The North-South Gap

CHAPTER TWELVE

Dr. Clayton ThynePS 235-001: World Politics

Spring 2009

Goldstein & Pevehouse, International Relations, 8/e

Student notes version

State of the South

• World’s poor region states called:– Third world countries, less developed countries (LDCs),

underdeveloped countries (UDCs), or developing countries

• Scholars do not agree on

• About a billion people live in abject poverty – no access to basic nutrition and health care– Concentrated in ____________________– Two decades ago, similar situation in _______________, but average

income per person there has increased– Every 6 seconds…

– 5 million children…

State of the South

• Millennium Development Goals– Sets targets for basic needs measures

to be achieved by ________

• The 5 regions of the global South differ on poverty reduction, income level, and growth.

Figure 12.1

Basic Human Needs

• Food, shelter, and other necessities –

–

• Education allows a new generation to meet over basic needs and more through the demographic transition.–

–

Basic Human Needs• Children suffer from hunger in the global South.

–

• Health care–

–

• Safe water–

– Importance of NGOs: www.sunflowersolar.com/articles/HP110_pg44_Yewdall.pdf

• Shelter–

• War is a leading obstacle to the…

• Disasters

Figure 12.2

Figure 12.4

World Hunger• Of all the basic needs of people in the global South, the

most central is food.– Malnutrition:

– Hunger:

– 820 million people (1 in 8 worldwide) are …

• Rural communities and farming– Colonialism disrupted…

– Shift to commercial farming (cash crops); displacement of subsistence farmers from the land.

– Impact of international food aid on…

Rural and Urban Populations

• The displacement of subsistence farmers leads to massive population shift.– Urbanization:

• Capital accumulation is concentrated in ______.• Influx of people can cause difficulties.

• Slums

• Land reform

Women in Developing Countries

• Economic accumulation in poor countries is closely tied to the status of women in those societies.–

• Hold inferior social status to men in the countries of the South (more so than in the North)

• Discrimination against girls is widespread in education and literacy.

• Work of international agencies to help women

Migration and Refugees

• Millions of people from the global South have crossed international borders, often illegally, to reach the North.

• The home state – no obligation to…

• Migration produces complex patterns of…

• Most industrialized states try to limit immigration from the…

Migration and Refugees• Migrants are distinguished from refugees

– Refugees are people fleeing to find …

• Number of refugees in 2006 was…

• Kurds in Turkey –

• Palestine -

• Economic impact

• Nationalism:

Theories of Accumulation: Capitalism

• Capital: • Capitalism

– Based on liberal economics stressing …

– System of private ownership of capital that relies on …

– Views the global South as …

– Cycle of accumulation depends on …

– Concentrates __________________– No state is purely capitalistic– Principles of capitalism underlie the global economy with its great

disparities of wealth

Theories of Accumulation: Socialism

• Socialism – concerned with the …

– Sees the North-South divide as more of a …

– Believes capitalists exploit …

– Generally endorses the use of the …

– Does not exist anywhere in pure form.

– In theory, central planners are supposed to use resources in a rational way that maximizes overall efficiency.

• Russia and Eastern Europe:• China:• Privatization

• Does not mean socialism is dead: New mixes of socialism and capitalism are being created.

Theories of Accumulation: The World-System

• The global system of regional class divisions has been seen by some IR scholars as a world-system, or a capitalist world economy.– View is _____________ in orientation; global level of analysis– Class divisions regionalized

• Third world regions …• Industrialized regions …• Class struggle between the two

– Semiperiphery:

• Actual patterns of world trade support the world-system theory to some extent– But the shift of export-oriented manufacturing from the

industrialized countries to Asia reflects globalization

Table 12.3

Imperialism

• Imperialism structured world order starkly around the …

• At the same time, imperialism depends on the …

World Civilization

• North America• Europe• China and Japan• Latin America• Africa• Arab caliphate and the Middle East• Europe

History of Imperialism 1500-2000

• European imperialism– 15th century, with the development of oceangoing

sailing ships in which a small crew could transport a sizable cargo over a long distance

– Decimated indigenous populations

• Decolonization• 19th century• 20th century

Figure 12.6

Effects of Colonialism

• Being colonized had a devastating effect on a people and culture.–

– White domination seen as normal after …

– Negative economic implications– Positives of colonization

• • •

– Anti-colonial movements

Figure 12.7

Postcolonial Dependency

• Accumulation in the global South did not take off once colonialism was overthrown.– Left few people with the experience to …

– Economies had been narrowly developed.• • •

– Inherited borders that were drawn in …

– Government corruption of …

Figure 12.8

Postcolonial Dependency

• Dependency theory– Dependency as a situation in which …

– A dependent country must borrow capital to …

• Types of non-colonial dependency– Enclave economy

– Nationally controlled production by …

– Penetration of national economies by …

Revolutionary Movements

• Political revolutions seek to change the …

• Social revolutions seek changes in the …• Cold War years: communist insurgency

– Chinese revolution– Latin America

• By early 1990s, communist third world revolutions seemed to have …

Post-revolutionary Governments

• Even though revolutionaries advocate the broad distribution of wealth, they tend to find after taking power that centralizing accumulation is more practical.– Gives the state more control of …– New elite may begin to look like …

• Impact of …• Marxist strategies have …