•Why does the comparison exist?

•What caused these countries to be different?

•What is the primary indicator or basis of
comparison?
•Classified countries as:

•Third World= non-aligned

•Second World= socialist/communist
•First World= capitalist
• The 1980s, however, not only saw the fragmentation of the First / Second
World dualism with the collapse of the former Soviet Union at the end of
the decade, but also – and perhaps more importantly – the embracing of
market reforms by most command economies (China in 1978, Vietnam
and Laos in 1986, and the Soviet Union in 1987).
• “It doesn’t matter whether a cat is white or black, so long as it catches
mice (Deng Xiao-ping).”
• Tiger economies in Asia like Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Taiwan,
South Korea, and Thailand to name but a few, were labeled as “developing
countries”
• 2 kinds of countries (The industrialized and the developing)
• Further classified countries:
• First World: Rich Western Countries
• Second World: Communist Block
• Third World: Developing and underdeveloped

• Fourth World: Stateless Indigenous Peoples/ Struggled but had potential

• Fifth: Chanceless and mired in perennial poverty
• Accordingly, the idea that there were three “worlds” originated, in the
Anglophone world, with the anthropologist and sociologist Peter Worsley
(The Third World, 1964; and The Three Worlds, 1984).
• However, the notion of the Third World was older, coined by the
demographer , and his reference to did
not presuppose the existence of a First or Second World.
• Rather, when speaking of the poor countries and colonies, he explicitly
drew a parallel with the third estate, le tiers état, at the time of the French
revolution; that is, everyone who did not belong to the clergy or the
nobility.
• Any conceptual investigations/associations may lead to ambivalence.
• Global diversity is simply such that it cannot meaningfully be subsumed
under a few, let alone two, concepts.
• The Global North: stable state organization, an economy largely under
(state) control and a dominant formal sector.
• The Global South: the recipients of foreign aid.
• UNDP’s HDI: GN= 64; GS=133
• GN has stronger public sector while GS has been subjected to the forces of
global neoliberalism.
• The post - cold war world is not divided by political
ideologies such as socialism or liberalism, but on the
benefits of a globalized neoliberal capitalist economy.
• The Global South and the Global North represent an
updated perspective on the post - 1991 world, which
distinguishes not between political systems or degrees of
poverty, but between the victims and the benefactors of
global capitalism (Eriksen, n.d).
• Availability of natural resources;
• different levels of health and education;
• the nature of a country’s economy and its industrial sectors;
• international trading policies and access to markets;
• how countries are governed and international relationships
between countries;
• conflict within and between countries; and
• a country’s vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change
• A few decades ago, the South was associated with:
• starvation;
• malnutrition;
• poverty;
• epidemics;
• low educational levels;
• political authoritarianism; and
• dictatorships.
• the advance of global capitalism
through economic and financial
globalization;
• the adoption of capitalism in part
or full by almost all nations;
• financial markets and
financialization have linked
countries and people in far
deeper ways than the
globalization of production.
• continued dominance of systems and institutions of global economic and
financial governance by the North despite attempts by developing
countries to secure greater power;
• inequality and inequity remain inherent and almost foundational
characteristics of the North South divide.

• Inequality is a deep structural defect that diminishes individual

and collective potential for many, and shapes power relations
within and among societies.
• the development gap between wealthy and poor nations
that could be closed through the transfer of capital,
technology and know-how to build modern systems and
institutions for material advancement.
• Development interventions have touched all aspects of
, and have
been instrumental in the integration of local and national
economies into the global economy.
• What areas have been influenced?
• medical and other sciences;
• public health;
• education;
• industry;
• communication and digital technologies; and
• information and knowledge systems, etc.
• concentration of the world’s wealth and assets in the hands of wealthy
elites and Transnational Corporations (TNCs);
• low workers’ wages and persistence of unemployment in most countries;
• imminent runway climate change;
• accelerating environmental pollution and destruction;
• recurring economic and financial crises seen as the “new normal;”
• old pathogens and diseases making a comeback and new viruses
multiplying in over crowded, polluted urban environments;
• millions of people being dislocated from traditional lands, environments
and territories because of capitalist investment; and
• persistence of land and water grabbing, natural disasters and wars.
•“Investments by developing-country multinational
enterprises (MNEs) also reached a record level with
developing Asia investing abroad more than any
other region. Nine of the 20 largest investor
countries were from developing or transition
economies. These MNEs continued to acquire
developed-country foreign affiliates in the
developing world (World Investment Report, 2015).”
• development is described and planned in the language of free markets, free
trade agreements, private (often corporate) investment, private sector
expansion and business plans.
• In Asia, development is characterized by an obsession with economic growth,
operationalized through privatization, trade and investment liberalization, and
market and corporate friendly regulation.
• cause of inequality/poverty: capture of land, water and natural wealth by rich
elites, politically powerful actors, businesses and corporations for speculation,
real estate/property development, industrial agriculture, energy, extractive
industry, etc.
• These result dispossession and environmental destruction on a massive scale,
thereby concentrating wealth, resources and power in the hands of an elite
minority.
 • despite increasing economic growth (GDP) and reductions in
overall poverty over the past 25 years, inequality in a large part
of the Asia Pacific region has increased tremendously. Inequality
is manifested in several ways, including in incomes, ownership of
property and economic assets, opportunity and access to services
essential to human wellbeing. The report’s editors argued that
while addressing inequality should be a priority in and of itself
(from the perspective of values and justice), inequality also
undermined economic growth and poverty reduction (Global
Wealth Report, 2015).
• The creation of wealth will create poverty…….. It is not an equalizer…. It needs
the redistributive measures.
• Those most negatively affected by the above are workers, peasants, fisherfolk
and other subsistence producers in both rural and urban areas in that:
• their wages, earnings and savings do not increase, nor does their access to
goods and services improve;
• they often end up paying more for food, energy, water, rent and daily life
compared to middle and upper classes;
• women, children and youth are particularly affected. Harder lives translate
to heavier workloads for women, less time and fewer resources to
transform their lives;
• children and youth are unable to access opportunities that would
contribute to significant changes in their futures.
• Guttal (2016) concluded that until the hegemonic structures and
systems that enabled the North to build their economic and political
power are not dismantled, the North-South divide will continue to
exist.
• Structural differences in living conditions, human and societal
capabilities and economic and political power, are still prevalent
between the North and South.
• At the same time, North and South are constructs and it is probably
more strategic to focus attention on some actors within these
constructs rather fussing about the overall conceptualization.
• Tackling global capitalism, the power of TNCs, persisting
/entrenched inequality, climate change and migration are
absolute priorities for global peace and justice. In so
doing, Northern domination will have to be checked, as
will the refusal of North countries to act on their historical
responsibilities have to be challenged. But equally
important is critically monitoring and challenging the
expansion, use and abuse of power and privilege in,
among and by South countries (Guttal, 2016).