underdevelopment

From under- + development.

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underdevelopment (countable and uncountable, plural underdevelopments)

1. The condition of being underdeveloped.
   • 2017, Jason Hickel, “Why are Poor Countries Poor?”, in The Divide […] , London: William Heinemann, →ISBN:

     Drawing on insights from thinkers such as Karl Marx, Aimé Césaire and Mahatma Gandhi, they pointed out that underdevelopment in the global South was not a natural condition, but a consequence of the way Western powers had organised the world system over hundreds of years.