> Neither Japan, Korea nor China were "third world" countries before WWII. Or even ever.
I think you're missing the point - the idea is to learn from the industrialisation of those countries
I think you're missing the point - the idea is to learn from the industrialisation of those countries
That's the exact sentence, and it doesn't sit right with me for three distinct reasons.
First, it can be read as an an implication: "these 4 countries where part of the "third world" and now aren't given their post-war trajectory." which ignores the history of those 4 nations long before WWII or Western involvement.
Second, makes the same a-historical mistake by assuming that the particular path followed by those nations can readily be transposed towards other regions in the world.
Third, it's a take that ignores the agency other cultures and peoples have to carve out their own place in the world. Moreover, many of the problems in the so-called global south are a direct result of this exact thinking. Countless cultures and ways of living have disappeared over the past 2 centuries because it.
It was in reply to "those lessons can be applied to help developing nations follow the same trajectory to development", which does indeed embed the assumption of both a trajectory and that help is being imposed from outside.
> makes the same a-historical mistake by assuming that the particular path followed by those nations can readily be transposed towards other regions in the world
I put "might" in there for a reason. It also might not. It seems like something that might be worth investigating rather than dismissing? If that kind of development is your goal, of course. And it comes with its own assumptions and disadvantages.
> Moreover, many of the problems in the so-called global south are a direct result of this exact thinking. Countless cultures and ways of living have disappeared over the past 2 centuries because it.
Unable to parse antecedant of "this"; colonialism? Western involvement? Copying other countries?
But I'm not sure it's worth replying in this kind of environment.