Introduction
Less Developing Countries (LDCs) are emerging in the 21st century with the increasing role of new technologies, private investment that have led to the remarkable reduction in poverty. The Third World development in the future will likely be very different from what it has been in the past. Less Developing Countries are often unindustrialized, economically instable, have an underdeveloped political system and have high levels of human health. LDCs have changed and evolved over the years as we move into the modern age.
The purpose of this paper is to examine two developing countries (Vietnam and Iraq). I will focus on the three major problems that the two countries are experiencing in today's world that include political, economic and human rights. Despite the country’s political differences, they share some similarities; though much of the philosophy has been debated, there are points of value to both countries. This essay intends to study some of their most painful discover in their political philosophy.
Vietnam Political
The North and the South were divided politically in 1954 because of different economic ideologies. Communist was in the North and capitalist in the South. Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader, who established the communist governed Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945. Ho Chi Minh became president of Democratic Republic of Vietnam from 1945 to 1969. He died in 1969. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, the Communist Party renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor. In 1975, the Communist Party unified the North and South as one. The country’s communist leaders had adopted Marxist – and Leninist theories. The Communist Party then reestablished national sovereignty, initiated agrarian reform, and had gradually transformed the nation into a modern industrialized nation. These gains have come at a great cost including political repression, considerable human suffering and political corruption.
Economy of Vietnam
Under the Communist regime, Vietnam was isolated from non-communist states. Vietnam relied on Soviet Union (Russia), Cuba and china and its allies to support Vietnamese economy. The communist leaders had transformed the centrally planned economic in the south and failed miserably because its ideology did not sufficiently counter the scale of economic and social resistance in the South. In 1980, Vietnam shifted from a centrally planned economy to a socialist oriented economy. Since the changed, Vietnam experienced moderate growth. In 1995, President Clinton lifted the trade embargo that allowed Vietnam to have limited trading business with the non-Communist states. In January 2007, President George W. Bush helped Vietnam to join WTO. By 2009, Vietnam GDP reached 92.43, 9 billion with a nominal GDP per capita of $1060 according to a forecast in December 2008 by Goldman Sachs. The Vietnamese economy becomes the 17th largest economy in the world. Since Vietnam joining WTO in 2007, the current leader, Nguyen Tan Dung had been influenced by the Western economic democracy. The economy has grown at a steady fast rate, averaging 7.5% per year. The economic growth contributes to job creation and improvement of the quality of life. The sharp increase in economic development enables the government to concentrate resources on education, health, infrastructure development, human resource development, poverty reduction, and assistance to areas with difficulties.
However, the internal conflict remains far higher between the North and the South due to cultural pluralism. Moreover, class conflict played a significant role in society including cheap labor, starvation, unsafe working conditions, high level of rural poverty, inequalities and high unemployment rate that still exist today.
Human Rights in Vietnam
The Communist party of Vietnam was allowed to rule in Vietnam. The communist Party chose and appointed the parties for government place. There is no national election. Therefore, any other political parties who are trying to overthrow the communist regime are outlawed. In addition, Vietnamese people do not have freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly, or the freedom of Association. For example, citizens are not allowed to express their opinions to change the government; dissidents will be arrested and imprisoned.
The communist government runs freedom of religion. They approve the recognized religions and put the clergy of the groups under their supervision. Vietnam’s government continues to violate human rights today; although Vietnam has been pressured by the international community to reform its human rights policies; in which they shall allow Freedom of Press, freedom of speech…etc.
Iraq Political Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein was born in a village of Takrit in April 1937. Saddam Hussein was a Sunni Muslim who actually joined the Socialist Baath party in 1958; which gave him entry into politics and later allowed him to control Iraq. Saddam Hussein became president on July 16, 1979.
Saddam was known as a ruthless and thuggish leader. Saddam eliminated anyone who opposed him and carried out mass executions of people who could pose a threat to his regime. For example, a minority Kurds in northern Iraq in 1987 staged an uprising against Iraq for independence, Saddam destroyed the entire town and buried people in mass graves. Under Saddam, many Iraqis lived in fear including its Arab neighbors.
Saddam Hussein modernized Iraqis economy by constructing various developed industries. He also modernized Iraq's countryside, mechanized the agriculture and distributed land to farmers. He effectively revolutionized energy industry such as transportation and education. He initiated the national campaign for the eradication of illiteracy. President Saddam Hussein implemented the free education system in Iraq. He also created the Iraqis legal system similar to the West.
After the post-Saddam Hussein era, The United States had been supporting the Iraqis to form a Democracy government system. Nouri Al-Maliki was elected to be Iraqis Prime Minister after the fall of Saddam. The U.S and the international community have urged Nouri to soon form its new government system. The U.S continues to support the transformation of Iraq’s government system into a Democratic state.
Iraq economy
The Iraqi economy is dominated by the oil sector, which provides more than 60% of Iraq’s GDP and 95 percent of its hard currency earnings.
Before the Gulf War, Saddam delivered many good political agendas and promises to his people. For example, Iraqi people didn't go hungry. Saddam improved the school system and literacy for women. He improved the living standard for all Iraqis people by providing them what they needed and wanted.
However, after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, United States as well as other countries imposed sanctions on Iraq, which took a toll on the country's economy. People were starving; the middle-class people did not have enough to eat. Salaries were minimal. In some cases, people just worked for food to survive.
Iraq’s economy today is undergoing the reconstruction. The economy is facing lots changes and challenges including the transformation of a centralized economy into a world market economy and a reconstruction of a war torn economy. The United States is hoping to bring lasting prosperity to Iraq and creating a model that could lead to the spread of free markets throughout the Middle East. In addition, the United States hopes that a free-market Iraq will be a flourish for U.S. companies, because it will provide a wide open market for U.S. investment.
Human rights in Iraq under Saddam
Under Saddam’s regime women did not have basic right to life. Under Saddam’s dictatorship, Women had faced tortured, raped and mistreated. In 1993, Saddam issued a series of laws that included:
1. Allowed male relatives to kill a female relative if it was considered to be for honor without any punishment.
2. Amputation, branding, cutting off of ears for criminal offenses.
3. In 2000, Saddam approved amputation of the tongue for anyone who politically made abusive remarks about President Hussein and his family. In fact, President Hussein killed any prominent religious leaders or tribal leaders whom rose against him.
After the U.S. led military operation to overthrow Saddam in April 2003, the Iraqis people continued experiencing human rights violations in many fronts such as insurgent and militia groups that continued to attack civilians resulted in growing sectarian violence between Shi'a and Sunni armed groups. The war bombing, war crimes and crimes against humanity contributed to innocent people being killed.
In conclusion, the diversity of the countries that make up the developing world has made it difficult to characterize and understand in the international communities. The problem that the Less Developing Countries (LDCs) are facing today is the lack of economic growth and support from its government. For some countries, its economic growth is towards democracy, while for others, it involves greater empowerment and dignity. The reasons for lack of development in the developing world are the legacy of traditional society and authoritarian rules in colonialism. As a result, countries experience extreme poverty and hunger, issues in education, issues in civil and political rights, human security, health, gender, and the environment.
References
Handelman, H. (2009). SOC 300: The challenge of Third World development 2009 custom edition (5th Ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall – Pearson Custom Publishing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_Vietnam http://countrystudies.us/vietnam/55.htm http://www.pbs.org/newshour/indepth_coverage/middle_east/iraq/background/iraqunderhussein.html http://www.cbv.ns.ca/dictator/hussein.html http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2003/03/the-road-to-economic-prosperity-for-a-post-saddam-iraq http://usiraq.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000867
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/internationalhumanrights/p/saddam_hussein.htm
