Why are some nations still paying the price of colonialism today?

All nations are governed by laws or structures that control how people are allowed to act. But what happens when these rules don’t protect the rights of most of the population? James Robinson explains why nations once under colonial rule are still paying the price today.

Here, we have a video, a shortened version of the academic paper exploring this question, as well as some teacher notes for delivering this information in the classroom.

This video is part of our schools series ‘Why isn’t the whole world developed?’, which draws on economic history to understand the effects of colonisation and imperial interventions on the economies of Africa and India. The project is delivered by Discover Economics and the CAGE Research Centre. Please visit https://www.discovereconomics.co.uk/ for further information.