Bridging the Development Gap

Question 1

What is development?

Answer 1

“Development is a process of change and growth. But it is not just about getting richer, or having more things. It is about improving the quality of life for people. So it has many different aspects.”

Question 2

Human development indicators include:

Answer 2

Life expectancy - the average age to which a person lives, eg this is 79 in the UK and 48 in Kenya.
Infant mortality rate - counts the number of babies, per 1000 live births, who die under the age of one. This is 5 in the UK and 61 in Kenya.
Poverty - indices count the percentage of people living below the poverty level, or on very small incomes (eg under £1 per day).
Access to basic services - the availability of services necessary for a healthy life, such as clean water and sanitation.
Access to healthcare - takes into account statistics such as how many doctors there are for every patient.

Question 3

What has caused the development gap?

Answer 3

Some countries have industrialised
Some countries were colonised
Globalisation
Third world debt 
Lack of education- poverty cycle
Geographical locations

Question 4

Historical reasons for the development gap.

Answer 4

Colonisation - factor but not sole causes (e.g Australia, the US, New Zealand)

Question 5

Environmental reasons for the development gap.

Answer 5

Location/climate (desert, natural disasters)

However not always the case- Saudi Arabia

Question 6

Socio-economic reasons for the development gap.

Answer 6

Lack of industrialisation
Lack of education
War
Debt- rich can pay back, poor often cannot.

Question 7

Theories on the Development Gap

Answer 7

Modernisation Theory: Rostow’s Five Stage Model.
Dependency Theory: Frank.
World Systems Theory: Wallerstein.
Neocolonialism. 
Poverty Cycle

Question 8

Give some examples of groups that affect the development gap.

Answer 8

TNCs- e.g. Wal-Mart
IGOs- IMF,WTO, INGOs, UN, W.B
National governments- EU, superpowers, USA