Chapter 1

Question 1

LDC (Third World)

Answer 1

less-developed country: Africa, Asia, Middle East, Caribbean, and North America (Countries that do not belong to the First or Second World, this term glosses over many key distinctions among its members)

Question 2

First World

Answer 2

Japan and the Western industrialized democracies that were the first countries to develop advanced industrial economies and liberal democracies

Question 3

GDP per capita

Answer 3

(gross domestic product) a measure of per-capita income, preferred by international agencies and economists. (based on PPP, parity purchasing power, allows for a more meaningful comparison of what per-capita incomes in various countries can actually purchase)

Question 4

GNP

Answer 4

gross national product, more used in the US, less commonly used than GDP

Question 5

Manifestations of Economic Underdevelopment at the National Level

Answer 5

low GDP per capita, highly unequal income distribution, poor infrastructure, limited use of modern technology, and low consumption of energy

Question 6

Manifestations of Economic Underdevelopment at the Grassroots Level

Answer 6

widespread scarcity, substantial unemployment, substandard housing, poor health conditions, and inadequate nutrition

Question 7

infrastructure

Answer 7

underlying structures of a society needed for effective production and function (i.e. communications, transportation, irrigation, etc.)

Question 8

Sub-Saharan Africa

Answer 8

“black Africa”, African countries located below the Saharan desert that are not ethnically Arab

Question 9

Nota bene (for economic development):

Answer 9

1. ) Third World is a category of leftovers, so there are many wide variations between “Third World” countries: some are far more economically stable than others, others are far more democratic, others have much higher economic growth rates, etc.
2. ) problem with National GDP per capita is that it doesn’t take into account how equitably the income is distributed
3. ) Life expectancy and GDP per capita are correlated - higher income = higher life expectancy
4. ) While it is generally true that equitable distribution of income is correlated with development, there are many exceptions, notably the United States where the income gap is larger than in India, Egypt, and Ethiopia (although the American poor are still better off than their counterparts in other countries, they’rs just getting a much small portion of the country’s income than the poor in those other developing nations)
5. ) income is most equitably distributed in South Asia (5:1 ratio) and worst distributed in Latin America (20:1 ratio) => colonial administrators took large amounts of indigenous lands and placed private Spanish haciendas on them, whereas in South Asia had far more equal distribution of farmland

Question 10

Nota bene (for social development):

Answer 10

1. ) Life expectancy, determined by infant mortality rate and rate of infectious diseases and malnutrition among adults, has generally increased since the 60’s (as have literacy rates)
2. ) Government policies significantly affect the the extent to which economic growth creates social improvements
3. ) improvements in Third World life expectancy have slowed dramatically since the 1990’s due to the effects of AIDS, esp. in Sub-Saharan Africa
4. ) most recent “poverty” line drawn by World Bank is less than $2.50 USD/day
5. ) half of those living in “poverty” actually live in absolute poverty, which is defined as less than $1.25 USD/day

Question 11

Manifestations of poor social conditions:

Answer 11

high infant mortality rates and low literacy rates

Question 12

Benefits of increased funding in education

Answer 12

an educated workforce => high productivity, expanded mass political participation => greater government accountability to its people. thus correlation found between high literacy rates and a sustained democratic government

Question 13

HDI

Answer 13

(Human Development Index) composed of school enrollment, adult literacy, life expectancy, and GDP per capita. considered by many the best single measurement of quality of life

Question 14

authoritarian government

Answer 14

political system that limits/prohibits opposition groups and restricts political activity and freedom of expression

Question 15

Nota bene: (for political development):

Answer 15

1. ) Most often Westerners try to impose their systems of democracy onto Third World governments, but they also must be mindful that western nations didn’t begin to embrace democracy until they began to industrialize, so they aren’t as quick to criticize authoritarian governments in countries that are in early stages of economic development
2. ) They instead began to define political development free of ideological or cultural bias (like the supremacy of the western ideal: democracy); government should: carry out necessary functions of the state, and be responsive to their citizens and mindful of their freedoms and civil rights
3. ) Others still argued for democracy as a necessity for political stability, arguing that: honest elections hold government accountable, as do free and independent forms of mass media => democracies are generally immune to revolutionary insurrection and susceptible to other forms of mass violence
4. ) Only a small number of developing states have fully met the standards of democracy, most fall short in at least one area if not more. some have even been labeled as “failed states”

Question 16

ethnic group

Answer 16

group that feels it has common traditions, beliefs, values, history, that unite it and distinguish it from other cultures

Question 17

Nota Bene (for relationships b/t the three components):

Answer 17

1. ) Wealthier countries tend to have greater life expectancies, higher literacy rates, and more stable, democratic governments.
2. ) These are not always absolute corrections: literacy and infant mortality rates depend on a government’s prioritizing of education and healthcare instead of other things (like Cuba, rather than petroleum-rich states like Saudi Arabia)
3. ) Countries in the mid-stages of development are often become more unstable as their economies develop
4. ) Some argue that authoritarian gov’t is necessary for industrial growth, b/c they will control labor unions and keep down workers’ demands, which will secure the foreign investment needed to make it happen

Question 18

technocrat

Answer 18

government bureaucrat with substantial amount of technical training

Question 19

MNC

Answer 19

(multi-national corporation), with holdings and operations in many countries, very prominent in developing areas, exercise considerable economic power in the Third World

Question 20

Modernization Theory

Answer 20

Notion that developing nations could and should follow a model of development parallel to that of developed Western nations, and in order to do so they need to adopt “modern” (Western) cultural values and socioeconomic institutions. Criticize “traditional” values, labeling them as “backward” and “irrational”.Identify education, urbanization, and spread of mass media as agents of change. Criticized for being too simplistic and optimistic (unrealistic if you ask me). The American political system’s leading ideology in the early 1960’s. Have since: “fixed” their cultural bias to take into consideration cultural differences in every individual country of the Third World, acknowledged that American “modern” values are not always so different from inferior “traditional” values (judgement based on skin color in the states), and have placed value on these traditional values as helpful to a country’s success (Japan’s work ethic)

Question 21

caste system

Answer 21

Indian cultural phenomenon in which people are assigned their societal rank at birth, with little to no room for social mobility, highly criticized by Westerners believing in possibility for upward mobility by virtue of merit. Example of modernization theory’s criticism of the “backward” Third World.

Question 22

traditional society

Answer 22

societies adhering to long-standing cultural values that are often not considered “modern”

Question 23

autonomy

Answer 23

a substantial amount of self-governance for a group or region that just falls short of independence

Question 24

coup

Answer 24

seizure of political power by the military

Question 25

Conflict theory

Answer 25

modernization theory eventually gave way to this theory, which said that: developing nations would have to make choices between seemingly irreconcilable goals (some argue for stability, others for economic growth)

Question 26

reconciliation approach

Answer 26

with the right policies, developing nations can simultaneously achieve previously “incompatible” goals

Question 27

Islamic fundamentalism

Answer 27

a highly traditional version of the Muslim faith which literally and strictly adheres to the Quran, an extreme manifestation of many reactions to modernization theory by Middle-Easterners who reject “immoral” western values

Question 28

Dependency Theory

Answer 28

originated in Latin America in the 1970’s, argued that Western nations had changed the landscape for those ahead of them, therefore rejected the notion that the Third World could follow the same model for development as the West. they must now compete with huge industrial giants and are now dependent on economic forces outside of their control. Place the blame on colonialism and imperialism that turned LDC’s into cheap providers of goods/resources for their colonizers, which even after independence these superpowers still abuse, hindering development of the LDC’s. Also argued that Western powers upheld the repressive political regimes in LDC’s (US supporting Mubarak in Egypt). Criticized for being overly pessimistic and condemning the Third World to underdevelopment.

Question 29

core v. periphery

Answer 29

richer, industrial nations (the West and Japan) v. Third World countries, occupying a lesser rank in the international economy

Question 30

associated-dependent development

Answer 30

suggested by Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, upheld the idea that through active intervention of the state and linkage of domestic firms to MNCs, LDCs would be able to industrialize and experience greater economic growth. Still criticized, bc MNCs have huge influence over state’s economy but outside of individual state’s control; they created products requiring a smaller labor force; they manufacture products geared toward middle and upper-class citizens, giving no incentive to increase workers’ wages to increase purchasing power; and they also held alliances with repressive military regimes (like the one in Brazil). This theory only widened the income gap.

Question 31

Effects of dependency theory on understandings of underdevelopment

Answer 31

1. ) dependency theory influenced most political theorists to argue that a defining characteristic of the Third World is its dependence on the core
2. ) Shifted the focus of research from purely internal factors (M. theory) to international economic and political relationships
3. ) emphasized the importance of equity in economic distribution in combination withe economic growth

Question 32

problems with dependency theory

Answer 32

attributed a countries problems entirely to external factors and neglected domestic social and political factors (which Cardoso DID address in his theory of incorporating MNCs for industrialization)

Question 33

Nota bene (contemporary underdevelopment analysis):

Answer 33

1. ) when tested with modern empirical methods, dependency theory has fared even worse than modernization theory
2. ) Foreign investment does produce higher economic growth, bc local firms adopt technological innovations from foreign investors
3. ) many reject the idea of a single theory explaining underdevelopment, the world is to vast and diverse
4. ) postmodernism approach favors NGO’s, bottom-up change, rather than top-down government projects
5. ) anti-developmentalists claim that development has been detrimental to rural villages and urban slums, taking any autonomy they had before and putting it in the hands of middle and upper classes, insist that political power is given back to grassroots.

Question 34

NGO

Answer 34

non-governmental organization - privately funded, stress grassroots organization, support goals such a democratization, human rights, women’s rights, environmental protection, housing, healthcare, and education

Question 35

globalization

Answer 35

the progressive interdependence of economies and intertwining of cultures in recent years