Actually, Ha-Joon Chang pointed out that the economic powerhouses (US, UK, Japan, etc.) relied on enormous protectionism when they were developing. However, now that they're powerful, they "kick away the ladder" and push developing nations to struggle under the ineffective free-market principles that they knew to avoid.
http://www.newamerica.net/events/2008/why_world_isnt_flat
the ineffective free-market principles that they knew to avoid
Compare and contrast:
The US, Canada, Japan, and western Europe, Australia, New Zealand.
Maoist China vs. Hong King, socialist India, the Soviet Union, Germany under the National Socialist German Workers Party versus today, East Germany vs. West Germany, Africa, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc, etc, etc...
