Geography Development Hinders

Geography Development Hinders

Human factors affecting development

Civil war hinder development (Sierra Leone)

Political Corruption - In Zaire for example the late President Mobuto is reputed to have had a personal fortune of over £5 billion, much of which was money siphoned of loans from the World Bank. In the time it took him to accrue this fortune the development of his country went into reverse. It was not even able to maintain the existing road networks. One problem that can often be seen is corrupt governments that may embezzle money. I.e.
Zimbabwe

Political Instability - in any country attempting to develop then capital investment needs to be made in to that country. This is to provide better infrastructure for its industries, to create a skilled labour force and healthy population. In a country with political turmoil you may have civil unrest with conflict between parties, money may often not be invested in to the required projects and priorities.

Debt – many LEDCs are in debt to MEDCs, which means they have to prioritise paying these off with interest before investing in development. By struggling to pay debt countries cannot invest in education, medical care, transport route and are often giving up more of their raw materials as pay off. Many countries particularly in Africa owe staggering amounts of money.
Ethiopia owes more than $10 billion. This is more than 13 times its foreign earnings. Ethiopia pays 4 times as much on debt repayment as it does on home expenditure. In the mean time 100,000 children die each year from diarrhoea.

Historical Factors - If you look at the historic reasons for colonialism you should start to appreciate how this hinders the development of some countries but promotes others. In the nineteenth century many countries from Europe went across to Africa to colonise them.
They wanted their raw materials to feed the industrial revolution that was taking place in their countries. This means that the materials from Africa were used to...

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