Economic effects of imperialism

Imperialism is the act in which one country uses its powers to extend its policies, practices, and dominion to a less powerful country according to Baylis, Smith & Owens, (2017). When this act happens, the dominant country will enjoy the economic and political control of the victim nations. The states which propagate imperialism are the world powers. The term world powers refer to the nations which have strong economic, military, political and economic stability; these countries use their level of confidence to extend their capabilities to the less developed nations. Some of the great world powers include America, Germany, and France in reference to Boyd-Barrett, (2016). However, the act of controlling other nations resources have a severe effect on other nations both positive and negative. The impact includes political and economic implications. In this assignment, it is going to elaborate on how the imperialists or world powers act of controlling other nations economy and politics have affected the nations.

When it comes to the economy, Stuenkel, (2017) argues that, Africa was the most affected continent when the practice of colonialism began. Before the action of imperialism started going around Africa, there was slave trade going on around the continent, whereby able men were sold to other kingdoms to work in the plantations as women were forced to work as king’s servants in reference to MacKenzie, (2017). Consequently, European nations sent their adventures to the continent who reverted to their countries that Africa had a lot of resources to explore. At that juncture, European organized their military to start practicing imperialism to Africa. One of the visible economic effects of imperialism was that European squandered several raw materials such as minerals and land for their benefit. The members of the affected nations became beggars in their own countries. The second negative consequence was that the World powers began the slave trade, whereby they took ale men to their countries. The action left the colonies unproductive because of insufficient labor. The men who could work in their country to boost their economic ended up working for the European countries and expanding their economy according to Foster, (2015). The third issue was that after the European countries made products from raw materials, they got from the colonizers, they brought back the products and sold them to African people. The citizens from the affected nations were forced to buy the products which were sold at a high price than what the member countries expected.

Even though there are adverse economic effects of imperialism, there exist some positive results which the colonized countries still enjoy up to date according to Smits, (2014). The first positive impact is that the world powers introduced some new crops which after the left their colonies, the colonized countries still live to enjoy up to date. For instance, when the British came to Kenya, they came with exotic crops and animals, example of the plant is tea. Up to date tea, is one of the crops that is boosting the economy of Kenya. Secondly, the imperialists revived industries and farms which were not working. For example, the farms which were not active, they prepared them and planted the crops. From the colonial period up to now, the affected countries still make use of  the farms to grow crops  and sell which have boosted their economy. Apart from the above economic issues, there is also an improvement in transport and communication. The colonizers needed a means of transporting the raw materials from their colonies up to their country due to that demand they built roads and railways to deliver goods and services. The colonized countries today use the roads to continue growing economically. Lastly, the World powers introduced other cheap goods to the countries which the members states. The exciting part is that the action is like another way to perpetuate colonialism because the world powers need money from the underdeveloped nations according to Wright, (2017).

Positive effects of imperialism on the economy

When it comes to politics and policies, every world power had its way of doing things. For example, France had their system of administration different from British. However, the consequence of the issue is that every world power stressed the implementation of its policies in the nations they colonized in reference to Saeedpour, (2015). For example, France ensured that countries lie Senegal embraced assimilation. Secondly, many continents had no boundaries from one place to the other; people could walk freely and interact without victimization according to Etherington, (2014). However, when the world powers came and colonized many nations mainly the African continent, they introduced the issue of the boundary. They took the continent as their own; they could make crucial decisions in matters affecting Africa without any further consolation. One of the primary choices they made was to divide the African continent among themselves according to Zolberg, (2015). No one had two cross one place to another. The boundaries that exist up to today have caused several disagreements between countries as no clear roadmap shows where the colonized nation should end according to Gittings, (2018). Thirdly, the imperialism made the colonized nations to adopt the system of government the world power nations were using. For instance, in the world power nation was headed by the president, the colonized country could also adopt the presidential system according to Davis, (2015). On the other side, if it was a king, the colonizer had to have a king which sometimes was hereditary. Apart from that, the countries had constitutions that guided them depending on the type of world power colonized the nation.

Apart from the economic and political effects, there is also the social effect of imperialism. One of them is that the world powers forced the member nations to operate the way their people do. For example, the mode of dressing that the colonized countries adopted came from the world powers. Apart from that, there is also the issue of food. The Europeans forced the members from the less powerful nations to eat whatever their members were consuming in reference to Vandenbosch & Butwell, (2015). The action has made the counties to abandon their traditional lifestyle and adopt the European way of operating everything.

Conclusion:

Many nations did not agree with the colonization process; they staged several resistances to abandon the pressure. For instance, some states use force as others diverted to the diplomatic methods to oppose the powerful nations. The challenge to the resistance to imperialism is that some governments and countries agreed to the way of life. The world powers were making use of the communities which were complying with their rules to challenge the resisting communities. However, it is important to note that many nations have fought for independence. They no longer need the world power support to make crucial decisions in their country. In modern life, imperialism has gotten to another level whereby the world power nations are not using force to control the less developed nations, but they have reverted to the diplomatic approaches. One example of the method is that world powers lure other nations with loans to ensure they get interest and contract from the leadership of the particular country. The critical thing to note is that the third world countries cannot stand on their own, they need support. However, the world powers take advantage of the request and even exploit them further by insisting they use their policies.  

References:

Baylis, J., Smith, S., & Owens, P. (Eds.). (2017). The globalization of world politics: an introduction to international relations. Oxford University Press.

Boyd-Barrett, O. (2016). Media imperialism. Sage.

Davis, J. B. (2015). Economics imperialism versus multidisciplinarity, Vol.2, pp. 34-89

Etherington, N. (2014). Theories of Imperialism (Routledge Revivals): War, Conquest and Capital. Routledge.

Foster, J. B. (2015). The new imperialism of globalized monopoly-finance capital: an introduction. Monthly Review, 67(3), 1.

Gittings, J. (2018). The World and China, 1922-1972. Routledge.

MacKenzie, J. M. (2017). The empire of nature: Hunting, conservation and British imperialism.

Saeedpour, V. B. (2015). Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. The International Journal of Kurdish Studies, 19(1/2), 230.

Smits, K. (2014). Imperialism. The Encyclopedia of Political Thought, 1789-1795. 

Stuenkel, O. (2017). Post-Western world: How emerging powers are remaking global order. John Wiley & Sons.

Vandenbosch, A., & Butwell, R. (2015). Southeast Asia among the world powers. University Press of Kentucky.

Wright, H. M. (Ed.). (2017). The” New Imperialism”: Analysis of Late Nineteenth Century Expansion. DC Heath & Company.

Zolberg, A. R. (2015). Origins of the modern world system: a missing link. World Politics, 33(2), 253-281.