GE21001 Dynamic Human Worlds
Lecture 6
Development, Power and Place
Dr. Susan P. Mains
Geography
Lecture Outline
Recap of Lecture 5-globalisation:
-economic, cultural, political
Today’s Lecture:
-Defining Development
-Measuring Development
-Useful Readings:
*Radcliffe, S. (2005) Rethinking Development. In Cloke, P.,
Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (Eds) Introducing Human
Geographies. 2nd Edition. London, Hodder Arnold, pp.200-210.
Willis, K. (2005) Theories of Development. In Cloke, P., Crang,
P. and Goodwin, M. (Eds) Introducing Human Geographies. 2nd
Edition. London, Hodder Arnold, pp. 187-199.
Recap on Globalisation: Globalism
• Rapidly increasing processes of
globalisation
• Images/Discourses of globalism
• Significance conceptually and for policy
– e.g., how places are represented in media
– e.g., why international trade coalitions are
agreed—e.g., NAFTA, EU, IMF
• an “inexorable” or “natural” process?
“out of control”?
Difficulties with discourses of
globalisation
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Used to attack worker organizations
A process of ensuring lower wages
Legitimizing downsizing and restructuring
Facilitating mobility of corporations
Who makes decisions?
+ve and –tive impacts: complex
Globalisation is uneven:
– geographically, financially, socially
Gender, Race and Globalisation
• Uneven “rights” and inclusion in
political/financial processes
• Categories of work
• Limited transfer of skills
• Social exclusion: under representation of
diverse social groups in managerial
positions
• Loss of skilled labour to wealthier
countries
• Sex workers, ‘free zone’/maquila workers,
human trafficking
• Economic dependency
Defining Development
• A range of social, economic, political and health
factors
• How do we measure “political development”?
• Shift from financial to more holistic measures
• Cultural and political context significant
• What kinds of “development” are desirable?
Defining Development
• “Development” created in a particular political
context
• President Harry Truman “underdevelopment”
1948 at the beginning of the Cold War
• Relational
• The idea of a continuum
• 1st, 2nd, and 3rd World, later a 4th?
– Again political context significant
– US imperialism
Ways of Measuring ‘Development’
Population Characteristics
Check the Population Reference Bureau: DataFinder
www.prb.org for up-to-date statistics
Doubling Time:
the measure of how long it will take the population
of an area to grow to twice its current size
Life Expectancy:
the average number of years a newborn infant can
expect to live
More Population Measurements
Total Fertility Rate (TFR):
the average number of children a woman
will have throughout her lifetime
Infant Mortality Rate (IMR):
the number of deaths of infants less than 1
year of age compared to the number of live
births for that same year (or infant deaths
per 1,000 live births)
Education Indicators
Literacy rate: the percentage of the population
over age 15 years able to read and write, and is
often broken down by sex
Secondary School Enrolment
Economic Indicators
Gross Domestic Product (GDP): a monetary
measure of the value of goods and services
produced within a national economy over a given
period of time
Gross National Product (GNP): GDP + net income
from abroad
GNI PPP per capita: the Gross National Income
(with purchasing power parity) per person
Human Development Index
GDP and GNP are seriously deficient as measures
of economic activity:
• they omit whole areas of work
• they perversely count as wealth creation that
which may destroy the foundations of productive
activity
Human Development Index: The United Nations
uses a Human Development Index, which is
calculated on measures of life expectancy,
educational attainment and personal income.
Non-Demographic Indicators III
Human Development Report (UNHDP)
Links between environmental and political contexts
Links between, infrastructure, policy, education &
health
Role of national and international institutions,
everyday experiences, obstacles and opportunities
for change
e.g., the politics of water
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYsZOI8gftU&feature=results_video&playne
xt=1&list=PL1C485D484939EC26
Millenium Development Goals
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Time specific targets
Millennium Summit (2000)
Millennium Declaration
8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
Millennium Development Goals for 2015
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3p2VLTowAA&feature=related
Millenium Development Goals
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Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
Goal 2: Universal Primary Education
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Enrolment in primary education in developing
regions reached 90 per cent in 2010, up from 82 per
cent in 1999, which means more kids than ever are
attending primary school.
In 2011, 57 million children of primary school age
were out of school.
Even as countries with the toughest challenges
have made large strides, progress on primary
school enrolment has slowed. Between 2008 and
2011, the number of out-of-school children of
primary age fell by only 3 million.
Globally, 123 million youth (aged 15 to 24) lack
basic reading and writing skills. 61 per cent of them
are young women.
Gender gaps in youth literacy rates are also
narrowing. Globally, there were 95 literate young
women for every 100 young men in 2010, compared
with 90 women in 1990.
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/education.shtml
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
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Improved maternal literacy
Need for family planning services
Accurate and easily available information
Trained service providers and safe
facilities
• Needs of older women and adolescents
important
Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability
• Quality of life
• Physical and social
environment
• Pollution, access to land,
present and future
generations
• Politically contentious
• Corruption
• Who has a voice?
e.g., Jamaica Environment Trust
(JET) http://www.jamentrust.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
aQT9cBW9iNE