After reading about the theories, I became interested in learning more about how the Dependency Theory affects educational systems in periphery countries like Nepal. Periphery countries are those that are less developed than the semi-periphery and core countries. The country of Nepal fits this definition. It is politically unstable, it has a corrupt bureaucracy, there is a lack of industry, and Its political situations have always been compromised because of interference from China, India (Kalam, 2020).
In this very interesting documentary The Most Dangerous Ways to School, the children of Nepal have to travel for more than two hours to get to school. In their travels, they must cross a dangerous river on a cable in a basket. This video also brings to light the economic and social disparities between the rich and the poor.
It is possible for an underdeveloped county to become developed? According to Keynes’ economic approach, in order for a country to become developed it must improve the following: 1.) develop an important internal effective demand in terms of domestic markets; 2) recognize that the industrial sector is crucial to achieving better levels of national development, especially due to the fact that this sector, in comparison with the agricultural sector, can contribute more value-added to products; 3) increase worker’s income as a means of generating more aggregate demand in national market conditions. 4. To promote a more effective government role in order to reinforce national development conditions and to increase national standards of living (Reyes, 2020) However, is this possible when the Dependency Theory is designed to benefit core countries?
HI Jill,
Thank you so much for sharing this video. It breaks my heart to think of children experiencing these conditions. We know without a doubt, these circumstances exist in too many countries. I agree with you, in trying to understand the Dependency Theory, I also wonder how a country can”develop a more effective coverage of social services from the government, especially to impoverished sectors, if the core countries are focused on their development, and not very concerned with the development of the peripheral countries. It seems that the Dependency Theory focuses mostly on the increased development conditions, and national standards of living, for core countries. How can that development and standard of living spill over to the underdeveloped countries, if they are already severely underdeveloped with little hope of a more effective government? As written by Reyes, according to the dependency school of thought, “The development of the nations in the Third World necessitates subordination to the core.”