression of any dissent within his country and state-sponsored terrorism against Western capitalist democracies which he perceives as a threat both ideologically and economically. Qaddafi proves that this kind of dictatorship can be stable, but problems arise when potential successors jostle for position (Bratton and van de Walle, 1997, pp. 61-65). In the Middle East, the sultans and monarchs retain the oil-based wealth of their nations for personal use, and run state institutions like a family business. For example, in Saudi Arabia Abdallah bin Abd al-Azis Al Saud has been both king and head of government since 2005. In Asia Kim Jong-Il of North Korea runs an extremely repressive regime which controls the people with a strong military style government. Nuclear tests and shows of strength are designed to intimidate more peaceful neighbors like South Korea. The country is also held back because too much of its scarce production is diverted to sustaining the military. In Eastern Europe, the old Soviet system had undermined democracy and allowed a large number of dictators to emerge including Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania and Slobodan Milosevic in the former Yugoslavia. When the Soviet system collapsed, they intensified their grip with genocide and oppression, the typical reaction of a dictator under pressure. References Bratton, M. and van de Walle, N. 1997. Democratic Experiments in Africa: Regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Brooker, P. (1995) Twentieth-Century Dictatorships: Communist and Middle-Eastern Dictatorships in a Democratic Age. Basingstoke: MacMillan. Question 3 Some third world countries have done quite