Bottom Billion

The Bottom Billion by Paul Collier is an interesting study of the problems and possible solutions for the one billion poorest people on the planet. He defines the bottom billion countries that house these people as not just poor, but adrift and failing to grow (Collier, p. x). He goes on to talk about four traps that these bottom billion get caught in and suggests four instruments to help get them escape. What Collier fails to realize is that he is defining what is poor, creating an unequal dichotomous relationship between the developed and underdeveloped, and promoting a neo-colonialist mandate.
Paul Collier suggests that countries in the bottom billion fall into one or more traps; either conflict, natural resources, being landlocked, and bad governance (Collier, p. 5). His research shows that seventy percent of the bottom billion poorest people in the world come from sub-Saharan Africa where life expectancy is low, infant mortality is high and malnutrition is common (Collier, p. 7-8). Other countries fall into the bottom billion as well, such as Bolivia, Laos, Yemen and Haiti, but the problem is most concentrated in Africa. He goes on to talk about the middle four billion who reside in rapidly growing countries like India and China. He states that these countries broke free of their traps in time to penetrate the global markets, but now it will be much harder for others to follow in their footsteps (Collier, p. 9-10). He postulates that change for the bottom billion will have to come from within, but developed countries can do things differently to make it easier for developing countries to reform.
In this opening section his argument sounds a lot like World Systems theory. His splitting of countries into three distinct groups ...

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...Bottom Billion that Paul Collier cares very much about the plight of the poorest people on our planet. His analysis is insightful, well researched and practical. Unfortunately, like many theorists before him, he only looks to the economy to determine the problems and solutions for the bottom billion and paints broad strokes for a complex issue and continent. However, the four traps and instruments of his study perpetuate a much larger issue with modern development. By constructing the space of development from a liberal western capitalist perspective, he shapes the relations between the developed and developing into an unequal dichotomy which legitimizes a neo-colonialist mandate. Until we strip away the labels and categories of developed and developing, the relationship between the two will forever be uneven and the bottom billion will continue to be marginalized.