Industrialization And Third World Development
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INTRODUCTION
In the last part of the 18th century, a new revolution gripped the world, a revolution that was not political nor social or cultural. It was a revolution that changed the ways by how the world operated and produced its goods. It also changed the societies from a mainly agricultural society to one that in which industry and manufacturing was in control. This was an Industrial Revolution. The industrial revolution first got its start in Great Britain and then spread to other countries such as Germany, the United States and France among others.
With industrialisation came many new technological advancements as well as socioeconomic and cultural changes. On the technology front, the biggest advancements were in steam power. New fuels such as coal and petroleum were incorporated into new steam engines. This revolutionized many industries including textiles and manufacturing. Also, a new communication medium was invented called the telegraph. This made communicating across the ocean much faster. Indeed industrialisation brought about changes in the way nations acquired their wealth. Soon the industrialized ones acquiring the status of being Ðdeveloped countries while the others that still depended on primary commodities that gave them little national income were now called Ðdeveloping countries.
In view of this very pivotal role that industrialisation plays on the development process of any country that has led some people to endorse it as Дthe important means of developing the third world countries.” In this paper therefore, focus is on this strong assertion by looking at the features, the important role of, and the challenges of industrialisation to the third world countries. In the concluding paragraph however, the paper fall short of sanctioning such an extreme view of seeing industrialisation as the sole and most important means of developing the thirds worlds as such overzealous advocacy may be misleading owing to the fact that for any meaningful development, there is need to consider other pertinent factors including good governance among others.
There are varied definitions of the concept of industrialisation, in this paper however, the term is being used to refer to “the process of economic development in which the growing part of the national resources is mobilized to develop a technologically up-to-date, diversified, domestic economic structure characterized by dynamic, manufacturing sector having and producing means of production and consumer goods and capable of assuring a high rate of growth for the economy as a whole and achieving economic and social progress.” It may also refer to “the transition in methods of production that has been responsible for increased wealth creating capacity of modern societies compared with traditional systems in manufacturing, agriculture and administration.”
Industries have been classified as primary, secondary, and tertiary; secondary industries are further classified as heavy and light. Primary industry includes agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, and extracting minerals. Secondary or manufacturing industry processes the raw materials supplied by primary industries into consumer goods, or further processes goods from other secondary industries, or builds capital goods used to manufacture consumer and non-consumer goods; secondary industry also includes energy-producing industries and the construction industry.
Unlike the primary or the secondary industry, the tertiary industry focuses on the provision of service hence it being referred as the service industry at times. It includes banking, finance, insurance, investment, and real estate services; wholesale, retail, and resale trade; transportation, information, and communications services; professional, consulting, legal, and personal services; tourism, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment; repair and maintenance services; education and teaching; and health, social welfare, administrative, police, security, and defense services.” These categories are to show the significance of industrialization.
FEATURES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION
There are many, here are just some of the features in the paragraphs that follow. Technological Advancement: Technology can be understood to refer to the “use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive.” Technology aids in adding value to the products which makes them fetch higher prices on the markets. Industrialisation is indeed mainly fuelled by advancement of technology.
There is also an Enabling Environment: Industrialisation flourishes in an environment that enables people to do trade and reinvest to aid more development in the country. Availability of Financial Services: Financial services in industrialisation have made it possible for the people to do business and invest and reinvest their profit. When the people make profits in their business, they in turn plough back. To make development Sustainable, there is also concern for the Environment otherwise industrialisation may just turn out to be very disastrous.
Good Transport and Communication Networks: With industrialisation comes new information and communication technologies (NICTs) that are essential for developing economies as they change and improve diversified production systems and integrate formerly unrelated technologies. They also change the geography of industrial activity; bringing together locations once separated by high communication and transportation costs and create new opportunities for learning in developing countries, using electronic links to access global knowledge. As Kavan (2002) stresses, “harnessing of new information and communication technologies will are key to rapid sustainable development.” It is an open secret that industrialized countries have good road networks that enable and help the economy to boom as they help the industries to access the resources as well as transport their products to the market.
INDUSTRIALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT
For a long time in history, scholars and world leaders have strongly acknowledged the strong link existing between industrialisation and development. In the paragraphs that follow, the paper shows this link and the inevitable community relevance of these developments.
Economic Growth
Industrialisation is the principal instrument for putting technical progress into use; hence, it permits improvements in the way different factors of production are applied in the production