Economies in many third world Asian countries are still lagging behind despite being resource rich. Countries in question are Sri Lanka, Bangladesh where there are no civil wars. Are the politicians to be blamed for running the countries to the ground or are people to be blamed for appointing such Politicians?
Both I believe. I can't speak for those countries but with mine, when democracy was introduced it was quite limited on who can vote and those that can afford to run were part of the colonial elite anyway. So really, not much has changed. Still, some areas lagged considerably and I chalk that up to their culture.