AP Comparative Government and Politics Characteristics of LDC’s Newly Industrializing and Less Developed Countries

“Less Developed Countries” LDC MexicoIranNigeria Characteristics of LDC’s Struggle with economic issues Developing…”Fragile” democracies Fluctuate between democracy and dictatorship or hereditary monarchs Our LDC’s

Two Categories of LDC’s Newly Industrializing South Korea is a good example of a country that made the transition from NIC to advanced democracy. These nations have industrialized and have adopted democratic traits. Compressed Modernity: rapid economic and political change that transforms a country into a stable nation with democratic institutions, a growing economy, and evolving institutions. Less Developed Forms a larger categoryNigeria is our example Has developed no characteristics of an advanced economy or democracy. Marked by economic and political instability, and authoritarian rule.

Economic Development Stats to measure economics: GNP: Gross National Product-the total market value of all goods and services produced by a country. PPP: Purchasing Power Parity a statistical tool that estimates buying power of income across different countries by using US prices as a benchmark. Per Capita GNP: divides the total market value of goods and services by the number of people within a community. Virtually all of the

Comparative PPP: 2008 figures CountryPPP in US Dollars United Kingdom36,600 Russia15,800 China6,000 Mexico14,200 Iran12,800 Nigeria2,300

Economic Sectors  Primary Sector: Agriculture  Secondary Sector: Industry  Tertiary Sector: Servies  Chart showing comparative analysis of economic sectors  Primary Sector: Agriculture  Secondary Sector: Industry  Tertiary Sector: Servies  Chart showing comparative analysis of economic sectors CountryPrimarySecondaryTertiary China43%25%32% Iran25%31%45% Mexico18%24%58% Nigeria70%10%20% Russia11%29%60% United Kingdom1.4%18.2%80.6%

Theories of Development Westernization Model: using the path followed by Britain and the United States of Industrialization. LDC’s would have to abandon any inhibitions towards western cultures…hard to do, unlikely to occur. Dependency theory: economics of many countries in the world is blocked by the fact that industrialized nations will exploit them. How can countries develo when they are being exploited? How can they westernize without independence?

Two Categories of LDC’s