COLONIALISM, A GLOBAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPING COUNTRIES


A protest against economic globalisation. (a) Why might some Ugandans be unhappy with the consequences of globalisation?


(b) List any benefi ts that the global economic system might bring to countries such as Uganda.


● European colonialism set up unjust world trade patterns: ●● Colonies provided cheap raw materials and captive markets for European manufactured products.


●● Land in the colonies was diverted to the production of cash crops for export, local industry was discouraged and towns became magnets of migration from rural areas.


● Uganda is a former colony of Britain that has experienced negative impacts of colonialism: ●● British ‘divide and rule’ policies created divisions that contributed to prolonged civil


strife after independence. Civil strife led to death, destruction and a waste of scarce resources.


●● The colony was unevenly developed. Schools, railway lines and industry were concentrated mainly in Buganda, where the primate city of Kampala was located.


● Uganda now faces challenges in adjusting to a global economy: ●● Unjust trading relationships exist. Countries such as Uganda are very dependent on


the export of primary products that often fetch low and fl uctuating prices on world markets.


●● When Uganda’s economy collapsed it was forced to agree to IMF Structural Adjustment Programmes. These programmes helped to ‘stabilise’ the economy but created many social problems. Health and education spending was slashed, price controls were abandoned, the Ugandan shilling was devalued and state-owned enterprises were privatised. The gap between rich and poor increased.


● Several justice issues need to be addressed in relation to global trade: ●● Third World producers should profi t more fairly from what they produce. ●● First World countries should themselves obey the rules of free trade that they impose on developing countries.


●● Global trade needs to be more democratically controlled. It is currently controlled by minority First World interests.


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Sum Up


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