POL201Y1 Lecture Notes - Modernization Theory, Sokoto Caliphate, Indirect Rule
Document Summary
Industrial revolution is the inspiration for the modernization theory. Moreover, it"s the first development and also it has become an inspiration for several economic theories. Question: what explains persistent wide disparities in wealth? (focusing on colonialism today) Today we are not concerned with the effects of colonialism on the colonial powers but on the countries that have been colonized. The colonization period of the americas were much earlier than the rest of the world, basically the entire global south has been colonized. There is a strong correlation between the past colonial experienced countries and modern day poverty most countries that were colonized are also poor today thus, political scientists thought out a possible causal theory to explain this. One thought was that colonialism distorted development and what might have been a standard trajectory of development. Another thought was gathering statistical data and compare/analyze the information to make plausible arguments. Nigeria doesn"t become nigeria until they became colonized.
