Global Divides: The North And The South

GLOBAL DIVIDES THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH

The terms the North and the South, when used in a global context, are alternative designations for “developed” and “developing” countries. Together, the North and South constitute virtually the entire global population. As terms, the North and the South emerged during the 1970s, probably simultaneously, and in contrast with each other.

Our Unequal World The North/South Divide.

Inequality  Our world is a very unequal place.  There are huge social & economic inequalities between different places.  This means that many countries are rich, while others are very poor.  The rich countries are mainly in the North, and the poorer countries are mainly in the south.  Poor countries are usually called Developing countries and rich countries are usually called Developed countries.

Some countries are developing faster than others. Many Asian countries are quickly developing while many African countries are slowly developing.

Inequality

Same city, different life….

Mukesh Ambani, the fifth richest man in the world, is building a 550-foot-tall, 27

story skyscraper as his family’s private home in Mumbai, India.

Developed and Developing Countries

 List 3 countries in the developing world and 3 countries in the developed world.

Developed and Developing Countries

What does the cartoon tell us about the type of work people do in the different types of countries?

The pie-chart shows the percentage of workers in Bangladesh working in the different sectors. Why is this typical for slowly developing countries?

Our Unequal World – Life Expectancy

Q. Why is life expectancy different in developing countries compared to developed countries?

Q. How does access to safe drinking water influence life expectancy? Q. Name 5 countries where less than 65% of people can access safe drinking water.

Water Use and Wealth  People who live in wealthy countries use much more water than people who live in poor countries.

 Q. Why do you think this is?  Q. In Ireland we do not have to pay for the water we use at home. Is this a good thing?

In some countries the problem is getting worse…

Q. Can you think of any reasons why the life expectancy of people in these countries has decreased?

In some countries the problem is improving… Life Expectancy at birth in years: Country

1980

2002

Oman

60

74

Bangladesh

58

61

Indonesia

55

66

Bolivia

52

63

Honduras

60

66

Q. List some things a government could do to increase the life expectancy of the people in their country.

Our Unequal World – Infant Mortality  Infant Mortality Rates means the number of children dying before aged 1 year.  Ireland – 6 babies / 1000.  Mali – 100 babies / 1000.  Somalia – 117 babies / 1000.

Q. Why do you think more babies are dying in these poor countries?

The World’s Natural Resources  Although they have only a small percentage of the world’s population, the rich countries of the north use most of the earth’s natural resources. Q. Why do you think this is?

Inequality

THE GLOBAL SOUTH: ZONE OF TURMOIL  The Global South is a term that has been emerging in transnational and postcolonial studies to refer to what may also be called the “Developing world" (i.e., Africa, Latin America, and the developing countries in Asia), "developing countries," "less developed countries," and "less developed regions.  The Global South is more than the extension of a

"metaphor for underdeveloped countries.“

 In general, it refers to these countries' "interconnected histories of colonialism, neoimperialism, and differential economic and social change through which large inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources are maintained  Many of the people in the global south faces poverty, war and tyranny  (cruel and oppressive government or rule).

THE GLOBAL SOUTH: ZONE OF TURMOIL  Although democracy has spread to much of the global south since the 1980’s , the commitments of some of these governments to regular elections and human rights are fragile.  Many global south countries lack well-developed domestic market economies based on entrepreneurship and private enterprise.

 Global South countries have been unable to evolve an indigenous technology appropriate to their own resources and have been dependent on powerful Global North multinational corporation (MNCs) to transfer technical know-how.

 This means that research and development expenditures are directed toward solutions of the Global North’s problems, with technological advances seldom meeting the needs of the Global South.

 Life is a struggle for those who live in extreme poverty.

 Poverty is a force that “robs you of confidence… steals your pride, deadens your ambition, limits your imagination and psychologically cripples,” (Mazumdar, 2009:34)

 According to criteria used by UN Economic

and Social Council, forty-nine countries currently comprise the least developed countries (LDC’s) of the Global South.  They have gross income (GNI) per capita of under $900 per year, and their overwhelmingly rural populations depend on agriculture for subsistence and frequently rely on barter in their economic exchanges.  These low-income countries are not significant participants in the global market.

 Their meager exports are largely confined to inexpensive primary products, including food stuff ( cocoa, coffee, and tea,)minerals, hides, and timber. Because they consume most of what they produce, theirs is typically a subsistence economy, and the prospects for change are dim, because most of these countries have been bypassed by direct foreign investment and ignored by foreign aid donors.

 Geographic location also hampers the economic development in Global South countries.

 Landlocked developing countries that lack navigable rivers or efficient road and rail networks are highly disadvantaged due to expenses they face in accessing world markets.

 Some small island developing states are burdened with high transportation costs as well, largely due to the remoteness from major global markets.

INTERNAL FACTORS: CLASSICAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT THEORY’S INTERPRETATION  Liberal economic development theories of modernization emerged in the early post-World War II era.  They argued that the major barriers to development were posed by the Global South countries’ own internal characteristics.

 Productivity remained low due to managerial inefficiency, a lack of modern technology, and inadequate transportation and communication infrastructures.  To Overcome these barriers, most classical theorists, recommended that the wealthy countries supply various “missing components” of development, such as investment capital through foreign aid or private foreign direct investment.

 Once sufficient capital was accumulated to promote growth, these theorists predicted that is benefits would eventually “trickle down” to broad segments of society policy.  Walt R. Rostow, an economics historian and US policy maker formalized this theory in his influential book. The stages of Economics Growth (1960).  He predicted that traditional societies beginning the path of development would inevitably pass through various stages by means of the free market and would eventually take off to become similar to the mass consumption societies of the capitalist North.

EXTERNAL FACTORS: DEPENDECY THEORY’S INTERPRETATION  Emphasized external factors  Development is not a linear process that all societies uniformly follow  Dependency theory- a view of development that the leading capitalist states dominate and exploit the poorer counties on the periphery of the world economy.

 Its central proposition is that the structure of the capitalist world economy is based on a division of labor between a dominant core and a subordinate periphery.  As a result of colonialism, the global South countries that make up the periphery have been forced into an economic role where by they export raw materials and import finished goods.

Maintain that global inequalities cannot be reduced so long as developing counties continue to specialize in primary products for which there are often numerous competing suppliers and limited demand. Argues that countries in the global South are vulnerable to culture penetration by outside forces, which saturate them with values from other societies.

 Once cultural penetration occurs, locals who embrace foreign values may gain economically from the ties that they forge with government and corporation doing business in their county.

 Dualism refers to the existence of two separate economic and social sectors operating side by side.  Dual societies typically have rural, impoverished, and neglected sector operating alongside an urban, developing or advanced sector—but with little interaction between the two.

 Although dependency theory has great appeal within the Global South, it cannot easily explain the emergence of many people call newly industrialized countries (NICs) members of the Global South that have begun exporting manufactured goods to the Global North.

 Dependent development-describes the industrialization of peripheral areas in a system otherwise dominated by the Global North.\  The term suggest the possibility of either growing or declining prosperity, but not outside the confines of a continuing dominance-dependence relationship between North and South.