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THE DEVELOPING WORLD IN THE 21ST CENTURY
KEVIN E. GRISHAM
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THE DEVELOPING WORLD IN THE 21ST CENTURY
KEVIN E. GRISHAM
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Kona Publishing and Media Group Higher Education Division Charlotte, North Carolina
Copyright © 2011 by Kona Publishing and Media Group
All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, or any informational storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher. All names of teachers, teacher learners, students and places are pseudonyms or are used with permission. Teacher and student work samples are used with permission. Every effort has been made to contact the copyright holders for permission to reprint borrowed material. We regret any oversights that may have occurred and will rectify them in future printings of this work. ISBN: 978-1-935987-16-1 Library of Congress Control Number:
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DEDICATION
To Jennifer M. Grisham, my wife and my life
A Reason to Write
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CONTENTS Dedication
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Preface: Up Close and Personal
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Acknowledgments
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CHAPTER 1: WHERE AND WHAT IS THE DEVELOPING WORLD? Defining the Developing World Overview of the Developing World Does Who I am Determine What I Do? Latin America The Caribbean Africa The Middle East Central, South, and Southeast Asia Conclusion Key Terms Recommended Readings Notes
1 2 5 6 9 12 14 17 19 22 22 23 23
CHAPTER 2: WHO IS GOVERNING? THE POLITICS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD Introduction The Forms of Power Physical Power The Use of Violent Physical Power in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq Rewards and/or Punishment Power Manipulative Power The Role of Controls on the Press to Manipulate Populations Persuasive Power Politics, Governments and the State Stateless Peoples Types of Governments Rule by One and Forms of the Governments Variations of the Rule by One Rule by a Few and Forms of the Governments Rule by the Masses and Forms of Governments Electoral Processes in the Developing World Electoral Systems in the Developing World Role of Government in the Modern Developing World Decentralization in the Developing World Conclusion
27 28 28 29 29 30 31 31 32 33 34 35 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 Contents
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Key Terms Recommended Readings Notes CHAPTER 3: WHY DO WE FIGHT? CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD Introduction Conflict in All of its Forms Role of Contagion Effect in Connecting Intra and Inter-State Conflict Impact of Conflict on Populations Impact of Conflict on Human Resources The Impact of Conflict on the Environment The Impact of Conflict on Human Relations in a Country Why Do We Fight: The Sources of Conflict The National to the Transnational: Globalization and Conflict Conclusion Key Terms Recommended Readings Notes
47 48 49 50 51 52 53 55 56 59 60 60 60 61
CHAPTER 4: WHAT SOCIETY DO WE WANT? HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD Introduction What Is Development and Growth? Economic Growth—What is it and How Do We Measure It? Development—What is it and How Do We Measure It? What Factors Influence Development in the Developing World? Bad Policy and a Lack of Development Health Care and its Impediment to Development Education and “Brain Drain” Current International Economic System and Development Manmade and Natural Disasters and Development Theoretical Explanation of Development Modernization Theory (Developmentalism) Dependency Theory Third World Socialism Grassroots Development Globalization and Development Conclusion Key Terms Recommended Readings Notes
63 64 64 65 68 71 72 73 74 75 77 77 78 79 80 80 81 82 82 83 83
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Contents
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CHAPTER 5: ARE WE ONE? THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE DEVELOPING AND DEVELOPED WORLDS Introduction Globalization Economic Interdependence Political Interdependence Cultural Interdependence Globalization: Old or New Phenomenon? Two Worlds and Tomorrow: Future of the Relationship Key Terms Recommended Readings Notes
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APPENDIX I: OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD
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APPENDIX II: THE POLITICS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD—THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
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APPENDIX III: ELECTORAL SYSTEMS FOR LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
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Contents
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PREFACE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL It was early September 1999 and my flight had just landed into Sana’a, the capital of the Republic of Yemen. As I departed the Yemenia airplane and entered the small cramped terminal of Sana’a International Airport, I was instantly confronted with advertisements of Nescafe and Coca-Cola. The memory of the taste of Coca-Cola, French fries and a good hamburger danced in my head as I read the sign in English and then looked at the Arabic in bewilderment. A large Yemeni man in a crisp military uniform, who sported a nicely trimmed pitch-black mustache, staffed the visa counter. Behind him, I could see a picture of the President of Yemen hanging on the wall and I remarked to myself how much the picture and the man behind the visa counter looked the same. He spoke to me first in Arabic and then realizing I spoke none, asked for my passport in English. As if making a deposit at a bank counter, I slipped my new passport across the counter. The stale warm air of the older airport permeated my nose as my eyes continued to be exposed to new signs for different Western brand names—Pepsi, Marlboro cigarettes and various chocolate companies. After a long delay at customs and some lost luggage, I was greeted by Ahmed, a worker and nephew of the boss from my future place of employment. The only thing he said to me was, “Do you speak Arabic?” I shook my head. He placed his head into his hands in irritation and we headed to the immense airport parking lot. The parking lot was filled with new SUVs and Mercedes Benzes with license plates from Europe. There were very few old cars or trucks in sight. As we sped away from the airport and towards the city, we were greeted with many brightly lit business signs in both Arabic and English. In the air along the airport road also hung the stench of a broken sewage pipe that ran out from the city center. It had been broken for months and it broke again during the year I was there. Even with the new shinny cars and the Western brand names and products everywhere, the sewage system could never get fixed. Trash littered the street sides as we sped towards the city center. The SUV came to a stop in the intersections as men dressed in tribal clothing came out and searched our car and asked questions to my driver concerning who I was. At first, I was terrified thinking we were being kidnapped, but then I found out later they were internal security services for the country. They were there to prevent kidnappings and other criminal activity. This was the first night of my year in Yemen, but already I saw a dichotomy in this developing country between the new and the old. More importantly, I discovered my perceptions about the developing world were not consistent with the reality of what was there. I had expected to find a country with no lights at night, carts being drawn by animals, no images that I would find familiar from the Western world, and no English being spoken by anyone in the country. Even after two years of studying the developing world, I still had these preconceived notions of what I would see and experience. Little did I know this year would change my view of the developing world.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS No work of this magnitude is possible without the support of others. I would like to thank the students of California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) for acting as a sounding board for the material contained in this textbook. In particular, I would like to thank the following groups and individuals who were especially supportive of me throughout the writing process: the Model UN and Model Arab League students at CSUSB, my research assistant—Thomas Hagen, fellow faculty members and administrators of CSUSB (in particular, my colleagues in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences), Dr. Jamal Nassar—Dean of the College of Social & Behavioral Sciences at CSUSB, and finally Dr. Ralph Salmi my friend and mentor of fourteen years. Your encouragement was a crucial part of my decision to study the developing world. Without the excellent advice and patience of the staff of Kona Publishing and Media Group this project would have never occurred. I especially would like to thank Kyler Ferguson for guiding me through the writing process. I sincerely would like to acknowledge the support of my family and friends: my parents—Vickie Smith, Susan Mecum, and Daniel Washburn, my wife’s family—Patricia Adams, Richard Adams, Lauren Adams, Melissa and Jessica Hernandez, my grandfather—Jimmy Alford who always encouraged me to educate myself and others around me, as well as my dear friends Dr. Martin Doyle, Byron Martin, Masa Omae, Mayia Shulga and Dino Bozonelos. Most importantly, without the love and support of my wife, Jennifer Grisham, I would have not been able to start, develop and finish this work. Without you, I am nothing, Jennifer. Any errors or omissions contained herein are solely my fault.
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CHAPTER 1
WHERE AND WHAT IS THE DEVELOPING WORLD?
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTER • How does one define the developing world? • What problems exist in creating a universally accepted definition for the developing world? • What characteristics does the developing world have and not have? • What countries make up the developing world? • What factors influence how individuals from the developing world see themselves? • What impact does religion, ethnicity, and nationality play in the lives of individuals from the developing world? • What basic features describe the various subregions of the developing world?
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The reality of the developing world and the perceptions of the developing world by individuals from the developed world are often far apart. Much like my initial experience in Yemen, the modern era finds the great interconnection between the developing and developed world. Clear divisions between these two regions of the world are very blurred today. One can easily see the same restaurants, clothing and hear similar languages throughout the world these days. Internet cafes exist alongside shops, which sell traditional clothing. This raises the question, if the developing world has similar characteristics of the developed world, then how can one distinguish between the two regions of the world. The answer to this question is the focus of this chapter.
DEFINING THE DEVELOPING WORLD In the study of any phenomenon, it is essential that one first define clearly the item being studied. This is problematic when studying the developing world. There are varieties of terms that are used to label the region known as the developing world. (See Chart 1.1.) These include Third World and the Non-Western World. Additionally, when one is asked to define the developing world, there is no clear set of characteristics that set it apart from other regions of the world. The series of characteristics used to differentiate the developing world from the developed world depend on who is doing the describing. An economist may use economic indicators to divide the developing world from the developed world. Prosperous economies tend to be lumped together and non-prosperous economies are placed into a different grouping. In some cases, those economies that are seen as transitioning from one category to another category are placed into a third group. In the case of political analysis of the world, some political scientists may use the type of government form to distinguish the developing world from the developed world. Because of the ambiguity created when trying to define what the developing world is and is not, no set grouping of countries is universally agreed upon throughout the world. Some scholars see the developing world as consisting of approximately 140 countries (Handelman 2006: 1). These countries are found in the regions of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.1 For purposes of this textbook, the term developing world will be used to refer to the regions of Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucuses, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. (The countries included in the category of the developing world can be seen Chart 1.2.) The definition of developing world that will be used throughout this textbook is: The regions of the world which consistently have low human development. Some countries have high human development in the developing world (for example—United Arab Emirates and South Korea). If they are in regions where most of the countries are classified as high, medium
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and low human development, then they are considered part of the developing world for this textbook. This is to allow for some generalizing in discussions concerning the developing regions of the world.
CHART 1.1 – TERMS & DEFINITION OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD Terms
Third World
Definitions • Countries of the Middle East, South Asia, Central and South America and Africa that are not aligned with NATO (1st World) or the former Soviet Union (2nd World).—Alfred Sauvy2 • “All Asian countries, except Japan, belong to the Third World. All of Africa and also Latin America belong to the Third World.”3 • “Countries with low or middle levels of GNP per capita as well as five high-income developing economies—Hong Kong (China), Israel, Kuwait, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates.”4 • “Those countries considered to be still working to attain levels of social, political and economic progress already achieved by more affluent countries.”5
Developing Countries
• “There are no WTO definitions of “developed” or “developing” countries. Developing countries in the WTO are designated on the basis of self-selection although this is not necessarily automatically accepted in all WTO bodies.”6 • “There is no established convention for the designation of “developed” and “developing” countries or areas in the United Nations system.”7 • “Low-income countries where, according to the United Nations, economic growth faces long-term impediments—such as structural weaknesses and low human resources development. A category used to guide donors and countries in allocating foreign assistance.”8
Least Developed Countries
• “This classification is based on quality of life and economic measures that include: life expectancy at birth, per capita calorie intake, combined primary and secondary enrolment, adult literacy, instability of agricultural production, instability of exports of goods and services, diversity of exports, percentage of GDP that is generated by manufacturing and service industries, and population size.”9
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CHART 1.2 – THE COUNTRIES OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD • Mexico
• Colombia
• Brazil
• Ecuador
• Belize
• Venezuela
• Argentina
• Uruguay
• Guatemala
• Guyana
• Bolivia
• Chile
• Honduras
• Nicaragua
• Paraguay
• El Salvador
• Costa Rica
• Suriname
• Panama
• Peru
• Antigua and Barbadus
• Dominica
• Haiti • Jamaica
• Bahamas
• Dominican Republic
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Barbados
• Grenada
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Trinidad and Tobago
Latin America
Caribbean
• Cuba
North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
• Saint Lucia
• Morocco
• The Gambia
• Chad
• Sudan
• Algeria
• Guinea-Bissau
• Niger
• Eritrea
• Libya
• Guinea
• Nigeria
• Ethiopia
• Egypt
• Sierra Leone
• Bukina Faso
• Somalia
• Mauritania
• Liberia
• Mali
• Djibouti
• Cape Verde
• Cote d’Ivoire
• Togo
• Tunisia
• Senegal
• Ghana
• Benin
• Cameroon
• Uganda
• Zambia
• Botswana
• Central African Republic
• Kenya
• Malawi
• Zimbabwe
• Rwanda
• Sao Tome and Principe
• South Africa
• Equatorial Guinea • Burundi • Gabon
• Madagascar • Mozambique
• Tanzania • Congo
• Comoros • Namibia
• Angola • Democratic Republic of Congo
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• Lesotho • Seychelles
• Mauritius
• Swaziland
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• Turkey
• Iraq
• Cyprus
• Jordan
• Israel
• Saudi Arabia
• Syria
• Lebanon
• Yemen
• Iran
• Kuwait
• Oman
• Afghanistan
• Uzbekistan
• Kazakhstan
• Turkmenistan
• Kyrgyzstan
• Pakistan
• India
• China
• Mongolia
• Maldives
• Nepal
• Bangladesh
• Sri Lanka
• Bhutan
• Myanmar (Burma)
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Philippines
• Laos
• Cambodia
• Malaysia
• North Korea
• South Korea
• Indonesia
• East Timor
• Micronesia
• Palau
• Singapore
• Brunei Darussalam
• Papua New Guinea
• United Arab Emirates • Qatar
Middle East
• Bahrain
• Palestine10 • Azerbaijan
Central Asia
South Asia
Southeast Asia
OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD As was alluded to by the opening vignette, there are many commonalities and differences between the developed and developing world. To better understand the issues facing the developing world, it is important to understand these commonalities and differences. One should start by looking at the people of the developing world. The people of the developing world have much in common with people from the developed world. When you travel and get to know them, it is readily apparent they desire much of the same things as individuals from the developed world. To understand those of the developing world, one must understand what factors influence their behaviors. One way to better understand those items which influence individual behavior is to see the individuals as having numerous shells of influence. This is referred to by some scholars as multiple layers of identity.11
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DOES WHO I AM DETERMINE WHAT I DO? As no single individual has complete and perfect information when making decisions, they sometimes rely on other items to fill those gaps in information. This is referred to as using heuristics. Heuristics are shortcuts in information that are used in the human decision-making process. The identity of an individual is one source that heuristics are derived from in life. Since an individual’s identity is derived from the shells of influence, it is vital to understand how an individual relies on these various shells to help them make decisions. For example, how one may vote in an election in Afghanistan may be influenced by their clan or tribal affiliations with those running for office. If you have an uncle running for political office, you maybe more inclined to vote for him because of the familial ties. This occurs even if his policy positions may not benefit you as an individual or your community as a whole. It is not the only reason for making the decision, but the role of family may have a large influence in this particular instance. For one to fully understand decisions made concerning everyday life in the developing world, it is fundamental to understand the shells of influence. At the core of these shells of influence is family. Family plays a large influence on individual identity construction and likewise, family plays a central role in the decision-making process of individuals.
Family (Including Clan & Tribal Ties) Religion (Including sects and interpretations) Ethnicity
Nationality
SHELLS OF INFLUENCE & WHO AM I?
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This can be seen in how some individuals choose the type of profession they want to pursue. If their father and mother are doctors, they may be more inclined to become doctors or work in the medical profession. Another manner where family plays a role is the connections one has through familial ties. This is particularly true in parts of the developing world where clans and tribal affiliations are present. A clan is an extended family. This extension occurs as a result of of marriage and/ or birth. A tribe is an association of clans which may or may not be related by biology. How one identifies themselves along clan and tribal affiliations can be seen in the Arab world. For example, the leadership of the country of Jordan sees themselves as being from the lineage of the Prophet Muhammad from the Islamic faith. This can be seen in something as simple as the long-form name of the country, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The Hashemites (or the Banu Hashim) is the clan which Muhammad came from within the larger tribe called the Quraish. As can be seen in the name of Jordan, the modern day descendents identify themselves as connected to this clan and tribe. This has potential impact on the modern day politics of the Islamic world. Given the familial connections, the leadership of Jordan can see themselves as being the natural leaders of the Islamic world. The importance of clan and tribal ties between people in the developing world has gained greater attention in recent years. Recent counter-insurgency plans by the U.S. have included discussions on the importance of understanding clan and tribal ties. The next most importance shell of influence in the developing world is religion. Geertz defines religion as “[…] a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic.”12 As can be seen in the upsurge in interest in religion, more scholars are suggesting that religion may play a larger role in identity construction than previously thought. With the diversity of religions and various sects and interpretations within the religious belief systems of the developing world, one can see how individuals living in the same geographic space may identify with different religious beliefs. One cannot assume that if individuals are from a given geographic region that they all share the same religious faith. For example, even though the Catholic faith has traditionally been the dominant faith in Latin America, not everyone in the region are Catholics. In recent years, Mormonism and Pentecostalism have grown rapidly in Latin America. By 2002, there were thirty Mormon temples operating in South America, including Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela.13 Recent statistics note that 2.5 million members of the Mormon church live in South America. The Pentecostal movement in Latin America began in the 1960s.14 Some scholarship suggests this is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing religions in Latin America.
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The next layer of one’s identity is ethnicity. Scholars often define ethnicity as a social group that individuals identify with due to the common cultural factors and/or a common language, religion or familial linkage they share with other individuals belonging to that group. According to Bhopal, ethnicity may also include, “Physical features traditionally associated with race.”15 In recent years, race and ethnicity have been used synonymously. Ethnicity—for the purpose of this book—is defined as: a social group which one belongs to because of the common language, religion, other cultural traits and/or physical features (due to common ancestry) the members of the group share. The key to this definition is the common characteristics that set the members of the social group apart from other social groups they will come into contact with in the world.16 Given ethnicity is generally a social construction, the shared characteristics amongst the members of the group could be real or imagined. This is even true when discussing the physical characteristics which a group shares—most commonly referred to as race. The categorization of people based on physical differences such as skin color (e.g., black skin color and white skin color) is also a social construction. The categories can be constructed by those wishing to gain a leadership role over a single group of people. The best example of this was the construction of the Aryan/Dravidian Myth myth by Adolph Hitler and the Nazi regime during World War Two. Through this myth, Hitler attempted to separate out individuals who had common eye, skin and hair color as a superior race to those without those characteristics. Sometimes the categories are imposed from those from outside of the given ethnic groups. An example of this can be seen in the categories drawn between Africans and Coloured peoples in South Africa under the apartheid regime. In this instance, the distinction was drawn between those who were indigenous Africans to the region (who were referred to as Africans) and those who were of a mixed ancestral makeup (who were referred to as Coloured peoples).17 The last layer of an individual’s identity is nationality. Nationality refers to a community of people with a shared common culture who reside in and have an attachment to a delineated geographical location. In this context, this refers to how individuals see themselves connected to a particular geographical space. For example, an individual who lives in America sees themselves as an American. An individual from Chile sees themself as Chilean. All of these shells of influence help to create an identity that is relied on in decision-making. The reliance on one shell of influence over another can create a list of possible outcomes by one individual. For example, an Arab Christian Palestinian who lives in Israel may make different life decisions at different times because of the complexity of his/her shells of influence. In a discussion with a Jewish friend on the Israel-Palestinian conflict, he may take a variety of positions depending on
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which shell of influence impacts his decision-making. He may side with his fellow Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip due to his common ethnicity. Yet, on other issues, he may not agree with decisions made by Muslim Palestinian groups in the West Bank and Gaza Strip because they do not share similar religious outlooks. As this previous brief discussion suggests, the understanding of individual identity and its impact on decision-making is complex. When one looks at the heterogeneous nature of much of the developing world, the great complexity in creating a typical profile of an individual from the developing world can be seen. In the next section of this chapter, some general characteristics of the various regions of the developing world will be discussed. Yet, remember that these are generalizations and great variation occurs due to the shells of influence discussed previously.
LATIN AMERICA The region known as Latin America is made-up of twenty countries. This region south of the United States and ending just north of Antarctica is diverse when looking at many different characteristics. The size of populations and land mass varies greatly throughout this region. Brazil has the largest population and is the largest in size in Latin America. Brazil’s land mass size makes it the fifth largest country in world (8,514,877 sq km). El Salvador has the smallest land mass in Latin America (21,041 sq km) and Belize has the smallest population (314,522). Even though there are a great number of religious belief systems in Latin America, the dominant faith is Roman Catholicism. In two of the countries in the region (Suriname and Guyana), Hinduism is also widely adhered to by the populations. As discussed previously, Pentcostalism is one of the fastest growing religious belief systems in Latin America. For example, it is estimated that thirty percent of the Guatemalan population are Evangelical Protestants.18 Due to the colonial experience of Latin America, the ethnic makeup of the populations varies greatly. Ethnicity can be divided into major groups which are related to this colonial experience. This division is to present an overview and should not be considered a complete explanation of the immense ethnic diversity of Latin America. There are those individuals of European heritage (sometimes referred to as penisulars).19 (The term refers to the Iberian Peninsula where modernday Spain and Portugal are located.) These are individuals who come from the original European (primarily Spanish and Portuguese) communities who settled in Latin America. Generally, they continued this bloodline through intermarriage. Due to these intermarriages, this ethnic community is separate from mestizos or mulatos. Mestizos are individuals who are of mixed Spanish and
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indigenous ancestry. Mulatos are individuals who are of mixed African and indigenous ancestry. In addition to these three ethnic groups, there are indigenous peoples (sometimes referred to as Amerindians) in Latin America. The indigenous are those individuals of various clans and tribes who resided in Latin America prior to European colonialization. The governments of Latin America have varied over its history. In the modern era, the governments of Latin America have been authoritarian and democratic at different times in the individual country’s histories. One consistent factor in the political development of most Latin America countries has been a struggle between military and civilian authority. As will be discussed in Chapter Two, this struggle on occasion has lead to brutal repression of the populations in the region. This has included the use of death squads, political assassinations, repression of the press and the undermining of human rights. Since the 1980s, there has been substantial moves toward the promotion of democratic forms of government in the region. Yet, these moves toward democratization are still a work in progress.20 The Latin America region has seen both inter-state conflict and intra-state conflict. (Inter-state conflict is conflict that occurs between two countries. Intra-state conflict is conflict that occurs within one country.) In the twentieth century, the region has been relatively free of inter-state conflict. Yet, the number of intra-state conflicts is large—ranging from civil wars to armed conflicts between the government and non-state actors. The reasons behind these conflicts have included border disputes, ethnic conflict (discussed in Chapter Three), and control over the government and/ or physical resources. Additionally, criminal activity has begun to play a major role in the conflict between the criminal organizations and Latin American governments. Mexico and Colombia have had a large upswing in conflicts between government agents and individuals and groups associated with the the criminal activity—particularly, illicit narcotic production and trafficking. An example of this can be seen in the on-going conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo or FARC-EP). Latin America’s development has ebbed and flowed throughout its history. Some Latin American countries have had larger development than other countries in the region. Yet, in looking at the development statistics for each country, there is a similarity. One of the most commonly used indicators of the level of development in a country is the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI is an index developed by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) which measures three areas of development (health, knowledge, and a decent standard of living) and creates a composite index score from those measurements.21 (Development will be discussed more 10
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in-depth in Chapter Four). As of 2009, eleven countries in Latin America were listed by the UNDP as having high human development. The other nine countries in the region had medium human development. When one compares this level of development to countries in other regions of the developing world, it becomes apparent Latin America is developing better than Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. The reason for this high performance in human development may be linked to the issue of globalization. One factor which has had a large impact on the developing world—including Latin America—is globalization. Globalization is not a new phenomenon. Human interaction has been occurring for thousands of years. With technological advancements, those connections have been increased and sped up.22 The impact of globalization is evident everywhere. The most obvious is the expansion of businesses from the developed world into the developing world—for example, Starbucks in China or Coca-Cola in Uganda. Other examples of globalization can be seen in the expansion of transnational terrorism and the greater physical interconnectedness due to air travel. The former years of isolation is relatively impossible in the newer world of globalization. As was alluded to in the preface, globalization had brought the developed world to the developing world and vice versa. One measurement of how interconnected countries are to each other is through the Globalization Index. This index was co-created by A. T. Kearney and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (through its Foreign Policy magazine). In its most recent data set (2006), eight Latin American countries were in the top seventy-two countries listed. Costa Rica, Mexico, and Colombia were in the top fifty.23 Data from the KOF Index of Globalization (2010), an alternative index of globalization, suggest the same level of globalization.24 As suggested by the two indexes, Latin America has moved towards greater global integration when compared to other countries in the developing world. After the “ lost decade” (La Decada Perdida) of the 1980s, Latin America has attempted to restructure its internal economic approaches and integrate more with the global economy.25 (The “lost decade” is the term used to refer to hyperflation, stagnation, and foreign debt crisis in Latin America, particularly Mexico, in part of the 1980s.) This has lead to the creation and expansion of free trade agreements (e.g., the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA). Yet, this has not been without some reactions by local populations in Latin America. As will be discussed in Chapter Five, the outcome for the populations in Latin America has been mixed. Through technological advancement, travel and communication between the developed world and Latin America, the connection between peoples of both regions have grown. However, poverty continues to be prevalent in many countries in Latin America. Some groups have suggested globalization has continued to spread poverty throughout the region. Additionally, there have been
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complaints that greater globalization in Latin America is erasing local values and local culture. This frustration has found its way into the use of both violent and non-violent protests. One example of this type of reaction to globalization in Latin America has been the formation of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional or EZLN) in Mexico. This group—based in the Chiapas state of Mexico—was formed in 1994 and was founded as a reaction to both Mexico’s inaction in helping the people of Chiapas. In part, this lack of concern was connected to Mexico’s greater integration with the global economies.26
THE CARIBBEAN The region known as the Caribbean is made-up of thirteen countries. This region is located in the Caribbean Sea between the United States and the region of Latin America. This region contains fourteen territories who are dependent on European countries and the United States. Cuba has the largest population and is the largest in size in Caribbean. Cuba’s land mass size makes it the 105th largest country in world (110,860 sq km). Saint Kitts and Nevis has the smallest land mass in Latin America (261 sq km) and the smallest population (49,898). In both population size and land mass size, this region is smaller than Latin America. Similar to Latin America, Roman Catholicism is a prevalent religious faith in the Caribbean. Additionally, Anglicanism and various Protestant religious sects are more dominant Christian faiths in the Caribbean than in Latin America. In Jamaica and Antigua and Barbadus, the Seventh-Day Adventist Church has a large amount of followers. In both cases, the churches grew out of publications by the Adventists and missionaries from the church. The prevalence of Roman Catholicism and Anglicanism in the Caribbean is connected to its colonial experience. In particular, the spread of Anglicanism in the Caribbean is connected to the influence of the British Empire during its colonial history. The ethnic makeup of the Caribbean is similar to Latin America. There are individuals of European descent, mestizos, and mulattos in the region. One significant difference is the larger number of individuals of African descent in the region. In ten of the thirteen countries in the Caribbean, Africans (black) constitute the largest portion of ethnic groups. This is due to the importation of African slaves to work plantations in the Caribbean in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.27 Government forms and processes in the Caribbean region is primary democratic. The one exception is the government form in Jamaica. Jamaica has a constitutional parliamentary government form. The head of government is the Prime Minister, but Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom 12
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serves as the chief of state. She is represented by the Governor General. This government arrangement places Jamaica in the Commonwealth Realm. The Commonwealth Realm are the sixteen independent countries who have Queen Elizabeth II as their monarch. Fourteen of those countries were once colonies of the British Empire. The two exceptions are the United Kingdom and Papua New Guinea. Conflict in the Caribbean has been limited when compared to other regions of the developing world. The conflict that occurred in the region has been linked to internal struggles and struggles for independence from colonial powers. The most notable of these conflicts was the Cuban Revolution (1953–1959). In this particular case, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led a group of rebels (the 26th of July Movement) and overthrew Fulgencio Batista on January 1, 1959. Castro served as the chief of state and head of government in Cuba from 1959 to 2008. In February 2008, Fidel Castro stepped down as president and his brother, Raul Castro, became the new president. During the Cold War, Cuba served as a satellite country of the then-Soviet Union and Castro served as an adversary for the U.S. This led to economic, commercial, and financial sanctions by the U.S. against Cuba. (The first of these sanctions was the Cuban Democracy Act of 1992 and in 1996, the Helms-Burton Act furthered restrictions of U.S. citizens doing business in Cuban or with Cuban citizens. Due to the Soviet-Cuban relationship, medium-range and intermediate-range ballistic nuclear missile bases began being constructed in 1962. In October 1962, this led to the Cuban Missile Crisis between the U.S. and Soviet Union. This is one of many examples where a developing country was a pawn between the U.S. and Soviet Union in the Cold War. Development of the Caribbean has progressed over time. As of 2009, all of the countries—except for one, Barbados, are considered to have high human development or medium human development. Barbados is considered to have very high human development (ranked 37th in the world). The World Bank has reported that many of the countries in the Caribbean have seen “[…] sustained growth in per capita incomes, with most of them becoming middle income countries.”28 Yet, some countries in the region have remained poor when compared to the rest of the international system. With natural disasters prevalent in the area—particularly, hurricanes and earthquakes, consistent improvements in development are a challenge. This is apparent when one looks at the country of Haiti. Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the country of the Dominican Republic. As the only predominant French-speaking country in the Caribbean and Latin America, it is a unique country. From 1980 to 2007, human development increased 0.77% annually.29 Even though a poor country with a history of internal conflict, the country was moving forward in development. On January 12, 2010, a earthquake measuring a 7.0 magnitude hit the little island nation of Haiti. Where and What is The Developing World?
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It is estimated that over 200,000 people were killed as a result of the earthquake. It is estimated that due to the immense damage, the country will need to be rebuilt from its foundation. Challenges to development caused by natural disasters are evident by examining Haiti and other similar cases. Globalization has presented some challenges and some positive influences in the development of the Caribbean. The challenges are related to the major food crops grown in the Caribbean—sugar and bananas. With greater globalization, the Caribbean has needed to compete with the international markets. This has lead to declines in agricultural production. It has also meant a greater reliance on food items from the developed world. This has created a widening gap between the developed world and the Caribbean.30 Additionally, “brain drain” has limited the further development of an economy based on an educated workforce. “Brain drain” is the phenomenon where individuals from the developing world who are educated and have skills sets leave to work in the developed world.31 Once these individuals are in the developed world, they do not return back to the developing world. This constant flow limits the educated and skilled workforce in the developing world. This phenomenon creates an unequal playing field between the Caribbean and North America when competing in the international economic markets. Many educated and skilled individuals from the Caribbean leave to work in North America and never return.
AFRICA When examining Africa, it becomes apparent the one continent can be broken into two regions— North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. This division can be made because of the striking differences in religion, languages, and other cultural attributes that exist between the two regions. For example, the religion of the majority of individuals in North Africa is Islam. However, people in sub-Saharan Africa tend to adhere to some form of Christianity or an indigenous belief system. North Africa has both large countries and small countries when speaking of both the land mass size and the population sizes. The largest country in land mass size is Sudan (2,505,813 sq km) and the smallest country is Cape Verde (4,033 sq km). Population size in North Africa varies from Nigeria (the largest at 152,217,341) to Cape Verde (with the smallest population at 508,659). Unlike the regions discussed previously, the populations of North Africa are very large. Only two countries in North Africa have populations under one million—Djibouti and Cape Verde. Sub-Saharan Africa’s land mass size—in comparison—tends to be smaller, yet similarly, the populations tend to be very large. The largest country in the region is the Democratic Republic of Congo (2,344,858 sq km) and the smallest country is the Seychelles (455 sq km)—a series of islands 14
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off the eastern coast of Africa and north of Madagascar. All but four countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have populations over one million. Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe and Seychelles all have populations under one million. The Democratic Republic of Congo is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa (70,916,439) and has the fourth largest population in the entire African continent. The smallest population is in the island country of the Seychelles. One will find the African people to be a very religious people. The beliefs in a God is not foreign to the peoples of the African continents.32 Yet, there is a religious divide when comparing North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The major religion is Islam. Eight countries in North Africa have sizeable Christian populations (Benin, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, and Togo). During the early expansion of the Islamic Empire (under the Ummayads), the North African region became some of the earlier converts to Islam. With Islam came the expansion of Arab culture into North Africa.33 This has resulted in Arabic being a dominant language and culture in the northern most countries in Africa (Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania). Alternatively, Sub-Saharan Africa has populations which tend to adhere to the belief systems of the Christian faith. The predominant sect of Christianity is Roman Catholicism. Also, some countries find their people holding fast to indigenous belief systems which predated colonialization in the region. Those countries which border the North African region (Saharan Desert area) tend to have sizeable Muslim minorities. Also, Christian Zionist constitute a portion of the population in Mozambique and South Africa. Swaziland has a population which follows a mixture of Zionist Christian belief systems and indigenous belief systems. The prevalence of Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa is due to both colonialization of the area by Western Europe and the expansion of Christian missionaries in the region. The historical development of government forms and the political process in both parts of Africa have been dramatically impacted by colonial history. The development can be broken into two phases. One phase is an outgrowth of the Berlin Conference (1884–1885)—a conference called to discuss regulating trade and European colonialization in Africa. The General Act of the Berlin Conference (1885) was the outcome of the meeting and it ushered in the “Scramble for Africa.” The General Act of the Berlin Conference essentially outlined rules and principles for greater incursion of European powers into Africa—primarily, Sub-Saharan Africa. The “Scramble for Africa” was the era from the 1880s to the beginning of World War I where all of Sub-Saharan Africa became occupied by a European colonial empire. Following the era of colonialization, in the 1960s, a dozen African countries became independent from colonial powers. From the 1960s until
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modern day, the government forms of Sub-Saharan Africa in the post-colonial period have been dominated by multiple dictatorships and corrupt regimes. Along with the less-than-democratic government forms in Africa, there has been large amounts of conflict. Due to colonialization and intra-state conflict, the political map of Africa has changed dramatically over time. According to the World Bank, as of 2010, one in four countries in the African continent were affected by armed conflict. These conflicts have included genocide and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda and parts of Burundi in 1994 (where over 800,000 were killed in 100 days), civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Côte d’Ivoire and Somalia. Also, there have been uprisings by minority groups in Nigeria, and separatist conflict in Cameroon and Senegal. There have been also localized conflicts in Ghana, Zambia, and Benin.34 The reasons for the amount of conflict in Africa have been of great concern to scholars, policy-makers and non-governmental organizations. Scholars have posited numerous theories concerning the ‘why’ of conflict prevalence. These theories have included a focus on resource issues, ancient hatreds between peoples of the region, and the proliferation of weapons in the region. (These theories and other theories will be discussed in Chapter Three.) Development in Africa—both North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa—has been very limited when compared to the rest of the developing world. An examination of the HDI statistics for Africa finds many of the countries at the bottom of the list. As of 2009, twenty-three of the twenty-four countries that were designated as having low human development were located in Africa. The only African country to have high human development—according to the United Nations Development Programme—was the Seychelles. Additionally, sixty-six percent of the countries designated as Least Developed Countries (LDCs) by the United Nations are from Africa.35 There are many obstacles to development in Africa, including the impact of HIV/AIDS on the populations. With a large portion of their populations being affected by the disease, a large amount of the potential labor market in Africa (particularly Sub-Saharan Africa) has been devastated. The human potential of the continent is being held back. Additionally, conflict in the region and the high external debt has dramatically influenced the potential for development. (This will be explored more in Chapter Four.) Globalization has been a large challenge for all of Africa. There has been limited integration of African countries into the global economy. The countries have remained marginalized. Some argue this lack of greater global integration may be a result of the historical place the region has played in global society. For much of its history, the region has been a pool from which colonial powers could draw raw resources. Due to the rich resource base throughout the continent, there has been great potential that has been unrealized. This lack of realization may be due to the position these countries 16
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have found themselves in their post-colonial history.36 The marginalization of Africa in the new global market place has also been affected by the increasing lack of foreign direct investment (or, the participation of a company in the economy outside of the country where they are located). In the 1970s, thirty-three percent of foreign direct investment (FDI) that went to the developing world was going to Africa. By the 1990s, this had decreased to five percent.37 Decreases in FDI in Africa are linked to the stability of the region. As instability reigns, greater global integration continues to wane.
THE MIDDLE EAST Any viewing of modern media finds the Middle East very visible. Whether speaking of nuclear issues in Iran or the on-going conflict between Israel and Palestine, the region has become a normal part of daily discussions. Yet, there is no clear agreement concerning ‘what’ is the Middle East. Some include the Arab countries of North Africa and exclude Iran and Turkey. Others include these countries and Afghanistan and Pakistan. For purposes of this work, Iran and Turkey have been included in the regional grouping. Afghanistan and Pakistan have been grouped with the Central Asian countries. The term “Middle East” is a Euro-centric term that has been applied to the region and has been adopted over the years by some segments of the population. The term developed to describe the region between the West (Western Europe) and the Far East (South and Southeast Asia). In modern vernacular, one will hear the region also referred to as the Near East. The Middle East has varying sizes of populations and land mass size. The largest country in land mass size is Saudi Arabia (2,149,690 sq km) and the smallest country is Bahrain (741 sq km). Population sizes in the Middle East varies from Turkey (the largest at 77,804,122) to Bahrain (with the smallest population at 738,004). Similar to North Africa, the populations of Middle East are very large. Only two countries in North Africa have populations under one million—Bahrain and Qatar. This is consistent with the larger population growth rates in the region. Three of the top ten population growth rates in the world are in the Middle East region (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the Gaza Strip portion of Palestine). The countries of the Middle East have common characteristics including religious background and ethnic makeup. With the exception of Israel and the Greek Cypriot population of Cyprus, all of the countries in the region have Muslim majority populations. Yet, the sects of Islam and the interpretations of Islam vary from country to country. For example, the conservative Sunni Muslim country of Saudi Arabia sits across the Persian Gulf from the largest Shia Muslim population in the world. This is located in Iran. Also, the influence of religion in daily life varies from country to country. For example, in the secular Muslim country of Turkey, Islam has less of an impact on the
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government and political processes. The ethnic makeup of the majority of the countries are Arab. Israel, Turkey, and Iran are minorities in this instance. Israel has an Arab minority population, but the majority of the population are Jewish. In the case of Turkey and the Turkish Cypriot population in Cyprus, the population is primarily Turkish.38 The Greek Cypriot population of Cyprus are ethnically Greek and the primary religious faith is Greek Orthodox Christianity. Conflict has been a major part of life in the region for many decades. Since 1945, these conflicts have included inter-state wars between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s and between Israel and various Arab countries in 1948, 1967, 1973, and the early 1980s. Additionally, intrastate conflict has become pervasive in the region. This has included conflict between the Kurds and the Iraqi government prior to 2003 and the Kurds and the Turkish government to present day. This reasons for these conflicts have been as varied as the reasons for conflict in other regions of the world. One outgrowth of the violence in the region is the development of violent transnational organizations. These organizations have attacked both targets in the developing world and developed world. Their public arguments for the violent attacks in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Spain have been the developed world’s alliances with Israel and corrupt regimes. As a result of the interconnectedness between the region and the developed world, violence from the region has found its way to the outside. Development of the region is greatly varied and divided. With five of the sixteen countries listed as countries with very high human development (Israel, Kuwait, Cyprus, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates) and four countries listed as having medium human development, the division of development in the Middle East in apparent. The division appears to be primarily along economic lines. Those countries which have large oil resources or who are integrated into the global economy appear to have faired better in development. For example, the oil and gas-rich countries of the Persian Gulf—with the exception of Iran—all have very high or high human development as of 2009. When further examining the development of Middle East populations along gender lines, it becomes apparent that women have not faired as well as men. As noted by the World Bank, women continue to be a resource that has not been adequately explored.39 In a large portion of the Middle East, women are marginalized in the political, education, and economic spheres of everyday life. Due to its geographical location, the Middle East has since ancient times been interconnected with other regions of the world. As a major stop along the Silk Road that joined China with Europe, global integration has been a part of the historical development of the region. Some have argued—with the exception of the Persian Gulf states, Israel and Turkey—a large majority of the region “[…] appears to be missing out on the promised economic benefits of globalization.”40 Some countries in the Middle East have prospered from greater globalization. For example, Dubai (a major city in the United Arab Emirates) 18
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has become a major global commercial banking center and tourist destination for the Arab world and visitors from outside of the Arab region. Large oil revenues have allowed Dubai to build the tallest skyscraper in the world, create a series of artificial islands in the Persian Gulf and begin a series of building projects. A drive through the city-state of Dubai will find cultural symbols familiar to those in the developed world. With greater globalization, cultural interdependence has grown between the developed and developing world. Burger King, Domino’s Pizza and Baskin Robbins in the city of Dubai are proof of both greater cultural global integration and economic interdependence.
CENTRAL, SOUTH, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA The last of the regions to be discussed is Asia. It is the largest region of the developing world and the three regions—Central Asia, South Asia and Southeast Asia—contain three-fifths of the world’s populations. Asia has a diversity of religions and ethnicities. Similar to the other regions previously discussed, conflict has been pervasive in the region and there is varying degrees of development in the region. Also, government forms and political processes vary throughout Asia—from the highly repressive oligarchic government in Myanmar to the representative democracy in India. Globalization has linked this region to the developed world in varying degrees. For example, Malaysia and Singapore are both considered to be highly globalized.41 Yet, Laos and Myanmar are both considered two of the least globalized countries in the world. When examining Asia, the variety in land mass and population sizes are numerous. The largest country in Asia and fourth largest country—in terms of land mass size—is China (9,596,961 sq km). Also, the largest population can be found in China (1,330,141,295)—the largest population in the world. Alternatively, the smallest country in Asia is the islands of Maldives (298 sq km). The country with the smallest population is Palua (20,879). The ethnic make up of the large region is diverse and the religious faiths are also varied. The religious makeup of the region includes the Muslim majorities of Central Asia, the mixture of Hindu, Buddhist, and Muslim populations of South Asia and the Roman Catholic, Buddhist and Muslim populations of Southeast Asia. The ethnic background of the peoples of Asia is even more diverse than the religious faiths adhered to in the region. The variation is not only when looking across the entire region. Moreover, immense ethnic diversity exists “within” the countries of Asia. For example, Afghanistan has seven different major ethnic groups, which includes the Pashtuns, Tajiks, Hazaras, Uzbeks, Aimaks, Turkmens, and Balochis. From these seven different major ethnic groups, forty-seven different languages are spoken.42 (For more details concerning the ethnic backgrounds of the peoples of Asia, see Appendix I.) Where and What is The Developing World?
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Similar to other parts of the developing world, Asia has many types of governments and political processes. The forms of governments found in the region are democratic systems, monarchies, and one-man dictatorships (in the case of North Korea) and a military regime in Myanmar. Within these various government forms, there is a variety of political processes which differ widely. For example, the Southeast Asian neighboring countries of Thailand and Laos both operate on forms of democratic governance. In the case of Thailand, there is a monarch which gained his place through inheritance of the position. Additionally, there is prime minister which serves as head of the government after appointment by the king. This blending of the prime minister and parliament and the monarch has resulted in a constitutional monarch in Thailand. Laos has a representative democracy where the president is elected by the National Assembly and the prime minister is nominated by the president and elected by the National Assembly. Even though both countries would be considered democracies, they approach democratic governance in very different manners. Conflict—as with many other parts of the developing world—has been a mainstay in parts of Asia. These conflicts have included intra-state conflict (for example, the on-going struggle of Uighur separatist movements against the Chinese government) and inter-state warfare (including the current military conflicts in Afghanistan that involves the U.S. and a variety of other countries from the developed and developing world). In the latter case, inter-state warfare has lead to significant involvement by the developed world into the affairs of the developing world. In two cases in Southeast Asia (the conflict in Vietnam and the conflict in the Korean peninsula), inter-state war included internal struggles and developed countries became involved over time in these countries. In the case of the Vietnam, the French colonized it beginning in 1858 and made it a part of French Indochina in 1887. Following the defeat of the French by communist forces in 1954 and the signing of the Geneva Accords (1954), Vietnam was split into two separate countries—North and South Vietnam. South Vietnam was supported through military and economic aid by the United States throughout the 1960s. In 1973, the U.S. withdrew its military forces and two years later, North Vietnam overran South Vietnam and reunified the two countries into one country. In the case of North and South Korea, the once-unified Korean peninsula was divided into North Korea (backed by the Soviet Union) and South Korea (backed by the U.S.) following the end of World War Two. Following the Korean War (1950–1953) and an armistice agreement in 1953, the country has remained divided into two countries. In August 2000, there was a movement towards reunification with the June 15th North-South Joint Declaration. Recent years have found this goal towards reunification to be fleeting as relations between the two countries have become strained. Only time will tell if reunification will be possible.
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Development in Asia is more varied than in other regions in the developing world. Using HDI statistics as a measure of development, one can see countries in Asia range from very high human development to low human development. The largest portion of countries in Asia have medium human development. The greater development present in Asia can be connected to greater globalization.43 When comparing globalization trends in the region, it becomes readily apparent those countries who have integrated into global society are fairing better in development. Examples of this are Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea. One key issue—even in those countries with greater development—is the need for promoting greater basic human rights in the region. For example, Brunei Darussalam is highly developed economically and is categorized by some individuals as a developed country. Also, it is listed as having very high human development by the Human Development Report. Yet, Freedom House—a nongovernmental organization that monitors freedom throughout the international system—has rated Brunei Darussalam as a “Not Free”country. This has been due to the continual centralized power wielded by the sultan and the continued repression of the press. This would suggest development measurements do not always adequately measure all of human development. (More discussion concerning the use of statistics to measure development will be discussed in Chapter Four.) Human rights is a key aspect to overall human development. Integration of Asian countries into the globalized world differs throughout the region. Some countries have faired well as the world has become more globalized. With greater use of telecommunication technology throughout the region, Asia is becoming more connected to the developed world. This has posed some challenges for governments who want to keep control over their populations. This was best seen in 2007 in Myanmar (Burma) with the Saffron Revolution. The Saffron Revolution was a series of anti-government protests that involved the Buddhist monks. (The term saffron referring to the color of the Buddhist monks robes.) These protests were against the decision by the State Peace and Development Council, the ruling regime in Myanmar, to remove fuel subsidies. As the peaceful protesting progressed, the ruling regime tried to implement a complete media blackout. With the greater availability of cellphone cameras and the interconnectedness of the world through telecommunications, some images of the crackdown by the Burmese government were transmitted to the developed world. Due to greater globalization, the protestors gained international attention for their cause. This is even as the regime of Myanmar has attempted to isolate itself from outside influences. In this case, globalization played an important role in more than economic integration. It shows that globalization has also allowed the developing world to gain visibility for issues occurring in the region, but which have international consequences.
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CONCLUSION The developing world is a place of varied religious beliefs and a multitude of different ethnicities. Development continues to be a problem for large portions of the developing world, yet some countries have faired better in recent years. As the world becomes smaller through globalizations, the developing world has a mixed record of integrating and not integrating. Some countries have done a better job than others at becoming members of the global society. Yet, there is a greater need for further integration and grasping globalization. Throughout the previous discussion, a broad overview of the developing world has been presented. In the subsequent chapters, various issues will be focused on which have directly impacted the developing world. These issues include: the role of government and political processes, conflict and conflict resolution, development, and the connection that exists between the developing and developed world. In exploring these issues, one should remember these issues have also an impact on the developed world. With the recent global economic crisis and continuing terrorist attacks across the globe, it is apparent the once great divide between the developing world and the developed world has shrunk. Also, the issues explored in the following chapters can be studied as they impact the developed world as a single entity. The issues that often affect the developing world (e.g., poverty, health care, conflict, the intrusion or lack thereof of government) also affect peoples in the developed world. In reading this textbook, one should remember to see themselves in the world, but also see the world in themselves. As the Preface suggested, we have more in common with the peoples of the developing world than we often think.
Key Terms “Brain Drain,” p. 14 “Lost Decade,” p. 11 “Scramble for Africa,” p. 15 Berlin Conference, p. 15 clan, p. 7 Commonwealth Realm, p. 13 developing world, p. 2 ethnicity, p. 8 General Act of the Berlin Conference, p. 15 heuristics, p. 6
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indigenous, p. 10 inter-state conflict, p. 10 intra-state conflict, p. 10 mestizos, p. 9 mulatos, p. 9 nationality, p. 8 penisulars, p. 9 Saffron Revolution, p. 21 shells of influence, p. 5 tribe, p. 7
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RECOMMENDED READINGS Handelman, Howard. The Challenge of Third World Development, 4th ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2006. Jones, James W. Blood that Cries Out From the Earth: The Psychology of Religious Terrorism. New York: Oxford University Press, 2008. Juergensmeyer, Mark. Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. Khapoya, Vincent B. The African Experience: An Introduction. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2010. Nault, Derrick M., ed., Development in Asia: Interdisciplinary, Post-neoliberal, and Transnational Perspectives. Boca Raton, FL: Brown Walker Press, 2009. Payne, Richard and Jamal R. Nassar, Politics and Culture in the Developing World, 4th Edition. Boston: Longman, 2010. Pion-Berlin, David, ed., Civil-Military Relations in Latin America: New Analytical Perspectives. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001. Segal, Robert A., ed., The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Steger, Manfred B. Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Notes 1
This categorization of these regions of the world as the developing world is consistent with other scholarship on this subject. See, Richard J. Payne and Jamal R. Nassar, Politics and Culture in the Developing World, 4th Edition (Boston: Longman, 2010), p. 11 & Peter Burnell and Vicky Randall, Politics in the Developing World (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), p. 387.
2
Term coined by Alfred Sauvy in L’Observateur, August 14, 1952.
3
Mao Zedong on Diplomacy, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1998, p. 454.
4
“Glossary: Developing Countries.” The World Bank. http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/ english/beyond/global/glossary.html (accessed April 21, 2010).
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5
“Approval Plan Glossary: Developing Countries,” University of California Riverside, http:// lib.ucr.edu/depts/acquisitions/YBP%20NSP%20GLOSSARY%20EXTERNAL%20revised6-02. php (accessed April 24, 2010). 6 “Least Developed Countries,” World Trade Organization, http://www.wto.org/english/ thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org7_e.htm (accessed April 21, 2010). 7
“Composition of macro geographical (continental) regions, geographical sub-regions, and selected economic and other groupings,” United Nations Statistics Division, http://unstats.un.org/ unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm#ftnc (accessed March 21, 2010). 8 “Glossary: Least Developed Countries,” The World Bank, http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/ english/beyond/global/glossary.html (accessed April 21, 2010). 9 “Country Grouping Glossary: Least Developed Countries,” United Nations, http://www.un.org/ pubs/cyberschoolbus/infonation3/glossary.html#ldc (accessed April 21, 2010). 10
Currently, the majority of the international system does not recognize Palestine as a state. It does have a central government which includes a central judicial system and it is does have full voting rights in some intergovernmental organizations (i.e., the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the League of Arab States). Yet, in other intergovernmental organizations, such as the United Nations, it has observer status. It is included in this textbook given its current role in the politics and economics of the Middle East region. This should not be construed as taking a particular stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 11 M. Hakan Yavuz, Islamic Political Identity in Turkey (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 21–22. 12 Clifford Geertz, Religion As A Cultural System. Anthropological Approaches to The Study Of Religion. M. Banton. (London, Tavistock: XLIII, 1985), p. 176. 13
Claudia L. Bushman, Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-Day Saints in Modern America ( Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2006), p. 71.
14
Robert A. Segal, ed., The Blackwell Companion to the Study of Religion (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), p. 184. 15
Bhopal R. “Glossary Of Terms Relating To Ethnicity And Race: For Reflection And Debate.” Journal of Epidemiol Community Health (2004) 58:443. 16
Donald Rothchild and Victor A. Olorunsola, “Managing Competing State and Ethnic Claims,” in State versus Ethnic Claims: African Policy Dilemmas, eds. Donald Rothchild and Victor A. Olorunsola (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1983), p. 20. 17
For more information on this distinction between Blacks and Coloureds in South Africa, see, Mohamed Adhikari, Not White Enough, Not Black Enough: Racial Identity in the South African Coloured Community (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2005). 18
Richard N. Ostling. “The Battle for Latin America’s Soul.” Time June 24, 2001.
19
This group is sometimes referred to as “Whites.” It should also be noted that the term penisulars is used a much broader context than was used during Spanish colonialization of Latin America. During the era of Spanish colonialization, penisulars referred those individuals who were Spaniards who were born in Spain and then settled in Latin America. Those individuals who were of Spanish ancestry but born in Latin America were referred to as crillos.
24
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20
David Pion-Berlin, ed., Civil-Military Relations in Latin America: New Analytical Perspectives (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001). 21
The statistics which are used to measure health, knowledge, and a decent standard of living are: combined adult literacy rate and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrolment ratio for knowledge measurement; standard of living by GDP per capita (Purchasing Power Parity in US dollars) for the standard of living measurement; and life expectancy at birth as a measurement for health. For more details, see, http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/faq/. 22
For a broad discussion of globalization, see, Manfred B. Steger. Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009).
23 For full datasets, see, “The Globalization Index,” Foreign Policy (November/December 2007), p. 69–76. 24 See, “2010 KOF Index of Globalization,” http://globalization.kof.ethz.ch/static/pdf/ rankings_2010.pdf. 25 This premise was stated by Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund in 1999. 26 This connection can be seen in statements issued by the Zapatista Movement and because the EZLN chose the day NAFTA came into effect to announce their campaign. The latter was to illustrate their struggle on behalf of the indigenous people who were being adversely impacted by greater economic integration. 27
John E. Flint and I. Geiss, “Africans Overseas: 1790–1870,” in The Cambridge History of Africa, Volume 5, From c. 1790 to c. 1870, ed., John E. Flint (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), p. 422–424. 28
Caribbean Country Management Unit, World Bank, A Time to Choose: Caribbean Development in the 21st Century. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2005), p. xiv. 29
For more details of the HDI figures for Haiti, see the country fact sheet from the UNDP at: http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_HTI.html. 30
For more discussions concerning globalizations impact on the sugar and banana industries in the Caribbean, see, Belal Ahmed, “The Impact of Globalization on the Caribbean Sugar and Banana Industries,” The Society for Caribbean Studies Annual Conference Papers. Can be found at: http:// www.caricom.org/jsp/community/donor_conference_agriculture/preferences.pdf 31
For more discussion of the “brain drain” problem, see, Ransford W. Palmer. The Caribbean Economy in the Age of Globalization. (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2009). 32
For a rich discussion of religion in the everyday life of Africans, see Chapter Two of Vincent Khapoya’s textbook on Africa. See, Vincent B. Khapoya, The African Experience: An Introduction. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2010). 33 For more details, see, Cyril Glassé, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, 3d. (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2008), p. 60. 34
For a greater coverage of the conflict in Africa, see, Elisabeth Porter, Gillian Robinson, Marie Smyth, Albrecht Schnabel, and Eghosa Osaghae, eds. Researching Conflict in Africa: Insights and Experiences. (New York: United Nations University Press, 2005).
Where and What is The Developing World?
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35
For more details concerning the LDC status, see the website of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) at: http://www.unctad.org/templates/Page. asp?intItemID=3641&lang=1. 36 For more discussions of the linkage between colonial histories and future development, see, Jonathan Krieckhaus, Dictating Development: How Europe Shaped the Global Periphery, Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2006. 37 Patrick Bond, “Accumulation by Dispossession in Africa: False Diagnoses and Dangerous Prescriptions,” in Neoliberalism and Globalization in Africa: Contestations on the Embattled Continent, ed., Joseph Mensah (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), p. 21. 38 It should be noted there is a sizeable non-Turkish population in Turkey called the Kurds. The Kurds are from the Altaic ethnolinguistic group but are ethnically different from the Turkish population of Turkey. 39
World Bank, Gender and Development in the Middle East and North Africa: Women in the Public Sphere. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2004), p. xiii. 40
Sherry Lowrance, “Globalization in the Middle East: The Politics of Development and Dissent from Marrakech to Mecca,” in Globalization: Universal Trends, Regional Implications, ed., Howard Wiarda (Lebanon, NH: Northeastern University Press, 2007), p. 198. 41
In the 2010 KOF Index of Globalization, both countries are listed in the top 40 most globalized countries. This is similar results shown in the 2006 A. T. Kearney/FOREIGN POLICY Globalization Index. 42
For more information on languages spoken in the developing world, see, the Ethnologue website at: http://www.ethnologue.com/. 43
For more discussions concerning the connection between globalization and development in Asia, see, Derrick M. Nault, ed., Development in Asia: Interdisciplinary, Post-neoliberal, and Transnational Perspectives. (Boca Raton, FL: Brown Walker Press, 2009).
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CHAPTER 2
WHO IS GOVERNING? THE POLITICS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTER • What is power, politics and government? • How has power been used in the developing world? • What is a state and what are stateless peoples? • What forms of governments can be found in the developing world? • What types of electoral systems are present in the developing world? • What is the role of government in the lives of those living in the developing world? • How has decentralization affected the developing world?
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If men were angels, no government would be necessary. — James Madison (1751–1836)
Whether looking at the developing world or the developed world, it becomes apparent that government and political processes are a necessary part of human existence. One could argue that without government and political processes, humans would resort to chaos. As noted by Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), government is needed to control natural law because “[…] every man is an enemy to every man.”1 Whether one agrees with this idea, government forms and political processes are a constant across the world. The processes of selecting individuals to serve in those governments vary across the developing world. Yet, the developed world seems to be influencing the developing world to transform into forms of governments seen in the West. Even as these transformations occur, the role of government in the developing world is still under question. With issues such as corruption and patronage, the developing world has many challenges ahead. The future of politics in the developing world is still in question. All of these issues will be explored through this chapter.
INTRODUCTION Any study of governments and politics always begins with a discussion of power. From power, politics and governments are derived. Power has been defined in many manners—including the following definition by Ellen Grigsby: “[p]ower is an ability to influence an event or outcome that allows the agent to achieve an objective and/or to influence another agent to act in a manner in which the second agent, on its own, would not choose to act.” Even with the greater debates concerning ‘what’ power is exactly, the core component of Grigsby definition can be seen in similar definition developed by Dahl and C. Wright Mills. Power—for purposes of this text—is defined as the ability to get someone to do something they normally would not do. It comes in different forms and all of these forms are used by governments in the developing world and developed world.
THE FORMS OF POWER The four forms of power are: 1. Physical power—Power that uses force (violent or non-violent forms) over another to gain a given goal. 2. Rewards and/or punishment power—Power where the possibility of rewards or punishment are used to gain the intended consequences. 28
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3. Manipulative power—Power where influencing an individual’s opinion allows one to gain desired behavior. The desires and goals of the actor attempting to do the influencing are hidden from the individual trying to be influenced. 4. Persuasive power—Power where influencing an individual’s opinion allows one to gain a desired behavior. Yet, the desires and goals of the actor attempting to do the influencing are not hidden from the individual trying to be influenced.2
Physical Power Physical power comes in many different forms. The most notable use of physical power is the use of violence. Individuals, groups of individuals or countries, can use this subcategory of physical power. At the individual level of analysis, violence can be found throughout the world when individuals attempt to gain power over other individuals. This can be seen in individual acts of murder, robbery and assault. At the group or collective level of analysis, a group of people can use violence against other groups of people, individuals or against the state to gain power. Examples of this type of violent physical power can be seen in intercommunal violence, gang activity against an individual, or terrorist activities against a given country. Physical power does not always have to include violence. Non-violence protest is a form of physical power. Groups of individuals marching through the streets in protest of government action can be categorized as non-violence physical power. In these instances, the marching protestors have power because they are getting others (i.e., government officials, spectators, and police) to do something they normally would not be doing. Activities involving physical power can range from the terrorist attacks by Al-Qaeda on September 11, 2001 to the non-violent protest marches by Buddhist monks in Myanmar in 2007.
The Use of Violent Physical Power in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq The country of Iraq is divided demographically into three major groups—the Kurds in northern Iraq, Sunni Muslims in central and western Iraq and Shia Muslims in southern Iraq. In 1979, Saddam Hussein came to power in Iraq. Even though the Shia Muslim population and Kurdish population outnumbered the Sunni Arabs, they were marginalized by Saddam’s regime. From 1979 to 2003, the Baathist political party and individuals from Saddam Hussein’s Began clan, from the village of Auja near the town of Tikrit, ruled Iraq.3 From 1986 to 1989, the Iraqi government used physical power against the Kurdish population in northern Iraq in the Anfal campaign (also known as Operation Anfal). This use of physical power included the use of chemical weapons and aerial bombings. One of the most notable events of this period was the use of chemical weapons against the Kurdish village of Halabjah. The chemical Who is Governing? The Politics of the Developing World
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weapons killed an approximate 5,000 people, including women and children. This was one of the events which Saddam Hussein was to be tried for following the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Before he could be put on trial, he was executed for his role in the 1982 Dujail Massacre. Similar physical power was used against the Shia population of Iraq. Following the end of the 1991 Gulf War, Shia and Kurdish populations attempted to resist against the Iraqi government. Iraqi security and military forces crushed this uprising.” It is estimated that 300,000 Shias were killed and buried in mass graves following this uprising.4 Furthermore, the Iraqi government began to block the waterways flowing into the marshlands of southern Iraq, which has Shia majority populations. In 1992, Western forces (primarily the U.S., the U.K. and France) created a “no-fly zone” in northern Iraq and southern Iraq to protect the Kurds and Shia Muslims, respectively. The Iraqi government continued the use of ground forces against the Shia populations in spite of the “no-fly zones.” As can be seen by this previous discussion, the use of physical power—particularly the use of violence—is a common technique used by governments in the developed world. As activities by transnational terrorist organizations showed in New York City, Madrid and Scotland, it is not an exclusive form of power used by governments.
Rewards and/or Punishment Power Another form of power used by individuals, groups, and governments is rewards and/or punishment power. Some refer to this as exchange power. This is where actors are provided an opportunity to gain rewards or risk punishment to act out a given behavior. Those providing the reward or punishment have power over those being provided with the opportunity or risk. One of the most common forms of rewards and/or punishment power used by governments in the developing world is patronage. Patronage is individuals being offered political positions, economic advantages or social advantage for their support of another individual’s goals or desires. This creates a relationship between patron and client. The patron is the individual who can provide the political, social and/ or economic advantage. The client is the individual who is taking advantage of the offer from the patron. The type of patronage offered depends on the rules of society and “[…] on the class and rank of the patron and client.”5 Patronage is sometimes seen as a form of corruption.6 In the developing world, patronage networks have become a normal manner of conducting governmental affairs. Patronage is a preferred technique used in Yemen. The government routinely uses patronage to secure support among tribal leaders. This allows the government to remain in power and not be routinely challenged by the tribal leadership throughout the country.7 Similar approaches to using this type of power can be seen in 30
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Latin America. As patronage can be linked to the provision of goods and services, this outcome of rewards and/punishment power can create an unequal society. Those who support the government or particular governmental leaders may be ensured they will receive a given good or service. This may result in other segments of society not being given the good and services or being given it in a limited manner. This has led to frustration among peoples in the developing world. Where there is great frustration over provision of goods and services, potential violence can erupt. This linkage will be discussed in more detail in Chapter 3.
Manipulative Power Another form often used by individuals, groups and countries is manipulative power. Manipulative power is the influencing of an individual’s outlook. This new outlook allows the person doing the influencing to gain desired behavior from the person being influenced. The desires and goals of the actor attempting to do the influencing are hidden from the individual trying to be influenced. An individual can use this type of power. An example is a mother or father may use manipulative power to get their children to behave in a given manner (e.g., obey rules set by the parents). Individual leaders of political movements may use manipulative power to create support for their cause. This can include the use of fabrications about opponents. One clear example from world history of the use of manipulative power is the speeches and rhetoric used by Adolph Hitler to maintain support for his goals. Hitler began to blame individuals from various groups (in particular, Jewish people) for the ills of German society. In this approach, he was gaining support for his domination of global society through the Third Reich.
The Role of Controls on the Press to Manipulate Populations Governments throughout the developing world use manipulative power to maintain control over populations. One effective manner used by some governments in the developing world is control of the message presented by the media (newspapers, radio, television and Internet-based media). This is accomplished in the developing world in two major methods—ownership of the media and control of the message from the media. In some countries in the developing world, the state controls the media outlets. The news and nonnews broadcast can be owned and controlled by the governments. Newspapers tend to be more frequently owned by the private sector when compared to television and radio.8 In Venezuela, there are a large number of privately owned media outlets. Yet, the Venezuelan government also controls a large portion of the radio, television and newspaper outlets. The Venezuelan government owns the following television stations: teleSUR, TVes, ViVe, and Venezolana de Televisión. It is suggested government leaders have used these media outlets to challenge opponents unfairly in elections. Who is Governing? The Politics of the Developing World
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A similar example can be seen in the Gambia. On the western coast of Africa, Gambia controls television by owning the only television station in the country. According to a 2009 report from Freedom House (a Freedom of the Press report), the government state-owned media outlets present “[p]olitical news coverage at these outlets [that] generally toes the official line.”9 In some cases, the companies controlling these media outlets are privately owned. However, these private owners of the media are sometimes linked directly to the government. This may be through family ties or through a patronage network. In the latter, private owners of the media may be given incentives (e.g., money and leadership positions in government) to report favorably on governmental affairs. An example of this can be seen in media coverage in Zimbabwe. It has been reported some journalists have received bribes from government officials for favorable coverage.10 This is one method of how government officials can use manipulative power over a population. Controlling of the media’s message is not always linked to the issue of ownership. It can also be related to control of what is being presented by the media. Governments in the developing world attempts to control the priming and framing of given issues. Priming is the media paying more attention to one issue over another issue. This suggests to the viewer of the information that it is more important to focus on the issue focused on by the media.11 For example, if the media focuses their reporting on economic downturns in the country, this may be focused on by the population instead of political corruption issues. Framing is the media presenting a particular perspective about a given issue. This may include the presenting only a perspective that supports a given political party’s position or a particular government position. Priming and framing are often used together by media outlets. The media focuses on one particular issue (priming) and then portrays that issue in a particular fashion (framing). This can be a very effective tool to be used by governments if they are attempting to marginalize claims by segments of the populations against the government. In this instance, the government could focus on the insecurity caused by the protestors, and then reframe their concerns as illegitimate and not worry of addressing. The protestors may even be labeled as terrorists in these kinds of frames. Governments may gain control over the priming and framing through censorship of the media. In parts of the developing world, it is routine practice to censor messages coming from independent media outlets if they are critical of the government and/or governmental leaders. This has influenced some media outlets to focus only on issues that do not harm the political leadership of the country.
Persuasive Power The last form of power is persuasive power. This is similar to manipulative power except the goals or desires of the person trying to do the influencing are known. Persuasion may also use priming 32
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and framing. Persuasive power is “[a]t the heart of social movement and social upheavals.”12 In the case of social movements, it is obvious to the viewer what the goals are. It is necessary to highlight the goals of the movement to gain support for the movement. Persuasion is necessary to convince people to join the movement or lend support for the movement’s cause. People power movements have used persuasion throughout countries in the developing world. Using persuasive power, people power movements in the Philippines, South Africa, Nepal, Thailand, Myanmar, and China have attempted to successfully and unsuccessfully struggle against those governments. In 1986, the Philippines were witness to the success use of persuasion. This year witnessed the People Power Revolution that led to the downfall of then-president Ferdinand Marcos. On August 21, 1983, Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr.—returned to the Philippines to lead the people’s power movement and was assassinated as he disembarked his plane at the former Manila International Airport. Prior to his arrival, the people’s power movement had used non-violent protests and other techniques to garner support from the people of the Philippines. Due to the asymmetrical difference in power between the protestors and the Marcos Philippine government, persuasion was one of the only forms of power the people’s movement had at their disposal. Through persuading people of the problems created for the average Filipino citizen by the Marcos government, the leaders of the people’s movement were able to garner support for their cause. Additionally, the movement was able to convince the people of the Philippines that through joint action they could overthrow the existing regime. The use of persuasion was so successful that members of the Philippine military began to side with the movement.13 Power is a concept, which is difficult to adequately define and discuss in a limited manner. Just as it is difficult to create a universal definition of power, it is also challenging—if not impossible—to develop a universally agreed upon definition of politics. Yet, to understand fully the developing world, one must have knowledge of politics, government, and state.
POLITICS, GOVERNMENTS AND THE STATE Politics—as a term and concept—is a highly contested term. One definition given by scholars for politics is “the practice of the art or science of directing and administrating states or other political units.14 Another commonly accepted definition of politics is from Harold Lasswell. Lasswell defines politics as “who gets what, how.”15 Politics—for the purposes of this textbook—is the process of the distribution of goods and services. Governments in their role within countries are very much involved in politics. Government is the people, organizations, and processes which organize the affairs of a country and is involved managing politics. Governments can come in many different forms and can manage Who is Governing? The Politics of the Developing World
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the affairs of the state in many different ways. There are growing numbers of democratic forms of governments in the world. Yet, there are still kingdoms, confederations, and theocracies in the world. Government is a core component of the state. Since the treaties of the Peace of Westphalia (1648), the state has been one of the major actors in international affairs. The state can be defined by the four characteristics it must have under international law. A state has (1) a permanent population; (2) a defined territory; (3) government; and (4) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.16 The fourth criterion is linked to the principle that other states and international organizations recognize a state as an entity. One type of recognition is membership in the United Nations. Some have argued with this principle because not all states have always been members of the U.N. Yet, these states were recognized as states since their creation. An example is Switzerland. Switzerland has been a state since the founding of the Swiss Confederation in 1291, yet did not join the United Nations until 2002. Not every country in the world has to recognize a state for it to exist in international law. Israel’s right to exist has been denied by multiple states throughout the Arab and Muslim world. Additionally, non-Arab and non-Muslim countries such as Cuba and North Korea do not recognize it as a state. This may seem like not a matter of concern for the global community. However, this lack of recognition as a state means these countries do not have diplomatic relationships with Israel. In some cases, this has also meant Israeli passports are not recognized for purpose of travel to the nonrecognizing states.17
Stateless Peoples There are populations of people in the world that met some of the requirements of a state. Yet, due to problems with one or more of the principles, the global community does not recognize them as a state. These populations are referred to as stateless peoples. Stateless peoples are people who do not belong to a recognized state. These are individuals can be refugees or displaced persons who have “[…] no official nationality […].”18 Their stateless status may be due to natural disasters or man-made disasters (for example, war). In 2006, it was estimated that between 5.8 and 15 million people would be considered stateless.19 Stateless peoples including, the Palestinians and the Kurds in the Middle East, a segment of Russians, Ukrainians, and Belorussians in Latvia, the Bidoons in the United Arab Emirates, and the Biharis in Pakistan—are a major concern in both the developed and developing world. One of the largest populations of stateless people is the Palestinians. In 1948, the new state of Israel and various Arab countries surrounding Israel fought. This is known to Israelis as the War of Independence (Milhemet Haatzma’ut) or to Arabs as the Catastrophe (al-Nakba). During the 34
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1948 war, the conflict created a mass exodus of Palestinians from modern day Palestine and Israel. It is estimated that 650,000 Palestinians fled during the war and the period shortly after the war.20 Israelis, Arabs and Palestinians debate the reasons for the mass exodus. One side argues the radio broadcast by Arab countries persuaded the Palestinians to leave their homes and remain out of the conflict. The other side argues the mass exodus was due to Israeli guerrilla groups forcing Palestinians from their homes. Regardless of the reason, the war of 1948 and subsequent wars have led to a large group of Palestinians who are stateless people. Some have received citizenship in other Arab countries. Yet, there is still a sizeable population who remain without any official citizenship and therefore, they are stateless peoples.
TYPES OF GOVERNMENTS As noted earlier, there is an abundance of government forms in the developing world. One method that can be used to categorize these types of governments into manageable groups is to use the Aristotelian schematic of government forms. In observing governments of the time, Aristotle stated governments are: (1) ruled by a single leader, or (2) ruled by a small group, or (3) ruled by the masses. He further observed that rulers might rule in their own favor or in the interest of all. Combining these observations, one can create a schematic similar to Table 2.1. Using these observed types of governments, one can see government forms in the developing world center around rule by a monarch, rule by an elite group or rule by the masses.
TABLE 2.1 – Aristotle’s Observations of Governments Benefit to Ruler
Benefit to All
Single Rule
Tyranny
Monarch
Group Rule
Oligarchy
Aristocracy
Mass Rule
Democracy
Polity
Rule by One and Forms of the Governments When a single ruler controls the government, this is often referred to as a monarchy. The single ruler controls all of the power of the country or controls it to a certain degrees. The subcategories of monarchy include absolute monarchies; constitutional monarchies; and limited monarchies. Each of these varieties of monarchies exists throughout the developing world. The absolute monarchy is when the monarch retains power over all issues addressed by the government. All final decisions are made and/or approved by the monarch. These decisions may be done in combination with suggestions from advisors or consultative councils. An example of an absolute monarchy that uses Who is Governing? The Politics of the Developing World
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consultative councils in the developing world is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The king of the country is the ultimate authority of the state. However, the king also seeks advice from his cabinet and the Consultative Council (Majlis Al-Shura). The Consultative Council consists of 150 members appointed by the King for four-year renewable terms. Originally, the focus of the body was to discuss and provide advice on “[…] regulations and issues of national and public interest.” As of 2004, the Majlis Al-Shura can propose legislation and amendments to current laws in Saudi Arabia—without prior approval to the king.21 Another form of monarchy is a limited monarchy. A limited monarchy is a system where the monarch retains some powers, but primarily these powers are of the ceremonial form. This form of government still allows the monarch to have a role in the government, yet it is primarily to be the face of the country. Generally, when one thinks about examples of this kind, they focus on the United Kingdom and Japan. The first has a ruling queen and the second country has an emperor. Yet, there are examples of this form of government in the developing world. Malaysia is an example of a limited monarchy. The current king of Malaysia is Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin and he serves primarily as a ceremonial figurehead. Hereditary lineage is linked to the position. However, nine of the thirteen states make the selection of the king, which makeup the federal system of Malaysia. The king is selected for a five-year term from and by the hereditary rulers of the nine states. The position rotates amongst the hereditary rulers. The last major form of monarchy is a constitutional monarchy. A constitutional monarchy has the powers of the monarch outlined in a constitution, a series of laws or customary law. Many constitutional monarchies and limited monarchies have a parliamentary system. In these systems, the prime minister is often the head of government and the monarch serves as the chief of state. A chief of state is the public representative of the state and the head of government is the individual responsible for directing the business of the government. In some government forms, these titles are mutually exclusive and at other times, head of government and chief of state is overlapping. Bahrain, an island country located in the Persian Gulf, is a constitutional monarchy. The chief of state is King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, the hereditary ruler of the country. The head of government is Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, who was appointed by the monarch. Yet, Bahrain has a bicameral legislative body with the Council of Representatives directly elected by the people of Bahrain to serve four-year terms.
Variations of the Rule by One The number of absolute monarchies in the developing world and developed world has diminished over time. Some of these monarchies have transitioned towards government that is more democratic. This can be seen with the various constitutional monarchies that exist throughout the 36
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developing world. They include numerous governments in the Middle East (for example, Jordan, Bahrain and Morocco). Some variations of the traditional monarch also exist in the developing world. One example is a sultanate. A sultanate is a government where a monarch rules over a Muslim country. A similar form of monarchy is an emirate. An emirate is a government where a monarch (an emir or prince) rules over a Muslim country. Examples of sultanates are Brunei Darussalam and Oman. In both of these cases, the sultan serves as both the head of government and the chief of state. The Persian Gulf country of Qatar is a modern day example of an emirate. There is also the United Arab Emirates which a combination of emirate and confederation. The leadership of the country is selected by the emirs of the various emirates that makeup the country.
Rule by a Few and Forms of the Governments In some part of the global community, a single person does not rule. Instead, a small group of individuals controls the government. This is sometimes referred to as an oligarchy. An oligarchy is a group of elites who serve as the leadership of the government and this group makes all decisions. One form of rule by a few is a military junta. A military junta is members of the country’s military, having gained control of the government, serve as the primary decision-makers in government. This often results in the aftermath of a military coup. In some cases, these military juntas have replaced democratic forms of government, such as the military coup in 1973 in Chile. On September 11, 1973, the President of Chile, Salvador Allende, was overthrown by a military coup d’état. This military coup was lead by General Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean Army general. The heads of Chile’s Navy, Air Force, Carabineros (police force) and Army turned into the new cabinet. Pinochet took Allende’s position and led the new government. The Congress— announced Pinochet following the coup—“[w]ill be in recess until further notice.”22 From 1973 to 1988, Pinochet served as leader of Chile using the military and security forces to maintain control over the country. After a plebiscite (direct vote by the Chilean population on an issue) in 1988, a new President was elected to lead Chile. Pinochet remained Commander-in-Chief of Chile’s Army until 1998 and then was given the title, senator-for-life. He died in 2006 after fighting numerous legal battles concerning his role in the deaths of individuals who were labeled as opposition to Pinochet’s government. Chile—in the post-Pinochet period—has developed into one of the most stable countries in Latin America. It has had the highest human development in Latin America for many years. Another form of rule by few is individuals from one political party or ideology serving as the leadership of a country. This can be seen in some one-party countries—for example, Cuba. Who is Governing? The Politics of the Developing World
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Cuba’s Communist Party is the only political party allowed to run for elections to the National Assembly of People’s Power. Since the National Assembly is responsible for electing the president and vice presidents of Cuba, only individuals from Cuba’s Communist Party will be elected to lead the country. This is whether one is talking about the executive branch or legislative branch of the Cuban government.
Rule by the Masses and Forms of Governments One of the fastest growing forms of government in the developing world is rule by the masses. This form of government is often called democracy. Democracy—for purposes of this textbook—is the power to control the government residing with the citizens of the country. The term democracy is problematic as there is no universally agreed-upon definition. One definition of democracy sees it as a form of government where people through common efforts will make decisions that bring to fruition the common good. Joseph Schumpeter argues this definition is problematic. He argues there is no common will amongst populations or a common good. Schumpeter saw free and fair elections as a major necessary component of elections.23 Samuel Huntington defined democracy in the following manner: “[where] most powerful collective decision makers are selected through fair, honest and periodic elections in which candidates freely compete for votes and in which virtually all the adult population is eligible to vote.” Additionally, Huntington sees democratic forms of government needing more than elections for participation by the masses. It also needs political and civil freedoms “[…] to speak, publish, assemble, and organize [….].”24 There are many other definitions of democracy but for the purpose of this textbook, democratic forms for government will categorize into two major subgroups—direct and indirect forms of democracy. One should remember this is only for the simplicity of categorizing countries and to distinguish one type of government from another form of government. The strength of democracy within a state or the level of democratic values present vary and should not distract from the larger discussion of government forms. Indirect and direct forms of government can be found throughout the developing world. One of the largest democracies based on population size can be found in the developing world—India. Direct democracy is the population of a country making decisions through a direct vote. This is sometimes done through a plebiscite or a referendum. A referendum is the population of a country being asked to make a decision that the government is then bound to enforce. A plebiscite is the population of a country being asked to decide whether a prior decision by the government should be sanctioned. Referendums are decisions by the population versus a plebiscite that is asking for
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support of the government and its prior actions. An example of the use of direct democracy can be seen in the voting by a country’s population on constitutional amendments. Another example is the direct voting for political leaders who serve in the executive (for example, the voting for the president of a country). From 1990 to 2000, approximately 405 popular referenda occurred at the national level throughout the world. Even though the majority occurred in Western Europe, thirty-seven occurred in Africa and twenty-six in Asia.25 The best example of a plebiscite in the developing world was the 1988 vote, which ousted Augusto Pinochet and the military junta from ruling over Chile. This vote against the Pinochet regime allowed Chile to have free elections after 1988 for the presidential office. An example of the use of referendum can be seen in the 2004 vote to unify the island of Cyprus. The referendum was an attempt to unify the Turkish Cypriot North with the Greek Cypriot South into a single Cypriot country. The referendum failed in the southern portion of the island (amongst the Greek Cypriot population) and was passed by Turkish Cypriot population in the northern portion of the island. Indirect democracy is growing more commonplace in the developing world. Indirect democracy is the selection of individuals to serve on behalf of a country’s population and then, these individuals make decisions for the people. When legislators, mayors, council members, presidents, and other individuals, elected by the people, make decisions this is considered a form of indirect democracy. Countries who use indirect democracy are called republics. The title of republic tells outsiders that an indirect democratic form of government is being used, but it does accurately describe the level of participation by the masses. In addition, the title of republic should not suggest the majority of a country’s population is selecting politicians. An example can be seen with the country of Iraq when Saddam Hussein was president. The country was referred to as a republic, yet the Sunni Baathist minority marginalized Shia and Kurdish majority populations politically. Irregularities in voting often garnered Saddam Hussein an election where he was elected by ninety-nine percent of the vote.
ELECTORAL PROCESSES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD The selection of political leadership in the developing world is varied. Some presidential offices are filled through direct elections and others are made through appointments by the monarch or by a legislative body. The head of government offices in the developing world are often filled through appointment. The people fill the chief of state positions through inheritance and direct vote. In one particular case, the chief of state of Iran is appointed by an Assembly of Experts, who themselves are elected by the citizenry of Iran.
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Electoral Systems in the Developing World In governments where the people elect the legislature and executive, there are varieties of ways this selection process can occur. The processes whereby legislatures can be selected in the developing world can be categorized into the following types: • First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) • Party Block Vote (PBV) • Two-Round System (TRS) • Mixed Member Proportional System (MMP) • Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) • Block Vote (BV) • Alternative Vote (AV) • List Proportional Representation (List PR) • Parallel Systems (PS) Each of these electoral systems was selected by countries due to two major reasons: demographic issues (for example, disproportionate sizes of ethnic groups) and historical determinants. Historical determinants may be how previous systems of governance lead to corruption or other forms of misuse of power. Additionally, the shift from one type of electoral system (or, the retaining of a previous electoral system) may be due to colonial governance history. Former colonies may desire to retain the system put in place by the empire that had formerly colonized them. In other instances, the new independent state may desire to implement an electoral system that is not similar to the former colonial power. The most common form of electoral system in the developing world is the list proportional representation system. This system is the most common electoral system in the world. The List PR system is when political parties or groups present a list of candidates (block of candidates). There are multiple seats available in each district. Voters select a block (party or group). The seats in the legislative body are distributed based on the proportion of the vote that each group or party gained in the elections. For example, in 2009, there were legislative elections for the Israeli Knesset. The Kadima political party won 22.47 percent of the votes and therefore, they were given 28 seats out of the 120 seats available in the Knesset. The Likud political party won 21.61 percent of the vote and they were allocated 27 seats. The List PR system can be closed or open (free). A closed List PR system is whereby the winning party picks the candidates to serve based on how they were listed 40
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on the original list. In an open List PR system, voters can determine which candidates they want to serve in political office from the list by marking their preference. The List PR system is used by forty states in the developing world. This electoral system is most common in Latin America with sixteen of the twenty countries using it to select their legislatures. The second most common electoral system in the developing world—and in the world as a whole—is the first-past-the-post (FPTP) systems. This is an electoral system that should be familiar to most Americans as it is used in the U.S. The FPTP electoral system uses the principle of plurality. Plurality is an individual winning the most votes out of any elections. Plurality and majority cannot be used synonymously. Majority is the attainment of fifty-one percent or more of the votes. In FPTP systems, the candidates who are elected are those who win the most amounts of votes. This may mean—in some cases—they do not win more than fifty-one percent of the votes available. Unlike a List PR system, voters in a FPTP system are voting for individual candidates for districts where only one person can win. An example of this can be seen in the Central Asian state of Azerbaijan. Since 2005, the National Assembly has elected individuals to the 125 seats available through a FPTP system. Each candidate is running in single-seat constituencies. This was a shift from using a combined FPTP system and a proportional representative (PR) system. Before 2005, 100 seats of the National Assembly were allocated via the FPTP system and 25 seats were allotted through proportional representation voting. (One could argue this is a moot issue in Azerbaijan because a single political party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has dominated the politics.)26 Other electoral systems are present throughout the developing world is lesser number. Sixteen countries use the Two-Round System (TRS). Twelve countries use the Parallel System (PS). Six countries use Block Voting systems. Four countries use the Party Block Vote (PBV) electoral system and four countries use the Mixed Member Proportional System (MMP). Jordan and Afghanistan use a Single Non-Transferable Vote (SNTV) electoral system and Papua New Guinea uses the Alternative Vote (AV) system.27 Some countries use alternative approaches to selecting legislators. The best example is the selection of the members of the General People’s Congress in Libya. The 760 seats of the legislative body are filled through indirect elections. This indirect election process is the selecting of individuals through a series of people’s committee.
ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN THE MODERN DEVELOPING WORLD When examining the politics and government of the developing world, the role that governments play in people’s lives varies greatly. Grand Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, plays a significant role by being a vanguard over the legislation and Who is Governing? The Politics of the Developing World
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decisions made by the legislative and executive branch. In this instance, he serves as an overseer to prevent laws and government decisions which conflict with religious law (Islamic law or Shari’ah). Similarly, the president of Sri Lanka and Egypt has great control over the government and its decisions. In both cases, the executive branch has the power to declare ‘states of emergency’ and ignore the decisions by other branches of government. Other countries—such as India—have governments that have more balanced distribution of power.
Decentralization in the Developing World At the heart of this debate of the distribution of power is centralized power versus decentralized power. Centralized power is governments tending to maintain their power within the central government. Local governments and provincial governments are given very little power. Decentralized power is governments tending to allow local and provincial governments to manage their own affairs. In recent years in the developing world, there has been a call for greater decentralization of power. Decentralization has included handing over administrative, fiscal (monetary), and political responsibilities to local governments and in some cases, the private sector.28 This is a significant change for the developing world. It has depended on centralizing power to maintain control over the state. The reasons for the growth in decentralization are mixed. According to the Litvak, Ahmad, and Bird, the reasons include: the development of multiparty systems; growth in democratic reforms; the growth of market economies; the need to improve the delivery of services and goods; ethnic tensions between various groups; and overall failure of central governments to address the needs of the populations.29 Additionally, decentralization has been a major component of official debt assistance programs by the World Bank, countries in the developed world, and other entities. (In Chapter 4 and 5, the role of foreign aid and its impact on the developing world will be discussed.) The impact of decentralization of power has had mixed results in the developing world. One problem highlighted is the lack of human and fiscal resources at the local level to carry out governmental functions. The central government has a larger base to draw from to provide services and goods to the people of a country.30 The shift of the economic sphere to private industries has been one of the more significant phenomenons in the decentralizing process. Following independence from former colonial powers, many developing countries went through a period of state-run economies. In these instances, the governments became involved in managing banks and running some industries. This led to a great amount of nepotism and corruption given there was a lack of accountability for those running the economy. Rent-seeking—a process where individuals attempt to gain monies through manipulation of the economic or political realm rather than through legitimate business transactions—became a normal behavior in the developing world.31 It was particularly a problem 42
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when the political power was also heavily centralized. Some segments of the population did better than other portions of the population under these types of power structures. The process of decentralization has pushed portions of the developing world to move towards more market-based economies. This has meant turning over certain industries and the banking system to private companies. One example has been the shift of China’s centralized economic system towards “market socialism.” China—since the end of the Cultural Revolution—has attempted to integrate itself with more with the global economy. One approach has been the allowance of greater privatization of components of the economy. In 2005, the Chinese government gave permission for more than 1,300 state-owned companies to sell gradually stocks to private investors.32 This processes of greater privatization and the decentralization of the economy to the private sector have continued. Only time will tell if the rest of the developing world will follow China’s model, but in recent years, some developing countries have decentralized their economy more as they have recentralized their political power.
CONCLUSION As can be seen from this previous discussion, politics abound throughout the developing world. Forms of government are many and the process of selecting political leadership is as diverse as the governments they serve. Power is used in many different ways and by many different actors. Power comes in many different forms and as the examples show, it has been used and continues to be used by political leaders to gain the upper hand. Social movements and political movements have been successful in using some forms of power (e.g., the People’s Power Movement of the Philippines) and at other times, governments have been able to use other forms of power to maintain control (e.g., Saddam Hussein’s defeat of Kurdish and Shia populations in Iraq). At its core, the developing world has much in common with the developed world when it comes to government structures, the roles of government, and selection of political leaders. As globalization continues, the developing world continues to replicate some models of the developed world to better integrate. At other times, the developing world has tried to retain its own profile in the midst of an ever-growing similar system of politics and government.
Key Terms Absolute monarchy, p. 35 Centralized power, p. 42 Chief of state, p. 36 Client, p. 30
Decentralized power, p. 42 Democracy, p. 38 Direct democracy, p. 38 Emirate, p. 37
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Framing, p. 32 Government, p. 33 Head of government, p. 36 Indirect democracy, p. 39 Limited monarchy, p. 36 List proportional representation, p. 40
Persuasive power, p. 29 Physical power, p. 28 Plebiscite, p. 38 Plurality, p. 41 Politics, p. 33 Power, p. 28 Priming, p. 32
Majority, p. 41 Manipulative power, p. 29 Military junta, p. 37 Monarchy, p. 35 Oligarchy, p. 37 Patron, p. 30 Patronage, p. 30
Referendum, p. 38 Rent-seeking, p. 42 Republics, p. 39 Rewards and/or punishment power, p. 28 State, p. 34 Stateless peoples, p. 34 Sultanate, p. 37
RECOMMENDED READINGS McDowall, David. A Modern History of the Kurds, London: I. B. Tauris, 2004. Dresch, Paul. Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Medearis, John. Joseph Schumpeter’s Two Theories of Democracy. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. Peimani, Hooman. Conflict and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2009. Schock, Kurt. Unarmed Insurrections: People Power Movements in Nondemocracies. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004.
Notes 1
Thomas Hobbes. Leviathan (Lawrence, KS: Digireads.com Publishing, 2009), p. 56.
2
These four forms of power are consistent with many forms of literature of the issue of power. For example, Grigsby uses the following four labels for these same forms of power: force, persuasion, manipulation and exchange.
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3
This started with the “cleansing”of the Baathist party when Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979. This included an event on July 22, 1979, where Saddam read a list of names and asked the men to step outside of the meeting. These men were then systematically executed. Following this event, 450 individuals—including military commanders, deputy prime ministers and members of the Baathist political party—were killed over the next few days. This is one example of many over a 24 year history of brutality and repression by the Saddam Hussein regime. 4
Karen Dabrowska and Geoff Hann, Iraq: Then and Now. (Guilford, CT: The Globe Pequot Press, Inc.), p. 15. 5
Barbara K. Gold, “Patronage,” in Encyclopedia of Social History. ed., Peter N. Stearns (London: Taylor and Francis, 1994), p. 548. 6
It is listed as a form of corruption by Caiden and others. Additionally, the other forms of corruption is: bribery and graft; kleptocracy; misappropriation; non-performance of duties or cronyism; influence peddling; acceptance of improper gifts; protecting maladministration; abuse of power; manipulation of regulations; electoral malpractice; rent seeking; and illegal campaign contributions. For more detailed discussion, see, G. E. Caiden, “Dealing with Administrative Corruption.” In Handbook of Administrative Ethics, 2 ed., ed. Terry L. Cooper. (New York: Marcel Dekker, 2001), p. 429–456. 7 For a greater understanding of this relationship, see, Daniel Egel, “Tribal Diversity, Political Patronage, and the Yemeni Decentralization Experiment.” The paper can be found at: www.egels. org/daniel/Research_files/Egel_Tribes.pdf and Paul Dresch, Tribes, Government, and History in Yemen. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). 8
Rajendra Ramlogan, The Developing World and the Environment: Making the Case for Effective Protection of the Global Environment (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc., 2004), p. 46
9
See the 2009 Freedom House country report on The Gambia at: http://www.freedomhouse.org/ template.cfm?page=251&country=7611&year=2009 10
See for more details, David Karanja, “In Zimbabwe, the Independent Press Struggles to Survive,” Nieman Reports. Can be found at: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitem. aspx?id=101861.
11
Werner J. Severin & James W. Tankard, Communications Theories: Origins, Methods, and Uses in the Mass Media. New York: Longman Publishers, 1997), p. 249. 12 Timothy C. Brock and Melanie C. Green, “Domains of Persuasion: An Introduction,” in Persuasion: Psychological Insights and Perspectives, 2 ed., eds. Timothy C. Brock and Melanie C. Green (London: Sage Publications, Inc., 2005), p. 1. 13
This dissension by components of the military was not only due to the persuasive power used by the People’s Power Movement of the Philippines. This was also a result of the development of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement (RAM)—a movement lead by Fabian Ver, former chief of staff of the Philippine armed forces. 14 Lincoln Allison, “Politics,” in Concise Dictionary of Politics. eds. Iain McLean and Alistair McMillan (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 451. 15
For more discussion of this definition of politics by Lasswell, see one of his most famous treatise on the issue, Harold D. Lasswell, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How. New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers, Inc., 1936.
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16
See, the Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States (1933), Article 1.
17
Hurst Hannum, The Right to Leave and Return in International Law and Practice. (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1987), p. 108.
18 John Agnew, Globalization and Sovereignty. (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc, 2009), p. 174. 19
Ibid.
20
Scott B. Lasensky, “Arab-Israeli Conflict,” in The Middle East, 11 ed., ed. Robin Surratt (Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2007), p. 52. 21
For more details concerning the Consultative Council of Saudi Arabia, see: http://www. saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/government/Majlis_al_shura.aspx. 22
Diana Childress, Augusto Pinochet’s Chile. (Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2009), p. 57. 23 For a detailed discussion of Schumpeter’s criticisms of the concept of representative democracy, see, John Medearis, Joseph Schumpeter’s Two Theories of Democracy. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001). 24
Huntington quoted in: M. Steven Fish, Democracy Derailed in Russia: The Failure of Open Politics. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 16. 25
Bruno S. Frey. “Direct Democracy for Transition Countries,” Journal of Institutional Innovation, Development, and Transition. (2003), p. 43.
26 For a more detailed discussion of elections in Azerbaijan and other countries in Central Asia, see, Hooman Peimani, Conflict and Security in Central Asia and the Caucasus. (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2009). 27
For the best and most current information on electoral systems in the developed and developing world, see the database maintained by International IDEA (Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance). All data concerning electoral systems in the developing world were taken from International IDEA’s online database. It can be found at: http://www.idea.int/esd/. 28 Jennie Litvak, Juniad Ahmad, and Richard Bird, Rethinking Decentralization in Developing Countries. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 1998), p. 1. 29
Ibid.
3
Yongmei Zhou, ed., Decentralization, Democracy, and Development: Recent Experiences from Sierra Leone. (Washington, D.C.: The World Bank, 2009), p. xv. 31 Pranab Bardhan and Dilip Mookherjee, “Decentralization, Corruption, and Government Accountability,” in International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, ed., Susan RoseAckerman (Northampton, Massachusetts: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., 2006), p. 161. 32
Peter Goodman, “China to Allow More Stock Sales: $270 Billion of State Assets Put in Play,” The Washington Post (25 August 2005).
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CHAPTER 3
WHY DO WE FIGHT? CONFLICT AND CONFLICT RESOLUTION IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTER • What is interstate and intrastate conflict? • What does conflict in the developing world look like? • How can intrastate conflict transform into regional conflict? • What impact has conflict had on the populations of the developing world? • What factors can influence intrastate conflict in the developing world? • What role has globalization had in the spread of conflict from regional to transnational?
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“It is only the dead who have seen the end of war.” —Plato (428 BC–348 BC)
On September 11, 2001, a transnational terrorist organization called al-Qaeda attacked targets in Washington D.C. and New York City. In these two attacks and an attack that was foiled by airline passengers on United Airline Flight Ninety-Three, 2,977 individuals were killed. In the aftermath of this tragic event, a ‘War on Terrorism’ was declared and military action to eliminate the al-Qaeda network was initiated. In subsequent years since the attacks, al-Qaeda—lead by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri—has influenced related groups to attack civilian targets in Madrid (2004), London (2005), and Glasgow (2007). These are to name just a few, as the organization has influenced a series of bombings of military, government, and civilian targets throughout the world.
INTRODUCTION Conflict is not a new phenomenon. War seems to be a constant component of mankind’s existence. The killing of civilians during conflict is also not a new phenomenon. The developed world is not the only sight of modern conflict. For example, two and half million people were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo from 1998–2001.1 The internal conflict in Sudan—in the Dafur region— has resulted in an estimated 300,000 civilians killed. Recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have led to the death of over 5,000 U.S. military personnel. In Iraq, it is estimated from 30,000 (U.S. White House statistics) to 600,000 ( John Hopkins report) civilians have been killed since 2003.2 The reasons for conflicts are varied. Some argue that ancient hatreds between peoples lead to conflict. Other scholars argue the conflicts are always over struggles for scarce resources. Still other individuals argue modernization and globalization have created counters to traditional life. This has created stress amongst peoples and conflict has developed out of this stress. Just as varied as the reasons for conflict, there have been numerous measures taken to address the reasons for conflict. This has included greater equal distribution of political and economic power, outside intervention of peacekeeping forces, the use of truth commission in post-conflict periods, and physical separation of the parties involved in the conflict. In this chapter, the differences between intra-state conflict and inter-state conflict will be explored. Additionally, ethnic conflict will be examined. The characteristics of conflict in the developing world and their impacts on will be surveyed. The potential reasons for conflict and ways to resolve conflict in the developing world will be investigated.
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CONFLICT IN ALL OF ITS FORMS When one thinks of conflict, they generally think about two human beings physically fighting with each other. Conflict is a disagreement between parties where there is a perceived threat to one of the party’s needs, interest, or concerns. To understand conflict, one should focus on two major components of the above definition—perceived threat and party’s needs, interest, or concerns. These two components are important because they are often core reasons for conflict. In some conflicts, political movement or social movement leaders exacerbate the perception of a threat to a population. There may not be an actual threat but these leaders use the perception of a threat to gain support for their own agenda. From the perceived threat, fear develops amongst the population believing itself to be under threat. This fear can lead to conflicts developing between the threatened party and the party that is thought to be doing the threatening.3 How one defines a party’s needs, interest or concerns is also very important. The reason is two-fold. First, political leaders sometimes argue that certain issues are an interest or concern of a given group. This is even if the issue is not really an interest or concern of the group. The framing process can be used to convince a population of both a perceived threat and the needs or concerns of the people. Second, the basic needs of a group not being met could be instrumental in causing conflict. This is particularly true if there are scarce resources in a given region. If multiple groups need these resources, then conflict may erupt over ownership of these resources. These may be basic human resources (potable water, sanitary food, and shelter) or resources that can be converted into monies and/or services. When looking at the developing world, there may be many reasons for conflict. Yet, the forms of conflict can be divided into two major categories—intra-state conflict and inter-state conflict. Intra-state conflict is conflict that occurs within a state’s defined geographical borders. The parties involved in intra-state conflict can be the government and other non-state actors or it can be between groups within the country not associated with the government. Inter-state conflict is conflict that occurs across a state’s borders. Generally, the conflict is between states. An example of intra-state conflict in the developing world is the on-going conflict in Nigeria. Nigeria has numerous ethnicities within its borders and even more tribal and clan relationships. There is also a large amount of oil resources in Nigeria and ninety percent of the country’s income comes from these oil resources. The oil resources are primarily located in Ibo dominated areas. Yet, the Hausas dominate the government of Nigeria. There has been a continual conflict between the Hausas and the Ibos, particularly during the move for Biafra independence. In May 1967, the
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Ibos declared independence for the southeast oil-rich region of Nigeria. This led to intra-state conflict between the new Biafra state and the government of Nigeria from 1967 to 1970.4 It is estimated the conflict caused an estimated two million deaths.5 In the aftermath of the civil war, intra-state conflict has continued between various groups and the government in Nigeria. There are many different examples of inter-state conflict in the developing world. This type of conflict is more known to the world than intra-state conflict. Yet, since 1945, intra-state conflict has grown more rapidly than inter-state conflict. Some inter-state wars in the developing world have been small, such as the “Soccer War” between Honduras and El Salvador in 1969. This inter-state conflict lasted six days. Similar in 1967, the war between Israel, Egypt, Syria and Jordan only lasted six days. Some inter-state conflict in the developing world has been longer. The Iran-Iraq War lasted for eight years from 1980 to 1988. Regardless of the length, inter-state war can often have a lasting impact on the governments and populations involved. In the case of the 1967 Six-Day War, the aftermath of the war has continued to create conflict in the Middle East since 1967. Since 1975, the aftermath of the war has led to conditions in Israel and Palestine, which has resulted in the fatality of an estimated 25,000 people due to both inter-state conflict and intra-state conflict.
Role of Contagion Effect in Connecting Intra and Inter-State Conflict One adverse effect of intra-state conflict is that it can lead to inter-state conflict. Third-party states who are aligning themselves with one of the actors in the intra-state conflict can find themselves potentially fighting each other. This was a problem during the Cold War due to the relationship the superpowers had with many developing world states. During the Cold War, the developing world became a “chessboard” for both actors to play out their own contentious relationships. One example mentioned in previous chapters was the relationship between North Vietnam and the Soviet Union and South Vietnam and the United States. This intrastate conflict became a larger conflict with outside powers intervening. Additionally, the intra-state conflict can create conditions in states neighboring conflicted states that can be harmful. These conditions can be a refugee issue for the neighboring states and parties Country involved in the intra-state conflict can begin to Country A Country fight in the territory of surrounding states. B C When intra-state conflict begins to extend beyond the territorial boundaries of the state where it began and affect neighboring states, 50
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this is called contagion effect. As can be seen from the illustration above, the intra-state conflict is occurring in Country “A” and then it spreads to Country “B” and Country “C”. This spreading of conflict is contagion effect. Examples of contagion effect can be seen with many different intra-state conflicts throughout the developing world. One clear example of the influence of contagion effect is in the intra-state conflict involving the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighboring states. The sub-Saharan African country has been racked by intrastate violence since its independence from Belgium in 1960. Major intrastate conflict has occurred in the country on five different occasions since 1960. The conflicts have included moves for secession by different groups. Additionally, outside forces— the Belgians and French with support from the United States—have been involved in supporting one side over another side in the conflict. In the 1977 conflict, the FLNC (Congolese National Liberation Front) used the neighboring state of Angola to launch its attacks against the DRC’s government. The conflict in 1996 to 1997 that involved the AFDL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo) involved support by Rwanda and Uganda for the AFDL.6 This shows how internal conflicts have split outside of the borders of the DRC and involved neighboring states. Additionally, inter-state conflict can create contagion effect and influence third-party states to a conflict. Ongoing wars between Rwanda and Burundi have created large refugee problems for their neighbor—the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to Sambanis, this has created greater conflict and instability in the DRC. Likewise, this instability has drawn Uganda and Zimbabwe into the conflict at times.7 This contagion effect has led to a region that has been very unstable politically and economically and ripe with conflict. The conflicts involving the DRC caused an estimated 21,000 causalities from 1977 to 2008. (This statistic does not include the deaths from 1963 to 1977.)8
IMPACT OF CONFLICT ON POPULATIONS The impact of conflict has been immense in the developing world. From its direct impact on diminishing human resources to the environmental impact to the after-effects of the conflict, conflict casts a long shadow on the developing world and its people. If Plato is correct that, “Only the dead, see the end of war,” it is vital that one understand the impact it can have. One set of writings could never fully explain the impact conflict has on a people. Therefore, this chapter will focus on the following impacts caused by conflict: the impact of conflict on human resources, the impact of conflict on the environment, and the impact of conflict on human relations in a country. Why Do We Fight? Conflict and Conflict Resolution in the Developing World
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Impact of Conflict on Human Resources When examining any conflict in the world, one can see the devastation brought on human beings. One effect of war is the injuries sustained by individuals during wartime. From World War II to mid-2000s, more than fifty million individuals have been injured because of inter-state and intrastate conflict.9 It is not just the warring parties that are injured in conflicts. Often, the largest segments of a population that are injured are women and children.10 These injuries are not always directly associated with the conflict. Injuries and illness can be caused by degradation of the environment. During a conflict, water resources, food sources and shelters may be destroyed or damaged. With the damage or destruction to these resources, human beings become directly impacted. Without these basic human needs being fulfilled, health conditions begin to deteriorate and illness can spread in civilian populations during conflict. Mass migration of peoples caused by conflict can also result in injuries. Internal displacement is a large issue during conflict. During 2009, 27.1 million people were internally displaced due to conflict or violence. Africa had the largest amount of internal displacement with 11.6 million internally displaced people in twenty-one countries.11 Internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees are both very susceptible to injury. (An internally displaced person is an individual who has been displaced from their home due to natural or man-made disasters, yet they have remained within the boundaries of their home state. A refugee is an individual who has been displaced from their home due to natural or manmade disasters. During their movement, they go beyond the geographical borders of their home state.) This is due to the poor conditions these segments of a population find themselves in during conflict and the lack of basic human needs being fulfilled. These injuries have a dramatic impact on not only those injured, but also non-injured individuals. In this context, this situation puts a burden on the populations not injured by conflict to provide health care issue to the injured. This draws time and resources away from maintaining a healthy population and promoting development. This is a major impediment in furthering development in the developing world. Both sustaining the injuries and having to address the injury of fellow members of a population can greatly diminish the human resources of a country. The death of members of a population can have a large impact on a country’s human resource base. The killing of human beings diminishes potential work forces of a country. This can dramatically influence economic development for a country. Injured peoples can contribute to a country’s development, but the killing of people will eliminate any possibility of a human resource that can be used. However, death and injury are not the only lasting impacts to a country’s population. Conflict can 52
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have a lasting impact on some segments of the population more than other segments. Children and women are two of those segments. During the 1990s, over two million children died because of armed conflict.12 Yet, even those who are not killed during conflict can be impacted negatively. Exposure of children to war creates longlasting trauma. This exposure is the greatest when the children shift from being civilians to being part of a military apparatus (government sanctioned and members of non-state actor groups). In some parts of the developing world, children have become soldiers. In exposing children to war and killing, it is may be impossible to undue this impact. Girl soldiers are greatly impacted, as they often become victims of rape and sexual violence. This violence may kill the girl soldiers in the field, as health care is limited. If the girls are not killed, the sexual violence can damage their reproductive health for the rest of their lives.13 After conflict is terminated, reintegration of child soldiers into society is extremely difficult. Many of the children lack educational opportunities, vocational training, the possibility of reunification with their families, and the basic resources of water and food. Without these resources, many of the child soldiers will not demobilize. For example, during the disarmament process in Sierra Leone after its civil war, only thirty percent of the child soldiers were able to be demobilized a year into the process.14 The negative impact of conflict on children diminishes the future resource base of a country. It negatively affects the future human resources available to the state by hurting the children who could serve as that human resource. Without reintegration into society, the children may end up being a drain on resources of the state versus providing the knowledge base and pool of workers that society needs.
The Impact of Conflict on the Environment There is great potential for the environment to be affected during conflict. One form of impact is contamination of the environment with weapons and their munitions. This contamination cost monies and needs great human resources to clean up. Former battlefields transform overtime back to places of resident. Where bombs and tank shells once fell, there are now communities in the developing world. The problem is the munitions of past conflicts are left behind to contaminate populations in the present. Contamination of the environment during conflict has been a problem for a long time. Yet, in recent years, the toxicity and longevity of contaminants has grown. One type of contamination of the environment has been due to depleted uranium being used in some type of tank shells (armor penetrating military ordnance). From 1991 to 2001, it is estimated that over 270 tons of depleted uranium were used by the U.S. military in the Gulf War of 1991 and in the Balkans. According to various reports by the UN and the Royal Society of London, uranium was still detectable in the soils of these two areas following the end of the conflict. Uranium was detected in the Balkans two years after the end of the conflict over Kosovo.15 Why Do We Fight? Conflict and Conflict Resolution in the Developing World
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Another common form of conflict-related contamination of the environment is the issue of landmines. According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), almost every country in the world has used landmines during conflict until the 1990s. Approximately seventy countries throughout the world have landmines inside of their borders. Developing countries—for example, Angola, Rwanda, Argentina, Nicaragua, Afghanistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Yemen— have large number of landmines located inside of their countries. In 2008, 476,875 antipersonnel mines and 99,466 anti-vehicle mines were believed to have been cleared.16 Landmines are a large hazard to populations in conflict-ridden areas of the developing world. This is because they can be hidden and populations are completely unaware of their presence. Long after the conflict has ended, men, women, and children can accidentally discover the landmines and be injured or killed. The exact number of deaths and injuries due to landmines is not known. It is estimated that there are between 15,000 and 20,000 new casualties every year.17 In addition, landmines can be a barricade to individuals trying to gain access to food supplies, water resources and other basic supplies. These contaminants can also prevent movement within geographical spaces and this can prevent access to education, health care, and other sources. During warfare, some fighting forces will purposely contaminate the environment to impede the progression of fighting forces. This can have long-lasting impacts on environmental sustainability where contaminates are used. This approach to warfare is not a new phenomenon. The salting of the earth by military forces to prevent future crop productions is mentioned in the Bible. In 1991, Saddam Hussein and Iraqi forces caught oil fields on fire in Kuwait. This was done as the Iraqi military forces retreated from Kuwait. Iraqi forces destroyed 732 wells. The destruction of the oilrigs created oil droplets, soot and smoke that covered the sky and land in the desert and in the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf.18 Oil contaminated the food supply in the region in the aftermath of the war and affected the overall health of some peoples in the area contaminated. During conflict, the use of some chemicals is not meant to harm civilians. Yet, due to the location of their use, the chemicals that are meant to provide some advantage to fighting forces can harm civilian populations. This can be seen in the developing world where certain chemical defoliants are used in jungle terrains. These defoliants are sprayed on the jungle to diminish the cover of the trees and make it easier for government military forces to find non-state actors (i.e., guerrilla groups and militias). The problem is civilian population not associated with the fighting live in the jungles where the defoliants are sprayed. The defoliants may poison those civilian populations. In some instances, the environment is purposely altered to impede neighboring states from gaining certain resources, such as water. The most common of these approaches is the damming of rivers 54
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and streams to limit downstream use. Various examples abound where upstream countries have dammed rivers to limit the water going to the downstream countries. The issue of controlling the Jordan River Basin has in part caused the conflict between Israel and its Arabs neighbors. Similarly, potential conflict over control of the Euphrates River has both Turkey and Syria on edge.
The Impact of Conflict on Human Relations in a Country As Martin Luther King, Jr. stated about conflict, “[t]rue peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.” Immediately following conflict, warring parties have great reason to not trust each other. The problem that conflict creates is in the long term the parties to the conflict may never trust each other again. Some of this is due to a perception that justice has not been reached. Related, the goals of the conflicting parties may not have been reached. Both of these create a potential for future conflict. Various approaches have been employed to rebuild relations between the former warring parties. One approach to resolving conflict and rebuilding relations is the creation of confidence building measures (CBMs). CBMs are agreements between parties involved in conflict to trade information on armaments and military forces. In building better relations, each party is more assured the opposing party will not attack. CBMS can be military, diplomatic, cultural or political. “Hotlines” between parties involved in conflict and the development of crisis-control centers (managed by members of all parties involved in the conflict) are two examples of CBMs. These type of measures work well in inter-state conflict. Yet, how do relations between groups involved in intra-state conflict get healthier? Truth commissions and tribunals have become measures for addressing the ills of war. In attempts to move beyond the conflict and create a better relationship between conflicting parties, these two approaches are increasingly used. With globalization and the promotion of human rights norms in the international system, these two approaches have gained greater usage. Truth commissions are a process where victims of conflicts and the perpetrators of the conflict meet. In these meetings, the victimizers are given a chance to talk about their actions and seek forgiveness from those individuals who have done the victimization. At the core of this approach is the concept of restorative justice. Restorative justice is the legal system focusing on the victims and offenders. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of South Africa is one example of the use of truth commissions and the application of restorative justice. The TRC brought together victims of the South African apartheid system and members of the apartheid government. Additionally, those individuals involved in intercommunal fighting were also involved in the TRC sessions. The use of truth commissions is becoming more commonplace. Even post-conflict environments in the developed Why Do We Fight? Conflict and Conflict Resolution in the Developing World
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world have used the approach of restorative justice to limit the lasting impact of conflict on human relations (e.g., Northern Ireland).19 Another approach to bettering the relations between former warring parties is the use of tribunals. In using this approach, a different type of justice model is applied. To better the lives of those affected by the conflict, the offenders are held accountable for their crimes through a trial process. Similar to a criminal case in domestic courts, the offenders are allowed to defend themselves and witnesses are called to testify. Evidence is provided and then a panel of judges (the number varies depending of the tribunal) decides on the guilt of the offender. Some tribunals have been created through the United Nations Security Council (e.g., the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) and other tribunals have been attempted to be created at the local level by governments who want to address ills of the past (e.g., Cambodia) themselves. With the greater political integration of the world, attempts to have regional and international criminal courts to address violations of human rights have been made. With the creation of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), intergovernmental organizations are attempting to address the concerns of victims of conflict.
WHY DO WE FIGHT: THE SOURCES OF CONFLICT An entire book or series of books can be and have been written on the potential reasons for conflict. Yet, with the immense amount of information on the ‘whys’ of inter-state and intra-state conflict, no universal agreement on causation has been made. This work will focus on the following potential reasons behind conflict: ancient hatreds; horizontal inequality and group motivation; deliberate manipulations of negative perceptions by leaders; competition over scarce resources; and failure of governments to provide services and goods for their populations. For many years, general discussions of conflict were centered on the role of ancient hatreds. Samuel Huntington argued that due to ancient hatreds and long existent great differences in cultures that future conflict would occur along civilizational lines.20 The ancient hatred thesis argues ancient groups have differences that are as old as the groups. These inherent differences have caused hatreds to develop between these groups. Primordialist theory of ethnicity is connected to the ancient hatred thesis. The primordialist theory of ethnicity argues ethnic group characteristics have existed since ancient times and this has motivated these ethnic groups to create their own separate communities. When these groups encounter other groups, these ancient differences due to ethnicity can cause conflict.21 This theory of conflict causation has received less and less support in recent years. Yet, it was the explanation for intra-state conflict in the Balkans. It has also been used to explain 56
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the on-going conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. In the latter case, it has been argued the conflict is an ancient battle based on religious differences. This theoretical approach could be used to explain both inter-and intra-state conflict. In the developing world and developed world, alike, there is often inequality in the economic, political and social spheres of life. When one group believes itself to be at a disadvantage to another group, this could lead to conflict. This is the core argument behind the horizontal inequality and group motivation theories of conflict. In countries such as Burundi, Uganda, and Sri Lanka, horizontal inequality in TAMILS participation in the government exist. Horizontal inequality is group differences (e.g., religious differences or ethnic differences) giving advantage in the economic, political, or social spheres to one group over another group. Conflict may develop as the disadvantaged group attempts to gain SINHALESE greater equality for themselves.22 One example of this can be seen in the conflict in Sri Lanka between the Sinhalese and Tamils. The Sinhalese (primarily Buddhists) are the majority population in Sri Lanka (seventy-four percent of the population) and the Tamils (primarily Hindus) are the minority population (eight percent of the population). The two different groups are concentrated in different parts of the country—Sinhalese in the south and the Tamils in the north. The Sinhalese have large economic and political power than when compared to the Tamils. This lead to conflict breaking out between the two groups from 1983 until 2010. Due to horizontal inequality, it pitted the Sinhalese-dominated government against various Tamil rebel groups, primarily the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers. In 2009, the Sri Lanka government announced its final defeat of the Tamil Tigers ending the over two-decade conflict. In some cases, conflict may be caused by the desires of individuals to gain more power. Conflict may be caused by deliberate manipulations of negative perceptions by leaders. Individuals in the developing world may have preconceived notions of others in their country who are not similar to them. These perceived differences may be based on skin color, clan and tribal affiliations, languages spoken, and various other differences. Political leaders and leaders of social and political movements may emphasize these differences. Then, these same individuals may blame the ills facing society on the group different from their own. This allows the leaders to mobilize individuals from his group and maintain a leadership role. While the leader retains his leadership position, the followers may be motivated to take out violent action against those not like themselves. The leader supports this
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action by his/her followers and frames it as a way for the survival of the group. This approach has been used by political leaders on developing countries (for example, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe in his persecution of white farmers in the country) and leaders of social and political movements (for example, leadership of various rebellious groups in the Middle East). Conflict caused by this behavior by political leaders has led to some of the largest amount of violence in modern history in the developing world. All one has to look at to see this phenomenon is the violence called for by Al-Qaida, the Sudanese government and its actions in the Darfur region of Sudan, and the 1994 Rwanda genocide. All three examples had political leaders calling upon their followers to take action against those not in their group. Recent years have found a plethora of literature that emphasizes competition over scarce resources as the main source of conflict in the developing world. These resources have included water, food, diamonds, and oil. Due to the connection between some of these resources, “conflict minerals” has been adopted as a common term of discussion. Conflict minerals are minerals mined in areas of conflict and generally, accessibility to the minerals is a source of conflict. Control over the given resource may be to make money in the global market. An example of this event is the civil war in Sierra Leone, which was centered on control of the diamond trade. Alternatively, the control over scarce resource can be necessary to fulfill basic human needs of potable food, sanitary food, or adequate shelter. Related to this idea is the green war hypothesis. The green war hypothesis argues that as population rates increase, the resources to maintain those populations become scarcer. This may lead to groups to compete for those scarce resources and come into conflict with each other.23 As discussed earlier, this could result in intra-state conflict where groups fight internally over resources. On the other hand, it could result in inter-state conflict when a resource is shared by neighboring countries (for example, conflict over control of the Jordan River Basin). In some cases of conflict, groups may clash with the government over the issue of provision of goods and services. If a country’s population believes they are being denied basic resources and services by the government, segments of the population may rise up against the government. If the country is heterogeneous (multiple different groups living within the same country) and some of these groups are receiving more goods and services than other groups, conflict may occur. Research by Collier and Hoeffler have shown that countries with low per capita incomes, lower life expectancies, and little to no economic growth tend to be more conflict-ridden.24 Regardless of the reasons for conflict, in recent years, there has been an alarming trend. With greater globalization and the increase connection between the developed and developing world, local and regional conflicts have transformed into transnational conflicts. 58
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THE NATIONAL TO THE TRANSNATIONAL: GLOBALIZATION AND CONFLICT As was vividly displayed on September 11, 2001, some conflicts that may have started as localized in the developing world have become transnational. As globalization has connected the developed and developing world, violence has shifted from the national to the transnational. A variety of scholars have commented on the role that globalization plays on localized conflict. This scholarship has focused on how globalization is competing with local norms and values. Benjamin Barber has commented on this conflicting relationship between the old and the new. He terms the conflict between these set of values and norms as “Jihad versus McWorld.” This concept by Barber argues that “[…] disintegral tribalism and reactionary fundamentalism […]” ( Jihad) is clashing with “[…] the forces of integrative modernization and aggressive economic and cultural globalization” (McWorld).25 Scholars who argue that globalization has created conflict by competing with local and national ideals, desires, values and norms point to the Zapatista Movement in Mexico. On January 1, 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) announced their formation and their struggle against greater economic interdependence between the U.S. and Mexico. In signing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the EZLN argued this greater interdependence effort would increase the existent inequality in Mexico. They argued this would be particularly true for the Chiapas region of Mexico—the base of operation for the EZLN. In this case, the national conflict between the poor and rich in Mexico has become a transnational issue and is connected to efforts of greater globalization. The struggles of a people in the developing world—due to greater globalization—are transmitted throughout the world. With advances in telecommunications and transportation, conflict that once remained local has now become more transnational. When the struggles of a people in the developing world migrate and affect individuals around the world, the term used to refer to this phenomenon is “migration of nightmares”.26 A variety of attacks by al-Qaida and its syndicates around the world (before and after September 11, 2001) are clear examples of this migration of nightmares. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, many Americans knew very little about the developing world and the struggles of the peoples in the region. Since that time, greater awareness of the issues facing the people of the developing world has emerged. Some have argued these continuing actions by al-Qaida are the phenomenon of localized conflicts within the Arab world that has went transnational.27 The transnational nature is because of greater political interdependence between the developed and developing world.
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CONCLUSION As has been explored in this chapter, conflict in the developing world is a very complex subject to understand. At its core, it is important to understand that conflict or the potential for conflict is a part of the everyday life of individuals. This is true for both the developing world and the developed world. The developing world has seen and continues to see a large amount of conflict. A large amount of this conflict is intra-state conflict. There are many possible causes of the conflict in the developing world. In this era of greater globalization and the tying of the world together, the shift of localized conflicts to the world stage is inevitable. Whether the violence from these localized conflicts continues to go beyond country’s borders is unknown. What is known is, as Plato suggests, conflict is an inevitable part of the human experience. As much as the world—both developed and developing—can try to resolve conflict, it may only be those killed by it that sees the end of conflict.
Key Terms Ancient Hatred Thesis, p. 56 Biafra, p. 50 Confidence Building Measures (CBMs), p. 55 Conflict, p. 49 Conflict Minerals, p. 58 Contagion Effect, p. 51 Green War Hypothesis, p. 58 Hausas, p. 49 Heterogeneous, p. 58 Horizontal Inequality, p. 57 Ibo, p. 49
Intra-state Conflict, p. 49 Inter-state Conflict, p. 49 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), p. 52 Iran-Iraq War, p. 50 “Jihad versus McWorld,” p. 59 “Migration of Nightmares,” p. 59 Refugees, p. 52 Restorative Justice, p. 55 “Soccer War,” p. 50 Truth Commissions, p. 55
RECOMMENDED READINGS Barber, Benjamin. Jihad versus McWorld: Terrorism’s Challenge to Democracy. New York: Ballantine Books, 1996. Collier, Paul and Anke Hoeffler. Greed and Grievance in Civil War. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2000. 60
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Nassar, Jamal R. Globalization and Terrorism: The Migration of Dreams and Nightmares, 2d. Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010. Stover, Eric and Harvey M. Weinstein, eds. My Neighbor, My Enemy: Justice and Community in the Aftermath of Mass Atrocity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Notes 1
Bethany Lacina and Nils Petter Gleditsch, “Monitoring Trends in Global Combat: A New Dataset of Battle Deaths.” European Journal of Population. (2005): 159. 2
Gregg Zoroya, “Study estimates 600,000 Iraqis dead by violence,” USA Today (October 11, 2006). Can be found at: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-10-10-iraq-dead_x.htm. 3
For more discussion of this phenomenon, see, Bar-Tal, D. (1990). “Causes and Consequences of Delegitimization: Models of Conflict and Ethnocentrism.” Journal of Social Issues, 46(1), p. 65–81.
4 Stephen Blank, Lawrence E. Grinter, Karl P. Magyar, Lewis B. Ware, and Bynum E. Weathers, Responding to Low-Intensity Conflict Challenges. (Montgomery, AL: Air University Press, 1999), p. 206–207. 5
These estimates are from data collected for the Armed Conflict Events Database by the International Institute for Strategic Studies. For more information, see, www.iiss.org/acd. 6
The historical and statistical accounts for the conflict involving the Democratic Republic of Congo can be found at the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP): Uppsala Conflict Data Program (2010/09/02) UCDP Database: www.ucdp.uu.se/database, Uppsala University. 7 Sambanis quoted in: Ragnar Gudmundsson, “The Economics of Post-Conflict Countries: A Survey of the Literature,” in Post-Conflict Economics in Sub-Saharan Africa: Lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo. ed., Jean A. P. Clément (Washington, D.C.: International Monetary Fund, 2004), p. 69. 8
Ibid, note 6.
9
These are estimates as there are generally no exact statistics on injuries sustained during conflicts. The same problem exist for measuring specifically how many people have been killed during conflicts. Data drawn from: Gerald C. Nelson et al., “Drivers of Change in Ecosystem Condition and Services,” in Ecosystems and Human Well-Being: Scenarios: Findings of the Scenario Working Group, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. eds. Steven R. Carpenter et al. (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2005), p. 193. 10 Numerous studies have been conducted concerning the impact conflict can have on children and women. Examples of these studies are: UNICEF, The Impact of Conflict on Women and Girls in West and Central Africa and the UNICEF Response. (New York: The United Nations Children’s Fund, 2005; United Nations, Women, Peace and Security at a Glance. (New York: The United Nations, 2004); and Susan Forbes Martin and John Tirman, Women, Migration, and Conflict: Breaking a Deadly Cycle. (New York: Springer Science + Business Media, 2009). 11
This data was drawn from datasets by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Their website can be found at: http://www.internal-displacement.org/.
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12
Michael G. Wessells, Child Soldiers: From Violence to Protection. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2006), p. 108. 13
Ibid, p. 116.
14
P. W. Singer, “Addressing the Global Challenge of Child Soldiers,” in Security Governance in Post-Conflict Peacebuilding. eds. Alan Bryden and Heiner Hänggi. (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2005), p. 123. 15 G. Storm Cunningham, The Restoration Economy: The Greatest New Growth Frontier. (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2002), p. 216. 16
For detailed accounts of landmine removals and the presence of landmines, see the website for the ICBL at: www.the-monitor.org. 17
International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Landmine Monitor Report, 2003: Toward a Mine-Free World. (Ottawa, Canada: Mines Action Canada, 2003), p. 39. 18
Farouk El-Baz et al., “Detection by Satellite Images of Environmental Change due to the Gulf War,” in The Gulf War and the Environment. eds. Farouk El-Baz and R. M. Makharita. (Switzerland: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers S.A., 1994), p. 1. 19 For more information concerning restorative justice, see, Dennis Sullivan and Larry L. Tifft. Handbook of Restorative Justice: A Global Perspective. (New York: Routledge, 2006). 20
For more details, see, Samuel Huntington, “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs (Summer 1993): 22–49. 21
Stuart J. Kaufman, Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War. (Ithaca: Cornell University, 2001), p. 4–5. 22
Frances Stewart, “Root Causes of Violent Conflict in Developing Countries,” British Medical Journal. (9 Feburary 2002), p. 343. 23
Ibid.
24
For more details on the Collier-Hoeffler (CH) model of conflict can be found at: Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, Greed and Grievance in Civil War. (Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2000).
25 Benjamin Barber, Jihad versus McWorld: Terrorism’s Challenge to Democracy. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996), p. 2. 26 This term was coined by Jamal Nassar in his book, Jamal R. Nassar, Globalization and Terrorism: The Migration of Dreams and Nightmares, 2d. (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2010). 27
One example of an argument of this kind is a work by Lee Smith, The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. See, Lee Smith, The Strong Horse: Power, Politics, and the Clash of Arab Civilizations. (New York: Doubleday, 2010).
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CHAPTER 4
WHAT SOCIETY DO WE WANT? HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTER • What is the North-South Gap? • What are some possible reasons for the North-South Gap? • What is development and how is it different from growth? • How can development and growth be measured? • What factors can affect development? • What are theoretical explanations for the lack of development in the developing world? • What role has globalization played in development in the developing world?
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“All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.” — Albert Einstein (1879 AD–1955 AD)
INTRODUCTION Any active or passive observer of the developing world will find one common theme throughout most of the region. This theme is the lack of development. Related, there is generally a lack of growth. Economically speaking, some parts of the developing world have progressed very well over the years. Examples of this can be seen with the rise of China, Brazil, and the oil-rich countries of the Persian Gulf. Yet, the majority of the developing world still finds itself in an economic quagmire. The distance between the developed world and the developing world remains large along economic lines. In recent years, due to economic downturns in the developed world—particularly the European Union and the United States, the distance has diminished slightly. This has been due to the richer countries getting richer at a slower pace than the poor countries getting richer.1 Regardless of economic growth, the developing world still has problems with development. The development gap between the developed world and the developing world has remained very large. This phenomenon is referred to by many different terms. One term used by a multitude of scholars is the North-South Gap. The North-South Gap refers to the economic and development gap that exists between the developed and developing world. In this context, the North is the developed world and the South is the developing world. There are many possible reasons for this development gap. In this chapter, the reasons for the gap will be explored. Additionally, theoretical explanations from scholars of development will be outlined. At the end of this chapter, the role of globalization will be explored. The future of development in the developing world will also be examined.
WHAT IS DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH? When most casual observers look at the developing world, the issue of poverty is generally focused on as the main difference between the developed and developing world. Even though poverty is a substantial issue for the developing world, this is an oversimplification. To understand better the developing world, one must understand the difference between development and growth. These are two very different issue and they do overlap. Yet, when using these terms to discuss any part of the world, one should be aware they are two different ideas. A scholar who may only look at growth to explain the North-South Gap is missing part of the overall picture. Likewise, an evaluation of only 64
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a country’s development may become too broad in their analysis and therefore, too many factors may be used to explain the North-South Gap. There are measurements for both growth and development. Understanding the difference between the two terms will allow one to understand which measurements to use. It will also allow one to understand there are limitations to measuring either growth or development.
Economic Growth—What is It and How Do We Measure It? When explanations of the North-South Gap are provided, they only seem to focus on the economic differences. One may note (as was discussed in Chapter 1) that the large difference between the developed and developing world is along economic lines. In this context, the developing world is seen as economically poor. The problem is there are countries in the developing world that are more prosperous when compared with many developed countries. For example, if we compare countries using the economic indicator gross domestic product (GDP), four countries in the developing world (Qatar, Kuwait, Singapore, and Brunei Darussalam) are wealthier than the United States. Twelve developing countries are in the top fifty highest GDPs in the world.2 This approach to understanding the developing world and its differences with the developed world is based upon economic growth. Economic growth is measurable changes in the economic well-being of a country. If one is looking at economic growth, those individuals are only focusing on the goods and service composing the wealth of a country. Economic growth is not the same as development. This is a common mistake made by scholars, casual observers of the developing world and media outlets. Economic growth is a component of development, but is not the only component. It can be measured in many different ways. There is great debate concerning which measurement provides an accurate picture of changes in economic growth. Statistical indicators that are commonly used to measure economic growth include the gross domestic product (GDP) and gross national product (GNP) of a country. The gross domestic product (GDP) is the market value of all goods and services created within the territorial boundaries of the country in a defined period. The defined period is one calendar year. The gross national product (GNP) is the market value of all goods and services created by a country’s residents anywhere in the world in a defined period. Some analysts use the term gross national income (GNI) interchangeably with GNP. The usage of GDP over GNP varies from scholar to scholar. This is because of the positives and negatives seen in the use of either statistic. GDP is seen by some as a good measure to use in policy creation. This is because it is “[…] more closely correlated with employment, productivity, industrial output, and fixed investment.”3 Alternatively, individuals who use GNP see it as What Society Do We Want? Human Development in the Developing World
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advantageous to GDP, because it measures the sources and uses of income for a country.4 Some GNP and GDP statistics for countries are very similar. Yet, in some cases, the numbers can be considerably different. This can be caused by foreign remittances or heavy foreign investment in a country. Additional indicators of economic growth are GDP real growth rate, GDP per capita, and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The GDP real growth rate is a measure of changes in the value of all goods and services produced within a given country in a defined period. This measurement does not take into account inflation or purchasing power parity. For example, in 2009, Haiti had a GDP real growth rate of 2.9 percent as compared to the United States, which had a negative GDP real growth rate of -2.6%.5 This would suggest the value of goods and services produced in Haiti went up while the values of goods and services in the U.S. went down. The purchasing power parity (PPP) is a measure used for calculating the correct value of currency. When used in connection with GDP, the purchasing power parity adjusts the value of goods and services to the cost of those goods in the U.S. This is an important adjustment when studying the international system because of the variation of exchange rates between countries. This measurement has become preferred in the comparison of economic growth between countries. The GDP per capita statistic is the overall GDP measurement divided by the population of a country. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), this measurement of economic growth provides a window into the average income of a person in a given country.6 This measurement provides a way to compare average living standards across countries. Examples of GDP per capita can be seen in the chart below (in US dollar amounts): United States
Japan
Germany
Brazil
Saudi Arabia
Thailand
$46,000
$32,700
$34,100
$10,100
$20,600
$8,200
As seen above, the GDP per capita of countries varies both in the developed and developing world. Additionally, this sampling suggests the populations of the developed world are better off economically when compared to the developing world. Yet, this only provides one perspective concerning the economic well-being of citizens within countries. The GDP per capita statistic is useful for a general comparison of the economic well-being of developed and developing countries. However, it does not adequately show the distribution of wealth within a country. Some individuals within the U.S. may average an income of $46,000 but many individuals do not. A similar phenomenon can be seen in the developing world. The average citizen in Saudi Arabia may not have an income of $20,600.7 There is evidence that in many developing countries, the distribution of wealth is disparate. This lack of parity in wealth 66
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distribution can be seen in the Gini Index. The Gini Index is a statistic that measures the amount of inequality in the distribution of family incomes in a country. It is a measurement of wealth distribution in a country. The Gini Index statistic runs from zero to 100. A Gini Index number of zero would indicate perfect equal distribution of wealth within a country and a 100 would indicate perfect unequal distribution of wealth within a country. There is no country in the world that is a zero or a hundred. If a country has a low Gini Index number, then wealth is closer to equally distributed. Alternatively, a country with a high Gini Index number has wealth that is not as equally distributed. As of 2009, the sub-Saharan African country of Namibia has the greatest amount of inequality in the distribution of its wealth amongst its people (Gini Index: 70.7). The developed country of Sweden has the greatest amount of equality in the distribution of wealth (Gini Index: 23.0).8 United States
Japan
Germany
Brazil
Saudi Arabia
Thailand
45.0
38.1
27.0
56.7
—
43.0
Using the Gini Index number to examine the previous chart of countries, it becomes apparent that the GDP per capita indicator paint one picture of wealth in a country and the Gini Index shows a different picture in some cases. According to the GDP per capita measurements, the people of the U.S. are considerably better off than compared to the people of Thailand ($46,000 versus $8,200). Yet, the Gini Index statistics suggest the distribution of that wealth is better in Thailand. Therefore, depending on what one is particularly interested in when studying the developing world will dictate what measurement of economic growth you should use. If one wants a more general picture of the economic growth of a country, then he/she should use all of the indicators. There are possible problems with using economic growth to describe the overall progress of a country over multiple years. First, as will be discussed further in this chapter, economic growth does not create a full picture of the advancement of a country. It only describes one component of this progression. To understand fully this progression, one must rely on indicators of development. Another problem with using economic indicators is some of the data is self-reported by states. The developing country and the international organizations, which collect similar data and provide estimates, may do the compilation of the data differently. This creates some discrepancies between figures reported. These discrepancies are more common in the developing world. This is due to the monetary and human resource limitations these countries have when collecting economic and development indicators within their countries. Discrepancies may also occur in the self-reporting of economic growth indicators because of no data being collected on country’s secondary economies or informal economies. Given the prevalence of informal economies in the developing world, the absence of this data could dramatically affect the data provided by developing countries.9 What Society Do We Want? Human Development in the Developing World
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Development—What Is It and How Do We Measure It? In recent years, there has been greater and greater focus on development in the developing world. This is not to suggest that economic growth or the lack thereof is not examined. Economic growth is now seen as a part of a bigger issue—development. One of the largest complaints about the use of economic growth indicators to examine the developing world is it only examines economic behavior. Whereas, the focus on development and the use of development indicators provides a more detailed picture of what is occurring in the developing world. Development is economic growth and the appearance of political, social and economic institutions. Economic growth does not take into account all of the factors of development. However, development takes into account economic growth and the other spheres of human existence. Discussions of development will include economics of a country, but it will also explore what freedoms the population has, what kind of economic institutions (e.g., banks and commercial transaction), and electoral institutions. These are just to name a few of the areas that are covered by discussions of development. Because of the multiple factors that could lead to a lack of development, scholars often rely on development indicators to understand better a country and its people. It should be noted though a universally agreed-upon definition of development is lacking. A large reason for the lack of a universally accepted definition is that each person who uses it changes the definition to fit his or her objectives.10 For example, an economist may want to focus on economic factors when studying development and therefore, the definition used may focus more on the issue of economic growth. A political scientist may see the growth of political institutions as the main factor in development. This results in the focus of the definition being placed on political systems and processes. Additionally, the definitions of development have varied depending on what analysts and policy makers thought the most important factor was in development. All of this has lead to a plethora of definitions. For example, in 1997, the United Nations adopted the UN Agenda for Development. In their definition of development, it included the idea of improvement of a human beings well-being. The factors that influenced that well-being were seen as topics to be discussed within the development framework (e.g., poverty, human rights and democracy).11 If development includes many facets of a human beings life, then how does one measure it? Similar to there being many different definitions of development, there are many different measures of development. The types of measurements used to track development vary due to the definitional differences. As was suggested earlier, different individuals have different theories about development. Therefore, definitions abound and if there many different focuses in development, different measurements of development have to exist to accommodate these focuses. Amartya Sen, Mahbub ul Haq, 68
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Gustav Ranis and Lord Meghnad Desai developed the most common measurements of development. This measurement is called the Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI takes into account the various spheres of human existence and uses measures to represent those spheres. These varieties of measurements are combined into an overall index. Prior to the HDI being created, Mahbub ul Haq had been disturbed by the use of national economic growth statistics to measure development. Because of this desire to redefine development, Haq created the first Human Development Report (HDR) in 1990. His desire in creating the HDR was “to shift the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people centered policies.”12 Eventually, to convince the public of the need to focus on human development, the Human Development Index was created and published in the HDR. The HDI considers the following dimensions when creating an index score: a long and healthy life; knowledge; and a decent standard of living. Each of these three dimensions is measured using the following statistics:13
Statistic Used
A Long Healthy Life
Knowledge
Decent Standard of Living
Life expectancy at birth
Adult literacy rate & Gross enrollment ratio
GDP per capita (PPP US$)
Unlike the measures of economic growth, this measurement includes other facets of an individual’s life. It should be highlighted that the inclusion of measurements of knowledge and life expectancy is connected to economics. Each of these facets is important because they lend to the strength of human capital in a country.14 Human capital is the knowledge base and a skill set that is used by an individual to labor. Value can placed on this labor because of the product and/ or services it creates. Human capital lends to the development of a country and a lack of human capital can dramatically affect the development of a country. The HDI index values run from 0 to 1.0. The higher value indicates the country is more developed. In the Human Development Report, countries are categorized into four classifications of development: very high human development; high human development; medium human development; and low human development. For example, the developed country of Norway had the highest HDI score in 2009 (0.971) and the developing country of Niger had the lowest HDI score in 2009 (0.340). Norway is categorized as a country with very high human development. Niger was classified as a country with low human development. As was discussed in Chapter One, one cannot assume a developing country will always have a low HDI score. Nor can one assume a developed country will have more measurable development than a developing country. For example, in 2009, nine countries were classified as having very high human development. Yet, the same year’s data suggested the Russian Federation (HDI score: 0.817) had less measurable development than the small Middle Eastern country of Qatar (HDI score: 0.910). What Society Do We Want? Human Development in the Developing World
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Even though the HDI measurement is used most often today to measure development, there are alternative development indicators—Human Poverty Index (HPI); Gender-related Development Index (GDI); and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). Each of these alternative measures was created to address deficiencies that some thought existed with the human development index. The deficits were thought to exist because of alternative arguments behind studying development. For example, some believed that it was important to show the differences between men and women in a country if one was to get an accurate picture of development. From this debate, an alternative measurement called the GDI was created. The Human Poverty Index measures deficiencies in quality of life. The HPI excludes measuring poverty along economic lines. Instead, it measures poverty based on: “[…] a short life, lack of basic education and lack of access to public and private resources.”15 This measurement was first introduced into the Human Development Report in 1997.16 There are two forms of the Human Poverty Index measurements—HPI-1, which examines developing countries and HPI-2, which analyzes the developed world (select countries from the OECD). The statistics used to develop the HPI-1 measurement is: the probability at birth of not surviving to age forty; adult illiteracy; percentage of population not using an improved water source; and percentage of children under weightfor-age.17 The index runs between 0 and 100. The higher the HPI number is, the more percentage of the population is deprived. A higher number suggest greater poverty in a country. Low number equates low levels of poverty. For example, in 2009, the country that had the least amount of poverty according to the HPI measurement was the Czech Republic (HPI: 1.5%) and the country with the greatest poverty was Afghanistan (HPI: 59.8%). The HDI numbers do not always match up with the HPI measurement in analyzing development. For example, the Czech Republic had the lowest level of poverty in 2009 yet, the country was ranked 36th in the ranking of HDI measurements for the world. Some argue the HPI has its own inadequacies. One of the deficiencies in the measurement is its lack of discussing gender differences within the issue of poverty. Additionally, the measurement does not measure dissimilarities between various ethnic groups and rural and urban areas within a country.18 Subnational portraits of a country’s poverty are not possible using the HPI measurement. The development measurements created to address the differences between men and women in a country are the Gender-related Development Index (GDI) and Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). Both were created to show that there are differences in society between how women are affected by poverty and how men are affected. In 1995, the HDR introduced the use of the GDI and GEM. According to the 2009 Human Development Report, the GDI uses similar measures to the calculation of the HDI, but it adjusts for gender inequality. It uses the following statistics to calculate 70
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an overall index number: female life expectancy and male life expectancy; female and male adult literacy and female and male gross enrollment rate; and the estimated earned income of both males and females. The GDI statistic has a similar range to HDI—0 to 1.0. When comparing GDI to the HDI statistic for the same period, it becomes apparent when taking into account gender differences that development may be influenced by gender inequality. For example, Austria was ranked in 2009 as the fourteenth most developed country in the world when using the HDI. Yet, for the same year, using the GDI measurement, it appears there is a nine-point difference. Using the GDI, Austria is ranked as the twenty-third most developed. When comparing HDI and GDI figures of developing countries, there is generally more parity between the two measurements. To understand more clearly the role women play within a given country, the Gender Empowerment Measure should be used. This measurement goes beyond the differences between the genders in the development. Using four pieces of data, the GEM looks at gender inequality in the areas of political participation and decision-making, economic participation and decision-making, and women’s power over economic resources. The four pieces of data used to construct the GEM are: female and male shares of parliamentary seats; female and male shares of positions held as legislators, senior officials, and managers; female and male shares of professional and technical positions, and female and male estimated earned income. This measurement is important because it examines the real power women have in a given country. For example, Qatar, which has very high human development (ranked 33 in the HDI rankings), prevents women more than men from gaining equal power. Qatar is ranked 88th in the ranking of GEM statistics. This may be caused by limitation of women into certain aspects of life in the country.
WHAT FACTORS INFLUENCE DEVELOPMENT IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD? As discussed previously, there are a multitude of reasons given for a lack of development and economic growth in the developing world. As suggested by Handelman, there is great debate over the underlying causes of a lack of development. Because of these great debates, there is even more debate amongst analysts concerning how to address a lack of development in the developing world.19 There are more explanations for the lack of development in the developing world than the statistics used to measure them. Some of the most common explanations of underdevelopment are bad policy, health care issues, “brain drain” and education, the current international economic system and proneness to natural disasters and manmade disasters (e.g., interstate and intrastate conflict). These factors and other suggested causes of deficiencies in development have lead to the development of entire theories. These theories will be discussed in the next section. They are vital to understand because
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of the impact they have had on policy creation in the developing world. In addition, these suggested causes of underdevelopment have been the basis for approaches by the developed world to assist the developing world.
Bad Policy and a Lack of Development One possible cause of a lack of development or slow development in the developing world is the development and implementation of bad policy. As was suggested in Chapter 2, politics have a dramatic impact on the lives of people in the developing world. Ineffectual measures have been taken by governments in the developing world to address insufficiencies in development. Some argue that the maldistribution of services and goods within the country may contribute to an overall lack of development. The inequity in distributing these goods may be directly linked to patronclient relationships. (See detailed discussions of patron-client relationships in Chapter 2.) If a leader wants to remain in power, he/she may provide goods and services in greater quantity and more frequently to groups that support him/her. The inequity of provision of goods can lead one segment of society to develop faster than the rest. This internal gap can hinder overall development of the state. It can also lead to possible intrastate conflict. Additionally, governments in the developing world may also concentrate limited resources on items other than development. Some countries in the developing world have concentrated the financial resources on military expenditures than on issues (for example, health care) connected to overall development.20 Regional economic development in the developing world has been diminished because of military expenditures.21 This has been based on the decision of developing world governments to forego development over security of the state. According to data by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military spending has increased sixty percent since 1960. In addition, since 2001, the average yearly rate of the growth of military expenditures has been 5.4 percent. This has exceeded spending on public health care globally.22 The developed world spends overall more on military expenditures than when compared to the developing world. This may be due to the larger economic resources the developed countries have. Yet, when comparing military expenditures as a percentage of GDP, it becomes readily apparent the developing world tends to concentrate their wealth on the military.23 As of 2009, only five developed countries (Armenia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, and the United States) were in the top twenty-five countries of military expenditures as a percentage of GDP. Comparing the top country in this list to the twenty-fifth country in this list illustrates the greater use of resources toward the military by developing countries. Oman uses 11.40% of its GDP towards military expenditures. On the other hand, the United States uses 4.06% of its GDP toward military expenditures. It should be noted that some developing countries spend very little 72
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on the military (e.g., Haiti uses .40% of their GDP on the military). Nevertheless, the average in the developing world is to spend more on security.
Health Care and Its Impediment to Development An unhealthy population cannot contribute as much to the development of a country. Illness can affect the human capital of a country. Additionally, sick or injured people (as discussed in Chapter 3) place a drain of limited resources. If the resources are having to be distributed in large numbers to ill populations, then these resources cannot be used in other areas for development. The connection between health care and human development is endogenous. Endogenous is where one cannot be assured whether a variable in a relationship is the cause or the outcome. A causality loop exists when there is endogeneity. Health care has an impact on development within a country. Yet, a lack of development can also lead to health care issues. As the life expectancy of a country’s population can lend to or hinder a country’s development, health care can influence development. In a country having limited health care, the overall life expectancy of people may diminish over time. If a population does not live as long, a country may not have a population that can contribute long enough to create substantial development. A similar relationship between infant mortality and health care can be seen. Additionally, if the country is conflict-ridden and the health care system cannot address adequately the injuries from conflict, overall life expectancy diminishes. Infectious disease is prevalent in the developing world. It continues to affect the people and the health care systems of the developing world. Malaria, diarrhea, and tuberculosis kill large portions of the developing world’s population every year.24 One of the greatest impediments to parts of the developing world—particularly sub-Saharan Africa has been the prevalence of HIV and AIDS. According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 33 million people were infected with HIV globally as of 2007. The breakdown of HIV infections among various age groups are: children—2.1 million; young people (15–24)—5.0 million; and adults (25 years and older)—26.3 million.25 The greatest prevalence in adults was in Botswana, Lesotho, and Swaziland. All three countries had HIV prevalence rates above twenty.26 The frequency of HIV infections has created a lasting impact on development in Africa. A third of teachers in Malawi are absent from the classroom due to the disease and forty percent of the military of Uganda are infected with HIV.27 These types of impacts have diminished development by keeping children and teachers way from education, by keeping employees from working in companies which builds the overall economy, and by placing burdens on families and communities to take care of the ill and the children of the ill when there is no one to take care of them. What Society Do We Want? Human Development in the Developing World
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In recent years, the death rate in the developing world has decreased—24.1 deaths per 1,000 people to 8.8 per 1,000 people. This has been because of greater focus on the treatment and prevention of infectious diseases. Additionally, better education about health care issues has contributed to an overall decrease in death rates.28 It still will take many years for those regions—like sub-Saharan Africa—to recover from the devastation wrought by the disease. Once the region can recover, then development can progress.
Education and “Brain Drain” It is argued by many scholars and analysts of the developing world that education may hold the key to greater development. The international community through the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has focused on the link between greater education and human development. The Millennium Development Goals are a series of targets the international community has agreed to meet to promote greater sustainable human development. The MDGs have two goals related to education—universal completion of primary education and greater parity for women in education. As noted by the World Bank, education can assist in a country’s economic growth by creating a pool of human resources. A more educated workforce may create new industry that can assist in economic growth. Additionally, investment by the developed world in the developing world may increase if there is an educated workforce to employ. As suggested by Alfred Marshall in 1890, “[t]he most valuable of all capital is that invested in human beings.”29 Recognizing the connection between greater education and greater development has led to more concentrated efforts being placed on the role of education. The developing world has an obstacle related to education. In some parts of the developing world, the more educated peoples of a country are leaving for the developed work to live and work. The human capital of the developing world is becoming human capital for the developed world. This migration of educated peoples from the developing world to the developed world is referred to as “brain drain.” This phenomenon is creating greater international inequality in the area of manpower. Some suggest “brain drain” is actually outpacing any benefits gained from foreign assistance from the developed world.30 The phenomenon is not exclusive to the developing world. Australia, Canada, the Russian Federation and some countries in the European Union have been affected by migration of educated and skilled labor. For example, 500,000 to 800,000 scientists have emigrated from the Russian Federation in the past ten years.31 Various attempts are being made to attract educated and skilled workforces to remain in their home countries. With greater globalization and economic interdependence, this is a hard effort.
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Current International Economic System and Development There is a growing concern that due to globalization the international economic system may be hindering development in the developing world. Those who make this argument focus on inequity in trade relations and the international market. Prior to the end of World War Two, the international economic system consisted primarily of many countries building their economies in virtual isolation from each other. The dominant policy of the era was protectionism. Protectionism means that various policies are enacted to make the goods and services from outside of a country more expensive to buy than compared to the same goods produced within the country. Policies used in this protectionism approach included: tariffs; anti-dumping legislation; and restrictive quota systems. Tariffs are taxes that are placed on goods being imported into a country or exported from a country. These additional taxes make the imported goods more expensive to buy when compared to similar goods that are domestically made. Anti-dumping legislation is regulations preventing a country from selling their goods in other countries below the costs of the original production of the item. Quota systems are policies adopted by countries concerning how much of a given item they will allow to be imported. If the quota has been reached, countries may bar any further importation of that good, or they may add an additional tax to the good. All of these approaches and many more approaches that are similar were used to encourage the buying of domestically made goods over foreign goods. Towards the end of World War Two, some members of the international community decided to create arrangements whereby protectionism would be replaced by cooperation. In these various meetings, the beginning of a more cooperative economic environment was created. In the aftermath of World War II, countries met at the Bretton Woods Conference in July 1944. From this meeting, the new international economic system was created. This new international economic system included the creation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) (a component of the World Bank today), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), known today as the World Trade Organization (WTO). The World Bank consists of two components—the IBRD and the International Development Association (IDA). It was originally constructed to assist with reconstruction of countries whose infrastructure was damaged during World War II. The 187 member organization assists in development through providing “[…] financial and technical assistance to developing countries around the world.”32 The World Bank provides low-interest loans, interest-free credits and grants to the developing world.
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The International Monetary Fund was established to administer the international monetary system.33 The organization was established to stabilize the international exchange rate. This was initially attempted by the agreement to peg most world currencies to the U.S. dollar or German mark. The U.S. dollar was backed by the gold standard until 1971. This means that each dollar was worth a certain amount of gold. Since the price of gold was fixed to $35 per ounce, it made the currency very stable. This means that any currency, prior to 1971, that was based on the U.S. dollar was also thought to be very stable. Today, the monetary system is primarily based in the principle of fiat money. Fiat money is any money that a government declares to be legal tender and it is not backed by the gold or silver standard. Instead, its value is determined in the exchange of it in the international system. It acts primarily as a means for exchange of goods and services. In addition to helping manage the international monetary system, the IMF was also established to manage balance of payment. Balance of payment is the flow of economic transaction between countries. To move towards greater open and fair markets in the international system, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was created in 1947. GATT was created during the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment. As the international economic system developed over the years, countries met to revise the policies contained in GATT. GATT also was established to enforce the agreements. Each series of meetings was referred to as a “round.” In 1994, during the Uruguay Round, GATT was renamed the World Trade Organization (WTO). The original GATT agreement is still enforced by the WTO. In November 2001, the ninth round was held in the Persian Gulf state of Qatar (hence the name, Doha Round). In the Ministerial Declaration of the Doha Round, the WTO members placed the needs of the developing world at the core of their goals to be achieved.34 Promises of greater access to world economic markets for the developing world is the main desire of the WTO in the Doha Round. All of the international organizations who manage the international economic system have been criticized at times for hindering development. At the core of this argument is the issue of neoliberal policies and the Washington Consensus. Neoliberal policies are policies of greater economic liberalization that is believed will lead to greater development and economic growth. The Washington Consensus is a set of suggested reforms from the institutions in Washington, D.C. that are associated with greater foreign direct investment, limiting trade barriers in the developing world, and privatizing state-owned industries in the developing world. The original set of reforms was set forth by John Williamson in 1989 to address economic issues in Latin America.35 Neoliberal policies and the Washington Consensus are often linked together in discussion of development and the international economic system. Proponents of neoliberal policies argue the approach will assist development by placing power into the hands of individuals instead of governments. They argue 76
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that government-run industries tend to be inefficient, produce poor quality products, and provide inadequate services. Through greater privatization, these issues are addressed. Additionally, neoliberal policy proponents argue greater foreign direct investments help overall development in the developing world. It positively affects economic growth. In addition, the lowering of trade barriers by countries will allow international goods to compete with domestic goods. This will push goods to be better quality and for them to be created in a more efficient manner. Opponents of neoliberal policies argue the cutting of public expenditures (a key component of neoliberalism) creates greater poverty. This is because a cut in public expenditures generally includes a cut in health and education. The ideological argument is the implementation of neoliberalism allows the rich to get richer and the poor to remain in their diminished positions of power. As modern globalization inherently has a neoliberalist component to it, this is similar to arguments individuals make against globalization.36
Manmade and Natural Disasters and Development Conflict and “mother nature” may have some of the enduring impacts on development. In a cursory examination of the developing world, it becomes apparent there is a strong correlation between low development and manmade (conflict) or natural disasters. One could never be completely sure these events are a single cause for a lack of development. Yet, there is some impact that these disasters can have on the human development of a country. If a country has low development and then conflict erupts, the focus of the government is on the conflict. Development takes a backseat during the conflict. Additionally, the growth in development during peacetime may be diminished during wartime. Similarly, a tsunami, earthquake, drought or other forms of natural disasters can devastate a country that has made progress in development. Even if the developing country has made tremendous strides in development, a large natural disaster (for example, the earthquake that devastated Haiti on January 12, 2010) can push development efforts backwards. Related to this issue of development and natural/manmade disasters is sometimes a lack of development can make the disaster worse than it would be normally be in a country. As noted by Pelling, natural disasters can often lead to a humanitarian crisis. Examples of this phenomenon are the Marmara earthquake in Turkey in 1999, Hurricane Mitch in Central America in 1998, and the Gujarat earthquake in India in 2001.37 Similarly, the flooding in Pakistan in the summer of 2010 illustrates the endogenous relationship between development and natural/manmade disasters.
THEORETICAL EXPLANATION OF DEVELOPMENT As can be seen, there are many potential causes for a lack of development in the developing world. To explain how development occurs, various theories have been created over the years. Some of the theories were in the past the dominant approaches to understanding development—for example,
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modernization theory. Yet, some of these approaches have been replaced with newer theoretical approaches—for example, grassroots development. Due to the large number of theoretical explanations of development, this book will only provide an overview of the five dominant theoretical approaches—modernization theory, dependency theory, third world socialism, and grassroots development. The first four approaches are top-down approaches where the focus is on the country as a monolithic entity. The last approach focuses on a bottom-up approach with the primary focus on the people in a country. One can see how the creation of these theories was linked to exploration of the causes discussed previously. Additionally, as theories became challenged, newer theoretical explanations developed out of those criticisms. Modernization theory developed in the aftermath of colonialism in the developing world and then dependency theory and third world socialism developed as alternatives to modernization theory. Grassroots development then developed as an alternative to the other theories that were state-centered.
Modernization Theory (Developmentalism) Any review of the history of development theories will find modernization theory as a prominent theory. Since its inception, modernization theory (sometimes referred to as developmentalism) was the theory adhered to the longest by analyst. This theory developed and was prevalent in development scholarship and in policy circles in the 1950s and 1960s. Modernization theory is a theoretical explanation TRADITIONAL of how countries develop over time. The theory suggests SOCIETY that developing countries will progress through development in the same manner as the developed countries did. However, to transform them over time, the developing world would have to forego traditional values for modern values. As traditional societies develop urban centers, the people would live in the urban centers and gain their education in those areas. This would mean people would MODERN SOCIETY be taught more modern values in the urban centers. They would also become exposed to modern cultural through the development of greater media sources. In addition, as connection with the developed world grew, the values and norms of the developed world would become the norms and values of the developing world. As Handelman suggests, programs such as the U.S. Peace Corps and foreign aid from the developed world would expedite this process of transformation.38 TRANSITIONAL SOCIETY
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There are some problems with this theoretical perspective. One often cited criticism is the theory suggests that every country will progress through development in the same manner. As illustrated above, modernization theory suggests all countries transform from traditional societies to transitional societies to modern societies. Critics suggest one cannot assume all countries will develop in the same manner. This is because when countries go through the process of modernization it changes the dynamics in the world that future countries will be facing. In addition, modernization theory suggests that once a country has reached the final stages of development that stability will be present. Yet, if one examines those countries that have progressed through these stages, some have remained very unstable, politically, economically and in security of the people. Examples of this can be seen in portions of Latin America. During periods of great economic development in portions of Latin America, the region still suffered great instability due to conflict and the rise of military regimes in the region.
Dependency Theory Due to the criticisms discussed previously and many other criticisms, a new theoretical paradigm was created in the 1960s and 1970s. This theory was known as dependency theory. Dependency theory counters modernization theory by suggesting the developing world will not go through development in the same manner as the industrialized world. After the developed world went through industrialization, the entire international economic environment changed. Due to the new environment, those countries that did not develop with the North began to be used for their raw resources. The developed world would acquire the raw resources for goods from the developing world. This would be done in the cheapest manner and the developing world would profit little from the buying of raw resources. The developed world would then use these raw resources to produce manufactured goods. These goods would then be resold to the developing world. In this arrangement, the developing world profited little and paid larger prices for the manufactured goods from the global North. This prevented the developing countries from developing economically. The few elites that profited from the relationship with the developed world often found themselves in political power and backed by the military and economic elites. This prevented development in other areas, such as political development. Dependency theory had its own critics. One main criticism was concerning how there was shifting of blame from the developing world to the developed world. Internal dynamics of a country were not considered an influencing factor on development. Another criticism was concerning the argument that the developed world grew because of their advantageous relationship with the developing world. This as the overriding reason for the development of the developed world and the underdevelopment of the developing world is problematic. The dependent relationship may profit the developed world in some manner but it is not the only reason for development, according to some scholars.39 What Society Do We Want? Human Development in the Developing World
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Third World Socialism Seeing the economic relationship that existed between the developed and the developing world, some suggested a form of socialism would be the answer to development issues. Individuals in the developing world suggested that the adoption of internal policies that would stimulate native economies would improve economic development. This type of development would then help to promote the other areas of development. This theory called for shifts away from private enterprise and more management of the economy by the government. Additionally, the government would determine the economic priorities of the country. Policy components associated with Third World socialism included: the adoption of import-substitution industrialization (ISI), greater protectionist policies, adopting a fixed exchange rate, the development of state-owned companies and the government would control agricultural prices. Import-substitution industrialization (ISI) is an approach whereby imports of given goods would be limited and those same goods would then be produced by domestic industries. This approach was an attempt to break the perceived dependent relationship between the developed and developing world. In using their own raw resources to manufacture their own goods, the domestically manufactured goods could then be sold at a lower cost inside of the country. The population would then have to choose between cheaper domestic goods or the same goods from out of the country which would be more expensive. The belief was this would stimulate the native economies and create economic growth. There were problems with the policy approaches associated with Third World socialism. The ISI approach created native industries that produced poorer quality goods than when compared to the imported good. This was primarily because the industries had little to no competition that would encourage the domestic industries to build better goods. Additionally, the greater inclusion of government in business affairs created inefficient industries. Corruption became very rampant due to little oversight of the government in their management of the economy. Lastly, the fixed exchange rate created currencies that were often overvalued. Many countries moved away from these approaches yet some retained portions of Third World socialism. Using a variation of the approach, some East Asian governments removed the protectionist policies and allowed domestic industries to compete with non-domestic industries. Some Latin American countries also adopted this model.
Grassroots Development In recent years, there have been suggestions that the theoretical approaches of development focused too much on the state. Instead, some development scholars suggest the focus should be on the people. Through working with the people to develop at the individual and community level, the
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country could develop as a whole. After many years of foreign aid from the developed world and international organizations, there was a call for a different approach and understanding of development. In the 1980s and 1990s, there was greater decentralization of economic and political decision-making. In this context and based on this theoretical understanding of development, various grassroots approaches were created to help the developing world. The most famous and successful of these programs is microcredit lending. Microcredit lending is small amounts of money (e.g., $10 to $50) being loaned to a person to develop or improve their current business. These loans are secured collateral free and have low or no interest rates applied to them. The money is given to peer groups who are penalized if the individual borrower does not repay their loan. This approach has almost a 95% repayment rate of loans.40 The most successful program of microcredit lending is the Grameen Bank created by Muhammad Yunus.
GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT As the world has grown more interconnected, globalization has impacted development in many ways. The most obvious manner is the area of economic development. With the greater integration of various countries’ economies into the international economic system, the days of isolationism are long gone. Globalization can have a positive impact on the developing world by connecting it to markets. Additionally, as the recent global economic recession has shown, economic downturn in one part of the world has an impact on other parts of the world. The housing market bust in the United States can depress the economies of lender countries, including those in the developing world (e.g., China). With greater connection between the North and South through the media, peoples of the developing world have more exposure to each other. This has a potential for positive outcomes as greater knowledge leads to less ignorance. Without ignorance, fear of an unknown group of people is diminished. Yet, this greater connection between the regions of the world can have a negative impact. This negative impact may be caused by relative deprivation. Relative deprivation is someone being exposed to something and then is denied access or acquisition of that item. Frustration may develop because it is not clear to the individual ‘why’ they cannot have the item that others have. In the context of globalization, individuals from the developing world may see—via televisions, newspaper or the Internet—the riches and freedoms individuals have in the developed world. The individuals from the developing world may not understand why they cannot acquire what their fellow human beings have in the developed world. Frustration may develop from this gap between what they can see and what they can have. This frustration can lead to conflict with their own government or conflict with people from the developed world.
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CONCLUSION As this chapter has suggested, there is a large gap between the global North (developed world) and the global South (developing world). This gap is not one of just economic growth, but also of overall development. Various causes may be behind the lack of development in the developing world, such as health of the populations and the international economic system. From the exploration of these possible causes, various theories have been created to explain development. From these theoretical understandings, various policy approaches have been adopted in the developing world to promote development. Some approaches have worked and other approaches have not. With the greater connectivity of the South to the North, positive and negative impacts to development can be found. In examining the issue of development, one should remember this issue—much like the rest of the issues in this book—faces the people of the developed world. There are gaps between the rich and poor within developed countries and gaps between developed countries when it comes to development. As suggested by Albert Einstein, no matter the region of the world, the development of the individual is the key to a better world.
Key Terms Anti-dumping Legislation, p. 75 “Brain Drain,” p. 74 Dependency Theory, p. 79 Development, p. 68 Economic Growth, p. 65 Endogenous, p. 73 GDP Per Capita, p. 66 GDP Real Growth Rate, p. 66 Gender Empowerment Measure, p. 70 Gender-related Development Index (GDI), p. 70 Gini Index, p. 67 Grassroots Development, p. 80 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), p. 65 Gross National Income (GNI), p. 65 Gross National Product (GNP), p. 65 Human Capital, p. 69 Human Development Index (HDI), p. 69
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Human Poverty Index (HPI), p. 70 Import-Substitution Industrialization (ISI), p. 80 International Monetary Fund (IMF), p. 75 Microcredit Lending, p. 81 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), p. 74 Modernization Theory, p. 78–79 Neoliberal Policies, p. 76 North-South Gap, p. 64 Protectionism, p. 75 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP), p. 66 Relative Deprivation, p. 81 Restrictive Quota Systems, p. 75 Tariffs, p. 75 Washington Consensus, p. 76 World Bank, p. 75 World Trade Organization (WTO), p. 75
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RECOMMENDED READINGS Collier, Paul. The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007). Sachs, Jeffrey. The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. (New York: Penguin Group, 2006). Sen, Amartya Kumar. Development as Freedom. (New York: Anchor Books, 2000). Soto, Hernado de. The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else. (New York: Basic Books, 2000). Yunus, Muhammad. Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle against World Poverty. (New York: Perseus Books, 2007).
Notes 1
Nick Corasaniti, “America’s Dominance of Global Wealth Is Slipping” New York Times (September 14, 2010). Available via the New York Times website at: http://economix.blogs. nytimes.com/2010/09/14/americas-dominance-of-global-wealth-is-slipping/?src=busln 2
For details concerning GDP and other economic statistics, see the Central Intelligence Agency WorldFactbook at: www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html. 3
David A. Moss, A Concise Guide to Macro Economics: What Managers, Executives, and Students Need to Know. (Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2007), p. 105. 4
Ibid.
5 It should be noted herein that the statistics of GDP real growth rate stated are adjusted for inflation. Not all GDP real growth rate statistics are adjusted for inflation. 6
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. OECD Factbook 2009: Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics. (Paris: OECD Publishing, 2009), p. 54. 7
From the author’s own personal travels to Saudi Arabia and studies of the country, the disparity between the rich and poor in the country is great. 8
A complete current list of the Gini Index can be found at: www.cia.gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/rankorder/2172rank.html. 9
The World Bank, World Development Indicators: 2003. (Washington, D.C.: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/The World Bank, 2003), p. 193. 10
Amitava Krishna Dutt and Jaime Ros, eds. International Handbook of Development: Volume One. (Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2008), p. xiii. What Society Do We Want? Human Development in the Developing World
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11
Richard Jolly, UN Contributions to Development Thinking and Practice. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2004), p. 13. 12
Mahbub ul Haq quoted in: Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, “The Human Development Paradigm: Operationalizing Sen’s Ideas on Capabilities,” in Amartya Sen’s Work and Ideas: A Gender Perspective, eds. Bina Agarwal, Jane Humphries, and Ingrid Robeyns. (New York: Routledge, 2005), p. 304. 13
This chart was derived from Technical Note 1: Calculating the human development indices in: United Nations Development Programme. Human Development Report: 2007/2008. (New York: United Nations Publications, 2008), p. 355. 14 James M. Cypher and James L. Dietz, The Process of Economic Development. (New York: Routledge, 2004), p. 51. 15 Quote concerning the Human Poverty Index (HPI) is drawn from online literature by the UN Development Programme at: http://hdr.undp.org/en/statistics/indices/hpi/. 16
Mrinal Kanti Dasgupta, “Poverty Alleviation and Development in East and South-East Asia: Some Comments,” in Focus on Poverty, ed., Ralph V. Brenos. (New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2006), p. 21. 17
Ibid, note 13.
18
Ibid, note 16, p. 21–22.
19 Howard Handelman, The Challenge of Third World Development. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc., 2006), p. 11–12. 20 Rajendra Ramlogan, The Developing World and the Environment: Making the Case for Effective Protection of the Global Environment. (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004), p. 173. 21
Anthony H. Cordesman, A Tragedy of Arms: Military and Security Developments in the Maghreb. (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2002), p. 12. 22
SIPRI data quoted in: Charles J. Kegley, Jr. World Politics: Trends and Transformation, 12 ed., (Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning, 2009), p. 429. 23
Ibid.
24
Diana Kendall, Sociology in Our Times. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2010), p. 266.
25
Data drawn from the UNAIDS Outlook Report for 2010. Can be found in electronic format at: http://data.unaids.org/pub/Outlook/2010/20100713_outlook_report_web_en.pdf 26
Data drawn from “A Global View of HIV Infection,” at: http://data.unaids.org/pub/ GlobalReport/2008/GR08_2007_HIVPrevWallMap_GR08_en.jpg 27
Richard J. Payne and Jamal R. Nassar, Politics and Culture in the Developing World: The Impact of Globalization. (New York: Longman, 2010), p. 123.
28
Adam Szirmai, Dynamics of Socio-Economic Development: An Introduction. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 150. 29 Alfred Marshall, Principle of Economics: Volume 1, 9 ed., (London: Macmillan and Company Limited for the Royal Economic Society, 1961), p. 564.
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30
B. N. Ghosh, ed., Contemporary Issues in Development Economics. (New York: Routledge, 2001), p. xvii.
31
Nancy Gore Saravia and Juan Francisco Miranda, “Plumbing the Brain Drain,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization. (Augut 2004), p. 609. 32
More general information on the World Bank can be found at: http://web.worldbank.org/ WBSITE/EXTERNAL/EXTABOUTUS/0,,pagePK:50004410~piPK:36602~theSitePK: 29708,00.html. 33
Manfred Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction, 2d. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 38.
34
See, Doha WTO Ministerial Meeting 2001: Ministerial Declaration, adopted on November 14, 2001, at: http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/minist_e/min01_e/mindecl_e.htm 35
Thomas M. Leonard, ed., Encyclopedia of the Developing World. (New York, Routledge, 2006), p. xxxv. 36
Nancy Neiman Auerbach, “The Meaning of Neoliberalism,” in Neoliberalism: National and Regional Experiments with Global Ideas. Ravi K. Roy, Arthur T. Denzau, and Thomas D. Willett, eds. (New York: Routledge, 2007), p. 41–43.
37
Mark Pelling, ed., Natural Disasters and Development: In a Globalizing World. (New York: Routledge, 2003), p. xiii.
38
Ibid, note 19, p. 13.
39
Richard A Higgott, Political Development Theory. (New York: Routledge, 2005), p. 50.
40
D. Muraleedharan, Modern Banking: Theory and Practice. (New Delhi: PHI Learning Private Limited, 2009), p. 386–387.
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CHAPTER 5
ARE WE ONE? THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE DEVELOPING AND DEVELOPED WORLDS
QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED IN THIS CHAPTER • What is globalization? • What is economic, political, and cultural interdependence? • What influences has the developed world had on the developing world? • What will the future of the relationship between the developed and the developing world be?
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“Imagine all the people living life in peace. You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope someday you’ll join us, and the world will be as one. — John Lennon (1940 AD–1980 AD)
INTRODUCTION Poverty, conflict, and a desire for a better world for one’s children—these are all things that both the developing world and the developed world find in common. As preceding chapters have suggested, there are more commonalities between the developing and developed worlds than differences. In an era of greater interconnectivity between people, what becomes more apparent every day is the connection between peoples. When the terrorist attacks occurred on September 11, 2001, the developing world mourned the losses in the U.S. When the tragedy of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami killed over 200,000 people, the governments and people of the developed world mourned for their fellow human beings. In 2010, when a devastating earthquake hit the little island country of Haiti, both the developed and developing world joined forces to help the Haitian people. In an age of Facebook and Twitter, students in college classrooms in the U.S. know about events halfway around the world. Globalization has brought the developed and developing world increasingly together. This has not been without problems, and differences between the two regions still exist. In this concluding chapter, the concept of globalization will be explored. In addition, the various forms of interdependence that connect the global North and South will be examined. In this context, the influence the developed world has had on the developing world will be examined. The issues that still divide the two regions of the world will be examined and finally, the potential future for the relationship between the developed and developing world will be examined.
GLOBALIZATION Globalization is often a word that has many meanings to many different people. Some people as a means to a create a better world praise it, while others despise the very utterance of it. The latter have disgust over what they believe it is doing to the developing world and to the peoples of the developing world. Scholars cannot agree on a single definition of globalization. As noted by Steger, globalization has been defined as a “[…] a process, a condition, a system, a force and an age.”1 Similar to attempts to define terrorism and pornography, most people will claim, ‘I know it when I see it.’ For purposes of this textbook, globalization is defined as the greater interconnectedness of peoples from around the world in the areas of economics, politics, culture and environment. In this context, globalization can be seen as a term to describe an overarching set of processes that tie the various regions of the world more closely together. These processes are called interdependences. 88
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Interdependences are forms of connections between countries in specific areas of human existence. There are four specific forms of interdependences—economic interdependences, political interdependences, cultural interdependences, and environmental interdependences. All of these forms of interdependences form the overall phenomenon of globalization. This book will primarily focus on three of the four forms of interdependence.
Economic Interdependence
Political Interdependence
Cultural Interdependence
Environmental Interdependence
FORMS OF INTERDEPENDENCE
Economic Interdependence Often when scholars and non-scholars, alike, speak about globalization the focus is on economic interdependence. Economic interdependence is the connection between peoples of the world through economic transactions. The connections between the economies of the world occur in three areas: participation in international economic organizations; regional trading arrangements; and the activities of multi-national corporations (MNCs). International economic organizations are multi-lateral organizations that focus on managing the international economic system. Through these organizations, countries create agreements concerning trade, monetary exchange rates and other economic transactions that occur between countries. Three of the best-known international economic organizations are the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. (See Chapter Four for discussions of the historical development of these three organizations.) Regional trading arrangements are agreements between countries in a given region concerning trade and other economic transactions between these countries. These arrangements are based on written agreements between the countries that belong to the organization. Examples of regional Are We One? The Connection Between the Developing and Developed Worlds
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trading arrangements are the African Economic Community (AEC) and Mercosur (Mercado Común del Sur—Southern Common Market). The AEC is an organization made-up of African states who are attempting to create a unified system of trade between African countries. Additionally, the AEC is attempting to create a unified monetary union among African countries. Mercosur was founded in 1991 through the Treaty of Asunción. Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, KFC in the Xi’an, China and Uruguay are the members of the organization. Through the organization, these four countries are adopting measures that create greater free trade between the countries and allow for the free movement of goods, services, and people between the countries. Multi-national corporations (MNCs) are a corporation or company that manages production or delivers services in more than one country. These entities are based in one country and have offices in a variety of countries throughout the world. MNCs connect the developing world to the developed world. This is generally done by having the main offices in the developed world and the labor and raw resources located in the developing world. MNCs are often involved in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the developing world. Foreign direct investment is a country’s national(s) investing in another country’s economy. FDI can occur in two manners—the investment in physical infrastructure in another country (i.e., building companies in countries outside of your own) and the acquisition of some interests in another economy outside of your own. An example of a MNC and the process of FDI can be seen in the above picture. Yum! Brands Restaurant (the current owner of KFC) is a MNC that has 14,000 restaurants throughout the world. Through foreign direct investment, the MNC has placed multiple KFC restaurants in China. In this particular case, the restaurant sits outside of the museum site of the Terra Cotta Warriors of China. This is a clear example of how the developing world has become increasingly linked to the developed world through economic interdependence.
Political Interdependence In the post-World War II era, it became more apparent to the global community that greater interconnection between countries was inevitable. The tragedies of two world wars had drawn countries out of isolationist policies and connected them to each other. Since 1945, countries increasingly find themselves working with each other on a variety of issues. This has led to 90
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greater cooperation on international issues. This is often referred to as political interdependence. Political interdependence is the connection between peoples throughout the world in the areas of political activities. This includes the creation of international organizations that helps to normalize political relationships, the greater cooperation of countries on issues of international importance (for example, fighting terrorism and addressing environmental concerns), and the greater codification of international law. As countries have worked increasingly together on political issues, the countries have faced the potential of losing some of their sovereignty. Sovereignty refers to having the ultimate authority over a defined geographical area without outside interference. The idea of sovereignty developed in the seventh century because of the Peace of Westphalia. The Peace of Westphalia is the term used to refer to the period in 1648 when a series of treaties were signed that ended the Thirty Year War (1618–1648). This period of world history brought about the idea of sovereignty. From the seventeenth century until the present, sovereignty has been the core principle for countries around the world. With greater political interdependence and the rise of regional and international organizations (sometimes referred to as intergovernmental organizations or IGOs), some have argued the principle of sovereignty has diminished over time. These same individuals argue that greater political interdependence has lead to the sharing of “[…] internal control and/ or external autonomy with other nations, international non-governmental organizations, or even for-profits firms.”2 In the late nineteenth century, multiple countries began to forego their concentration on purely domestic affairs and they began to think more globally. To work better together on specific issues, various countries began to link themselves through the development of IGOs. One of the first attempts at greater political interdependence occurred with the founding of the International Telegraph Union (later known as the International Telecommunication Union or ITU) in 1865 and the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in 1874. In 1899, additional attempts at greater global cooperation on international concerns occurred with the International Peace Conference held at The Hague in the Netherlands. With the creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at the conference, political interdependence grew with the development of a forum to settle disputes in a peaceful manner. Yet, this growth of political interdependence hit obstacles leading up to the First World War. The growth of intergovernmental organizations declined to nine in 1920 (from the total of thirteen before World War I).3 In the aftermath of World War I, the international community began to rebuild itself and create an environment of greater political interdependence. The creation of the League of Nations was one example of this shift back to greater political interdependence. This intergovernmental organization was founded in 1919 following the Treaty of Versailles. This intergovernmental
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organization was founded with the intention of promoting collective security and disarmament.4 In this organizational arrangement, countries could work out their differences through arbitration and negotiation and not through conflict. This shift towards greater global cooperation is referred to as postwar internationalism.5 With the beginning of World War II, these attempts at peaceful coexistence and greater political interdependence diminished. Following the great atrocities of World War II, the international community worked towards rebuilding the international community and creating a new forum for international cooperation. In 1945, fifty countries from around the world met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization. At this conference, they created the United Nations Charter and on October 24, 1945, the United Nations was officially founded. This body during its development has transformed the international community into a more globalized society. Whether working on security issues, development issues, or addressing other pressing issues facing the international community, the UN promotes the sovereignty of each Member States but also promotes greater political interdependence. Since 1945, the international community has also been linked increasingly because of the greater codification or development of international law. International law consists of principles and norms of law commonly accepted by the majority of the international community. These include issues related to conduct during wartime, human rights law, international environmental law, and other areas of common concern to the global community. International law has progressed since 1945 as more and more countries find additional issues that face all countries equally. As globalization has progressed and interdependence has grown in a variety of areas, political interdependence in the area of international law has grown. This has been largely centered on public goods. In the world, there are two types of goods, private goods and public goods. Public goods are goods that are not divisible and are shared. An example of public goods is air. Private goods are goods that are divisible and cannot be shared. An example of private goods would be dinner at a local fast food restaurant. Public goods often force political interdependence because countries have to work together to manage some public goods. For example, the air is a public good. It is shared by multiple countries throughout the world. It can be polluted by one country and the pollution can affect other non-polluting countries. Therefore, it is in the best interest of countries to work together politically (political interdependence) to create regulations concerning pollution of the air. This has been done in the development of the Kyoto Protocol—a treaty to normalize the amount of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) being released into the atmosphere worldwide. As of November 2009, one hundred eighty-seven countries had ratified the document and linked themselves together to address this issue. 92
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Cultural Interdependence In the age of twenty-four hour satellite television, the Internet and mass production of magazines and newspapers worldwide, a viewing of any of these sources will show a growing similarity between the developing and developed peoples of the world. Due to cultural interdependence, the cultural artifacts of one region of the world are becoming objects in the culture of other regions of the world. For example, foods of the Middle East can be found in almost any supermarket in the U.S. and Thai restaurants can be frequently found throughout Europe. Traditional clothes of parts of the developing world are becoming high fashion in the Western world (for example, the kiyafa [head scarf ] worn in the Arab world can be found around many women’s necks in Paris, New York and Los Angeles as a high fashion accessory). Cultural interdependence is the connection between peoples throughout the world through the sharing of each other’s cultures with each other. Due to greater communication between people, diffusion of ideas has become more prevalent in this age of globalization. With the greater spread of ideas across countries’ borders, some have argued we are become more homogenized as a society. If one travels to the developing world, it is not uncommon to see sports stars of the developed world (particularly from the U.S.) on billboards. For example, in the ancient Chinese city of Xi’an, one can see billboards of Koby Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers. The greater connection between peoples has had good effects and bad effects. Due to cultural interdependence, people of the modern era are more global in outlook than in prior generations. Individuals of the developed world travel more frequently to the developing world. The connection between peoples of the world has created desires for the development of global citizens. Global citizens are individuals who make the connection between the global level of the human experience and their local experience. In making these connections, global citizens are more aware of how their actions at the local level can have an impact at the global level. Through greater exposure to societies outside of their own, individuals see how their life can have an impact on others—good and bad. There has been criticism of cultural interdependence and supporters of greater cultural interdependence. The focus of these criticisms varies but the general concern centers on the issue of cultural homogenization. Some critics of globalization have suggested the diffusion of culture has led the developing world to look more like the developed world. As was discussed in Chapter Three, the term often applied to this phenomenon is McWorldization. Critics argue this process may diminish traditional cultures in favor of more modern, Western cultures.6 It is argued—as was discussed in previous chapters—cultural interdependence and the possible negative encroachment on traditional
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cultures may have led to greater friction between the developed and the developing world. Some point to the attacks on September 11, 2001 and subsequent attacks as a reaction to the negative consequences of cultural interdependence. Others argue that cultural interdependence has been beneficial to the global community. Fukuyama suggests the greater expansion of ideas from the developed world has increased democratization and the promotion of free markets in the developing world. This will help the developing world to develop over time. Other proponents of cultural interdependence see the spread and sharing of cultures as a means to reinvigorate local cultures. In this context, globalization may actually push traditional cultures to work harder to maintain those norms and values and ideas associated with their culture, according to Roland Robertson.7 One outcome of cultural interdependence is glocalization. Glocalization is the concept that in a globalized world that local culture will become fused into a new global culture due to cultural borrowing. Another manner of looking at the phenomenon of glocalization is “[…] the global production of the local and the localization of the global.”8 Due to greater cultural interdependence, local cultures dress (as discussed previously) may find its way into the marketplace of the developed world. One classic example is the hijab (headscarf ) worn by many Muslim women throughout the world. Due to glocalization, it no longer simple clothe that you find women wearing. Instead, designers—for example, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren have designer scarves that are used by Muslim women in both professions of their faith but also as a fashion statement. Food is a great example of glocalization. In recent years, restaurants have seen greater fusion of foods from different parts of the world. This glocalization phenomenon has resulted in fusion cuisine in the global marketplace. As has been seen by the previous discussion, political, economic and cultural interdependence has lead to a greater globalized world. As both the September 11, 2001 attacks showed and the worldwide broadcast of the death of pop singer Michael Jackson showed, an event in one part of the world will have impact in other parts of the world. Additionally, the greater linkage between people has led to a necessity to understand better each other. Yet, interdependence and phenomenon of globalization is not a new event. The human race has been exponentially linked since the Industrial Revolution, but people have been making contact with each for thousands of years.
Globalization: Old or New Phenomenon? In examining the greater connectedness the peoples of the developing and developed world have with each other, one should be aware that globalization is not a new phenomenon. Even though the term started being used in the 1960s to describe this interconnectedness, the concept of globalization has been with human for thousands of years. If globalization is meant to describe the growing 94
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connections between people around the world, then since humans began migrating across large open spaces, there has been globalization. In the early history of the human race, humans were primarily hunter-gatherers. Hunter-gatherers are individuals who forage for plants and hunt animals in the wild to sustain them. They are not domestically oriented. As these groups of humans roamed, they would occasionally encounter each other. Though these occasions were rare and infrequent, these contacts lead to the sharing of information and ideas. At its core, this is equal to modern globalization. The largest difference between these early years and the modern era was the absence of technological achievements that could allow these early peoples to transverse large distances in a short time. Similar to the current era, technological advancements in the past allowed the peoples of the world to come into greater contact with each other. The frequencies of these contacts increased as the means of transportation became better. With the advent of the wheel and roads, the various regions of the world became more connected than ever. An example of this can be seen with the development of the Silk Road. The Silk Road connected parts of the Asian continent with the Arabian Peninsula and parts of Africa. With better technology in shipbuilding, the water routes supplemented the roads and connected Asia to Europe. Due to domestication of food supplies, a more sedentary people grew throughout the world. With these developments came empires. As these empires attempted to expand their domain, contact between peoples from around the world grew more. Often these contacts included great conflict. Yet, as various empires were conquered, technology of the conquered empire was assimilated into the victorious empire. Technology progressed at more rapid rates. As in times past and similar to modern day, the new technologies allowed the world to come into greater contact with each other. Globalization grew. Therefore, it is not correct to assume that globalization is a new phenomenon. Similar to other concepts in social sciences, sometimes the term to describe a given phenomenon comes long after the event has occurred.
TWO WORLDS AND TOMORROW: FUTURE OF THE RELATIONSHIP As has been illustrated, the developing world and the developed world have many more things in common than not. Whether one is looking at governance, conflict, development or the issue of globalization, these are all issues that both regions of the world have to face. Poverty and conflict Are We One? The Connection Between the Developing and Developed Worlds
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are not exclusively an issue of the developing world’s peoples. Whether one is speaking of Japan, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Guatemala, Thailand or Saudi Arabia, all countries have to face issues related to their governments and how power will be used. As the first chapter of this book illustrated, the creation of identity and the factors that influence identity are common to both worlds. The largest differences are the order of those influences. This leads to the final question of this book—what does the future hold for the relations between the developed and developing world? If both regions’ reactions to terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and the global economic meltdown are any indicator, the relationship is getting better. There is still the division of development between the global North and South. Some argue this division will never evaporate and some even suggest it is necessary to the international economic system. Yet, with greater connections between peoples of the world, there is hope for humanity. As was alluded to in the Preface of this book, traveling to and experiencing the developing world may be the greatest manner of understanding it. These previous writings are just the start. And, as the story about Yemen suggest, the yesterday, present, and tomorrow worlds of the developed and developing countries are not that far apart.
Key Terms Economic Interdependence, p. 89 Global Citizens, p. 93 Globalization, p. 88 Glocalization, p. 94 Interdependences, p. 88 International Economic Organizations, p. 89
Multi-National Corporations (MNCs), p. 89 Peace of Westphalia, p. 91 Political Interdependence, p. 91 Postwar Internationalism, p. 92 Regional Trading Arrangements, p. 89 Sovereignty, p. 91
RECOMMENDED READINGS Boudreaux, Donald J. Globalization. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008). Steger, Manfred B. The Rise of the Global Imaginary: Political Ideologies from the French Revolution to the Global War on Terror. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). Stiglitz, Joseph. Globalization and Its Discontents. (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2002).
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Notes 1
Manfred Steger, Globalization: A Very Short Introduction. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009), p. 8. 2
David J. Eaton, ed., The End of Sovereignty? A Transatlantic Perspective. (New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2006), p. 1. 3
Akira Iriye, Global Community: The Role of International Organizations in the Making of the Contemporary World. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002), p. 20.
4
These basic principles are contained in the Covenant of the League of Nations (1919).
5
This term is used by Iriye in his work, Global Community. Ibid, note 3, p. 22.
6 Examples of literature that make this argument are the following: Benjamin Barber. Jihad Vs. McWorld. (New York: Ballantine Books, 1996); George Ritzer. The McDonaldization of Society: An Investigation into the Changing Character of Contemporary Social Life. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 1993); and William H. Marling. How “American” is Globalization? (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006). 7
Ibid, note 1, p. 75.
8
Chris Barker, The SAGE Dictionary of Cultural Studies. (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2004), p. 77–78.
Are We One? The Connection Between the Developing and Developed Worlds
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APPENDIX I
OVERVIEW OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD
Latin America Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)1
Population
Major Religions2
Ethnic Groups2
Argentina
2,780,400
41,343,201
Roman Catholicism
White/Mestizo/ Amerindian
Belize
22,966
314,522
Roman Catholicism/ Protestant
Mestizo/Creole/Maya Garifuna
Bolivia
1,098,581
9,947,418
Roman Catholicism
Quechua/Mestizo/ Aymara White
Brazil
8,514,877
201,103,330
Roman Catholicism
White/Mulatto/ Black/Other (includes Japanese, Arab, Amerindian)
Chile
756,102
16,746,491
Roman Catholicism
White and whiteAmerindian/Mapuche/ Other indigenous groups (Continued)
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Latin America (Continued) Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)1
Population
Major Religions2
Ethnic Groups2
Colombia
1,138,914
44,205,293
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/White/ Mulatto Black/mixed Black-Amerindian/ Amerindian
Costa Rica
51,100
4,516,220
Roman Catholicism
White/Mestizo/Black/ Amerindian/Chinese
Ecuador
283,561
14,790,608
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/Amerindian Spanish/Black
El Salvador
21,041
6,052,064
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/White/ Amerindian
Guatemala
108,889
13,550,440
Roman Catholicism/ Protestant/ Indigenous Mayan beliefs
Mestizo and European/K’iche/ Kaqchikel/Mam/ Q’eqchi/other Mayan/ Amerindian non-Mayan
Guyana
214,969
748,486
Hindu/ Pentecostal
East Indian/Black (African) Mixed/ Amerindian
Honduras
112,090
7,989,415
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/Amerindian/ Black/White
Mexico
1,964,375
112,468,855
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/Amerindian/ White
Nicaragua
130,370
5,995,928
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/White/Black/ Amerindian
Panama
75,420
3,410,676
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo/Amerindian and West Indian mix/ White/Amerindian
Paraguay
406,752
6,375,830
Roman Catholicism
Mestizo
Peru
1,285,216
29,907,003
Roman Catholicism
Amerindian/Mestizo/ White Black/ Japanese and Chinese
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Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)1
Population
Major Religions2
Ethnic Groups2
Suriname
163,820
486,618
Hindu/ Protestant (Moravian)
Hindustani/Creole/ Javanese/Amerindian/ Chinese/White
Uruguay
176,215
3,510,386
Roman Catholicism/ Nondenominational
White/Mestizo/Black/ Amerindian (practically nonexistent)
Venezuela
176,215
27,223,228
Roman Catholicism
Spanish/Italian/ Portuguese/Arab/ German/African/ Amerindians
Caribbean Country Name Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Antigua and Barbadus
442.6
86,754
Anglican/Seventh Day Adventist/ Pentecostal
Black/Mixed/ White
The Bahamas
13,880
310,426
Baptist/Anglican/ Roman Catholicism
Black/White/ Asian and Hispanic
Barbados
430
285,653
Anglican/ Pentecostal/ Methodist
Black/White/ Mixed/East Indian
Cuba
110,860
11,477,459
Roman Catholicism
White/ Mulatto & Mestizo/Black
Dominica
751
72,813
Roman Catholicism
Black/ Mixed/Carib Amerindian/ White
Dominican Republic
48,670
9,794,487
Roman Catholicism
Mixed/ White/ Black (Continued)
Overview of the Developing World
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Caribbean (Continued) Country Name Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Grenada
344
107,818
Roman Catholicism
Black/Mulatto/ European and East Indian/ Arawak & Carib Amerindian
Haiti
27,750
9,203,083
Roman Catholicism
Black/Mulatto/ White
Jamaica
10,991
2,847,232
Seventh-Day Adventist/ Pentecostal/ Other Church of God/Baptist/New Testament Church of God/Church of God in Jamaica/ Church of God of Prophecy/Anglican/ other Protestant Christianity
Black/Mixed
Saint Kitts and Nevis
261
49,898
Anglican/other Protestant faiths/ Roman Catholicism
Predominantly Black/Some British, Portuguese, and Lebanese
Saint Lucia
616
160,922
Roman Catholicism
Black/Mixed/ East Indian
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
389
104,217
Anglican/Methodist
Black/Mixed/ East Indian/ European/Carib Amerindian
Trinidad and Tobago
5,128
1,228,691
Roman Catholicism/ Hindu/Anglican
Indian (South Asian)/African/ Mixed
102
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North Africa Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Algeria
2,381,741
34,586,184
Islam
Arab/Berber
Benin
112,622
9,056,010
Christianity/ Islam
Arab/Berber
Bukina Faso
274,200
16,241,811
Islam
Other Groups (includes Gurunsi, Senufo, Lobi, Bobo, Mande, and Fulani)/Mossi
Cape Verde
4,033
508,659
Roman Catholicism/ Protestant (mostly Church of the Nazarene)
Creole (Mulatto)
Chad
1,284,000
10,543,464
Islam
Sara/Arab/Mayo-Kebbi/ Kanem-Bornou/Ouaddai/ Hadjarai/ Tandjile/Gorane/Fitri-Batha
Cote d’Ivoire
322,463
21,058,798
Islam/ Christianity
Akan/Voltaiques or Gur/ Northern Mandes/Krous/ Southern Mandes/Lebanese and French minority
Djibouti
23,200
740,528
Islam
Somali/Afar/Other Groups (includes French, Arab, Ethiopian, and Italian)
Egypt
1,001,450
80,471,869
Islam
Egyptian
Eritrea
117,600
5,792,984
Islam, Coptic Christianity, Roman Catholicism, Protestant
Tigrinya/Tigre and Kunama/ Afar/Saho (Red Sea coast dwellers)
Ethiopia
1,104,300
88,013,491
Christianity (Orthodox & Protestant)
Oromo/Amara/Tigraway/ Somalie/Guragie/Sidama/ Welaita (Continued)
Overview of the Developing World
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North Africa (Continued) Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Ghana
238,533
24,339,838
Christianity (Pentecostal/ Protestant/ Catholic)
Akan/Mole-Dagbon/Ewe/ Ga-Dangme/Guan/Gurma/ Grusi/Mande-Busanga
Guinea
245,857
10,324,025
Islam
Peuhl/Malinke/Soussou
GuineaBissau
36,125
1,565,126
Islam
African(includes Balanta, Fula, Manjaca, Mandinga, Papel)/European and Mulatto Minority
Liberia
111,369
3,685,076
Christianity/ Islam
Indigenous African (including Kpelle, Bassa, Gio, Kru, Grebo, Mano, Krahn, Gola, Gbandi, Loma, Kissi, Vai, Dei, Bella, Mandingo, and Mende)/ Americo-Liberians (descendants of immigrants from the US who had been slaves)/Congo People (descendants of immigrants from the Caribbean who had been slaves)
Libya
1,759,540
6,461,454
Islam
Berber and Arab/Other Ethnic Groups(Greeks, Maltese, Italians, Egyptians, Pakistanis, Turks, Indians, and Tunisians)
Mali
1,240,192
13,796,354
Islam
Mande (Bambara, Malinke, Soninke)/Peul/Voltaic/ Songhai/Tuareg and Moor
Mauritania
1,030,700
3,205,060
Islam
Mixed Moor and Black/ Moor/Black
104
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Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Morocco
446,550
31,627,428
Islam
Arab-Berber/Other non-Arab-Berber Ethnic Groups/Jewish
Niger
1,267,000
15,878,271
Islam
Haoussa/Djerma Sonrai/ Tuareg/Peuhl/Kanouri Manga
Nigeria
923,768
152,217,341
Islam
Hausa and Fulani/Yoruba/ Igbo (Ibo)/Ijaw/Kanuri/ Ibibio/Tiv
Senegal
196,722
14,086,103
Islam
Wolof/Pular/Serer/Jola/ Mandinka/Soninke/European and Lebanese
Sierra Leone
71,740
5,245,695
Islam
African Ethnic Groups (Temne and Mende)/Creole (Krio)/Some ethnic groups from Liberia due to the recent civil war/A minority of Europeans, Lebanese, Pakistanis, and Indians
Somalia
637,657
10,112,453
Islam
Somali/Bantu/Other non-Somali, including Arabs
Sudan
2,505,813
41,980,182
Islam
Black /Arab/Beja
The Gambia
11,295
1,824,158
Islam
African (Mandinka, Fula, Wolof, Jola, Serahuli, Other Ethnic Groups)/Non-African
Togo
56,785
6,199,841
Christianity/ Islam/ Indigenous Beliefs
African (37 tribes; Largest and most important are Ewe, Mina, and Kabre)/European and Syrian-Lebanese Minority
Tunisia
163,610
10,589,025
Islam
Arab/European/Jewish and other ethnic group
Overview of the Developing World
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Sub-Saharan Africa Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Angola
1,246,700
13,068,161
Indigenous Beliefs/ Roman Catholicism/ Protestant
Ovimbundu/ Kimbundu/Bakongo/ Mestico (mixed European and native African)/European
Botswana
581,730
2,029,307
Christianity
Tswana (or Setswana)/ Kalanga/Basarwa/ Kgalagadi and White
Burundi
27,830
9,863,117
Roman Catholicism
Hutu (Bantu)/Tutsi (Hamitic)/Twa (Pygmy)/Europeans/ South Asians
Cameroon
475,440
19,294,149
Indigenous Beliefs/ Christianity/Islam
Cameroon Highlanders/Equatorial Bantu/Kirdi/Fulani/ Northwestern Bantu/ Eastern Nigritic/Other African ethnic groups/ Non-African ethnic groups
Central African Republic
622,984
4,844,927
Indigenous Beliefs/ Protestant/Roman Catholicism/Islam
Baya/Banda/Mandjia/ Sara/Mboum/M’Baka/ Yakoma
Comoros
2,235
773,407
Islam
Antalote/Cafre/Makoa/ Oimatsaha/Sakalava
Congo
342,000
4,125,916
Christianity
Kongo/Sangha/ M’Bochi/Teke/ Europeans
Democratic Republic of the Congo
2,344,858
70,916,439
Roman Catholicism
Bantu and the Mangbetu-Azande (Hamitic)
106
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Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Equatorial Guinea
28,051
650,702
Nominally Christianity and Predominantly Roman Catholicism/Pagan Practices
Fang/Bubi/Mdowe/ Annobon/Bujeba
Gabon
267,667
1,545,255
Christianity
Bantu/Other non-Bantu Africans and Europeans
Kenya
580,367
40,046,566
Protestant/Roman Catholicism/Islam/ Indigenous Beliefs
Kikuyu/Luhya/Luo/ Kalenjin/Kamba/ Kisii/Meru/Other African ethnic groups/ Non-African (Asian, European, and Arab)
Lesotho
30,355
1,919,552
Christianity
Sotho/Europeans/ Asians
Madagascar
587,041
21,281,844
Indigenous Beliefs
Malayo-Indonesian (Merina and related Betsileo)/Cotiers (mixed African, Malayo-Indonesian, and Arab ancestry Betsimisaraka, Tsimihety, Antaisaka, Sakalava)/French/ Indian/Creole/ Comoran
Malawi
118,484
15,447,500
Christianity
Chewa/Nyanja/ Tumbuka/Yao/ Lomwe/Sena/Tonga/ Ngoni/Ngonde/Asian/ European (Continued)
Overview of the Developing World
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Sub-Saharan Africa (Continued) Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Mauritius
2,040
1,294,104
Hindu/Roman Catholicism/Islam Other Christianity sects
Indo-Mauritian/ Creole/ Sino-Mauritian/ Franco-Mauritian
Mozambique
799,380
22,061,451
Catholic/Islam/Zionist Christianity
African (Makhuwa, Tsonga, Lomwe, Sena, and others)/Europeans/ Euro-Africans/Indians
Namibia
824,292
2,128,471
Christianity
Black/White/Mixed
Rwanda
26,338
11,055,976
Roman Catholicism
Hutu (Bantu)/Tutsi (Hamitic)/ Twa (Pygmy)
Sao Tome and Principe
964
175,808
Catholic
Mestico/Angolares/ Forros/Servicais/ Tongas/Portuguese
Seychelles
455
88,340
Roman Catholicism
Mixed French/African/ Indian/Chinese/Arab
South Africa
1,219,090
49,109,107
Zion Christianity/ Pentecostal/Catholic Methodist/Dutch Reformed/Anglican Islam/Other Christianity/ Other Unspecified/ Non-Religious
Black African/White/ Colored/Indian and Asian
Swaziland
17,364
1,354,051
Zionist(a blend of Christianity and indigenous ancestral worship)/Roman Catholicism/Islam/ Other (includes Anglican, Bahai, Methodist, Mormon, Jewish)
African/European
108
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Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Tanzania
947,300
41,892,895
Mainland Tanzania— Christianity/Islam Indigenous Beliefs Zanzibar—Islam
Mainland Tanzania— African (Bantu consisting of more than 130 tribes)/Other (consisting of Asian, European, and Arab) Zanzibar—Arab/ African/mixed Arab and African
Uganda
241,038
33,398,682
Roman Catholicism/ Protestant(Anglican/ Pentecostal/Seventh Day Adventist)/Islam/ Other/None
Baganda/Banyakole/ Basoga/Bakiga/Iteso/ Langi/Acholi/Bagisu/ Lugbara/Bunyoro
Zambia
752,618
12,056,923
Christianity
African (includes Bemba, Tonga, Chewa, Lozi, Nsenga, Tumbuka, Ngoni, Lala, Kaonde, Lunda, and other African groups)/ Other ethnic groups (includes Europeans, Asians, and Americans)
Zimbabwe
390,757
11,651,858
Syncretic (part Christianity, part indigenous beliefs)
African (Shona, Ndebele, Other)/Mixed and Asian/White
Middle East Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Bahrain
741
738,004
Islam (both Shia and Sunni)
Bahraini/ Non-Bahraini
Cyprus
9,251
1,102,677
Greek Orthodox
Greek/Turkish (Continued)
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Middle East (Continued) Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Iran
1,648,195
67,037,517
Islam (primarily Shia)
Persian/Azeri/ Gilaki and Mazandarani/ Kurd/Arab/Lur/ Baloch/Turkmen
Iraq
438,317
29,671,605
Islam (Shia majority)
Arab/Kurdish/ Turkoman, Assyrian, or other ethnic group
Israel
22,072
7,353,985
Judaism
Jewish/NonJewish (mostly Arab)
Jordan
89,342
6,407,085
Islam (Sunni)
Arab/Circassian/ Armenian
Kuwait
17,818
2,789,132
Islam (Sunni)
Kuwaiti/Other Arab/South Asian/Iranian
Lebanon
10,400
4,125,247
Islam (Shia, Sunni, Druze, Isma’ilite, Alawite or Nusayri)
Arab/Armenian
Oman
309,500
2,967,717
Islam (Ibadhi sect)
Arab/Baluchi/ South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Bangladeshi)/ African
Palestine
6,22035
4,119,08336
Islam (Sunni)
Arab/Jewish
Qatar
11,586
840,926
Islam
Arab/Indian/ Pakistani/Iranian
Saudi Arabia
2,149,690
29,207,277
Islam
Arab/Afro-Asian
Syria
185,180
22,198,110
Islam (Sunni)
Arab/Kurds/ Armenians
110
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Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Turkey
783,562
77,804,122
Islam (Sunni)
Turkish/Kurdish/ Other ethnic minorities
United Arab Emirates
83,600
4,975,593
Islam (Sunni)
Emirati/Other Arab and Iranian/ South Asian/ Other expatriates (includes Westerners and East Asians)
Yemen
527,968
23,495,361
Islam (Sunni and Shia)
Arab/Afro-Arab/ South Asians/ Europeans
Central Asia Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Afghanistan
652,230
29,121,286
Islam (Sunni)
Pashtun/Tajik/ Hazara/Uzbek/ Aimak/Turkmen/ Baloch
Azerbaijan
86,600
8,303,512
Islam
Azeri/Dagestani/ Russian/Armenian
Kazakhstan
2,724,900
15,460,484
Islam/Russian Orthodox Christianity
Kazakh (Qazaq)/ Russian/Ukrainian/ Uzbek/German/ Tatar/Uighur
Kyrgyzstan
199,951
5,508,626
Islam
Kyrgyz/Uzbek/ Russian/Dungan/ Ukrainian/Uighur
Pakistan
796,095
177,276,594
Islam (Sunni)
Punjabi/Pashtun (Pathan)/Sindhi/ Sariaki/Muhajirs/ Balochi (Continued)
Overview of the Developing World
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Central Asia (Continued) Country Name
Land Mass Size (sq km)
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Turkmenistan
488,100
4,940,916
Islam
Turkmen/Uzbek/ Russian
Uzbekistan
447,400
27,865,738
Islam (Sunni)
Uzbek/Russian/ Tajik/Kazakh/ Karakalpak /Tatar
South Asia Country Name
Land Mass Size
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Bangladesh
143,998
158,065,841
Islam
Bengali
Bhutan
38,394
699,847
Lamaistic Buddhism
Bhote/Ethnic Nepalese(includes Lhotsampas—one of several Nepalese ethnic groups)/Indigenous or migrant tribes
China
9,596,961
1,330,141,295
Daoist (Taoist)/ Buddhist/ Christian/Muslim
Han Chinese/ Zhuang/Manchu/ Hui/Miao/ Uyghur/ Tujia/Yi/ Mongol/ Tibetan/Buyi/Dong/ Yao/Korean and other nationalities
India
3,287,263
1,173,108,018
Hinduism
Indo-Aryan/ Dravidian/Mongoloid
Maldives
298
395,650
Islam (Sunni)
South Indians/ Sinhalese/Arabs
Mongolia
1,564,116
3,086,918
Lamaist Buddhism
Mongol (mostly Khalkha)/Turkic (mostly Kazakh)/ Other ethnic groups (including Chinese and Russian)
112
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Country Name
Land Mass Size
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Nepal
147,181
28,951,852
Hindu
Chhettri/ Brahman-Hill/Magar/ Tharu/Tamang/ Newar/Muslim/Kami/ Yadav
Sri Lanka
65,610
21,513,990
Buddhism
Sinhalese/Sri Lankan Moors/Indian Tamil/ Sri Lankan Tamil
Southeast Asia Country Name
Land Mass Size
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Brunei Darussalam
5,765
395,027
Islam
Malay/Chinese/ Indigenous
Cambodia
181,035
14,753,320
Buddhism
Khmer/ Vietnamese/ Chinese
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
14,874
1,154,625
Roman Catholicism
Austronesian (MalayoPolynesian)/ Papuan/minority Chinese ethnic group
Indonesia
1,904,569
242,968,342
Islam
Javanese/ Sundanese/ Madurese/ Minangkabau/ Betawi/Bugis/ Banten/Banjar
Laos
236,800
6,993,767
Buddhism
Lao/Khmou/ Hmong/Other (over 100 minor ethnic groups) (Continued)
Overview of the Developing World
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Southeast Asia (Continued) Country Name
Land Mass Size
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Malaysia
329,847
26,160,256
Islam
Malay/Chinese/ Indigenous/Indian
Micronesia
702
107,154
Roman Catholicism (plus sizeable Christian population)
Chuukese/ Pohnpeian/ Kosraean/Yapese/ Yap outer islands/ Asian/Polynesian
Myanmar (Burma)
676,578
53,414,374
Buddhism
Burman/Shan/ Karen/Rakhine/ Chinese/Indian/ Mon
North Korea
120,538
22,757,275
Traditionally Buddhist and Confucianist
Racially homogeneous (Korean)/A small Chinese community and a few ethnic Japanese
Palau
459
20,879
Roman Catholic/ Protestant
Palauan (Micronesian with Malayan and Melanesian admixtures)/ Filipino/Chinese/ Other Asian ethnic groups/White/ Carolinian/Other Micronesian ethnic groups
Papua New Guinea
462,840
6,064,515
Roman Catholic/ Evangelical Lutheran/United Church Seventh-Day Adventist/ Pentecostal Evangelical Alliance/ Anglican Baptist
Melanesian/ Papuan/Negrito/ Micronesian/ Polynesian
114
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Country Name
Land Mass Size
Population
Major Religions
Ethnic Groups
Philippines
300,000
99,900,177
Roman Catholicism
Tagalog/Cebuano/ Ilocano/Bisaya and Binisaya/ Hiligaynon Ilonggo/Bikol/ Waray
Singapore
697
4,701,069
Buddhism/Muslim/ Taoist/Hindu/ Catholic/Other Christian
Chinese/Malay/ Indian
South Korea
99,720
48,636,068
Christian(Protestant/ Roman Catholic) Buddhist
Racially homogeneous (Korean)/A small Chinese community
Thailand
513,120
66,404,688
Buddhism
Thai/Chinese
Vietnam
331,210
9,571,130
Buddhist/Catholic/ Hoa Hao Cao Dai/ Protestant/Muslim/ None
Kinh (Viet)/Tay/ Thai/Muong/ Khome/Hoa/Nun/ Hmong
Notes 1
Data for both land mass size and population is from data collected in July 2010. CIA WorldFactbook, 2010. 2
The major religion listed is adhered to by 50 percent of the population or more. For ethnic groups, they are listed from highest portion of the population to the least portion of the population. The data presented was collected in July 2010. CIA WorldFactbook, 2010.
Overview of the Developing World
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Appendix_I.indd 116
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APPENDIX II
THE POLITICS OF THE DEVELOPING WORLD—THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Latin America Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Argentina
President/Direct Democracy1/ Absolute Majority2
Head of State is Head of Government
Belize
Monarch/Inherited
Governor/Appointed
Bolivia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Brazil
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Chile
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Colombia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Costa Rica
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government (Continued)
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Latin America (Continued)
118
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Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Ecuador
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
El Salvador
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Guatemala
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Guyana
President/Representative Democracy 3/Plurality4
Prime Minister/Appointed
Honduras
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority5
Head of State is Head of Government
Mexico
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Nicaragua
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Panama
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Paraguay
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Peru
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Suriname
President/Representative Democracy/__23 Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Uruguay
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Venezuela
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
The Developing World in the 21st Century
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Caribbean Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Antigua and Barbadus
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
The Bahamas
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
Barbados
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
Cuba
President/Representative Democracy/Plurality
Head of State is Head of Government
Dominica
President/Representative Democracy/Plurality
Prime Minister/Appointed
Dominican Republic
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Grenada
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
Haiti
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Jamaica
Monarch/Inherited
Governor/Appointed
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
Saint Lucia
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Governor General/ Appointed by Monarch (UK)
Prime Minister/Appointed
Trinidad and Tobago
President/Representative Democracy/Plurality
Prime Minister/Appointed
The Politics of the Developing World—The Executive Branch
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North Africa
120
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Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Algeria
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Benin
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Bukina Faso
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Cape Verde
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Chad
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Cote d’Ivoire
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Djibouti
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Egypt
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Eritrea
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Ethiopia
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Ghana
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Guinea
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Guinea-Bissau
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Liberia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Libya6
President/Appointed
Prime Minister/Appointed
Mali
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
The Developing World in the 21st Century
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Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Mauritania
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Morocco
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Niger
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Nigeria
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Senegal
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Sierra Leone
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Somalia
President/ Representative Democracy/ 2 __ Majority 3
Prime Minister/Appointed
Sudan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
The Gambia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Togo
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Tunisia
President/Direct Democracy/ Plurality
Prime Minister/Appointed
Sub-Saharan Africa Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Angola
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Botswana
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Burundi
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government (Continued)
The Politics of the Developing World—The Executive Branch
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Sub-Saharan Africa (Continued) Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Cameroon
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Central African Republic
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Comoros
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Congo
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Democratic Republic of Congo
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Equatorial Guinea
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Gabon
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Kenya
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Lesotho
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Unknown
Madagascar
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Malawi
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Mauritius
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Mozambique
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Namibia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Rwanda
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Sao Tome and Principe
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
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Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Seychelles
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
South Africa
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Swaziland
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Tanzania
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Uganda
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Zambia
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Zimbabwe
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Middle East Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Bahrain
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Cyprus
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Iran
Supreme Leader/Appointed7
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Iraq
President/ Representative Democracy/ 2 __ Majority 3
Prime Minister8
Israel
President/Representative Democracy/9
Prime Minister10
Jordan
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Kuwait
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Lebanon
President/ Representative Democracy/ 2 __ Majority 3
Prime Minister/Appointed
(Continued) The Politics of the Developing World—The Executive Branch
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Middle East (Continued) Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Oman
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Palestine
Not Applicable
Not Applicable
Qatar
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Saudi Arabia
Monarch/Inherited
Head of State is Head of Government
Syria
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Turkey
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
United Arab Emirates
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Yemen
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Central Asia
124
Appendix_II.indd 124
Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Afghanistan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Azerbaijan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Kazakhstan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Kyrgyzstan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Pakistan
President/Representative Democracy/11
Prime Minister/Appointed
Turkmenistan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Uzbekistan
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
The Developing World in the 21st Century
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South Asia Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Bangladesh
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Bhutan
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
China
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
India
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Maldives
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Mongolia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Nepal
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Sri Lanka
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Southeast Asia Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Brunei Darussalam
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Cambodia12
Monarch/Appointed
Prime Minister/Appointed
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Indonesia
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Laos
President/ Representative Democracy/ 2 __ Majority 3
Prime Minister/Appointed
(Continued)
The Politics of the Developing World—The Executive Branch
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Southeast Asia (Continued) Country
Chief of State
Head of Government
Malaysia
Monarch/Representative Democracy13
Prime Minister/Appointed
Micronesia
President/Representative Democracy/Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Myanmar (Burma)
Unknown
Unknown
North Korea
Unknown
Head of State is Head of Government
Palau
President/Direct Democracy/ Absolute Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Papua New Guinea
Monarch/Inherited – Governor/Appointed14
Prime Minister/Appointed
Philippines
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Head of State is Head of Government
Singapore
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
South Korea
President/Direct Democracy/ Simple Majority
Prime Minister/Appointed
Thailand
Monarch/Inherited
Prime Minister/Appointed
Vietnam
Monarch/Representative Democracy/15
Prime Minister/Appointed
Notes 1
Directly elected by voters.
2
Absolute majority requires a majority of all eligible voters, whether they voted or not.
3
Elected officials vote as representatives of citizen voters.
4
Plurality requires winning the most votes, but not necessarily the majority.
5
Simple majority requires a majority of those who actually voted.
6
Libya’s Revolutionary Command Council appoints the country’s President and Prime Minister.
7
The Supreme Leader of Iran is appointed by its Assembly of Experts, which is voted in by the electorate of Iran.
126
Appendix_II.indd 126
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8
Selection process for Prime Minister unknown.
9
Type of majority unknown.
10
Selection process for Prime Minister unknown.
11
Type of majority unknown.
12 The King of Cambodia was selected by its Royal Council of the Throne in 1993. The king appoints the Prime Minister. 13
Type of majority unknown.
14
The Monarch of Papua New Guinea appoints a governor to represent him/her as the Head of State. 15
Type of majority unknown.
The Politics of the Developing World—The Executive Branch
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Appendix_II.indd 128
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APPENDIX III
ELECTORAL SYSTEMS FOR LEGISLATIVE BR ANCHES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD
List Proportional Representation = List PR First-Past-The-Post = FPTP Party Block Vote = PBV Two-Round System = TRS Mixed Member Proportional System = MMP Single Non-Transferable Vote = SNTV Block Vote = BV Alternative Vote = AV Parallel Systems = PS
Latin America Country
Electoral System Type
Argentina
List PR
Belize
FPTP
Bolivia
MMP
Brazil
List PR (Continued)
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Latin America (Continued) Country
Electoral System Type
Chile
List PR
Colombia
List PR
Costa Rica
List PR
Ecuador
List PR
El Salvador
List PR
Guatemala
List PR
Guyana
List PR
Honduras
List PR
Mexico
MMP
Nicaragua
List PR
Panama
List PR
Paraguay
List PR
Peru
List PR
Suriname
List PR
Uruguay
List PR
Venezuela
MMP
Caribbean
130
Appendix_III.indd 130
Country
Electoral System Type
Antigua and Barbadus
FPTP
The Bahamas
FPTP
Barbados
FPTP
Cuba
TRS
Dominica
FPTP
Dominican Republic
List PR
The Developing World in the 21st Century
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Country
Electoral System Type
Grenada
FPTP
Haiti
TRS
Jamaica
FPTP
Saint Kitts and Nevis
FPTP
Saint Lucia
FPTP
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
FPTP
Trinidad and Tobago
FPTP
North Africa Country
Electoral System Type
Algeria
List PR
Benin
List PR
Bukina Faso
List PR
Cape Verde
List PR
Chad
PBV
Cote d’Ivoire
FPTP
Djibouti
PBV
Egypt
TRS
Eritrea
No provisions for direct elections
Ethiopia
FPTP
Ghana
FPTP
Guinea
PS
Guinea-Bissau
List PR
Liberia
FPTP
Libya
No provisions for direct elections (Continued)
Electoral Systems for Legislative Branches in the Developing World
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North Africa (Continued) Country
Electoral System Type
Mali
TRS
Mauritania
TRS
Morocco
List PR
Niger
List PR
Nigeria
FPTP
Senegal
PS
Sierra Leone
List PR
Somalia
No provisions for direct elections
Sudan
FPTP
The Gambia
FPTP
Togo
TRS
Tunisia
PS
Sub-Saharan Africa
132
Appendix_III.indd 132
Country
Electoral System Type
Angola
List PR
Botswana
FPTP
Burundi
List PR
Cameroon
PBV
Central African Republic
TRS
Comoros
TRS
Congo
TRS
Democratic Republic of Congo
No provisions for direct elections
Equatorial Guinea
List PR
Gabon
TRS
The Developing World in the 21st Century
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Country
Electoral System Type
Kenya
FPTP
Lesotho
MMP
Madagascar
FPTP
Malawi
FPTP
Mauritius
BV
Mozambique
List PR
Namibia
List PR
Rwanda
List PR
Sao Tome and Principe
List PR
Seychelles
PS
South Africa
List PR
Swaziland
FPTP
Tanzania
FPTP
Uganda
FPTP
Zambia
FPTP
Zimbabwe
FPTP
Middle East Country
Electoral System Type
Bahrain
TRS
Cyprus
List PR
Iran
TRS
Iraq
List PR
Israel
List PR
Jordan
SNTV (Continued)
Electoral Systems for Legislative Branches in the Developing World
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Middle East (Continued) Country
Electoral System Type
Kuwait
BV
Lebanon
BV
Oman
FPTP
Palestine
PS
Qatar
No provisions for direct elections
Saudi Arabia
No provisions for direct elections
Syria
BV
Turkey
List PR
United Arab Emirates
No provisions for direct elections
Yemen
FPTP
Central Asia Country
Electoral System Type
Afghanistan
SNTV
Azerbaijan
FPTP
Kazakhstan
PS
Kyrgyzstan
TRS
Pakistan
PS
Turkmenistan
TRS
Uzbekistan
TRS
South Asia
134
Appendix_III.indd 134
Country
Electoral System Type
Bangladesh
FPTP
Bhutan
No provisions for direct elections
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Country
Electoral System Type
China
No provisions for direct elections
India
FPTP
Maldives
FPTP
Mongolia
BV
Nepal
FPTP
Sri Lanka
List PR
Southeast Asia Country
Electoral System Type
Brunei Darussalam
No provisions for direct elections
Cambodia
List PR
East Timor (Timor-Leste)
PS
Indonesia
List PR
Laos
BV
Malaysia
FPTP
Micronesia
FPTP
Myanmar (Burma)
FPTP
North Korea
TRS
Palau
FPTP
Papua New Guinea
AV
Philippines
PS
Singapore
PBV
South Korea
PS
Thailand
PS
Vietnam
TRS
Electoral Systems for Legislative Branches in the Developing World
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