Truman’s Speech and Development in the 21st Century

Introduction
In his inaugural speech in 1949, Truman enounced a new perspective for U.S. foreign
policy. The fourth point of his speech exclaimed: “a bold new program” to solve the retardancy
in economy and political instability that caused blight to third world countries (Yale Law School,
n.d.: no page). Truman seemed to advocate for the need to eradicate “old imperialism” as it
promoted exploiting nations for profit purposes. To achieve this, technical experts from the U.S.
would share their knowledge with the third world countries to establish a local environment in
which integrated efforts of private capital and local labour would promote growth of economy
and improve the living standards of people. In essence, Truman was advocating for capitalism
where people would focus on production and expansion of capital. In the long run, capitalism
would bring about development or modernization. It was a magnificent agenda for
underdeveloped countries. However, in the wake of economic differentiation and the political
instability the underdeveloped countries are experiencing in 21st century, this paper argues the
possibility of realising Truman’s agenda of development for underdeveloped countries. The
paper argues for and against why it might not be able to achieve Truman’s fourth point using
literature and typical examples and then concludes with a summary showing my stand.
The validity of Truman’s Fourth Point and Development in the 21st Century
The fourth point of Truman was directed to the American citizens and to the whole world
indirectly to pave way for modernity envisioned in development. It never transforms the
semantic perception of development but infuses the latter with an absolute new paradigm which
leads to the need to examine its relevance in the perception of capitalism. Allen and Thomas
(2000) observe that new issues have sprouted particularly environmental concerns, gender
affiliations and global debt. For instance, in the environmental aspect, people have perceived
capitalism as a way of achieving material prosperity while showing little concern to nature
(egocentrism). In the long run, we have changed our culture and the society in general to
embrace exploitation.
A major reason for this can be related to increased corruption, fraudulence and other
failures affecting corporations. This is quite typical for most companies in developing countries.
In Nigeria, for example, it hardly passes a week before the local news channel depicts members
of a board or auditors involved in a scandal. There is an increased intoxication of greed for
money by those in power, instead of being accountable and responsible. Capitalism in the 21st
century has disconnected businesses environmental concerns while encouraging wealth
accumulation and abuse of power. It is important for developing countries that have such issues
to focus on transforming first in order to create a road for smooth development.
Another factor hindering the realisation of Truman’s agenda in underdeveloped countries
is the economic system of these countries. Most countries have a mixed system economy which
is based on a blend of individuals and the government as the key players. Each has particular part
to play in driving the economy of a country. However, in other countries, the government solely
runs the system where it depends on one major commodity the country produces. In Nigeria, for
example, the government heavily relies on oil which allows for its enormous involvement and
other public entities. With limitations on the role of regulations, such a system becomes
characterised by various flaws and unsustainability issues as compared to when private entities
would be involved. This is in the notion that private enterprises are always flexible, dynamic, and
innovative in a way that leads to creation of more jobs and an all-round growth and development.
In fact, to some extent, this would be the essence of capitalism in contribution to development.
Private enterprises can sell labour to the government and create jobs for everyone to improve
their standards of living. In other words, the private enterprises would be producing goods and
services to generate the capital that drives a country towards capitalistic profit (Woods 2002).
Thus, a fundamental objective of a capitalist system revolves around production and individual
expansion of capital which seems to lack in the government of most underdeveloped countries
where private enterprises are denied roles to play in a mixed economic system. Thus, this creates
a clear indication of lack of interest in capitalism from such as government. The result is inability
to generate capital with more unemployment which then ends up retarding the economy and
hence development.
Moving on to another factor that impedes the successful realisation of Truman’s agenda
in this era is the aspect of economic inequality. The market has adopted a structure that favours
people with the ability to own shares over the ones working for income. Shareholders rather look
a favoured class as they have money to spare due to owning securities. They make more money
through investing in a company despite lack of ownership in any part of the company. To some
extent, this can make one think that capitalism is alive in a less obvious perspective. Those with
money can make more than those who lack it – which is majorly the central idea of capitalism,
its ability to enrich the few people with access to capital (Wood 2002). Yet, they even do not
need it to remain alive. In other words, there could be an egocentric nature arising from the few
people who have sufficient access to capital. In Nigeria, for example, economic inequalities pose
a chronic challenge. Although capitalism is linked to income inequality (Allen and Thomas
2000), there is a notion that inequality is positive as it lifts others out of poverty. However, in the
case of Nigeria, the income inequality is driven by egocentrism since the abundant human capital
does not help the economy to better the lives of the poor people. As a result, realising
development with negative goals for income inequality is quite a hard phenomenon.
Although it might be difficult for Truman’s development agenda to be realized in this era,
it is worth noting that some countries such as China, India, and other developed countries are
progressing in development with effective integration of capitalism. Such countries have learned
the art of separating agriculture and manufacturing leading to an increased level of specialization
which in turn leads to increased productivity and in the long run, development (Wood 2002).
Developing countries have the ability to achieve development on their own too. A few have tried
such as South Africa while on the other hand others like Nigeria appear somehow sluggish
despite availability of resources. If one walks to Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, he/she will see
signs of wealth and a stable environment for increasing productivity. Nonetheless, this is not the
case since representatives are the cause of disaster. Currently, there is a mix of magnificent
designs and organisational failures. Soldiers are everywhere indicating that political instability is
quite high. In such an environment, achieving capitalism can be hard despite its essentiality in
driving a nation towards development.
Conclusion
This essay has argued out the various issues that could impede realisation of Truman’s
fourth point in the 21st century. In summary, gender relations, environmental concerns, and
global debt can affect the development of a country as they impede successful enforcement of
industrial capitalism in this era. Also, the paper has discussed the notion that most governments
in underdeveloping countries fail to put up a well-established economic system with private
enterprises as key players. Such a system sabotages the ability of the government to generate
enough capital as it fails to play cope with dynamism. The result is retarded economic growth as
well as development. Another area of concern that this paper has discussed in relation to
impeding development in this era is the economic inequality where rich people invest in
companies while not doing anything to help the poor. This leads to lack of uniformity in
development. Nonetheless, the paper has also established that there are still hopes that every
country can develop using the agenda that Truman put forth but under effective governance since
there are countries already developed. All that the underdeveloped countries need to do is to find
ways of emulating how their developed counterparts did it and embrace that for a better
development in future.
 References
Allen, T. and Thomas, A. (2000). Poverty and development into the 21. century. 2nd ed. Milton
Keynes: Open University, in association with Oxford university press.
Wood, E. (2002). The origin of capitalism: A Longer Wood. London: Verso.
Yale Law School (n.d.). The Avalon Project: Inaugural Address of Harry S. Truman. [online]
Avalon.law.yale.edu. Available at: https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/truman.asp
[Accessed 20 Oct. 2019].