Unit 2: North-South A 20th Century Challenge

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Unit 2 North-SouthA 20th Century Challenge
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Post-War Global Divisions

• First World
• Developed Market economies
• Canada, United States, Western Europe, etc.
• Second World
• Centrally planned economies
• USSR Eastern Europe
• Third World
• Economically disadvantaged countries with
  underdeveloped/planned economies.
• Countries generally found in Latin America,
  Africa, Southern Asia, etc.

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Growing DevelopmentalDisparity

• After WW2 the First world had a technological and
  production explosion. Advancements and
  improvements changed the way life was being lived
  in terms of comfort and quality of life.
• In the third world social standards declined,
  political and economic turmoil rose and the
  numbers of poor increased substantially.
• It was essentially the same planet but different
  worlds. The wealth of the world is largely
  hoarded in the North at the expense of the South.

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The Gap Understanding the Issue

• 80 of people (internationally) live in the Third
  World (or the South)
• Access to Food, education, drinking water, health
  care, technology, etc. are all limited.
• The South is not a single mass rather there are
  levels of development and poverty with this group
  both in terms of individuals and countries.
• In many of these countries there are a wealthy
  few (5) that hold 30-40 of the national wealth.
  
• Inequity between men and women is substantial
  women have not made the gains in standing that
  they have in the North.
• In the North there are/were issues as well
  stemming more from success than deprivation.
  Issues such as fast-paced lifestyles, industrial
  pollution, physical and emotional issues crime
  all became concerning.
• In Latin America alone by the mid-80s 20 million
  homeless children and 40 thousand children dying
  each day due to hunger related causes.

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The Gap Measuring

• Gross National Product (GNP) per Capita (per
  person) allows us to broadly generalize about a
  state and gives us some sense of conditions there
  for the average person.
• PQLI (Physical Quality of Life Index) gives us a
  better sense of what life is like for the
  majority of individuals in the country. This
  includes health and education issues.

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The South Population, Politics Problems

• Population Growth Populations boomed in the
  Third World (contrary to the decline seen in more
  developed countries) causing a great deal of
  social and economic stresses.
• Health care, education, sanitation and housing
  were all problematic as was the increased demand
  on arable land and food production.
• Family planning is/was difficult for a variety of
  reasons
• Also, larger families were needed for a chance at
  economic success.
• In many Southern states dictators were prevalent
  or in their absence, political chaos internal
  warring.
• The Superpowers got involved in states where they
  had vested interests (i.e. Vietnam, Ethiopia,
  Sudan, Egypt) and installed puppet governments.
• Guerrilla conflicts caused further instability
  and became a foundation for global terrorism.

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Colonialisms Legacy

• When the nations of Europe (beginning in 1500)
  began to colonize and rule over foreign lands
  (Americas, Asia and Africa) they set the stage
  for a major global issue
• The colonies were designed to function for the
  benefit of the mother country, not themselves.
• Raw materials and cheap labour were the real
  focus of the colonial effort.
• All of the refinement technology and capital
  investment came from the hands of the mother
  country without any desire to benefit the colony.
• European colonial economic efforts often
  supplanted the traditional crops and economics of
  the region. Barter systems were replaced with
  European currency systems and subsistence farming
  was replaced with corporate farming and
  plantations.
• When money became the driving force for success
  it put the South at a disadvantage raw materials
  were worth less than the refined goods made from
  them.
• Also, the artificial limiting of the goods
  produced by a country removed their ability to
  function (economically) independently from the
  mother country, lessening their ability to
  interact on the open market.

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Neocolonialism

• As the world opened up after WWII the
  post-colonial states still saw little change.
• Manufactured goods were produced elsewhere and
  had to be purchased for a higher price.
• The means of production was still foreign owned
  corporations were the new colonial powers.
• Profit not progress became a common theme these
  countries stagnated under the demands of
  corporations and their demands for land and cheap
  labour.
• Multinational corporations were seen as the only
  way to success for these Southern Nations their
  investment dollars were the only change they had
  to compete on the open market.

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Debt Power

• Many developing countries sought to better their
  position by borrowing money from wealthy nations
  at low-interest rates. During the late 70s
  recession interest rates soared forcing these
  nations into deeper and unmanageable debt.
• Governments in many of these nations held onto
  power through force and threat. Corruption was
  rampant and frequently these states were puppets
  of the superpowers.
• This situation caused entrenchment of these
  self-promoting governments and prevent gains from
  being made in terms of quality of life and
  economic success for all.

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Problem Solving

• After WW2 it became quite apparent to all that
  there was a gap between the haves and the have
  nots.
• Nations agreed that much had to be done to
  support the poor changes needed to be made.
• This was a blend of humanitarian concern, a
  desire for stability and commercial
  profitability.
• The Third world also served as an influence
  battleground as the superpowers fought for
  control.
• Aid was a key facet of this approach, frequently
  it was designed to help the country giving aid as
  well as the country receiving it. Frequently,
  this also meant that donor countries parlayed
  their help into military gains (i.e. setting up
  bases)
• Financial aid assumed that all countries
  developed in the same manner that that the result
  would be a stronger global economic market.
• The problem lay in that neither capitalism nor
  communism worked for all situations the large
  number of people combined with poor economic
  standing hindered development. Only the rich got
  richer.
• Some Western projects hurt the areas they were
  designed for in terms of environmental damage and
  displacement of peopleseffectively harming those
  they were designed to help.

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Problem Solving II

• NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations)Unicef,
  Oxfam, etc.were designed to have more
  ground-floor intervention.
• They attempted to work directly with the populace
  of underdeveloped nations particularly their
  most marginalized citizens.
• Often these groups would run into cultural
  differences or provide aid as they saw fit,
  without input from the parties involved.
• By the end of the 1990s little progress had been
  made, the Western theories of development and
  support had reaped little in terms of benefit.

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Case Study Assignment II

• Case study 2-1 Water (109) and 2-2 Multinationals
  (131)
• Complete the following
• Create a 2-3 page synopsis of the information
  found in the text about the events. Explain the
  CS in terms of
• The nature of the issue/concern
• Significance to the relations between First,
  Second and Third world
• Its relevance to global interdependence
• A coherent discussion of the articles and
  sources offered by the text
• A small amount of (documented) outside research
  that is more current

When you have completed this (due March 19) you
and another person who chose the same topic will
present your findings to two other people who
chose the other topic in a small seminar setting.