Chapter 17
Some Critical Issues
for the Twenty-First
Century
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.
Global Interdependence and the
Growth of Developing World Markets
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LDCs have long been dependent on
developed countries
Developed countries are increasingly
dependent on LDCs for
– Natural resources and raw materials
– Markets for developed-country products
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.
17-2
The Global Environment and the
Developing World
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Pollutants and their consequences for the
global environment
MDC and LDC contributions to greenhouse
gases
Rain Forest Preservation as a Public Good:
Who Should Pay?
Searching for Solutions: The 1992, 1007,
and 2002 summits.
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17-3
The Crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa

Economic dimensions of the problem: over the
1980s
– Per capita output and consumption fell by more than
40%
– Investment and exports fell by about 30%
– Per capita food production fell, poverty rates rose
– Total external debt more than doubled
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Overall economic growth lagged behind that in
other regions
The 1990s were not been much better
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The Economic Crisis in SubSaharan Africa
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Economic dimensions of the problem
Social dimensions of the problem
– Severe cuts in health and educational
expenditures
– Declines in school enrollments
– Increases in malnutrition, maternal and child
mortality.
– Spread of HIV
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The Economic Crisis in SubSaharan Africa

Causes of the crisis are many and varied, but
include:
–
–
–
–
–
Drought
Low commodity prices
Foreign capital withdrawal
Reduced foreign aid
Poor government policies (neglect of agriculture,
inefficient SOEs, no attention toward export promotion)
– Rapid population growth
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.
17-6
Globalization and International
Financial Reform
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National economies are increasingly
integrated into the global economy
Globalization has three main effects:
– A lessening of the power and influence of
individual nation-states, esp. in the developing
world
– An increased risk of financial instability
– An increase in illegal immigration from the
South to the North
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17-7
Globalization and International
Financial Reform, cont’d

Effective Management of new Global Challenges
include:
– Debt relief for LDCs
– The creation of new LDC-funding sources, such as a tax
on international currency transactions (Tobin tax); curb
hot money flows
– Creation of formal national bankruptcy procedure for
severely indebted countries.
– Reform of the IMF and the World Bank
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.
17-8
Concepts for Review
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Absorptive capacity
Agenda 21
AIDS
Biodiversity
Earth summit
Global commons
Global factories
Copyright © 2006 Pearson Addison-Wesley. All rights reserved.
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Globalization
Global warming
Greenhouse gases
Human
immunodeficiency
virus (HIV)
Ozone depletion
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