Dependency theory was developed to articulate this extractive process. We learn that the 'core' is reliant on exploiting resource flows from the 'periphery'. The rich nations do not invest in income-poor nations to make them richer. This extractive process is necessary for the continued material prosperity of the 'core' nations and the prevention of realisation crises. The exploitation evolved over time from brutal slavery regimes to more sophisticated and less obvious means of maintaining political and economic servitude.

Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa's Last Colonial Curr…, loc. 13