Chapter 8 Flashcards
global inequality
the systematic differences in wealth and power between countries.
newly industrializing economies (NIEs)
developing countries that over the past two or three decades have begus to develop a strong industrial base, such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
market-oriented theories
Theories about economic development that assume that the best possible economic consequences will result if individuals are free to make their own economic decisions, uninhibited by governmental constraint.
modernization theory
A version of market-oriented development theory that argues that low-income societies develop economically only if they give up their traditional ways and adopt modern economic institutions, technologies, and cultural values that emphasize savings and productive investment.
neoliberalism
the economic belief that free-market forces, achieved by minimizing govermental restrictions on business, provide the only route to economic growth.
dependency theories
Marxist theories of economic development arguing that the poverty of low-income countries stems directly from their exploitation by wealthy countries and the multinational corporations that are based in wealthy countries.
colonialism
the process whereby Western nations established their rule in parts of the world away from their home territories.
world-systems theory
Pioneered by Immanuel Wallerstein, this theory emphasizes the interconnections among countries based on the expansion of a capitalist world economy. This economy is made up of core countries, semiperipheal countries, and peripheral countries.
core countries
According to world-systems theory, the most advanced industrial countries which take the lion’s share of profits in the world economic system.
peripheral countries
countries that have a marginal role in the world economy and are thus dependent on the core producing societies fore their trading relationships.
semiperipheral countries
countries that supply sources of labor and raw materials to the core industrial countries and the world economy but are not themselves fully industrialized societies.
global commodity chain
a worldwide network of labor and production processes yielding a finished product.
state-centered theories
development theories that argue that appropriate government policies do not interfere with economic development, but rather can play a key role in bringing it about.
