Unit 4: Poverty And Development Flashcards
Define poverty:
Poverty is the state of being extremely poor. A person is considered poor if they have an income level which falls below some minimum level necessary to meet basic needs.
What did Abraham Maslov develop:
A Hierachy of needs
What are the two concepts of poverty?
Absolute poverty
Relative poverty
What is absolute poverty?
Founded on the idea of ‘basic needs’ corresponding to Maslov’s ‘physiological needs’
Those that live in absolute poverty do not have access to the resources required to satisfy basic human material needs
Three quarters of the worlds population live in countries suffering from widespread absolute poverty
What is relative poverty?
Relative poverty is a social, and not merely a physiological phenomenon: it is based on people’s relative position in the social order
Defined as households with an income below 50% of the median in the country studied
One in six of the developed worlds children live in relative poverty
What is the Orthodox Conception of Poverty?
Refers to a situation where people do not have the money to buy adequate food or satisfy other basic needs, and are often classified as un or underemployed.
This mainstream understanding of poverty based on money has arisen as a result of the globalisation of Western culture and the attendant expansion of the market.
What is the Critical Alternative View of Poverty?
Emphasis is not simply on money but on spiritual values, community ties and availability of common resources
What is an MDG?
Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were the eight international development goals for the year 2015 that had been established following the Millennium Summit of the UN in 2000
What were the eight MDGs?
- To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- To achieve universal primary education
- To promote gender equality and empower women
- To improve maternal health
- To reduce child morality
- To combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- To ensure environmental sustainability
- To develop a global partnership for development
What is an SDG?
An SDG are Sustainable Development Goals and are part of a UN initiative
What are the 17 SDGs:
- No poverty
- Zero hunger
- Good health and well being
- Quality Education
- Gender Equality
- Clean water and sanitation
- Affordable and clean energy
- Decent work and economic growth
- Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- Reduced inequalities
- Sustainable cities and communities
- Responsible consumption and production
- Climate action
- Life below water
- Life on land
- Peace, justice and strong institutions
- Partnerships for the goals
What is the Brandt line?
A visual map of the North/South divide based on GDP
North-South divide is arguably no longer the best means of understanding global poverty:
Following the fall of the Soviet Bloc, many of its constituent countries were reclassified as developing, despite being geographically Northern
Geographically southern nations previously considered “developing”, such as the East Asian Tigers or Turkey, have joined the modern Developed World
Dependencies of developed nations are also classified as Southern, although they are part of the developed world
Trends in global inequality:
Africa is growing (but from a low base)
Poverty has a female face
Impact of the global economic crisis on the global South
‘A New Bottom Billion?’ - within country inequality in India and China
What is the North-South divide?
Refers to the division of the world into primarily a rich, industrialised Northern hemisphere and a poor, developing Southern Hemisphere which is almost entirely dependent on the North.
Arguments that the concept of a North-South divide still holds:
In 2014, all 8 of the G8 nations are in the Northern hemisphere
Out of the 31 industrialised members of the OECD 26 are Northern hemisphere nations
When OECD was first set up in 1961 all 20 of the member states of this rich industrialised nations club were from the Global North
Origins of the divide is the capital accumulation by the North from the South in the process of colonialism
In 1960, the income of the richest 20% of the worlds population was about 30 times that of the poorest 20%, by 2000 this reached 74 times greater
Arguments that the North-South divide is no longer a useful concept in defining the contours of global poverty:
Since collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 many of the former nation-states of the ‘developed’ North turned into under-developed states more reminiscent of the periphery South
Industrialisation of East and SE Asian ‘Tiger’ Nations means that countries such as Taiwan and South Korea have now joined the ranks of rapidly developing nations
What is ‘Modernisation Theory’ (Rostow, 1960):
Five stages of Economic Growth:
Traditional societies
Preconditions for take-off
Take-off
Drive to maturity
High mass consumption
What is alternative view of development:
Concerns centred broadly on entitlement and distribution
View rejects the ‘one size fits all’ implications of orthodox thinking and in particular the idea of a linear transition from a ‘traditional’ society to a ‘developed’ society
Summarising the Alternative View of Development:
Humanistic view of poverty that emphasises opportunity, freedom and empowerment thus meeting material and non-material needs
Self-reliance rather than reliance on wealthy states, international bodies or the market
Ecological balance, sustainability and conservation of the ‘global commons’ such as water, land, air
Social and cultural inclusion through respect for cultural diversity and the interests of marginalised groups such as women
Local control achieved through community action and democratic participation
View that poverty has a structural character, stemming from disparities in the global trading system
What is structural adjustment lending:
Term used to describe the policy changes implemented by the IMF and the World Bank in developing countries.
Policy changes are conditions for getting new loans from the IMF or World Bank, or for obtaining lower interest rates on existing loans.
Conditions usually included three things: privatisation, trade liberalisation and controlling government spending.
What is Neoliberal economic policy?
Associated with the ‘Washington Consensus’
Key components include privatisation, trade liberalisation, deregulation, tax reform to promote enterprise and market determined interest rates
Criticising the orthodox model of development:
Do not believe that, on their own, statistical measurements of economic growth and per capita GDP give us an adequate picture of what is happening in developing countries, or indeed to human beings wherever they are located across the world
Belief of the alternative approach:
Believe that economic liberalisation has resulted, and continues to result, in increasing economic differentiation between and within countries, and that this is problematic.
What’s a Structural Adjustment Programme? (SAP)
Term used to describe the policy changes implemented by the IMF and the World Bank in developing countries
Policy changes are conditions for getting new loans from the IMF or World Bank, or for obtaining lower interest rates on existing loans. Conditions are implemented to ensure that money lent will be spent in accordance with the overall goals of the loan.
Conditions of the Washington Consensus: Fiscal Policy Discipline
Use of government revenue collection (mainly taxes) and expenditure (spending) to influence the economy
Conditions of the Washington Consensus:
Tax Reform
Process of changing the way taxes are collected or managed by the government as is usually under-taken to improve tax administration or to provide economic or social benefits
Conditions of the Washington Consensus:
Trade liberalisation
Removal or reduction of restrictions or barriers on the free exchange of goods between nations
Conditions of the Washington Consensus:
Competitive Exchange Rates
Price of a nations currency in terms of another currency. An exchange rate this has two components
History of imperialism:
European imperialism got its start in the 15th century
Europeans gained control of coastal cities and of resupply posts along major trade routes
New colonies were still being acquired by Europe through the end of the 19th century, culminating in a scramble for the colonies in Africa in the 1890s
End to imperialism:
20th century: world regions formerly dominated by Europe gained independence, with their own sovereign states participating in the international system
Decolonisation continued throughout the mid 1970s until almost no European colonies remained.
Most of the newly independent states have faced tremendous challenges and difficulties in the postcolonial era because of their colonial histories
History of imperialism:
European imperialism got its start in the 15th century
Europeans gained control of coastal cities and of resupply posts along major trade routes
New colonies were still being acquired by Europe through the end of the 19th century, culminating in a scramble for the colonies in Africa in the 1890s
End to imperialism:
20th century: world regions formerly dominated by Europe gained independence, with their own sovereign states participating in the international system
Decolonisation continued throughout the mid 1970s until almost no European colonies remained.
Most of the newly independent states have faced tremendous challenges and difficulties in the postcolonial era because of their colonial histories
Effects of colonialism:
Cultural impact -
Economic impact -
Anti colonial movements -
What do neo-colonialists believe?
Believe that far from decolonisation granting independence and sovereignty to many developing nations that their economic policies are essentially dictated to them by developed nations through the institutional framework of the international financial system and the operation of international capitalism.
