The global wealth distribution continues to be defined by a massive inequality of wealth between advanced capitalist countries and the least developed countries. The gap between the thirty richest and the thirty poorest countries, in per capital income has grown from 17:1 in 1980 to 27:1 in 2002 . Despite massive aid and trade liberalisation programmes, development strategies in poor countries have not resulted in sustainable economic development but have instead resulted in ‘massive underdevelopment and impoverishment, untold exploitation and oppressions’ . Despite the success of some newly industrialising countries, most notably China, many of the world’s poorest countries continue to be reliant on the export of raw materials and agricultural …show more content…
In the second part of this essay, I shall argue that colonisation and imperialist economic strategies allowed European countries to develop, whilst chronically under-developing colonised nations. In the third part of this essay, I will explore neo-colonial practices and argue that globalisation has, in many cases, deepened the divide between the advanced industrial and the least developed countries. In the final part of this essay, I will illustrate how these inequalities, and neo-colonial economic strategies proliferates poverty in the less economically developed countries, looking specifically at health and the Ebola crisis in West …show more content…
The historical relations of inequality, domination and colonisation between the rich and poor countries is demonstrative of the fact that the global economic “free” trade is not conducted on level playing field. However, the causes and explanations for wealth inequality between nations are many, and this essay has been necessarily limited in scope. Further attention could be paid to factors including (but by no means limited to) the effects of NGO international development policies, the effects of certain industries, such as, the pharmaceutical industry and the mining industry, US and European-supported dictatorships and coups in developing countries and corporate tax-avoidance. Additionally, the effect of racist ideologies and structural expendability in shaping the global economy and economic practices could provide further explanations for global inequalities. In the future, environmental factors, especially human-induced climate change (primarily the responsibility of the “Global North”), are going to have increasingly devastating effects on the economies, infrastructure, health and well-being of people in the “Global South”. For example, Sub-Saharan Africa produces less than 4% of the world’s greenhouse gases, yet will suffer some of the
During the early 1900s, America’s reputation as a world power prospered by possessing the third largest navy in the world and a significant domain over smaller countries. It was able to acquire superiority internationally due to its intervention in the intense colonialism of the time, including fast extension, colonization, and rivalry. However, America’s colonial power did not suddenly develop. Though the United States expansionism of the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century was an explicit continuation of cultural and social factors that had powered the country’s past expansionism, it was more of a departure from the strategies for the past in which financial and political motives were sought.
In the late 1800s, United States was becoming a powerful industrial. Due to the growth of the nation; U.S. needed more resources for the industry. The solution was to imperialist other country. Imperialism is to expand the country power through the influence or military power. Many countries in Europe had become an imperialist nation; for example, British were in India, and the French were in Indochina. Most country around the world has been taken over by the European nation. United States realizes that if they did not get in the completion, then they would be left out. The reason United States become an imperialist nation were economy and military strength.
The use of the term global apartheid has been on the rise when referring to the existing social, political and economic inequality on the global scale. It is based on the merging of concepts and practices from South-African apartheid alongside globalization. In this paper, we will consider the appropriateness of such term and whether it truly encompasses all aspects of global inequality. We will consider South-African apartheid along with its associated focus on race as well as globalization along with its associated focus on class and nationality. We will examine how these concepts encompass the statist, racialised, classist new world order.
According to the World Bank, from 1993 to 1998, poverty rate has reduced by 14 percent in developing countries, similar to about 107 million people. This may result from receiving foreign investment that plays an important role in local economy growth. For example, the proportion of population living in poverty in India decreased by half in the two decades, from the 1970s to 1990s, while the number of Chinese in poverty declined by approximately 210 million during twenty-one years, from 1978 to 1999 (Healey 2008). In other words, the standard of living is improving due to the benefits of international economic activities.
It is crazy to hear that the top richest people in this world have the same wealth as the poorest 3 billion people in this world. Even though rich countries are giving aid to poor countries, the huge gap difference between their wealth is due to large corporations form rich countries taking more money from poor countries, and this really explains a lot why poor country never have the chance to actually thrive. The thought that poor people should be able to come up from where they came from, which is a thought in many people's minds, especially those who have money, isn't all that simple.
Fresh off the heels of one of the most deadly and costly wars in American history, a new era was born and America grew stronger as a nation and eventually manifested its newfound power and strength as it strayed away from world conflict.
Global wealth is largely found in the south, yet the north is the richest and developed. In this respect, there must be another explanation of this equation. Slave trade, colonialism, and neocolonialism can best explain this. Moreover, bad governance and poor investment in education and research might explain why the north is more developed. The implications for our understanding of why some countries in the world today are rich and some are poor is important in determining how best we understand the history of the world, as well as the factors that contributed to this pattern (Diamond). The history of the world is important in establishing the factors that led to the differences in the distribution of wealth on the globe.
In her piece, “Why Global Inequality Matters,” Nancy Birdsall argues that global inequality is an issue because it can negatively affect the social life, the political process and the economy of countries (especially developing ones). She looks at “how global integration affects poor versus rich countries (and people within countries), and on the resulting limits to poor countries’ (and poor people’s) ability to capture the potential benefits of globalization.” In order to argue her point further, she expounds on why global inequality matters and explores the possible role that globalization may have in perpetuating global inequality. Inequality matters, especially in developing countries with already weak institutions, because it may runs “the risk
Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through colonization, use of force etc. The western powers are found to have an urge to occupy the Middle East for their own selfish interest. The main ones were being noted getting the areas of oil fields and vast land.
Global poverty and inequality have steadily increased since the 1980s. The causes of this gross inequity are the policy choices that governments make, the institutions that govern economic relationships, the power and influence of the world's largest corporations, the history, the war and political instability, the national debt and the vulnerability to natural disasters.
According to Richard N (2006), the free movement of goods due to free market or trade has led to globalization. Though the effects have been assumed to benefit all, there is a large inequality among the poor and the rich both within the countries among the nations. Capitalism is contributed to technological advancement, which has then influenced free trade. The uncontrolled globalization has resulted in more developed societies becoming rich. The rich economies are able to exploit the market by producing at lower price due to their level of technology and advancement in research. They are also able to protect their economy through export subsidies and production subsidies to their farmers. This translates to lower prices for their goods in the global market hence controlling it. The poor countries despite having comparative advantage in production of some commodities they also suffer from competitive advantage from the developed countries they are forced to sell their commodities at a lower price than their expected. They suffer a lot in global trade, which is mainly controlled by the wealthier nations. There are regulations, which restrict the flow of goods in the world market from poor societies. This makes
Colonialism is a feature of European expansion that took control of territory and people across the world starting in the 16th century. The last wave of colonialism was in Africa during the late nineteenth century, and these African colonies did not gain independence until the end of World War II. Decolonization was followed by years of economic, political, and social instability that made living conditions worse for the individuals in society. In this era of globalization, the economic strength of Western powers has created a new type of imperialism over the developing nations. A growing inequality gap between rich and poor countries has resulted in lower living standards in areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa, where a majority of the
Colonialism, both old and new, which reduces poor countries to mere providers of raw material and cheap labor, engenders violence, poverty, forced migrations…precisely because, by placing the periphery at the service of the center, it denies those countries the right to an integral development. (Juan 3)
Globalization is the proximate and multidimensional set of political, economic, social, and technological integration around the globe. The increasing interconnectedness among countries can be seen through the prism of globalization. Essentially, the lives of people living in distant cities like Bangalore and Silicon Valley are brought closer as a result of this phenomenon. Drivers of this adjacent include; the expansion of trade, technological exchange, labor movement and investments (Stearns 2017). The discourse of globalization encompasses several multidisciplinary themes. The paper, however, concentrates on the economic factors, “which, entails the closer economic integration of countries of the world through increased flow of goods, services, capital and even labor.” (Stiglitz 2007: 4). The paper focuses on economic globalization and elucidates whether the globalization has reduced poverty and inequality or had reproduced the reversed implications. Meanwhile, the paper reveals if the developing world has benefited from the set. This seems to be the central question that policymakers, development economists, and politicians have been grappling with for years. The paper is presented in three parts. Part one reflects on the historical context of the problem statement. The second part compiles literature and juxtaposes with cases to corroborate the globalization-poverty-inequality triangle. Finally, the conclusion represents the author’s viewpoint on the
Lack of development in countries in the so-called `Third World' has many political and economical reasons. Historians explain the inadequacy of developing countries with the early imperialism and the resulting colonization of the South. Exploitation of mineral resources, deforestation, slavery, and the adaptation of foreign policies shaped the picture of today's suffering and struggling civilizations and natural rich continents. The omission of concessions and equal negotiations between dependency and supremacy give rise to the contrast of enormous resources and immense poverty in developing countries is. In the last years the outcry of justice and the emancipation of the Third World became louder throughout developing and industrialized