Contrasts In World Development Flashcards
What is development?
Level of economic growth and wealth of a country.
What does development affect?
People’s incomes and their standard of living.
What is a more development country more likely to have compared to a less developed country?
Good healthcare and education systems.
What is the development gap?
Difference in development between richer and poorer countries.
What are MEDC’s?
More economically developed countries.
Richer countries.
What are some examples of MEDC’s?
UK or USA.
What are LEDC’s?
Less economically developed countries.
Poorer countries.
What are some examples of LEDC’s?
India or Kenya.
What is the north-south divide?
Division used to show contrast between countries in the north that are more economically developed compared to countries in the south that are less economically developed.
It refers to differences in wealth (gross national income).
Countries in north on average have higher GNI per person than countries in south and so are more economically developed, creates large development gap, except for Australia and New Zealand.
What is GNI per capita?
Total value of all goods and services produced in a country in year plus income from abroad, divided by number of people (per capita) living in country. (Economic indicator).
What does GNI per capita allow us to do?
Compare wealth between different countries.
What are the issues with GNI per capita when comparing the wealth of different countries?
Calculation only tells average income within a country.
Wealth of a country may not be shared out equally.
Some people may appear na lot of money, whereas others may have very little.
What are the key indicators of development?
Life expectancy
Annual population growth
Urban population
Adult literacy
Human development rank
What is life expectancy?
Number of years a person is expected to live for, on average, at birth.
What is annual population growth?
Rate at which population is growing, calculated by subtracting death rate from birth rate.
Minus figure would indicate falling population.
What is urban population?
Proportion of population that lives in towns or cities.
Wha this adult literacy?
% of people age 15 or over who can read and write.
What is the human development rank?
Position of a country on human development table produced by Untied Nations.
What is the human development index (HDI) made up of?
GNI per capita
Number of years of education
Life expectancy
Wha this the range for HDI values?
0 (less developed) to 1 (more developed).
What type of measure is HDI?
Composite measure.
What does HDI look at?
Health, wealth and education.
What can HDI be used for?
Give better overall idea of how a country is doing.
What does HDI not consider?
Inequality or environmental issues.
E.g. gender pay gap - difference between average earnings of men and women.
What are the factors that hinder development in LEDC’s?
Historical factors
Dependency on primary activities
Debt
Environmental factors
How have historical factors hindered the development of LEDC’s?
Colonisation - South America, Central America, Africa and Asia > France, Spain, Portugal, etc > Raw materials > Uk > Slavery > Plantations > West Indies, USA.
Manufactured in colonising country, e.g. UK - India grew cotton > Weaving banned > Made in England > Sold back to India.
Manly negative effects - Long term > always lagging behind playing catch up > Competitive disadvantage.
Some benefits - > Infrastructure but there to benefit coloniser.
Lands carved up between European powers.
How has dependency on primary activities hindered the development of LEDC’s?
Most work farming, forestry, mining, etc - E.g. Zambia > Copper 85% of its exports.
Foods often from LEDC’s - Depend on agriculture > Copper, cotton, bananas > Prices vary year to year > Difficult to plan ahead.
Competition between LEDC’s drives prices down.
Minerals, e.g. iron ore located in LEDC - Rich MEDC companies mine, clean, export, manufacture.
How has debt hindered the development of LEDC’s?
Borrow from IMF countries, multinational countries - Repaid with interest > Social spending secondary to debt repayment.
Politics - LEDC’s unstable and corrupt > Power in hands of a few > Few rich, most are poor > Power struggles > Aid never gets to poor > Lines pockets of rich elite > Ethnic tensions > Violence > Civil war > Saddam Hussein Iraq.
End of Colonialism - Loans > Large scale construction > Motorways > Hydroelectric dams > Airports.
Ecuador - Poverty > Human cost > 1970s $3 billion borrowed > Military dictatorship > 2007 paid off $1.75 billion > More than health and social spending > Now owes $34 billion.
2008 Default Refusal to Pay! Immoral, unfair - Harsh trade consequences, unofficial sanctions, unable to buy products.
What are the environmental factors the hinder the development of LEDCs?
Natural hazards
Diseases
Pressure from environmental activities
How do natural hazards hinder the development of LEDCs?
Droughts, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanoes often hinder economic development.
LEDCs less able to afford to build defences compared to MEDCs for these hazards and often lack finances to reduce effects for their population once disasters have happened.
How do diseases hinder the development of LEDCs?
Many LEDCs located in tropical climates where diseases thrive.
Malaria, no longer common in Europe, is major problem in Africa, particularly as illness restricts how effectively someone can work.
HIV/AIDS is problem for many African countries as many communities do not have access to health care and treatments that rich countries have to contain the disease.
How does pressure from environmental activities hinder the development of LEDCs?
Mining, forestry and tourism all put environment in many LEDCs at risk.
E.g. deforestation earns a lot of money for a country but land becomes vulnerable to desertification.
Rainforests cleared for cattle ranch if to produce beef are vulnerable to land being left with little agricultural value due to leaching of minerals because of high rainfall.
Clearance of mangroves in South East Asia to farm prawns leaves coastal areas vulnerable to storms.
What are the main sustainable development goals?
End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Sustainable economic growth and full development for all
Protect and promote sustainable use of land, including forests and biodiversity
What are the aims of the sustainable development goal to end poverty in all its forms everywhere?
1 in 5 people still in extreme property, living on less than $1.25 a day.
Aims to eradicate property, so people have higher incomes and governments can spend more on healthcare and education.
Would reduce gap between poor and rich countries.
What are the aims of the sustainable development goal to have sustainable economic growth and full employment for all?
Aims to have full employment and decent work for all adults, including young people and those with disabilities.
Poorest countries should have growth rate of 7% per year in GDP.
If achieved, poor countries will rapidly become richer, reducing development gap.
What are the aims of the sustainable development goal to protect and promote sustainable use of the land, including forests and biodiversity?
Aims to manage forests sustainably, restored damaged forests, combat desertification and protect other ecosystems.
Means countries can benefit from diversity of natural environment.
Aims to prevent countries ruining their environment in rush to develop, should bring LEDCs in line with requirements on MEDCs to conserve environment for future.
What are the criticisms of development goals?
Do not go far enough and hunger should be eliminated in 5 years.
Limit of poverty of US $1.25 should be more like US $5.00 as not adequate to keep anyone alive in extreme poverty.
Too many goals and been described as a mess compared to Millennium Development Goals.
Goals not all achievable as may not be possible to have rapid economic growth and combat climate change and not damage environment at same time.
They’re non-binding.
They’re vastly underfunded.
They’re not urgent enough.
They’re too vague.
They’re not immune from politics.
They set goals instead of rights.
They exacerbate global inequality.
They’re hard to sustain in fracturing world.
Their lack of progress needs apathy.
What is appropriate technology?
Technology appropriate to the situation.
Method or tool which is developed to carry out a task.
Considers community that is intended for and environment community lives in.
Small scale so can be controlled and maintained by local people using local resources at low cost.
What is an example of an appropriate technology?
Hippo water roller.
What is the Hippo water roller?
90-litre barrel for carrying water which can be put on its side and rolled along using a handle.
What are the benefits of the Hippo water roller?
Requires no spare parts.
Requires no power.
Durable - last up to 10 years.
Barrel can be recycled.
Speeds up fetching water, giving women and children more time for education and employment.
Reduces long-term neck and spinal damage from carrying heavy water containers.
Used in more than 20 African countries, providing water for more the 300,000 people.
What are the disadvantages of the Hippo water roller?
Costs $90 per barrel, so dependent on donations.
If barrel is not full can be difficult to control.
Barrel is difficult to fill from shallow source of water.
Mud in water doesn’t settle to bottom the way it does in traditional container, as permanently moving around.
What is Fair Trade?
People who make or grow something are paid fair price for their work.
Price is guaranteed, so producers will not lose out if world prices fall.
What are the advantages of fair trade for LEDCs?
Guarantees minimum wage for farmers.
Farmers can provide for their families.
Farmers have access to cheap loans.
Farmers control the business.
Profits are used by groups of farmers to help healthcare, education and transport for their communities.
Encourages sustainable farming practices.
What are the criticisms of Fair Trade?
Some say there is limited evidence that Fair Trade benefits producers.
Best estimate of extra money paid by consumers gets to producers is 50%. Others say closer to 0.
Limited evidence to suggest that farmers actually get higher prices under Fair Trade.
Some farmers cannot afford fees to join Fair Trade network, remote and poorer farmers may not be able to organise together into cooperatives to pay that fee.
Some say Fair Trade harms other farmers who are outside Fair Trade arrangements.
Once initial changes allow producers to obtain certification, have little incentive to keep on investing in improving efficiency and working conditions.
Keeping accreditation is expensive and may be out of reach for some local entrepreneurs.
Difficult to make sure abusive labour practices are not reintroduced after certifications are expired or abandoned.
What is globalisation?
Way people, goods, money and ideas move around world faster sand more cheaply than ever before.
What are the parts of globalisation?
World trade - brands can be sold everywhere, you can buy Coca-Cola anywhere.
Countries sell to each other and are therefore interdependent, they depend on each other.
Industries have become global - individual companies operate in lots of countries as multinational corporations (MNCs). These are very powerful.
Economic decisions or events in 1 country affect other countries quickly.
How can Globalisation help development?
When multinational corporation (MNCs) sets up factory in LEDC it provides jobs.
Gives people income to improve their standard of living.
They buy more in shops, meaning other people who own shops make more money.
They pay taxes, giving government more money to spend on development, such as healthcare or education.
How can Globalisation hinder development?
Many jobs in factories are poorly paid, with low job security, as MNC could move factory somewhere else of becomes cheaper.
Most of profits go to MNC headquarters, which are usually located in MEDCs.
What is BRICS?
Refers to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which are all experiencing similar rapid industrial growth in 2001.
How has Globalisation helped development in India?
Life expectancy has gone up from 59 years in 1990 to 68 in 2005.
More people in India now have cars, TVs, washing machines and other consumer goods.
MNCs have created many new jobs in call centres and high-tech industries.
Adult literacy rates increased from 50% in 1990 to 74% in 2011.
Increase in number of enormous shopping centres.
How has Globalisation hindered development in India?
Half of children under 5 years of age in India are malnourished.
More imported goods mean fewer jobs in factories for those with little education.
Western-style clothes and behaviour considered shocking by some.
Unrest in rural areas has led to guerrilla fighting.
Less than 1/3 of homes in India have toilet, and less than half the villages are connected to electricity network.
