The ideology of the imperialist age was that whichever nation controlled the largest percentage of the periphery would therefore dominate the world's resources and hence, the global market. The methods used to dominate these regions involved extreme domination and little interest in the periphery's social welfare. The birth of slavery in these regions made the extraction of these resources minimally expensive and profits extremely vast. Labor was seen virtually as a commodity that was replaceable by an almost unlimited supply of slaves. Much of the circumstances, which the periphery faces today, can be associated with the stolen wealth of these Third World countries. This was a process of taking as much of these resources the industrialized world could as fast and cheap as possible. .
Basically, it was considered impossible for any reform to ever take place in the periphery areas of the world and in nations worldwide the general public witnessed an unequal distribution of wealth. Alternatives began to arise and revolution became imminent not only in the periphery but also in the core. Some nations addressed these issues by trying to appease the general public while others witnessed revolution and the birth of communism, which was the answer to social welfare. The world was divided into two different ideologies, one based on social welfare and the other on economic expansionism. This provided an alternative to many third world countries and possibly an answer for their declining standard of living. However, communist nations such as the Soviet Republic of Russia were unable to contend with the economic giants of western capitalism and an expensive arms race eventually drove the country bankrupt while the U.S. and Britain attempted to demonstrate the benefits of democracy throughout the world. The elimination of the communist threat to capitalism gave international corporations the ability to exploit third world countries and diminish social states once again, however, the same mistakes of imperialism would not be made again.
