Major Threats to the Prosperity and Stability of Developing Countries

 Major Threats to the Prosperity and Stability of Developing Countries

What are the major threats to the prosperity and stability of developing countries?

Introduction

Prosperity and stability in developing countries are two fundamental aspects that every developing country should closely address as it is the hallmark of a country’s success. It is needless to point out that countries should build policy frameworks that stimulate or encourage prosperity and stability.  Lin (2012), utilizing both the economic and social frameworks, explained that the prosperity of a country is its state of being wealthy. They further argued that the measure of a country’s level of prosperity is often done by finding out the level of GDP of a country. Most developing countries are termed as prosperous if they can be able to provide basic luxuries such as water and electricity.  Stability, on the other hand, occurs when a nation is in a position to provide stable and durable systems to the citizens over time (Sim and Ali 2010). Edwards (2016), on his end, explains that the forms of stability that each developing country experiences are but not limited to social, political, economic, and technological stability. It is interesting to put it in stark terms that without stability, most countries won’t be prosperous, and this presumably translates that there exists an undeniable and obvious correlation between stability and prosperity in developing countries. Montiel and Servén (2016) economic and political researchers explain that the stability of a country is measured by taking a closer look at the country’s changes in its GDP over a specific period of time. According to Montiel, and Servén (2016)  expanding upon their research study points out that if developing countries roll out policies that will address the stability and prosperity levels in their country, their economic growths will witness a drastic positive change since prosperity and more importantly stability are the main forward economic drivers of a country.

While some people support, the status quo claim that the leaders are the main threats to prosperity and stability studies have shown that unemployment, conflicts or war, unequal distribution of resources, education, health, as well as corruption are the main threats to stability and prosperity.

Body

Stability and prosperity being two key figures that influence the wellbeing of any country regardless of their economic status face major threats that hinder countries from seamlessly engaging prudent issues that extend the frontiers of development. The first major threat that affects prosperity and development is high or rampant unemployment in developing countries. According to a report by the World Bank on the levels of unemployment in developing countries, it portrayed how unemployment is on the rise among developing countries. As of 2019, the average unemployment rate stood at above 50%, and this proved how unemployment is a common aspect among developing countries. Mlachila, Tapsoba, and Tapsoba (2017), utilizing various economic frameworks explains that high unemployment rates among developing countries result in lower output and income, and due to the negative multiplier effect the high unemployment rate affects the household consumption rates which directly affects the prosperity and stability of developing countries. In essence, high unemployment rates place most developing countries on the unstable and poor state, and it is for this reason that unemployment has been a major threat for a long time. Secondly, conflicts and wars also prove to be a major stumbling block as far as stability and prosperity among developing countries are concerned. Taking a closer look at the adverse effects that a country is subjected to in the aftermath of wars and conflicts goes to prove how much wars and conflicts are devastating to one’s country. According to Ezrow and Frantz (2013), in their research study, they argue that conflicts and wars are a threat to peace in most developing countries, and consequently, this not only scares away potential investors but also affects the normalcy of a country. It is obvious that once the normalcy of a country is in a mess, the environment becomes toxic, which relatively affects the economic and social aspects of the country. Therefore, as the prosperity and stability of a country are anchored on economic social and political aspects, the country will eventually be unstable, and its prosperity will also be negatively affected. In addition, the presence of inequities or unequal distribution of resources is also another factor that promotes instability and a lack of prosperity in developing countries. Cruz, Foster, Quillin, and Schellekens, (2015), expanding upon their research study highlights that unequal distribution of resources split the economy into two; one group that is worse off and another group that is better off. This implies that the worse off group will always lament, and look set to cause conflicts and wars against the other group (better off), and this will cause instability in the economy. Moreover, much like Cruz, Foster, Quillin, and Schellekens, Acemoglu, and Robinson (2012) give an in-depth analysis of how unequal distribution of resources or increase in income in-equality reduces the GDP of developing countries in the long. The empirical analysis of the World Bank study as of 2019 points out that an increase in income in-equality directly leads to a decrease in the level of transitional GDP growth, and this, however, will not only make the nation unstable but also lowers its prosperity levels. Notably, income inequality also results in economic problems such as hunger, lack of healthcare, illiteracy, polluted air, as well as homelessness, which directly or indirectly result in lower prosperity in developing nations.

Furthermore, corruption, a social problem that has beset most of the developing countries (Africa and Asia), is a main stumbling tool to the stability and prosperity of most developing nations. Also, to be clear, corruption is recognized as a major threat to the prosperity and stability of most developing countries since it acts as a major constraint to peace and development, which through the multiplier effect affects both prosperity and stability. Olken, and Pande, (2012), explains that corruption is the idea of being dishonest or rather fraudulent and it is often practiced by people in authority to acquire illegal benefits or abuse power for personal gain. Freckleton, Wright, and Craigwell (2012) explain that in recent years especially in West Africa, destabilizing effects of corruption have been visible. He claims that corruption takes various forms, and, in most cases, corruption hit countries records high criminal networks as well as wars and conflicts. This translates to mean that corruption affects the peace of the nation, which brings about instability. Furthermore (Freckleton, Wright, and Craigwell (2012) further argue that corruption by nature deprives the poor or the vulnerable of their basic necessities, which makes them suffer daily extortion as well as being in a state of unrest. This, therefore, proves in stark terms how the level of corruption impacts negatively on the prosperity of a country.

Another factor affecting the prosperity and stability of a nation is the health status of a country. It is needless to voice out the fact that without access to good health facilities or, in other words, nations that its citizens are not in good health are not stable and prosperous.  Specifically, most research studies done with respect to health in most developing countries point out that developing countries are still far in coming up with a good healthcare system that will keep their citizens fit and productive. Mills (2014), in his research study, claims that the economy is majorly dependent on the level of healthcare system since a healthy nation is productive, and therefore, an increase in the levels of productivity increases economic growth and development, and this is a sign of stability in countries. However, in developing countries, most nations have weak and poor levels of the healthcare system, and therefore citizens are subjected to poor health conditions, which affects their peace and output. Lack of peace and personal stability goes a long way in affecting the stability of countries at large, and therefore most developing countries should roll out plans to curb this menace.

Moreover, the economic and prosperity levels of a country are interlinked with the heath performance. This implies that developing countries with low levels of health tend to be poor, and this proves that health is a major aspect as much as the prosperity of a country is concerned. WHO also explains that diseases hinder institutional performance as well as individual performance of developing nations, which promotes poverty, and this directly impacts negatively on the country’s prosperity. Finally, education is another prudent issue that acts as a threat to the stability and prosperity of a nation. Berger and Fisher (2013), renowned economists and sustained growth researchers, explain that stability and prosperity lie majorly on the level of education. Countries with quality and affordable education system are more stable as compared to those that do not have an affordable education system. Undoubtedly education is interlinked with the stability and prosperity of a nation in the sense that strong economic foundations and any other form stability and prosperity are built by investing in the units of human capital. Maringe and  Mourad (2012) explain that most developing countries don’t invest much in the quality of education, which is the basis of innovations and technological advancements that makes countries stable and prosperous. In addition, it is believed that a well-educated workforce is a key to prosperity. In general, a country that invests more in education increases the level of the skilled labor force, which in turn increases productivity, and this eventually promotes prosperity and stability. However, this is not the case with developing countries as they don’t invest more in quality and affordable education.

Conclusion

Basing on the above illustrations, it goes unnoticed that stability and prosperity are prudent issues that all the developing countries should take a closer look at. Unsurprisingly, however, most governments downplay the relevance of the two aspects with respect to the country’s growth. Therefore it is visible that many factors affect the stability and prosperity of developing countries, and in order to salvage the situation governments should come into place and roll out the necessary frameworks that will help to curb all these factors which include but not limited to corruption, inequities as well as education. Moreover, developed countries should try and help as much as they can in reducing the levels of factors such as corruption since it indirectly affects the growth and development of developing countries. In a nutshell, the major factors that affect prosperity should be given more attention in a bid to reduce the effects it has on the stability and prosperity of each nation.

References

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