Colonialism brought material progress to the Third World.

Evidence

Brunner refuted the claim that foreign aid to the Third World could be viewed as a form of restitution for the West’s historical sins, since colonization had brought significant material progress to the Third World: “Justification of the NIEO in terms of an established ‘right’ based on ‘past exploitation’ should eventually be recognized as a theme without support in reality. It remains, however, a powerful ideological weapon to lure the support of a gullible western intelligentsia for the persistent raids on the wealth of western nations” (Brunner 1996a, 152). — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 1767

Categorization

• QUESTION: Brunner’s empirical claim that colonization brought material progress deserves scrutiny against development economics scholarship.
• XREF: connects to: Neoliberal economists inverted colonial extraction into a source of Third World progress — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market: Human Rights…, 401; The doctrine of progress makes colonialism appear natural rather than impositive — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism: A Critique of…, 217; Colonialism created the conditions for modern capitalism’s emergence — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 251 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• The doctrine of progress makes colonialism appear natural rather than impositive #contradicts (0.85) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 217
• Colonialism systematically dispossesses the colonized of resources under a justifying discourse of hierarchy #contradicts (0.85) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 246
• Marx saw colonialism as freeing non-Western societies from confining arrangements #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, The Racial State, 32
• Colonial power instrumentalized reason and thereby corrupted modernity’s promise #contradicts (0.75) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 615
• Colonialism created the conditions for modern capitalism’s emergence #qualifies (0.70) — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection, 251