Caroline Pellegrin, Chapter 13, Question Seven

In Chapter 13, Wheelen offers eleven primary social, political and economic factors that "rich countries" traditionally display. I was struck by how many African countries do not display the majority of those factors. It seems as if Africa is intrinsically at a disadvantage due to two uncontrollable factos: weather and a history of being oppressed by European colonizers. Those two components seem to have direct negative manifestations on the capabilities of many African countries. For instance, many African countries have a tropical climate. This tropical climate, as Wheelan explains, stiffles agricultural production and promotes the spread of disease. A poor agricultural system in turn limits any growth within an economy and places people in very poor heath. Because of this poor climate, crucial factors to having a healthy economy such as trade are hindered. The poor health conditions caused by tropical weathers lessens human capital, which has a plethora of detrimental effects.  Moving on to oppression from European colonizers, joy, joy, joy! Because Africa was a more "difficult" place to settle, European colonizers basically used their African colonies to rape the region of all its natural resources and human labor.  After these European colonizers left Africa, the affected areas were barren and in disarray. European colonization hindered the future stability of African economies and political capabilities.  We continue to see the effects of colonization today.  These two burdens seem sort of inescapable. I am going to water down what Wheelan to conclude the chapter: foreign aid is bad, but it is bad to not have foreign aid.  How on Earth (pun intended?) can we help African countries in a completely effective manner?