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This should be a fun topic for discussion...

Looking back to any time after 1900, what countries looked as though they could have become advanced, developed economies but ended up missing the boat? Or, in reverse, which countries which became developed IOTL seem the most unlikely to have become so?

I'd posit Argentina for the first, and Singapore for the second, but I'd love to hear alternate ideas. Bonus points if you can change many countries through the world plausibly, ending up with, say, Europe half developing, but South America mostly developed.
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