7.8.1: Neocolonialism

 7.8.1: Neocolonialism

 You may have noticed from some of the preceding analyses and chapters that it once was common for countries to attack and subjugate other countries.

 Although this still occurs, it is comparatively limited. Invasion-subjugation used to be an acceptable—even prized—form of politics, but the casualties, suffering, and devastation of World War II changed public sentiment about sending soldiers to conquer weaker countries and colonists to exploit them. 

What had been standard political practice came to be considered as immoral.

 Yet the Most Industrialized Nations still want to flex their muscles and dominate weaker nations. 

To do so, they turned to a less invasive technique that sociologists call neocolonialism.

 By selling the Least Industrialized Nations goods on credit—especially weapons that the local elites are eager to buy so they can keep themselves in power—the Most Industrialized Nations entrap the poor nations within a crippling circle of debt. 

As many of us learn the hard way, owing a large debt puts us at the mercy of our creditors. So it is with neocolonialism. 

The policy of selling weapons and other manufactured goods to the Least Industrialized Nations on credit turns those countries into eternal debtors. 

The capital they need to develop their own industries goes instead as payments toward the debt, which becomes bloated with mounting interest.

 Keeping these nations in debt forces them to submit to trading terms dictated by the neocolonialists (Carrington 1993; Maloba 2017). Relevance Today Neocolonialism might seem remote from your life, but its heritage affects you directly.

 Consider the oil-rich Middle Eastern countries, our wars in the Persian Gulf, and the terrorism that emanates from this region. Although this is an area of ancient civilizations, the countries themselves are recent.

 Great Britain created Saudi Arabia. 

British officials drew the new “country’s” boundaries, picked the man to lead it, and even named the country after this man, Ibn Saud. 

As you can imagine, this created an enormous debt for the Saudi family. 

For decades, this family repaid its debt by providing low-cost oil, which the Most Industrialized Nations need to maintain their way of life.

 When other nations pumped less oil—no matter the cause, whether revolution or an attempt to raise prices—the Saudis helped keep prices low by making up the shortfall. 

In return, the United States (and other nations) overlooked the human rights violations of the Saudi royal family, keeping them in power by selling them the latest weapons.

 This mutually sycophantic arrangement continues, but in light of U.S. support for Israel and the Saudi-led 9/11 attack, it is fraying at the edges.