In international discourse, there’s one narrative that always grabs attention: the notion that prosperous nations thrive at the expense of poorer ones. It’s the same tired story you hear all over the developing world: “The West is rich because they exploit us.” This is an emotionally satisfying argument, I suppose—easy to digest, easy to repeat. But it falls short of substance when you dig into the details. Blaming prosperous nations for third-world underdevelopment is like blaming the mirror for your bad haircut. It’s a lazy excuse that conveniently avoids self-reflection.
In his book, “Economic Facts and Fallacies” Thomas Sowell dissects this narrative. He argues that the blame game played mainly by politicians of third-world countries seems plausible from an emotional point of view, it’s good rhetoric but still lacks facts. While it’s a convenient narrative for anyone trying to drum up populist support, it distracts from the actual issues holding these countries back: internal inefficiencies, institutional failures, and a complete lack of accountability. These, not the West, are the real culprits of underdevelopment. And you’d think by now, we would’ve figured that out.
Let’s not get this wrong—no one is denying the brutal impact of colonialism. European powers did exploit resources, drawing wealth from South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. But if that were the full story, why are countries like India and China, both victims of colonialism, now rising global powers? Pakistan, which shares a similar colonial history with India, certainly hasn’t followed the same trajectory. So what’s the real issue? Is the West still somehow orchestrating our downfall from across the seas, or is it our own inefficiency and dysfunction that’s dragging us down?
You see, blaming the West for our problems has become our national pastime. But let’s get real—most of the wounds we suffer are self-inflicted. Corruption, nepotism, and sheer institutional decay have held Pakistan back far more than any supposed “global exploitation.” Look around—our institutions are rotten to the core. From education to law enforcement, every sector is infested with inefficiency. Delayed justice, unnecessary red tape in bureaucracy, funds embezzlement, and corruption are a few inefficiencies that I could mention in this short piece.
Take our education system, as an example. While we audaciously blame the colonialists for leaving us with a flawed system, decades after independence, we’ve made it even more terrible. Our universities don’t create knowledge—they recycle it. The curriculum is outdated, and learning methods revolve around rote learning. What’s more, our institutional frameworks do little to nurture innovation or foster critical thinking. And then we act surprised when our graduates can’t compete on a global stage. It’s not the West holding us back—it’s us. Our own inability to reform and modernize keeps us in this stagnant state, yet we choose to look outward for someone to blame.
We still cannot manage to improve our ranking on the corruption index. Public officials siphon funds meant for education, healthcare, and infrastructure into their own pockets, while the rest of the country is left to suffer. And what do we do? We blame “global capitalism” for our lack of progress as if the IMF or the World Bank has anything to do with the fact that our leaders are robbing us blind. It’s easier to point fingers than to clean house, but where has that gotten us?
If we talk about the energy sector, Pakistan has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources. Yet, somehow, we cannot keep the lights on for more than a few hours a day.
Loadshedding, massive electricity theft, and poor infrastructure—this is our reality. But instead of addressing the obvious mismanagement within our own energy institutions, we claim that prosperous nations have somehow rigged the system against us. No, the West doesn’t control how we run our power plants or manage our resources—we do. But accepting that would require us to admit our own incompetence, and that seems to be a step too far for most of us.
Now, let’s take a peek at trade—another favorite talking point for the blame-the-West crowd. “Trade is skewed to benefit the rich countries,” they say as if the rules of global trade somehow don’t apply equally. Yet countries like South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan have thrived in this same global market, moving from underdeveloped to First World status in just a few decades. The difference? They focused on improving internal efficiencies rather than whining about external exploitation. They embraced reforms, developed transparent institutions, and encouraged innovation. Meanwhile, Pakistan sits here complaining that the game is rigged. The problem isn’t the trade agreements; it’s that we’ve failed to create the internal mechanisms actually to benefit from global trade.
Here’s the crux of the issue: blaming prosperous nations has kept us locked in a victim mentality. It makes us think that we do not have any sense of agency, making us feel powerless over our own destiny. By focusing on external factors, we ignore the glaring internal improvements that need to happen. We need transparent institutions, efficient governance, and a corruption-free bureaucracy. We need to revamp our education system and create an environment that encourages critical thinking, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Until we do that, we’ll remain stuck in this endless cycle of blaming others for our own failures.
So where do we go from here? The answer is quite simple—stop blaming and start fixing our own wreckage. We need to stop pointing fingers at the West and instead focus on addressing the real issues that hinder our progress. Regulating our institutions, tackling corruption, investing in education, and modernizing our industries are the only ways forward. The reality is, that prosperous nations are not stopping us from developing. Our own inefficiencies are.
At the end of the day, playing the blame game might be a comforting narrative, but it won’t change the ground realities. If Pakistan wants to break free from the shackles of underdevelopment, instead of blaming prosperous nations for our underdevelopment, we should start addressing our own issues and fix them. Progress begins at home—not in someone else’s backyard.
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Danial Waheed is a final year student at King's College London studying BSc. Philosophy Politics and Economics