This subgroup includes such countries of Western Europe as: Spain, Portugal, Greece, Ireland; countries of Central and Eastern Europe: Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia; former newly industrialized countries: Republic of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
The first two countries possessed in the past huge colonial possessions in the New World and lived by exploiting their rich natural resources and local populations, as well as by unequal exchange with the colonies. The loss of possessions led to a weakening of their economic power and a loss of political influence not only in the New World, but also in Europe.
At present, in terms of the level of development of the productive forces of research and development and their introduction into production, Spain and Portugal lag far behind other countries of this group.
A special place in this subgroup is occupied by Ireland, a former colony of Great Britain. It won independence in 1922 and was able to rise to an average level of development. However, a number of political problems, such as tensions with The United Kingdom, which still occupies Northern Ireland, are hampering the country’s socio-economic development.
For a long time in Greece, Spain and Portugal, military and fascist dictatorships were in power, which could not but affect the development of the economy.
The accession of all four countries to the European Union has contributed to the growth of their economic development and the rise in living standards.
A number of countries in Central and Eastern Europe have typical features and indicators of average development. At the same time, they have not yet fully overcome the difficulties of the transition from a socialist to a market economy. They are divided conditionally into two subtypes: 1.Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia; 2. Poland and Slovakia.
The first subtype could be called “advanced”, it is the former “dependent elite” of the “Vienna Empire”. Currently, these are industrialized countries that are beginning their post-industrial development. It is possible that in the future they may become “small privileged nations”.
The second subtype includes Poland and Slovakia. Their level of socio-economic development is somewhat lower than that of the countries of the first subtype. In these countries, the decline in production was longer, they bore a large burden of budget deficits and had significant rates of inflation. In general, it should be concluded that these countries have been somewhat slower to implement economic reform, and the results of their economic reforms are not as impressive as in the first subgroup.
The newly industrialized countries of the Republic of South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore, which embarked on the path of industrialization back in the 60s of the twentieth century, have reached a high level of development of the productive forces, and since 1995 the socio-economic indicators of these countries allow us to attribute them to a subgroup of countries with an average level of development of capitalism.