This assignment requires students to write a six-page paper comparing two Less Developed Countries (LDCs) by analyzing five common factors influencing their development. Students must choose two countries from a provided list and assess whether they share factors such as geography, extractive institutions, governmental corruption, conflicts, or financial/judicial systems. The paper should use at least seven credible sources and follow APA formatting guidelines.

1. Due Week 9 and worth 400 points
This assignment calls for you to select two Less Developed
Countries (LDCs) and assess if there are any factors that are
common to both as far as their development is concerned. Your
two countries
must
come from the following list:
Burundi
Benin
Cameroon
Nigeria
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Central African Republic
North Korea
Angola
Ghana
Chad
Yemen

2. Eritrea
Cuba
Congo
Thailand
Egypt
Iran
Equatorial Guinea
Zimbabwe
Zambia
Oman
Ethiopia
Philippines
Congo
Liberia
Gabon
Bahrain
Tanzania
India

3. Guyana
Mexico
El Salvador
Lebanon
Honduras
Pakistan
Syria
Guinea
Kenya
Sri Lanka
Algeria
Gambia
Mozambique
Senegal
Malawi
Indonesia
Namibia
Vietnam

4. Morocco
Myanmar
Rwanda
Haiti
Sudan
Bolivia
Somalia
Kuwait
Mauritania
Mali
South Africa
Iraq
Botswana
Bangladesh
Tunisia
Niger
Libya
Malaysia

5. Uganda
Panama
Source:
United Nations, 2014
It may help you to be familiar with the concept of poor
governance, because this often plays a significant part in why a
country is underdeveloped. According to the World Bank,
governance
is defined as how power is exercised in the management of a
country's economic and social resources for development.
Therefore, if
good governance
is synonymous with sound development management, then
poor governance
means a government has failed to deliver desirable outcomes
for its people. This could mean that officials are corrupt, not
transparent with their decisions, unqualified to make decisions
in the first place, or prone to make decisions based on racism,
tribalism or ethnicity — all of which are very common practices
in LCDs.
The most common factor used to decide whether countries are
underdeveloped nations is through the Human Development
Index. Countries that are underdeveloped in nature offer poor
health care, few educational opportunities, a low average life
expectancy, a low number of job opportunities, few recreational
facilities, poor economic growth, a low standard of living and a
poverty-stricken life.
Instructions:
Write at least a six-page paper, in which you:

6. Identify the two LDCs (from the list above), which you will
compare and assess. Explain why you chose these two
countries.
Analyze the features that the LDCs have in common using
at least five of the following nine factors
(clearly label the five factors using headings):
geography
extractive institutions
governmental corruption
internal or external conflicts
shaky financial systems
unfair judicial systems
ethnic, racial or tribal disparities
lack or misuse of natural resources
closed (statist) economies
Use
at least seven credible sources
. Wikipedia, encyclopedias, dictionaries, blogs and other
material that does not qualify as reputable academic source
work at the college level. Do not use sources that are older than

7. seven years.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double-spaced (no extra spacing between paragraphs),
using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins
on all sides.
Citations and references must follow APA or school-specific
format. Check with your professor for any additional
instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the
student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the
date (do not include an abstract).
The cover page and the reference page are not included in the
required assignment page length. Graphs, tables and
photographs are
not
counted toward the length of the paper; only what you have
written as text itself.
The specific course learning outcomes associated with this
assignment are:
Determine why private investment, open political competition
and the intelligent use of natural resources can serve as
incentives to further economic development.
Decide why good governance, a sound financial system, and a
fair system of judicial justice are necessary to development.

8. Assess why enforceable environmental regulations are critical
to sustaining development.
Use technology and information resources to research issues in
sociology of developing countries.
Write clearly and concisely about sociology of developing
countries using proper writing mechanics.