GLOBAL DIVIDES

• Global North


  refers to developed countries such as the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand; refers to the rich and developed parts of the world, have a

  GDP per capita that is above the world’s GDP per capita.
• Global South


  refers to Africa, Latin America and developing countries of Asia. Covers the poor and developing half of it. Have a GDP per capita below

  the world’s GDP per capita.
• The labels First World, Second World, and Third World came

  into popular use during the Cold War between the capitalist camp

  led by the US, UK, and their allies; and the socialist side led by

  the Soviet Union and its allies.
• Authors William R. Thompson and Rafael Reuveny


  They acknowledged that despite the promises of a so-called 

  borderless world under globalization, significant gaps between the

  Global North and the Global South are  still observable especially

  on technological diffusion or the spread of technological

  innovation through  research and development and debts.
• Thompson and Reuveny


  “Southern states are highly vulnerable to external market fluctuations.  If states specialize in providing raw materials for Northern consumption

  and the demand/prices for these  commodities fluctuate, it stands

  to reason that Southern economic prospects are held hostage to

  variable  extents by processes over which their own economies

  have little control
• economist Ha-Joon Chang’s


  historical study of capitalist globalization remarks that development process is a difficult path to take for the developing countries, considering that developed countries have been “kicking away the ladder” which they  have used to climb to the top, to prevent developing

  countries from adopting protectionist economic policies  aimed at

  shielding local industries from stiff foreign competition under

  foreign trade.
• IMPACTS OF GLOBAL DIVIDES

  These divisions have a number of negative impacts, including increased wealth inequality, less opportunity for underprivileged groups (Education System), chaos in politics, and difficulties in tackling global concerns like public health and climate change. uneven resource distribution, few employment prospects, and insufficient access to

  healthcare, education, and basic requirements
• First World


  refers to the group of democratic-industrialized nations that are part of the American sphere of influence.
• Second World


  refer to the Soviet Union and countries of the communist bloc. It has subsequently been revised to refer to nations that fall between first and third world countries in terms of their development status and

  economic indicators.
• Third World


  refers to economically weaker nations. This are countries are generally represented by lack of basic infrastructure facilities, high poverty, and economic instability.
• Factors that worsen developing countries' dependency on the

  developed countries include":

  1.Urban development

  2.Change in the structures of income distribution

  3.Increase in administrative expenditure out of proportion with

  the possibilities of the local economy

  4.Inadequate industrial development and disequilibrium in the

  industrial structures which necessitate imports of production

  goods and intermediate goods.
• Ernesto “Che”Guevara summarized Dependency Theory’s critique of the global status quo


  “the inflow of the capital from the developed countries is the prerequisite for the establishment of economic dependence.
• This inflow takes various forms: loans granted on onerous  terms; investment that place a given country in the power of the investors; almost total technological  subordination of the dependent country to

  the developed country; control of country’s foreign trade by the  international big monopolies; and in extreme cases, the use of force as an economic weapon in support of  other forms of exploitation.”