The Function of Colonial Division of Labor in Development Project
The concept of development was presented in the colonial age. The European countries started to colonize the ‘non-European’ countries. Philip McMichael defines colonialism as” the subjugation through physical and psychological tactics of one culture by another- a colonizing power- with armed forces conquest of territory as well as stereotyping the relationship in between both cultures.” The colonial division of labor played a remarkably crucial role in the colonial era as it led to the reorganization of the world. The European nations conquered nations that had massive amounts of resources, such as China, India, and Africa. In order to attain these resources, they presented the concept of specialization. Their colonies specialized in the extraction and manufacturing of raw materials and resources that were unusual in Europe. The European countries utilized these resources to industrialize.
Consequently, their economy flourished. Colonial division of labor played a crucial part in molding the development project’s referral terms and developed the hegemonic relationship. The Europeans first thought about the principle of development and colonized various other nations to ensure that they might industrialize and obtain economic success. For this reason, the colonial powers classified themselves as established countries and their colonies as underdeveloped because they assumed that the ‘underdeveloped’ nations were entrapped in oppressed cultural traditions. This diction and lingo (developed and underdeveloped) created the hegemonic relationship since a developed economy was far better than an underdeveloped one.
Colonized economies do not simply choose the names/labels to classify the economy, but likewise categorize the countries right into such concepts, which result in the division between the nations in the world. The Colonial powers/European nations were the powerful ones, and the “developed ones and their colonies/non-European nations ended up being powerless and underdeveloped. Such supremacy again set up a power structure. The colonial division of labor added to this hegemonic connection between colonizers and their colonies because the colonizers succeeded in conquering the underdeveloped nations by profiting from their natural resources. They pressed their colonies to concentrate on manufacturing raw materials, which was just helpful for the economy of the colonial powers.
In many cases, the colonization began with trade links developed between the trading companies. For example, in India, the East India Company went to India to trade spices and cotton. In the future, the governments took over the nation as they were successful in using their colony’s inexpensive labor, non-existent labor laws, easy conversion of agricultural based economy of the colonies to producing based economy preferring the growth of the Colonial powers. Colonizers made such structural modifications that the host countries had no choice however to participate. For example, Decca, a small city in India, was known as “vast, populated as well as rice as the city of London “(34, McMichael).
Nevertheless, after the division of labor, their resources were depleted, the population decreased from 150,000 to simply 30,000 due to malaria. The book states that Decca became a poor town as local farming cultures lost their land to commercial agriculture, which was just for European consumers and industries. Finally, the development job itself also adds to the establishment of hierarchy between the colonizers and colonies. Truman suggested “a strong new program for making the benefits of our scientific advancements as well as industrial progress accessible for the improvement and also growth of underdeveloped locations.” He proposed the idea of aid rather than recommending the concept of attaining economic growth together, which clearly illustrates that he was not genuine. He was concerned with developing a trade connection with nations that have many resources. The fact that a nation is providing aid to another nation puts the country in an ideal place (since the nation offering the help has more power, money, and technology) than the nation that is obtaining the help, as they hinge on the nation’s aid to developing.
This exchange of money established a hierarchy, as again there is the concept of dominant over weak. Finally, the colonial division of labor and the development project formed this power structure in between the colonizers as well as their colonies because “development historically relied on the unequal connections of colonialism, which included an unequal division of labor as well as unequal ecological exchanges- both of which created a legacy of “underdevelopment” in the colonial and postcolonial worlds” (McMicheal, 38). In the long run, colonization profited India because the British introduced technology such as the railways (India has the 5th biggest and most close-knit railway system) and also telegraph. UN countries (first globe) are known as G8 nations. The members of the Security Council also today have “veto powers” that other member nations do not have, which is an instance of colonial tradition.
