Developed nations which almost were, or almost weren't?

NothingNow

Banned
Really, Cuba, with it's head start Relative to most other Developing countries could have easily become a First world nation by Aping the Asian Tigers, or simply keeping on the track it had before then.

As it stands, Cuba would be a fairly mid pack European country (As in, better than the PIIGS, but not as well off as Britain, Germany or France,) or a Top tier North American economy without the Embargo.
Seriously looking at things, Cuba has an excellent Resource Extraction Sector and one of the best Biotech sectors on the Planet, with a well educated population, and happens to sit at a major trade nexus.
 
In Latin America:
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Uruguay, Venezuela.

Africa:
Algeria, Angola, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Mozambique, South Africa.

Asia:
China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand.

Europe:
Entire Eastern Europe including Russia.
 
Taiwan. Part of the Japanese empire and absolutely nothing going for it in 1900. On the front lines during the cold war, and almost nobody recognizes its government now. Despite everything, it's stable, developed and properous.
 
What about Ghana? I remember seeing a BBC doco about how at independence it was tipped for big things as it had plentiful resources such as bauxite, a well educated civil service and had a budget surplus. Unfortunately Nkrumah lost the plot over the Akosomboso Dam project and other things, bankrupted the country leading to years of military rule. By all accounts it's got it's act well sorted now with a liberal media, flourishing democracy and political stability in contrast to Cote D'Ivorie which seems to be heading in the opposite direction.
 
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Release of Belgian Congo into independence

In 1955, there was a proposal in the Belgian parliament to develop the Congo so that it would be self sufficient by 1985 and could thus be released into independence. This gradual development was made impossible due to soviet-sponsored left-wing independence guerilla-movements all over Africa, that forced the colonial powers to quickly decolonialize Africa, thus leaving behind utter chaos, when different factions in the former colonies began fighting for power in the vacuum left behind after the colonial powers were gone. In the case of the Belgian Congo, some experts in 1955 stated, that even the 30 year transition period might prove to not be sufficient and proposed to extend it to 40 years before the country will be ready for complete independence. In the end, they may have been right.
 
Thinking on it and while I agree with most people here with their assessments, I would argue that Canada was a nation that almost wasn't.

In 1900, Canada had a population of just 5,310,000 and was largely rural based and heavily dependent on agriculture, lumber, fishing and even trapping. Thankfully for us, two world wars and relative geographic isolation along with American influence has enabled us to grow, change ourselves and now sit as a member of the G8/G20.
 
Iran would be in better shape if the thnigs that happened post WWII hadn't have happened. This includes both the Shah and the Islamic Republic.

Libya if they had more of the plans put into place that Italy was working on pre WWII with the oil money in the post war years.

One thing about the 1st world, second world, third world you need to put into if they were communistic or not. Look at a nation like Poland under communism vs. a nation like South Africa that was a western county in second world status.
 
Thinking on it and while I agree with most people here with their assessments, I would argue that Canada was a nation that almost wasn't.

In 1900, Canada had a population of just 5,310,000 and was largely rural based and heavily dependent on agriculture, lumber, fishing and even trapping. Thankfully for us, two world wars and relative geographic isolation along with American influence has enabled us to grow, change ourselves and now sit as a member of the G8/G20.

Trade my fellow Canadian is what made us one of the richest countries in the world, the proportion of trade to domestic production in Canada is unusually high for a first-world nation. Also a great amount of foriegn investment has gone into Canada for the stable non-corrupt government, good educated populace, good infrastructure and abundant resources.

After all the first Europeans only came for fish and returned to Europe after the fishing season, the first real settlers were of military or trade-company origin. People simplly didn't want to stay in -40 degrees winters when the warmer thirteen colonies were also available.

Then came the beaver fad and people started trading with native for furs, but they left most of the work to natives and didn't really settle down. Only later did a small amount of people start moving inland in search of more furs. But when that fad died out the most people didn't have the means or will to go back to Britain :D.

Then came Napoleon, and thanks to him the British made Canada their main source of timber for the royal navy.

Then the Americans decided that they could have both low taxes and government benefits, and when the British taxed them in accordance to the services they received they threw them out. Fortunately this gave Canada some 50,000 people with strong pro-government sentiments and administrative skills.

And thanks to the good amount of prudent and cautious founding Scots in Canada's early banking institutions the tradition has carried through and now Canadian banks are among the most stable in the world (no spectacular results but no hard falls either).

Unlike the states Canadians are more open to government intervention and tax, something crucial for efficient governments and managing government debt. Plus Canadians are more mellow than Americans and people in general, when America's game it goes big, when America falls it falls hard, Canadians are just like "there's a recession going on. Oh, ok... " so extremes are rare in Canada. Your more likely to scare Canadians with debt than taxes or terrorism. (1990's)

Canada welcomes foreign students to stay , raise families/bring the family over ,and pay taxes to the government. Whereas America and some European countries either send them back with their education or restricted entry in the first place.

Canada also encourages a lot of immigration, bring in money, skilled workers, and most importantly of all a diverse culture with many ideas which is quite an asset in the innovative service sector.

And unlike most countries Canada *cough**cough* didn't need a strong armed force, that's an additional 3% of income that until recently has been put into growth. I personally blame an emotionless American robot sent from the future to destroy Canada. *cough*Harper*cough*

So no, with the culture, institution, stability, and resources present at the start Canada was actually quite well placed and it would be ABS for it to fail to become a first world nation.
 
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On an another note I would like to raise the fact that by the results of our actions (not intention or proclamation) that, the first world has been actively wanting and acting for third world nations to remain primarily an extractive prerogative source of materials and produce.
 
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Interwar Czechoslovakia was Europes second most developed country after Belgium with no less than 6 car manufacturers by 1938. The 77, 87 and 97 models from Tatra were among the fastest passenger cars in the world, the first cars ever, where steamline-design was not merely a design-gag, but with drag coefficiants, that rival even 21st century models.
 
Interwar Czechoslovakia was Europes second most developed country after Belgium with no less than 6 car manufacturers by 1938. The 77, 87 and 97 models from Tatra were among the fastest passenger cars in the world, the first cars ever, where steamline-design was not merely a design-gag, but with drag coefficiants, that rival even 21st century models.

Though I am very fond of the CSR (my ancestors were citizes of it), the sheer number of car manufacturers doesn't mean a lot. I would point to Skoda (arms as well as cars= and the shoe manufacturers (forget their names, something like ZATA) who build their own city of the future.

In this case, though, you are right. Without Communism (occupation and war weren't that catastrophic in this case, rather, I would argue, the killing/expulsion of Jews resp. Germans), the CSR would be on par with Germany, Austria and the Netherlands today. It is good to see them catch up, though.

Generally, has anyone mentioned a surviving Danubian Monarchy in this thread? OTL was almost a worst-case-scenario for the whole region!
 
I wold venture to say that most of Eastern Europe had at least lower tier first world potential prior to World War II. Indeed, an EU centered around the Weimar Republic forming a counterweight to the USSR could have been very successful economically and politically.
 
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