EQ1 HD; governments and international organisations play a significant role in defining development targets and policies.

Question 1

what is the relationship between economic and social developments.

Answer 1

relationships between economic and social developments are complex and dependent on decisions made by governments on the importance of social progress, ranging from welfare states with high levels of social spending to totalitarian regimes run by elites with low levels of spending on health and education.

Question 2

Is there a difference between welfare states and totalitarian states in their levels of human development, and its effect on life expectancy ?

Answer 2

UK , welfare state ; annual GDP spending 2014 was over 9% on healthcare but declined in 2018 to 7.53%
NHS- free healthcare for all
impact on LE ; despite decline in spending, LE remains same from 2014-2018 at 81.6

Egypt ; Totalitarian
2018 spent nearly 5% on healthcare
Universal healthcare but only covers govt workers and children - over 70% of medical aid paid privately.
LE ; 71.8 yrs

Question 3

Is there a difference between welfare states and totalitarian states in their levels of human development, and its effect on education ?

Answer 3

UK- welfare state ; 4.3% on ed. in 2018 (higehr than OECD avg of 4%)
Ed - free and compulsory from yrs 5-18
2018 Literacy rate is nearly 99%
Scores on PISA tests fairly high ; at 492 in maths

Egypt ; totalit. 2014 ; 3.8%
ed - free within any govt schools compulsory for yrs 6-14.
literacy rate is nearly 74%.

Question 4

Difference between human development concerning education , welfare state vs communist ?

Answer 4

UK ; 4.3% GDP on ed 2018

China; 4% spent GDP on ed - 2018
education - state run and compulsory for at least 9 yrs - heavy focus on test prep.
2018 literacy rate ; nearly 97%
PISA scores ; 531 maths (much higher than uk less than 500)

Question 5

why might some argue that government spending alone does not always directly impact LE?

Answer 5

US has higehst GDP and highest levels of spending on health per capita, but still has LE of 78.5 yrs - high but not as high as some OECD countries (majority above 80yrs). UK; 81.6, Japan; 83.7 but lower healthcare spending than the US.

Question 6

what are the key MDG’s in HD?

Answer 6

goal 1 ; eradicate extreme poverty and huger
goal 2; achieve universal primary ed.
4; reduce child mortality
6; combat HIV, Malaria etc.

Question 7

what are the key Sustainable deverlopment G’s?

Answer 7

17 goals to tackle poverty, inequality, injustcie and climate change by 2030. Focus on ;
sustainable development
democratic governance
climate and disaster resilience

Question 8

UN’s Millenium development goals , how significant has their impact been (through aiming to achieve their goals) on education around the world?

Answer 8

Global Partnership for education in combination with the World Bank ; created to achieve goal 2 , to achieve universal primary education ;

• 2002 - 2015 GPE invested over $35 million in its educational programmes - supporting the increase to 92% of worlds primary school age children now in primary school , especially amongst the rising superpowers India and China.
• number of lower secondary students doubled in SSA since 2000
• access doesn’t mean equal access amongst genders - 1st challenge is to widen access.
• do not understand that focus on only primary ed by countries that wished to achieve MDG’s , led to reduced focus on secondary and higher ed.

Question 9

UN’s Millenium development goals , how significant has their impact been (through aiming to achieve their goals) on child mortality around the world ?

Answer 9

• the countdown group , consisted of 15 , 8/15 countries deemed as successful for having achieved reductions of at least 2/3rds of their under five mortality rate., none of which included any countries from Africa, mostly South America and asia.
• most countries , specifically target countries in SSA deemed ‘not on track’ , ‘insufficient progress’.

Question 10

Dominant IGO’s purpose?

Answer 10

promotion of neo-liberal views of development based on the adoption of free trade, privatisation and deregulation of financial markets but also, recent programmes have been aimed at improving environ quality, health, education and human rights.

Question 11

How does world bank aim to contribute to HD?

Answer 11

facilitator of post-war reconstruction and development - aims to ;

• reduce share of global pop living in extreme pov to 3% by 2030 ; most recently % fallen to lowest ever value in 2019 ; below 8%.
• now aims to achieve sustainable development goals.

Question 12

what are the sustainable development goals? and how are they different to the millennium development goals?

Answer 12

• framework of 17 goals aiming to tackle global poverty, inequality, injustice and climate change by 2030.
• different to MDG’s because of the way that it targeted only developing countries whereas the SDG’s are nationally owned and country led - countries are able to incorporate SDG’s into their national framework how they see fit.

Question 13

what is the World Banks climate change action plan ?

Answer 13

• launched in 2016 , providing over $1 bn US to support India’s national solar generation project .
• also a collective effort with the UN through the CREWS (climate risk and early warning system initiative) , prioritising top down strategy of countries ( funding initiative to increase capacity for countries , especially for those in the pacific region.

Question 14

How has TWB CREWS initiative helped the most disadvantaged in the world?

Answer 14

• Fiji - one million ppl now have advance flash flood warning systems.
• Vietnam - investment in water infrast to mitigate against impacts of flooding and saline intrusion to protect water resources for agriculture - helped over 200,000 farmer households
• strengthening hydrometeorological and early warning services for islands in pacific especially; Kiribati, Fiji, Cook islands

Question 15

IMF what are they and how do they contribute to HD?

Answer 15

aims to strengthen weakening currencies and help heavily indebted countries foster stronger economic development policies.

• SAP’s - enforcing reduce role fo state in econ by imposing policies in return for re-arranging loans at adjusted rates of interest at ‘more affordable’ repayments and to receive aid and debt relief.
• NEW TACTIC ; poverty reduction programmed allowing countries to develop their own imposed policies.

Question 16

Give examples of the IMF SAP’s enforcement?

Answer 16

1997 Bolivia privatisation of national services including water infrastructure - severe reductions in govt spending on health/ ed. Rich like TNC’s such as Bechtel and Aguas del Tunari , stayed rich while people’s HD sacrificed for sake of future economic prosperity.

Question 17

Give an example of the New tactics used by the IMF to support hD?

Answer 17

Poverty reduction programmes - Imf IMF works with Haiti govt. to implement development strategies to enable it’s economy to become more resilient, particularly after 2016 Hurricane Matthew where IMF contributed emergency funds to help rebuild Haiti’s Econ. Recovery. , however the Haitian economy still remains deeply rooted in the informal and agricultural economy and may find it very difficult to become an emerging economy

Question 18

How does the iMF remain problematic?

Answer 18

IMF continues to prioritise export production over development of diversified economies.

• no accountability to countries that fund the IMF; G20 accounts for 70% of votes.
• IMF forces countries to weaken their labour laws to attract investment - not promoting sustainable development

Question 19

The WTO has trade policies to try and tack;e environmental problems ; how does it do this?

Answer 19

the effect of the WTO’s policies to encourage countries into adopting more neo-liberal economic principles by embracing free trade has led to increased global competition in a globalised trade network - therefore weakening environmental governance and regulation in emerging and developing countries.

• tackles such problems by specific policies such as
• restricting international trade of products or species that are potentially harmful or endangered
• challenging trade agreements where there may be implications for climate change, such as forest clearance.

Question 20

why is WTO’s focus on environmental protection contradictory of their true intentions?

Answer 20

• the world has enough for everyones need but not enough for everyones greed - Mahatma Gandhi - WTO promotes development but also encourages greed for further development in all countries ; countries like the US refuse to compromise with limiting trade for enviro interests since its a detriment to their own economic development and therefore their own HD = criticism for WTO ignoring needs of developing countries where impacts are most dire.