Exam 2 Flashcards
Nation State
Where people share a bounded territory and are united by a common culture, language or traditions
Problems with Nation State
Need people to believe in it (have symbols, traditions, education systems)
Culture and language is shared beyond physical boundaries
And nation states are mixed race, religion, language
Goals to form Nation State
Defines a certain area, created us and them
Unify people within those boundaries
4 tools of Nation State
Mapping
Defining “other”
Education
Mythical homeland/history
Problems from colonies nation states
Arbitrary borders diving ethnic groups creating minorities and conflict
Unequal state representation
On-going ethnic and religious conflicts after colonial independence
Africa (tribes ruled by those they don’t agree with, identify more with tribe than nation state)
Thailand (standardizing language, religion so outsiders must conform to one identity)
SAP (Structural Readjustment Program)
Loans to LIC’s were so huge and debt grew
To fix the debt WB/IMF gave a set of guidelines on economic practices so countries could payback debt
Most practices were not in best interest of LIC
-Opening trade barriers, allowed for FTZ’s where MNC’s could take advantage of cheap labor without paying countries taxes
-Encourages comparative advantages countries export what they’re best at (Mexico=flowers) this destroys national food security
-Stipulations on cutting social programs which harm locals
SAP & Nation State
Goes against the belief of nation states to regulate and control within their own borders, due to financial issues the nation state is forced to listen to foreign organizations
Life & Debt
SAP brought in the Hanes factory, paid no taxes to Jamaica, gave workers low wages
SAP stopped social programs, brought in subsidiesed food putting local industry out of business
Banana Trade was their economy had a market with Europe/UK that guaranteed fair grown bananas make a profit. US companies didn’t like it involved WTO to say this “monopoly” was against free trade. Now Jamaica bananas can’t compete with US unfair trade/labor bananas
Malthusian population theory
People like to eat
People like to have sex
Abstinence is the way to solve overpopulation
Only have kids when you can support them
Demographic Transition theory
Follow the European population curve, most common with LIC’s
The process of a country going from rapid population growth to more stable
High death rates canceled out by better sanitation, medicine (western/ modern technologies)
As people live longer there’s less need to reproduce as much
There are 4 stages Low, High, Moderate, Low population growth
Wealth Flows theory (Kingsly Davis)
Large families can be rational in places of the world where kids are not a net financial benefit to the family
Small families are rational when kids are a net financial loss (USA kids are expensive)
Neo-Malthusia theory (Ehrlic’s)
Most concerned with environmental degradation from overpopulation and consumption
Impact= Population x Affluence x Technology
About overconsumption
Carrying Capacity
The number of organisms a given environment can support
Argue it can’t be used for humans because we are constantly adapting/changing behavior
Eugenics
The improvement of the human race by better breeding
Began with animals and at state fairs in the US turned into perfect baby and fitter family contests
History of Eugenics
Nazi Germany used racial typing to measure facial structure of Jews, Gypsys, Disabled
Immigration laws where dictated to keep certain people out quota of immigrants from certain countries
Racial hygiene, sterilization of certain groups in the US
Hunting Gathering
Done for thousands of years people lived off the land gathering the natural vegetation and hunting small game to surivive
Swidden Agriculture
Slash and Burn areas are cleared and the brush is burned to provide nutrients for the soil where crops are then planted for 3 years before moving to the next field
Green Revolution
Designed to decrease work effort and increase yields, through machinery, chemicals, fertilizers etc. Ended up increasing overall time and energy expended to grow crops than simple hand farming.
Food in the Capitalist Economy
Became a commodity, less people farming providing their own food caused them to rely on stores and other farmers. This means you can profit off food, charging so people are well fed
Issues with Green Revolution
Standardizing food production and speeding up the process to grow crops/animals. Created more food but also leads to regional disparities, crop imbalances, markets that put people out of work
Uses a lot of petroleum which is an unsustainable practice
Hunger & Poverty in World
It is maldistribution that causes world hunger not an actual lack in food for everyone
The type of diet also affects the amount of food available to all people
Income/Consumption poverty measure
Measures the number of people living below a certain income level
Decided by UN ($1.90/day)
Is a strictly monetary way to measure poverty comes from Orshansky food basket
Capabilities Approach
Sen believes there are certain things one needed for every individual to reach their potential
Capabilities must be met for a person to not be in poverty
There are 10 indicators, by which 1.5 Billion people are in poverty
Social Exclusion
Indicates poverty when for reasons beyond a persons control they cannot participate in normal activities and promote affirmative action
Believe the solution is through law and policy
USA measures of poverty
The US does not measure poverty effectively because they use a solely financial measure rather than looking at quality of life
Multidimensional Poverty Index
Looks at years of school Child- enrollment 1-8 Child mortality Nutrition (malnutrition) Electricity Sanitation Drinking Water in home Materials of house (dirt floor no good) Cooking tech (wood, electric, gas stove) Assets (motorcycle, radio, TV)
Neo-Liberalism Poverty Solution
Free-trade, trickle down, rising tide raises all boats
Believe that freeing the markets will promote business and help the poor
This has yet to really work in our country
Mehrortra & Delmonica Poverty Solution
Is a multidimensional approach that focuses on poor over non-poor
Such as non-poor policies, pro-poor economics, expenditures for social services, an agenda
Formal v. Informal sector
Official well known, legal rather than under the table not taxed, illegal (seen in Japan with human trafficking of Thai women)
Global Income inequality
Migration for better wages
Wage gaps between MIC’s & LIC’s
Worker exploitation abroad
Food Supply adequacy of addressing hunger
not evenly distributed
How oligopoly in food stocks and grains relates to global hunger
A globalized market affects individual’s abilities to regulate local food prices especially when food is controlled by a few major MNC’s. A few large companies can control food stock for whole world (70% worlds grain by 6 companies)
How the move to SAPs and increasing food exports in LICs relates to hunger
SAP’s encourages Comparative Advantage means grow/ export what you’re best at ie. Jamaica rely on tourism, spice growing. Mexico grow flowers more than necessary foods. Countries produce for export market rather than for own food security.
Social construction of sugar consumption in US
Humans don’t need sugar however a taste has been developed, and the need for fast food and other junk that plays into corporate profits.
Social construction of meat (beef) consumption in the US
A growing trend that began in the US as part of the goods and services we consume that are imbedded in our culture, the societal norms of meat consumption, relates to the institutions and norms of Americans. A social, economic and technological shift in US led beef to be huge in US culture (consume 28% of worlds but only produce 9%)
Climate change and its impacts and how they might relate to food, hunger, and population
Deforestation for grain and cattle, huge water consumption for these things. Increased cattle add to climate change, methane, deforestation, desertification, harsh runoff from feed lots, and excessive water usage
3 main goals of the US Peace Corps
The mission is to promote peace and friendship through 3 goals.To help people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. To help promote better understanding of Americans on the part of the people served. To help promote better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans
Main food and income sources in Terri Nichols’ Peace Corps village in Zambia, Main causes of food insecurity in her village. Challenges faced in Terri Nichols’ village in Zambia and recommendations to deal with them
Caterpillars where a special delicacy, grew lots of maize but cassava root is more drought resistant and easier to grow, and beans were easy to grow.
Poor areas of storage caused food to spoil, lack of diverse crops, selling crops but not being paid immediately
Linking Income, Food, Environment (LIFE) for people of her village. Have ways of doing things that work there even if seem odd to foreigners. Deforestation, slash and burning
Why are agricultural subsidies problematic?
U.S. over produces, keeping prices low driving out competition
Benefits only large farmers, causes large investment, loss of livelihood and increased poverty for small farmers
Weakens long term food security
Basically corporate welfare for certain farmers and corporations
Government subsidies give farmers guaranteed money no matter what they grow, it keeps cost of crops low and encourages farmers to over produce so goods from other parts of the globe can’t be sold fairly. Goes against free trade beliefs when US/EU don’t want other countries to give subsidies but do it for own farmers.
Benefits large farms and corporations, essentially keeps other countries/farmers poor when they are trying to sell their crops.
Hand picking cotton farmers in Faso can’t compete with combines in USA, the cotton becomes so cheap that market for Faso farmers to sell cotton rips them off. Can’t afford to send kids to school when trying to just get by.
Dumping: what is it, why is it problematic?
Is selling goods below cost of production which is only possible because of subsidies this is what puts all other farmers out of business, if country can’t give subsidies to have cheap selling goods then the farmers suffer. When cheap goods flood a countries market it destroys local businesses.
Cairns Group
Cairns Group (New Zealand & Australia) say subsidies and dumping practices should be stopped because flooding other economies with your (US/EU) own cheap goods is bad. US/EU says doing that they need to cause of free trade although subsidies basically goes against it.
