The Plight and policy posture of the less developed global South

 

The earth is divided into two hemispheres, north and south, at the equator. Life in the north is very different, in many ways, from life in the south. One American college student learned this lesson, painfully, during his first visit to South America. He found a reality far different from his own experience growing up in the United States. He was moved to write:

I spent the first 24 years of my life in South Carolina. When I left for Colombia [South America], I fully expected Bogota to be like any large U.S. city, only with citizens who spoke Spanish. When I arrived there I found my expectations were wrong. I was not in the U.S., I was on Mars! I was a victim of culture shock. As a personal experience this shock was occasionally funny and sometimes sad. But after all the laughing and the crying were over, it forced me to reevaluate both my life and the society in which I live.

Colombia is a poor country by American standards. It has a per capita GNP of $550 and a very unequal distribution of income. These were the facts that I knew before I left.

But to "know" these things intellectually is much different from experiencing first-hand how they affect people's lives. It is one thing to lecture in air conditioned classrooms about the problems of world poverty. It is quite another to see four-year-old children begging or sleeping in the streets.

It tore me apart emotionally to see the reality of what I had studied for so long:"low per capita GNP and maldistribution of income." What this means in human terms is children with dirty faces who beg for bread, money or turn into pickpockets because the principle of private property gets blurred by empty stomachs.

It means other children whose minds and bodies will never develop fully because they were malnourished as infants. It means cripples who can’t even turn to thievery and must beg to stay alive. It means street vendors wno sell candy and cigarettes 14 hours a day in order to feed their families.

It also means well-dressed businessmen and petty bureaucrats who indifferently pass this poverty every day as they seek asylum in their fortified houses to the north of the city.

It means rich people who prefer not to see the poor, except for maids and security guards.

It means foreigners like me who come to Colombia and spend more in one month than the average Colombian earns in a year.

It means politicians across the ideological spectrum who are so full of abstract solutions or personal greed that they forget that it is real people they are dealing with.

Somewhere within the polemics of the politicians and the "objectivity" of the social scientists, the human being has been lost. (Wallace)

What created these conditions that are characteristic of the countries in the south? To understand possible answers we need to begin by taking into consideration the legacy and impact of colonialism on the peoples who were colonized by European conquerors. The now independent sovereign states in the Southern Hemisphere were almost all former colonies.

The end of colonialism was one of the most remarkable developments in twentieth-century world politics. As U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz observed in 1983, "Since the Second World War, the world has undergone a vast transformation as more than 100 new states have come into being. An international system that had been centred on Europe for centuries, and that regarded all non-European areas as peripheral or as objects of rivalry, has become in an amazingly short span of time a truly global arena of sovereign states."

Despite their legal status as independent entities, sovereignty could not erase the colonial heritage and vulnerabilities that the former colonies faced. Indeed, the new poor states born after World War II were thrust into the international periphery; dominated by the rich great powers at the core of an international system they had no voice in shaping, the new states viewed the inherited rules and structures as barriers to their true independence and growth.

The term Third World was first used to distinguish the growing number of newly emerging, economically less developed states that tended to share a common colonial heritage from those identified with either the East or West in the Cold War struggle, but it soon took on largely economic connotations. Compared with the First World industrialized countries, the Third World had failed to advance toward levels of economic development comparable to Western Europe, North America, and Japan. The Second World —consisting of the Soviet Union, its allies, and other communist societies—was distinguished by a commitment to planned economic practices rather than reliance on market forces to determine the supply of and demand for goods and services. Today the states comprising the former Second World are commonly described as "countries in transition."

The term "Third World" carries Cold War baggage that makes it no longer useful. Today the terms Global North, which refers to what was previously known as the First World, and Global South, which refers to the rest of the world, are preferred. As always, placement of particular states within these categories is sometimes problematic. Many of the countries in transition, those formerly referred to as Second World, are particularly difficult to place. Generally, four dimensions distinguish the North and South: politics, technology, wealth, and demography.

States composing the Global North are democratic, technologically inventive, wealthy, and aging, as their societies tend toward zero population growth. Some states in the Global South share many of these characteristics, but none shares them all. Saudi Arabia is rich but not democratic; China is populous but only a fraction of its slow-growing population has recently become wealthy; India is democratic but burdened with an enormous and growing population; and Singapore is both wealthy and technologically innovative, with a comparatively modest population growth rate, but is not democratic. Beyond this are many states that are not democratic, technologically innovative, or wealthy, but who are experiencing rapid population growth that increasingly strains over-taxed social and ecological systems. These, the least developed of the less developed countries, are sometimes described today as the "Third World's Third World." Many, but not all, are in Africa, south of the Sahara.

The Global South is home to more than 80 percent of the world's people but commands less than 20 percent of its wealth. These disparities underlie the long festering "North-South conflict" dispute more than do political and technological differences. The contest between the wealthy North and the poor South has historically been a politics of mutual suspicion and struggle because of the fears and resentments that differences in status and unequal opportunities to economically compete naturally arouse.

 

Exercises:

1 Answer the following questions:

1 What was the American student shocked by while visiting South America?

2 What role did the end of colonialism play in the world politics?

3 What do the terms “First World“, “Second World“, “Third World“ mean?

4 What countries do the terms „Global North“ and „Global South“ refer to?

5 What dimensions are taken into account when distinguishing the North and the South? Give examples.

6 What can you say about the relationship between the North and the South?

 

2 Give Russian equivalents for the following word-combinations:

to experience first hand, to tear apart, low per capita GNP,to turn to thievery, petty bureaucrats, fortified houses, the legacy and impact of colonialism, remarkable developments, to undergo a vast transformation, to come into being, to be thrust into the international periphery, commitment to smth, planned economic practices, countries in transition, technologically inventive, wealthy and aging, burdened with an enormous population, modest population growth rate, overtaxed systems, to underlie the long festering dispute.

 

3 Give English equivalents for the following words and word-combinations:

неравное распределение дохода, превращаться в карманников, уличный торговец, искать приюта, принимать в расчет, поразительно короткий период времени, спрос на товары и услуги, нулевой прирост населения, наименее развитые страны, взаимные подозрения, неравные возможности.

 

4 Make up nouns from the following verbs and adjectives using suffixes:

to divide, to expect, to evaluate, to malnourish, to fortify, to prefer, to secure, to solve, to conquer, to observe, to erase, to inherit, to identify, to connote, to compare, to commit, to rely, to describe, to refer, to place, to compose, to suspect, to resent;

equal, poor, objective, sovereign, vulnerable.

 

5 Give as many synonyms as possible to the following words:

different, moved, private, petty, remarkable, inventive, wealthy, enormous, modest, rapid;

to force, to evaluate, to beg, to blur, to feed, to seek, to create, to undergo, to regard, to thrust;

term, property, mind, infant, vendor, solution, condition, developments, dispute, contest.

 

6 Give antonyms adding negative affixes if necessary:

painful, equal, different, human, private, well-dressed, petty, peripheral, comparable, useful, experienced, rapid.

 

7 Explain the meaning of the following adverbs and make up sentences with them:

painfully, fully, occasionally, intellectually, indifferently, newly, largely, commonly, previously, particularly, generally, recently.

 

8 Insert prepositions where necessary:

1 The Global South is home … more than 80 percent … the world‘s people but commands less than 20 percent … its wealth.

2 What created these conditions that are characteristic … the countries … the south?

3 Life … the north is very different, … many ways, … life … the south.

4 What this means … human terms is children … dirty faces who beg … bread, money or turn … pickpockets because the principle … private property gets blurred … empty stomachs.

5 To understand possible answers we need to begin … taking … consideration the legacy and impact … colonialism … the people who were colonized … European conquerers.

6 Compared … the First World industrialized countries, the Third World had failed to advance … levels … economic development comparable … Western Europe, North America and Japan.

7 An international system that had been centered … Europe … centures, and that regarded all non-European areas as peripheral or as objects … rivalry, has become … an amazingly short span … time a truly global arena … sovereign states.

8 The Second World – consisting … the Soviet Union, its allies, and other communist societies – was distinguished … a commitment … planned economic practices rather than reliance … market forces to determine the supply … and demand … goods and services.

9 The new poor states born … World War II were thrust … the international periphery; dominated … the rich great powers … the core … an international system they had no voice … shaping, the new states viewed the inherited rules and structures as barriers … their true independence and growth.

10 The term Third World was first used to distinguish the growing number … newly emerging states that tended to share a common colonial heritage … those identified … either the East or West … the Cold War struggle.

 

9 Translate from Russian into English:

1 Мы знаем, что жизнь на севере во многом значительно отличается от жизни на юге, но понять все различия можно лишь на собственном опыте, посетив одну из стран так называемого Третьего мира.

2 Страны Третьего мира – бедные страны по американским и европейским стандартам, они имеют очень низкий валовой национальный продукт на душу населения и неравномерное распределение дохода.

3 В странах Третьего мира детям с ранних лет приходится либо становиться воришками-карманниками, либо попрошайничать хлеб и деньги, чтобы не умереть с голоду. Некоторые дети становятся уличными торговцами, чтобы прокормить свои семьи.

4 С другой стороны, в этих странах живут процветающие, хорошо одетые бизнесмены, которые озабочены лишь собственным благополучием, совершенно равнодушны к нищете и предпочитают не замечать бедняков.

5 Несмотря на то, что после окончания Второй мировой войны почти все бывшие колонии приобрели независимость, они были отброшены на периферию международной жизни и не имели равного голоса в принятии важных решений.

6 Из-за исторически обусловленного несоответствия, что на Юге живет более 80 процентов населения мира, но ему принадлежат лишь 20 процентов мировых богатств, между богатым Севером и бедным Югом всегда были отношения взаимного подозрения, недоверия и борьбы.

10 Questions for discussions:

1 Life in the countries of the Third World.

2 Differences in the level of the living standards between the countries of the First, the Second and the Third Worlds.

3 What can be done to improve the living standards in the countries of the Third World?

4 Which World can Russia be referred to? Give your reasons.

UNIT 7