Critical Review: Economic Development, Democracy, and Colonialism

This report presents a critical review of two articles. The first article, "Economic Development and Democracy: The Modernisation Hypothesis in sub-Saharan Africa," examines the relationship between economic development, measured by income per capita, education, and urbanization, and the stability of democracies in African countries. The author argues that income per capita alone may lead to biased inferences and suggests that factors like education and urbanization have a positive impact on democracy. The second article, "The case for colonialism," discusses the historical context of colonialism, arguing that Western colonialism was beneficial and legitimate in many instances. It explores how colonialism can be reclaimed and suggests colonial governance agenda, arguing that anti-colonialism has caused harm to developing countries. The review highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each article, offering alternative perspectives and discussing potential biases.

Running head: CRITICAL REVIEW
Critical Review
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The article, “Economic Development and Democracy: The Modernisation Hypothesis
in sub-Saharan Africa” talks about the fact that the richer countries have the tendency of
improving the institution that helps in the development of their economy. The democracies
are more stable in those countries that have high level of the education. The article talks
about the fact that level of the primary schooling helps more in the determination of
democracy as compared to that of the per capita income (Bittencourt & Chisadza, 2015). The
article states the fact that democracy does not go on increasing with the level of the
development but is affected by the exogenous factors like the fall of the dictatorship or the
foreign pressure. The article has made use of panel data analysis for the African countries in
between the year 1960 and that of 2010 for the purpose of the research. The article has talked
about the fact that change in relation to the income per capita cannot help in explaining the
changes in the aspect of the democracy. The article has also stressed on the fact that the
democratic change can take place after the process of the recession as compared to that of the
rapid economic growth. The article has talked about the fact that there is evidence of that of
negative relationship in relation to the income-democracy that is obvious in the colonies
along with the resource-rich countries. The inferences that have been drawn on the basis of
the modernisation hypothesis are on the basis of the causal relationship in between the per
capita income and that of the democracy. The article has talked about the fact that the per
capita income cannot be used as a measure for the aspect of the economic development
because this can lead to the biased inference. The value of the article lies in the fact that the
previous studies used the aspect of the per capita income for measuring the economic
development. This article has made use of income per capita, education along with
urbanisation in order to find out about the element of the economic development in a country.
The article states that urbanization is positively related with the element of the democracy. It
helps in bringing out the fact that the hypothesis in relation to modernisation is true in the

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present age. The strength of the article lies in the fact that it has found that it has found that
the income per capita is related in a negative manner to the aspect of the democracy. The
weakness of the article lies in the fact that it has presented the economic development in a
complex manner that can prove to be difficult for the readers. The topic can be discussed
from a different perspective if it talks about how the laying stress on the aspect of the
resources can help in properly measuring the income per capita within Africa. An alternative
viewpoint in relation to the article is that it can talk about the solutions that can help in the
removal of the measurement bias that can interfere with the aspect of the research.
The article, “The case for colonialism” has stated that the aspect of the colonialism
has disappeared from that of the international affairs in the present age. The article has talked
about the various ways that can help in reclaiming the element of the colonialism. The
governments along with the people in the developing countries should replicate the colonial
government of the past that can help in bringing back the aspect of the colonialism. The
article states that ‘good governance’ consists of assumptions pertaining to the self-governing
capacity of the poor countries can be replaced with that of ‘colonial governance agenda’
(Gilley, 2018). The article has discussed the fact that colonialism can come back with the
help of consent of colonised. The article has stressed on the fact that the critics in relation to
anti-colonialism assert the fact that the element of the colonialism is foreign imposition that is
lacking the aspect of the popular legitimacy. The article has talked about the costs in relation
to anti-colonialism. The article has talked about how anti-colonialism has ravaged the
countries in the event of the nationalist elites mobilising the illiterate populations. The agenda
pertaining to colonial governance has helped in affirming the colonial past of the country and
it searches for the ideas in relation to governmentality. The colonial trajectory that is
abandoned at the time of the independence can be said to be crucial for that of colonial
governance agenda. Colonial governance agenda talks about the fact that the capacity in

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relation to the self-government can be said to be lacking and it cannot come up suddenly. The
article has said that the state not being able to uphold the rule of the law can act as a tragedy
in relation to ‘independence’ within Third World. The article has talked about how the alien
rule has been legitimized in the world history as it has been able to provide the better
governance. The strength of the article is in the fact that it has talked about the plan that can
help the leaders in coming up with the novel solutions that can help in bringing about the
developments in the world. The value of the article is in the fact that it has talked about how
the new colonies can prove to be legitimate for the local population as it can help the people
in escaping the worse solutions. The article is of value as it has stressed on how the charter
cities can prove to be effective in the transplanting of that of the home institutions. The article
can be said to be weak as it have not delved deeply into how the embracing of the aspect of
the cosmopolitanism can help in serving the agenda of the colonial governance. The topic can
be discussed from that of a different perspective if it talks about how the foreign involvement
in that of the various sectors can help in reclaiming the aspect of the colonial governance.
The article could have discussed this thing from the point of view of the foreign involvement
that can aid the aspect of the colonialism.

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References
Bittencourt, M., & Chisadza, C. (2015). Economic development and democracy: The
Modernisation Hypothesis in sub-Saharan Africa. Retrieved February 10, 2018, from.
Gilley, B. (2018). The case for colonialism. Academic Questions, 31(2), 167-185.