As we all know, the old international economic order is the main external factor leading to poverty and backwardness in developing countries.
The existing international economic order is a set of "rules of the game" established in the international economic field by the western developed countries led by the United States after World War II. It is supported by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (WTO), which is mainly reflected in three major areas: international production, international trade and international monetary finance. This international economic order based on the monopoly position of a few countries will inevitably restrict and hinder the economic development of developing countries in many aspects. Under this system, international production is based on unreasonable division of labor. It is difficult to fundamentally change the situation that "Europe, America, Asia, Africa and Latin America are all raw materials" caused by the long-term colonial rule of imperialism. Many developing countries still have a single economic structure. Although the industry has developed, one or two agricultural products or primary mineral products are still the lifeblood of its national economy. For example, the output value of cattle industry in Botswana accounts for more than 50% of the national gross national product. The deformed national economic structure not only hinders the coordinated economic development of developing countries, but also greatly depends on external consumption and demand, thus seriously affecting the initiative of developing countries' national economy, and the face of poverty and backwardness will not be changed for a long time. International trade is characterized by unequal exchange. Unreasonable international division of labor will inevitably lead to unreasonable trade structure and unequal terms of trade. Western developed countries can take advantage of their monopoly position and convenient conditions to artificially raise the prices of manufactured goods and depress the prices of agricultural products and mineral products, thus forming a "scissors gap" in international trade and exploiting developing countries. From 1965 to 1986, the export prices of commodities in developing countries increased by 2.4% on average, while the export prices of manufactured goods in developed countries increased by 5.5% annually. From 65438 to 0950, developing countries still had a foreign trade surplus of $300 million, but after the 1980s, the balance of payments deficit of developing countries reached tens of billions of dollars every year. The international financial currency is marked by the monopoly position of a few developed countries. Some major international economic institutions and monetary and financial institutions are controlled by a few developed countries. The currency of developed countries is the main international currency for circulation, settlement, accounting and reserve, and the currency of developing countries must be linked to a certain currency or synthetic currency of developed countries. Therefore, the economy of developing countries has to be greatly influenced by the economic policies of developed countries, such as economic development and monetary interest rates, and is in an extremely unfavorable position. For example, when the US dollar depreciated for the first time at 197 1, developing countries lost 1 billion US dollars in foreign exchange reserves.
Obviously, this system is a serious obstacle for developing countries to get rid of poverty and seek development, and it is undoubtedly an important reason for the long-term poverty and backwardness of developing countries. Therefore, developing countries must strive to break the old international economic order and establish a new one.
From the perspective of historical materialism, the main internal factors that lead to poverty and backwardness in developing countries are:
First, mistakes in economic development strategies and related policies.
As far as economic development strategy is concerned, this is a complex factor that has the greatest impact on the economic and social development of developing countries. Although all developing countries have been actively exploring this issue since independence, they have achieved certain results. However, due to lack of experience and neglect of democratization and scientificalness of decision-making, many developing countries have made mistakes and detours to varying degrees when formulating economic development strategies and related policies, and the situation in some countries is still very serious. Since it is a strategic decision-making mistake, its negative impact will certainly not be instantaneous, and its destructive and serious sequelae cannot be defined by accurate figures. For many developing countries, their poverty and backwardness are closely related to the failure to find a correct development strategy suitable for their national conditions and many policy mistakes.
Second, the population is growing too fast.
Historical materialism reveals that population factor is one of the foundations of social existence and development. Although it is not a decisive factor, it still has a significant impact on social development. Whether the production of population and the production of material resources maintain an appropriate proportional relationship will accelerate or delay the development of society. Overpopulation and rapid growth will have an unhealthy impact on social development. Of course, we must oppose Malthus' wrong population theory, but at the same time, we must clearly realize that the serious gap between population and growth rate and production development level is indeed a major reason for the long-term poverty and backwardness of developing countries. A large number of population growth not only offset the economic growth of these countries to varying degrees, but some countries even ran deficits. According to relevant data, from 1960 to 1973, the average annual GDP growth of developing countries is 6.3%, which is much higher than that of developed countries, but the average annual per capita GDP growth is only 3.6%, which is lower than that of developed countries. Therefore, although the economy of developing countries has achieved rapid growth, the economic gap with developed countries has not narrowed, but has widened. As the economic growth rate lags behind the population growth rate, the per capita GDP of developing countries actually experienced a negative growth of 0.9% from 198 1 to 1986. This is especially true in Africa. From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, the growth rate of GDP in Africa has been lower than the population growth rate. This continent is also the only continent in the world where population growth exceeds grain growth. At present, Africa is the poorest country in the world and the region with the largest concentration of poor people. I'm afraid no one will doubt that overpopulation is an important reason for this situation.
Third, social corruption.
This is also a major reason that affects the economic development and social progress of developing countries. Corruption is a chronic disease in today's world, especially in developing countries that are poor and backward and lack democratic supervision mechanism. The People's Daily reported on February 3rd 1997 that the debt of developing countries increased by 30% due to corruption. 1997 The Southeast Asian financial crisis, which began in Thailand, not only caused heavy losses to the economies of Southeast Asian countries, but also brought extremely negative impacts to neighboring countries and even the world economy. When analyzing the causes of the financial crisis in Southeast Asia, some economic experts pointed out that there are many reasons for the crisis, but serious power corruption is also an undeniable factor. According to a World Bank announcement, about 20-30% of its loans to Indonesia fell into the pockets of government officials and their relatives and friends. Later, the World Bank further verified that many funds that should have been used for aid were not used in a considerable number of countries, but went into the personal pockets of many powerful people. Corruption has increased business costs and contract prices, hit investors' confidence, wasted social wealth, corroded social morality, and reduced people's trust in the government, which has become the main factor hindering social development and social stability. As someone pointed out, the poorer the country, the more serious the corruption; The more serious the corruption, the poorer the country.
Fourth, the foundation is poor, the foundation is thin, the capital and technology are lacking, and the economic structure is deformed and single.
These are also several key factors that lead to poverty and backwardness in developing countries. They are the result of the comprehensive action of history and reality, internal and external reasons. Historically, it was mainly caused by the long-term colonial rule of imperialism. In reality, this is not only the result of the negative influence exerted by the external factor of the old international economic order, but also the result of the internal policy mistakes of the developing countries concerned. The reality of weak foundation determines that the economy of developing countries has made great progress vertically, but it is not obvious. As a result of horizontal comparison, they are still in a state of poverty and backwardness, not to mention countries with little vertical development. As two key elements of modern economy, capital and technology determine the allocation and flow of social resources. Their serious lack will inevitably lead to the emergence of "bottleneck" phenomenon in the process of economic operation, thus affecting the development of the whole economy and the adjustment of industrial structure. This problem could have been solved step by step by introducing capital and technology and increasing its own accumulation accordingly. However, some countries failed to grasp the principle of moderation on this issue, and made mistakes in decision-making, thus falling into new difficulties. Of course, introducing capital has advantages and disadvantages. Since developing countries have achieved political independence and national sovereignty, their advantages and disadvantages mainly depend on the degree and way of their own utilization and restriction. If developing countries have proper policies, the advantages of attracting foreign investment outweigh the disadvantages based on the principle of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages. On the contrary, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. Newly industrialized countries and regions have promoted their own economic development by introducing foreign capital, technology and advanced management experience. However, some developing countries blindly introduce foreign capital without paying attention to their own repayment ability and adjusting their industrial structure by attracting foreign capital, resulting in heavy debt burden, some industrial sectors being controlled by foreign capital, and the abnormal situation of industrial structure has not been fundamentally improved, so the country is still in a state of poverty and backwardness.
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