I think that many, if not most, of the third world countries that haven’t made the first rung yet are incapable of making that rung at all, regardless of technology. They are handicapped by tribalism, Islam and corruption; in a word, culture. Even countries with marvelous natural benefits like oil or minerals are so corrupt that even the basics, like water and sewage systems are impossible to implement. I believe this is why much of Africa’s natives will attempt to migrate to other countries. Unfortunately, they will not assimilate easily. If the American Left has its way, they won’t even learn English.
From about 20 years back, still valid.
Spotting the Losers: Seven Signs of Non-Competitive States
http://ssi.armywarcollege.edu/pubs/parameters/Articles/98spring/peters.htm
Many good points, a few:
Where blood ties rule, you cannot trust the contract, let alone the handshake. Nor will you see the delegation of authority so necessary to compete in the modern military or economic spheres. Information and wealth are assessed from a zero-sum worldview. Corruption flourishes. Blood ties produce notable family successes, but they do not produce competitive societies.
For those squeamish about judging the religion of another, there is a shortcut that renders the same answer on competitiveness: examine the state’s universities.
Any society that starves education is a loser. Cultures that do not see inherent value in education are losers. This is even true for some of our own sub-cultures—groups for whom education has little appeal as means or end—and it is true for parts of Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Arab world. A culture that cannot produce a single world-class university is not going to conquer the world in any sphere.