Nov 13th
Hand in interview summary and discuss Response Paper #5 Lecture 8: Global Inequality & population:
The Growth of Slums Homework:
Read Planet Slums Chp 6
Review
According to World Systems Analysis how can we understand global inequality? Historical relationships Integration into the global economy Whose rules?
Why do the most economically developed nations in the global systems have an interest in maintaining global inequality? The development of the global slums are one of the
consequences of policies and choices of the last 50 years…
Adding More People to the Planet The world have 6.4 billion inhabitants today
Only 1.5 billion people a century ago
Expected to add 3 billion more in the next 50 years
Highest population densities in: India, population 1.1 billion, China, population 1.3 billion, Indonesia, population 220 million, and central Europe, population 630 million.
Urbanization
Historically urbanization coincided with industrialization, by encouraging the movement of people from the countryside the city
Experts predict that by 2030, over 60 percent of the population will be urban Today urbanization is growing fastest in poor and
developing countries where the demand for clean water, sewage systems, and electricity already outstrips supplies.
Mexico City, Mumbai, Delhi, Jakarta
Growing Megacities
Megacities: cities linked to the global economy and with huge urban populations
Higher population growth in these cities Higher birth rates
Internal Migration due the economic globalization Farmers forced of the land – like Jamaica More pressure on natural resources
Growth of the “Slums”
The number of people living in slums will double to two billion by 2030 More than 1 billion people live in slums today Sub-Saharan Africa is hardest hit: 72-100% urban dwellers
in slums
What make a slum? Lack of durable housing Insufficient living area Lack of access to clean water Inadequate sanitation Insecure tenure
Living in the Slums
Slum dwellers make up 1/3 of the worlds urban population
Slum characteristics vary from place to place, but in general: Higher poverty and unemployment Social problems such as drugs and crime Informal economy Poor health
Slum Ecology: Human Waste 2.6 billion people have no access to a toilet
whatsoever, and that includes a latrine, a bucket or a box.
“Every day, around the world, illnesses related to water supply, waste disposal, and garbage kill thirty thousand people and constitute 75 percent of the illnesses that afflict humanity.”
UNICEF estimates that up to 80 percent of deaths from preventable diseases (apart from HIV/AIDS) arise from poor sanitation Diarrhea is the second killer of children
Ineqaulity in Angola
Angola is currently see a significant income from oil revenue 1.4 million barrels of
crude pumped every day
The economy grew by 18 percent last year with a budget surplus of more than $2 billion
Nation-State Building
From 1945 to 1981 over 105 NEW Nation-states became members of the UN
UN declared citizens’ rights to the social contract:
Everyone “is entitled to realization through national effort, and international co-operation…to the economic, social, and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and free development of his personality.”
Development Project
Global political institutions emerged after WWII World Bank & IMF & GATT Led by US and European States Western as a model: economic & political
Goals: Expand imports of Global North Tech & exports of Global
South Products Shift the rural population into urban areas to create
producers and consumers Reform the slums thru “self-help” loans (pg 70)
Third World Debt During the 1970’s countries took on a large amount
of debt for development programs, including urban housing development
1980’s called the “Lost Decade” for developing countries as the sunk into debt
The world's poorest countries pay over $100 million every day to the richest countries, private banks, and the IMF/WB The poorest 152 countries owe over $ 2.5 trillion.
Structural Adjustment Programs SAPs: economic policies which countries must
follow in order to qualify for new World Bank and IMF loans
1. Reduce public spending 1. Health care, education, food subsidies
2. Decrease wages and focus on “cheap labor”1. Specialization
3. Breakdown global trade barriers1. Export and import
SAPing Health In Mexico: a 1986 SAP reduced the percentage of births
attended by medical personnel to 45 percent in 1988 from 94 percent in 1983, while maternal mortality soared from 82 per 100,000 in 1980 to 150 in 1988.
In Ghana, “adjustment” led to an 80 percent decrease in spending on health and education between 1975 and 1983 exodus of half of the nation’s doctors
One economist blamed an outbreak of bubonic plague in Surat in 1994 upon “a worsening urban sanitation and public health infrastructure: resulting from a 1991 IMF/World Bank-sponsored SAP.
The Debt Crisis: Human Crisis "I encourage … total debt cancellation for
poor countries because, frankly, it is a scandal that we are forced to choose between basic health and education for our people and repaying historical debt." -- President Mkapa of Tanzania, 2005
Globalization Project
Extra-state regulation: international political institutions regulate the global economy IMF and WB – new roles World Trade Organization
“Participation in the global economy” Growth based on comparative advantage and
specialization Organized by corporations
Power Elite
Power Elite: individuals who occupy positions of power in leading social institutions and make decisions that have the greatest impact on people nationally Business interests come first
Are we seeing the emergence of a global power elite? Representatives from countries occupy positions
power in leading global institutions
A Global Power Elite?
Transnational Political Organizations: politics w/out borders World Trade Organization (WTO) International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank
Transnational Corporations: business w/out borders Of the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are
corporations; only 49 are countries
International business interests take priority in shaping the policy of the IMF, WB, and WTO
Global Politics and Development “Sovereign” nation-states are now being
regulated by extra-state political organizations such as the IMF, World Bank, and WTO
Deterioration of foundation of democracy in nation-states – the state-citizen relationship
Bechtel, Bolivia, & Water
As part of a SAP, the WB and IMF forced Bolivia to sell publicly owned companies to corporations Boliva sold its water system to Bechtel Corporation
Significant price increases for water caused protests, riots, and fatalities Bechtel was forced to leave
Bechtel sued Bolivia for $25 million through the WB in closed-door proceedings Dropped case in 2006