Book Review: The Bottom Billion

Throughout this paper I am going to summarize Paul Colliers’s book, “The Bottom Billion”. Next, I will relate Collier’s argument to three key concepts; failed/failing states, Globalization, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). Secondly, I will critically evaluate three of the Collier’s weaknesses in his book. The first critique I have is his disbelief that democracy could fix the problem of corrupt governing in the bottom billion countries. The second critique that I have is his idea that military intervention is a necessity in order to get the bottom billion countries flourishing. My last critique is about his idea that the bottom billion countries constantly declining will directly correlate with our children in the United States facing an alarmingly divided world and all its consequences. Finally, I will conclude the book review and why I think his conclusion may be volatile. Collier’s thesis is basically why poor countries are poor and what can first world countries as in the United States do about it. He breaks the book into five parts. The first part deals with defining what the actual issue is and he labels it “Falling Behind and Falling Apart”. The second part is talking about four traps that keep the bottom billion in their dilemma. He breaks it down with the conflict trap, the natural resource trap, the landlocked with bad neighbors trap, and the bad governance in a small country trap. The third part talks about globalization. Collier believes that Globalization is part of the reason why the bottom billion countries are continuing to sink. Part four of the book deals with strategies that he believes will help fix the major problems of the bottom billion. Collier breaks this into four topics: Aid to the rescue, ...

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...ve significant trading agreements that the United States desperately depends on. Collier completely underestimates the United States with this belief that this country depends on the flourishing of the bottom billion countries. In conclusion, Collier thoroughly explains his reasons behind why the bottom billion countries are poor. His arguments covered a variety of the course concepts like internationalism, failed state, Globalization, and economic forces. However, after critical evaluation, it is clear that Collier ignored and underestimated several of these concepts.

Works Cited

Boyer, Mark A., Natalie Florea. Hudson, and Michael J. Butler. Global Politics: Engaging a Complex World. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013. Print.
Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are failing and What Can Be Done about It. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2007. Print.