ABSTRACT
The origin of social policy formation in the developing world is dramatically different than in the affluent countries of the West. Perhaps the most telling reason for this difference is that many developing countries are not constructed on Keynesian principles. In most developing countries, ideas about providing care stress community and family over state intervention. Whether this is by necessity or by choice is not completely understood. Most of these countries were traditionally nonmoney economies and were not founded on capitalist principles. A number of them entered the modern era as colonies of European nations and therefore did not develop a tradition of social welfare based on any notion of equality. Further, the colonials did not appear to be concerned about the internal economy or social conditions of the countries they occupied. The colonized countries were seen as peripheral to the homeland and were there only to supply the colonizer with natural riches through cheap or slave labour. The role of the colony at that time was to serve the occupying country by providing cheap raw materials and even cheaper labour for mining and the extraction of their natural resources. These raw materials were shipped back to the colonizing country or for trading with their trading partners. Little thought by the occupiers was given to the welfare of the aboriginal population; in fact, many of the local inhabitants were not seen as human or, if they were, they were believed to be a substandard and primitive people in comparison to the European colonizers. Servitude and slavery were thought to be legitimate and condoned in many parts of the world at that period in history. Only when it suited the colonizer were social programs, mainly healthcare, provided to the locals. This was not necessarily done in the spirit of benevolence but so those in servitude could be productive in their work for their colonial masters. Social policy was mostly provided by benevolent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), particularly Christian organizations, who were just as interested in saving souls as they were in providing a better standard of living to the native population.
