GLOBAL ISSUES
A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Dr. Francis Adu-Febiri & Dr. Francis Yee, 2013
Do you see borders?
Contents of Presentation
 Introduction (Slides 3-4)
 Concept #1: Global issues (Slides 5-14)
 Concept #2: Global Inequality & Poverty (Slides
15-26)
 Concept #3: Global Development (Slides 27-39)
 Concept #4: Global Sustainability (Slides 40-45)
 Conclusion (Slide 46)
 Reference (Slide 47)
Introduction:
Conceptual Framework Defined
 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK:
 It focusses on the critical analysis of the contextual
meanings of key concepts that frame the focus and
parameters of a discipline, a subject, a research
study, a course, community, etc.
 Research Methods literature portrays conceptual
framework as the operational or contextual
definitions of concepts.
 According to Grinnell, Williams and Unrau (2009),
concepts are ideas that need clarification or detailed
explanation.
Introduction:
Conceptual Framework of Global Issues


As a framework, global issues has three major hinges: Global Inequality and Poverty, Global
Sustainability, and Global Development.
All other concepts, major themes and theories of Global issues revolve around this conceptual
framework.
GLOBAL INEQUALITY & POVERTY
GLOBAL ISSUES
Source: Constructed from personal observation and intimate understanding of the globalization literature
CONCEPT #1
GLOBAL ISSUES
Defining the Concept of Global
Issues
 Globalization makes global issues evident
but does not define the concept of Global
Issues.
 Books (e.g., Bhargava 2006, Seitz and Hite
2012, and Payne 2013) with the title of
Global Issues hardly define and
systematically conceptualize the global
issues concept.
 It is taken for granted that given the existing
definitions of globalization, global public goods,
global politics, global norms, the definition of
concept of global issues is self-evident or
Global Issues (Bhargava 2006)

Vinay Bhargava (2006), the author of the World Bank
book, Global Issues for Global Citizens, correctly
identifies global issues, globalization and global public
goods as related but differing concepts (p. 34).
 However, it defines the concepts of globalization and
global public goods at the expense of the concept of
global issues as is evident in the following quotation:
 The International Task Force on Global has defined
international public goods ( a term that includes both
global and regional goods) as goods and services that
“address issues that: (i) are deemed to be important
to the international community, to both developed
and developing countries, (ii) typically cannot, or will
not, be adequately addressed by individual countries
or entities acting alone; and in such cases (iii) are
best addressed collectively on a multilateral basis. “
By this definition, most but not all the global issues
addressed in this book involve the creation—or the
failure to create—global public goods’ (p. 34).
Global Issues (Bhargava 2006)
 It seems Bhargava (2006), assumes that
the definition of global issues is implied in
the definitions of globalization and global
public goods.
Global Issues (Seitz & Hite 2012)
 Like Bhargava (2006), John Seitz and Kristen
Hite’s (2012. p. 2) Global Issues book
“discusses some of the main current global
issues of our time” without providing any
definitions or systematic conceptualization of
the global issues concept.
Global Issues (Seitz & Hite 2012)
 Without first defining the concept of Global
issues, John Seitz and Kristen Hite (2012,
p. 256) laments in the appendix of their
book that many students in American
colleges and universities take International
Studies courses
 But a close look at the international studies
course reveals that most of them still focus on
only one country or one region (often Western
Europe), and only a few focus on a problem or
an issue that is found throughout the world.
Global Issues (Payne 2013)
 Richard Payne (2013, p.4), after defining the
concepts of Global Politics and Global Norms,
does not specifically define global issues, but
rather states that
 Global issues encompasses traditional international
relations and world-wide politics
 Stressing global issues indicates a recognition of how
globalization intertwines many aspects of human
activities
Global Issues: Major Themes
Vinay Bhargava (2006):
Global Issues for Global
Citizens: An Introduction to
Key Development
Challenges
John Seitz & Kristen Hite
(2012): Global Issues: An
Introduction
Richard Payne (2013):
Global Issues: Politics,
Economics, and Culture
THEMES
THEMES
THEMES
Global Poverty &
Inequality; Global
Financial System; Global
Global Population;
Global Wealth and
Poverty; Global Food
Production; Global
Energy; Global
Environment; Global
Technology; Global
Sustainable
Development
Global Society;
Globalization and
Human Rights; Global
Governance and
Democracy; Global
terrorism; Global
Financial Crisis; Global
Trade; Global Inequality
and Poverty;
Globalization of
Environmental
Problems; Global Crime;
Globalization of Disease;
Global Cultural Clashes
Migration; Global
Development; Global Hunger
& Malnutrition; Diseases
Without Boarders; Global
Climatic Change; Global
Education; Global
Resources; Global Energy;
Global Governance
Source: Constructed with information from the three books
Global Issues: Toward a Definition
 Analyzing the stated ideas and main themes of the three
major current books on Global Issues, it could be
deduced that conceptually, “Global Issues” are crosscountry cross-regional political, economic, health,
technological, environmental, social and cultural
problems or challenges facing humanity in a globalized
world.
 In effect, global issues can be defined as development
challenges without borders; problems that are common
to nations around the world.
Global Issues: Toward a Definition
 Sociologically, global issues are the
problems, challenges, and opportunities
most societies, if not all, encounter despite
the local, national and regional differences
in their social relationships, stratification
patterns, culture, interaction, and social
institutions.
CONCEPT #2
 GLOBAL INEQUALITY & POVERTY
Inequality & Poverty as Global
Issues
 Inequality and poverty are now global
issues because they transcend local,
national and regional boundaries.
Global Inequality & Poverty
 Poverty and inequality and their associated
outcomes can no longer be contained within
national boundaries. This makes them a
global issue/problem of huge proportions,
and it means that alleviating poverty and
reducing inequality are critical to
maintaining and strengthening regional and
global stability. That is why the UN has
made reducing world poverty a top
priority—it is a target under the first of the
Millennium Development Goals (Bhargava
2006, p. 37)
Global Inequality & Poverty
 North and south are no longer geographic
coordinates. Now they are power relations
between the global rich and the global
poor. The north-south divide has grown
and, so too, have new transnational
inequalities and social hierarchies. Social
polarization cuts across national lines as
well. New elites, middle classes, and highconsumptions sectors are uplifted from
their national contexts as they become
incorporated into the global cornucopia
[horn of plenty] (Robinson 2014, p. 286).
Inequality & Inequity

Inequality is the gap between the rich and the poor: The gap
between the rich/wealthy and the poor are correlated with the gap
between males and females, adults and children, dominant
racial/ethnic groups and minority racial/ethnic groups, etc. (World
Development Report 2006, cited in Bhargava 2005, p. 65):
Inequality: Unequal distribution of outcomes such as
income, wealth, consumption or other dimensions of wellbeing. It is different from inequity
 Inequity: Unequal distribution of opportunities—economic,
political and social.


Global Inequality is a reflection of Global Inequity (Adu-Febiri
2008)
Poverty
 There is no single definition of poverty
capable of serving all purposes (Wilson,
1996, p. 21)
 Typology of Definitions:




1. Poverty as lack of basic needs
2. Poverty as income below the poverty line
3. Poverty as recipients of welfare/charity
4. Poverty as peoples’ subjective perceptions of
what they need to live according to the expected
standards of their society.
 See Korayem (1996)
Poverty
 Comprehensive Definition:
 The Poverty concept goes beyond the
conventional focus on income and
wealth/things; it also has non-material
dimensions:






Education
Health
Equality
Voice
Power
Security
Poverty
 In effect,
 the global poor are poor not only
because they have no or little access
to income and wealth, but also they
 1. lack the capability to function in their
local communities:
 Key capabilities include not only adequate
resources for essential needs—food,
shelter, clothing—but also access to
education, good health, security from
violence and other risks, and political
participation and voice (Amartya Sen 2000
cited in Bhargava 2006, p. 64).
Poverty
 2. they usually live in neighbourhoods
where there is far higher incidence of
infectious diseases and malnutrition,
combined with an acute lack of access
to safe water, sanitation, healthcare,
adequate housing , education and
work (Kofi Annan 2001, pp. 52-56).
The Global Poor
 Who are the global poor? Who are
below the International Poverty Line?
 Mostly




Women
Children
Racialized groups
Ethnic Minorities
The Global Poor
 Where are the global poor?
 In every country, but the extreme
poor are concentrated in:
 Sub-Saharan Africa
 East Asia
 South Asia
The Global Poor and Global
Development
 Development has not been something
that the rich bestowed on the poor
but rather something the poor
achieved for themselves (Nancy
Birdsall and Francis Fukuyama 2011)
CONCEPT #3
GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT
Development as a Global Issue
 Developmentalism is now a global
issue because it transcends local,
national and regional boundaries.
Development as a Global Issue
 The three most common uses of the concept of
development entails globality (see Mark Frezzo
2008, p. 41):
 1. Development as a linear unfolding of human
history from barbarism (antiquity) to
civilization (modernity).
 2. Development as the extensive and intensive
growth of capitalism in the permanent quest for
new sources of raw materials, fresh supplies of
labor, and untapped markets.
 3. Development as a post-WW2 project to
create the conditions for economic growth in
the global south
Development and Inequality
 Development and inequality/inequity
are connected:
 Inequality in opportunities has a
negative impact on economic
development and growth (World Bank
2006, cited in Bhargava 2006, p. 65).
Development
 Classical Definitions:
 It is production-based notion of “development”
 The classical use of the term “development” in
the developed nations, and now in the
developing countries, defined progress by the
increased growth of material goods by any
means possible (Seitz & Hite 2012, p. 72).
 Increase in per capita national income of a
country or an increase in its gross national
product (GNP), the total amount of goods and
services produced (Seitz & Hite 2012, p. xvi).
 Development and Economic Development are
used interchangeably.
Development
 Alternative Definitions:
 1. Direct attention to consequence of
the growth of material goods and
services (Seitz & Hite 2012, p. xv).
 Economic growth leading to social
changes such as:
 Higher standards of living
 Happier human beings
 Enlarged of human capabilities and choices
 Creation of an environment in which people can
lead long, healthy, and creative lives
Development
 Alternative Definitions:
 2. Integration of Economic and Social
Factors:
 Economic development that results in happier
human beings because the process leads to
creation of adequate number of satisfying and
challenging jobs, adequate housing, health care,
and educational opportunities, healthy and
pleasant living and working environments,
enough nutritious food to eat, etc. (Seitz & Hite
2012, p. xvi).
Development
 Alternative Definitions:
 3. Transcends Economic and Social
Factors:
 Sociologically development refers to a
process in which masses of people
experience an improvement in their
living standards, opportunities for
cultural and spiritual growth, and the
ability to exercise a modicum of control
over their own lives (Robinson 2014, p.
286).
Development
 Comprehensive Definitions:
 Integration of economic development,
social development, and human
development.
Development
 Economic Development:
 Material growth; increased production
 Social Development:
 Improving social, cultural, and
political relationships in society or
community
 Human Development:
 Enhancing peoples’ well-being
through the enlarging of human
capabilities and choices
Development: The Spectrum
UNDEVELOPMENT
Source: Francis Adu-Febiri 2013
Global Development
 Economic, social, and human
development on a global scale.
Global Development
 Millennium Development Goals
 A framework of 8 goals, 18 targets and
48 indicators to measure progress
towards the MDGs (Francis Yee 2011)


Critique of the MDGs:
“…elite reform proposals, ranging from Millennium
Development Goals to multilateral restructuring and
other forms of ‘global governance’, will not reverse
the outflow of African wealth or serve the deeper
agenda of African development, which is to meet the
reasonable needs of all its citizens (Bond 2008, p.
26)
CONCEPT #4
GLOBAL SUSTAINABILITY
Global Sustainability
 Sustainability is now a global
issue because it transcends local,
national, and regional
boundaries.
Sustainable Development
 Sustainable development is a
powerful concept because it is hard to
argue against it. A sustainable world
would not mean the absence of
growth, but the growth that would be
emphasized would go beyond
unrelenting desire for more material
objects (Seitz and Hite 2012, p. 242).
 Alternative Development is possible.
Sustainable Development
 Fantasy?
 Continuous economic growth plus
continuous reduction of poverty plus
continuous narrowing of the gap
between the rich and the poor plus
continuous improvement in well-being
of all societal or community
members—all attained through
environmentally friendly processes.
Sustainable Development
 Realistic?
 Sociologically, sustainable
development involves processes of
improving social, cultural, political,
and economic relationships in society
or community without compromising
the freedom and spirit of individuals
and groups, the quality of the natural
environment, and the well-being of
future generations.
Sustainability
 Sustainability is a process of improving the
quality of life for not just the present but for
the future generations too (World Commission
on Environment and Development 1987).
 Meeting the needs of the current generations
without compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs (World
Commission on Environment and Development
1987)
 The ability of society to live within its natural
limits by eliminating destructive values and
making choices not to overconsume its
resources (Jared Diamond 2005)
CONCLUSION
 If we fail to take a global view in our
approach to eliminating global
inequality and poverty, global
underdevelopment, and global
unsustainability, “future generations
will likely suffer an existence that is
nastier, more brutish, and shorter
than that which we now enjoy” (Brym
2014, p. 283).
References
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