In order to determine if a country is a developed, underdeveloped, or developing country there are many factors that one needs to take into consideration. Its also important to determine why the country is underdeveloped or not, and why isn't developing the way other countries are developed. There four theories that many scholars use in order to determine why a country is underdeveloped, such as modernization theory, dependency, Marxism theory, and imperialism theory. These theories listed differ in explaining why certain countries are considered underdeveloped or developing countries. But for the sake of this essay, I will only be discussing Marxism theory and apply it to a small country located in Central America, Guatemala. It important to understand why according to Marxism Guatemala is underdeveloped country. .
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There are many theories discussed by scholars in determining why a country is consideration is underdeveloped. A big theory is discussed a lot is modernization theory and as John Ibister describes it, its when theorists focus on deficiencies in the poor countries due to the lack "of democratic institutions, of capital, of technology, of initiative, and then speculate about ways to repair these deficiencies (33). The way modernization theory is described I really didn't relate it to Guatemala, because in a way they do have a democratic institution, they do have technology. In a way I do believe Guatemala is underdeveloped due to modernization theory, because Guatemala's culture is reflective to their ancestors, and modernization theory its important for a country to move forward from those ancestral ideas in order to transform. Another theory discussed was dependency theory, which is believed that the growth of rich countries has created the third world, and that international capitalism creates this block so that third world countries cant move forward (43). Guatemala even though has export connections; I don't believe that's the reason why it's considered a poor country.
