AN OPERATIONAL ANALYSIS OF THE PHENOMENON OF THE OTHER UNDERDEVELOPMENT IN THE ARAB WORLD AND IN THE THIRD WORLD

Abstract

Our analysis here of the `Other Underdevelopment' is based on the premise that interaction between unequal partners tends to underdevelop the self-possessed resources and capacities of the dominated parties. Contemporary Western domination of the Third World is a classical case in point. This domination has not only led to the socio-economic underdevelopment of the African, Asian and Latin American countries, but it has also created among them a psycho-cultural underdevelopment: the `Other Underdevelopment'. The latter consists of two components: (1) cultural underdevelopment, and (2) psychological underdevelopment. Two examples are sufficient for illustration here. The widespread use of English and French during and after the British and French colonisation in the Third World has replaced or reduced (underdeveloped) the use and the promotion of native languages. The inferiority complex syndrome (self-esteem deterioration) toward the West has become a common feature among various groups of the developing nations. Thus, Third World underdevelopment is a multi-dimensional phenomenon of which the `Other Underdevelopment' is an integral part. In spite of this, both liberal and Marxist modern social scientists of underdevelopment have remained silent on this crucial issue of underdevelopment.