Not just that nobody's helping and their system may be outdated, more powerful players are playing to keep them weak and use them as pieces in their competition

Not just that nobody's helping and their system may be outdated, more powerful players are playing to keep them weak and use them as pieces in their competition with each other. The more powerful countries also don't really have an alternative, since stopping to compete means becoming weaker oneself, and helping others become stronger doesn't guarantee that they wouldn't become a new competiitor at the "big table".