Technology Transfer to Poor Nations

Abstract

The present essay belongs to the realm of global politics. It takes it for granted that the cleavage between poor nations and rich nations is not merely the problem of the poor nations but of the whole human race, since it threatens the very survival of mankind, and in many ways, and at the very least, it affects adversely the quality of life everywhere on earth. We are generally sufficiently aware of this fact so as to conclude that foreign aid is not the preference of the interest of the poor nation over the interest of the rich nation, but rather an act well within the national interest of the donor as well. This was epitomized by John F. Kennedy’s edict: we can afford to offer foreign aid and we cannot afford not to. Also, Kennedy was aware of the difficulty of granting foreign aid to the poor nations on a permanent basis, like a rich philanthropist’s regular aid to the poor as practiced well within all traditional societies; hence, foreign aid must aim at helping poor nations achieve selfsufficiency, i.e., learn to reach high levels of production so as to be free of the need for aid. This, of course, means the transfer of technology. Yet this idea, that the problem of the cleavage between the rich and the poor is not just the problem of the poor, because it is also the problem of the rich, this idea is still not fully endorsed by all concerned with the matter at hand. For, most past efforts in this respect are generally judged as failures, and the failure is usually — indeed, almost exclusively — laid at the door of the recipient nation or its government.