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Written Assignment: Comparing Factors that Lead to Underdevelopment
Due Week 8 and worth 200 points

This assignment calls for you to select two Less Developed Countries (LDCs) and assess if there are any factors that are common to both as far as their development is concerned. Your two countries must come from the following list:

Source: United Nations, 2014

It may help you to be familiar with the concept of poor governance, because this often plays a significant part in why a country is underdeveloped. According to the World Bank, governance is defined as how power is exercised in the management of a country’s economic and social resources for development. Therefore, if good governance is synonymous with sound development management, then poor governance means a government has failed to deliver desirable outcomes for its people. This could mean that officials are corrupt, not transparent with their decisions, unqualified to make decisions in the first place, or prone to make decisions based on racism, tribalism or ethnicity — all of which are very common practices in LCDs.

The most common factor used to decide whether countries are underdeveloped nations is through the Human Development Index. Countries that are underdeveloped in nature offer poor health care, few educational opportunities, a low average life expectancy, a low number of job opportunities, few recreational facilities, poor economic growth, a low standard of living and a poverty-stricken life.

Instructions:

Write at least a six-page paper, in which you:

1. Identify the two LDCs (from the list above), which you will compare and assess. Explain why you chose these two countries.
2. Analyze the features that the LDCs have in common using at least five of the following nine factors (clearly label the five factors using headings):
   1. geography
   2. extractive institutions
   3. governmental corruption
   4. internal or external conflicts
   5. shaky financial systems
   6. unfair judicial systems
   7. ethnic, racial or tribal disparities
   8. lack or misuse of natural resources
   9. closed (statist) economies
3. Use at least seven credible sources. Wikipedia, encyclopedias, dictionaries, blogs and other material that does not qualify as reputable academic source work at the college level. Do not use sources that are older than seven years.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double-spaced (no extra spacing between paragraphs), using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
• Citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date (do not include an abstract).
• The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length. Graphs, tables and photographs are not counted toward the length of the paper; only what you have written as text itself.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Determine why private investment, open political competition and the intelligent use of natural resources can serve as incentives to further economic development.
• Decide why good governance, a sound financial system, and a fair system of judicial justice are necessary to development.
• Assess why enforceable environmental regulations are critical to sustaining development.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in sociology of developing countries.
• Write clearly and concisely about sociology of developing countries using proper writing mechanics.

Click here to view the grading rubric.