Under the circumstances provided...

Under the circumstance that states are unequally prepared for global economic competition as explained by Inayatullah, the economic outcomes and achievements states make may not seem to be a fair outcome, because some states have been exploited and their history has placed severe restriction on the state's economy that is then reflected by its marginalized status in the current global economic order. However, the important aspect to wonder in this discussion is whether the exploitation that affects the current economic outcomes of states were fair or not.

The past that affects the current economic condition of a state the most usually, if not always, has taken the form of exploitation and colonization. This acts have transformed other state's economy to suit the needs of the home country, and these acts have cost the colonized and the exploited a lot of resource, and consequentially, its economy. Because of this manipulation of a state's economy by another state, these acts can be used to argue that due to these factors, the current economic conditions of the previous colonies are unequal, and thus the competition is unfair. However, the point that needs to be raised is that how did these people come to be colonized? Obviously, they have been either of their own will or against their own will, became subject to another nation. Whether it was through coercion or through peaceful means, the colonized have lost their sovereignty due to their lack of power and capabilities. Let us take the example of a state; Korea, my home country, has once been Japan's colony and suffered terribly under their rule, but there is no-one to blame other than ourselves for not having enough power to ensure our own autonomy and sovereignty. This applies to various countries that suffer from economic disadvantage due to their past; they have failed to maintain their own sovereignty and to provide national security, which is one of the most important job of a state.

My line of reasoning sounds very cruel in that bluntly put, I basically believe that the situation is fair, because these states have only themselves to blame for putting themselves into such positions in the past. Of course, this argument may sound horrendous to some people, and I can also see that this kind of "blame the victim" argument is usually criticized severely. However, we must realize that the blame certainly lies in the victim itself, because of their lack of precaution. Thus, the economic inequality in the global order today that some may claim to be unfair should be considered fair in that these unequal footing has been brought on by the states themselves, and thus, the majority blame cannot be placed on the conquerors, which leads to the conclusion that because the unequal economic footing due to history is partly the state's own fault, they cannot claim it to be unfair.