GS 1 – Introduction to Global Studies
Professor: Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Topic 3 – The Challenges of Globalization
A – Economic Development
B – Inequalities
C – War, Conflicts and Terrorism
D – The Environment
Hofstra University, Department of Global Studies & Geography
B – INEQUALITIES
Failures to Develop
Poverty and its Vicious Circle
Global Inequalities
Corruption
Foreign Debt
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Inequalities
Social
Inequalities
Economic
Inequalities
Spatial
Inequalities
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Main Factors Promoting Inequalities
Colonialism
Inherited a situation of dependency.
Dependency for markets, capital and technology.
Demography
Fast population growth.
Pressures on infrastructure and services.
Governance
Unstable political regimes.
Weak rule of law.
Government corruption and inefficiency.
Economy
Importance of the informal economic sector.
Unemployment and underemployment.
Low labor productivity.
Brain drain.
Society
Restrictive gender roles.
Unequal land distribution.
Debt
Lack of capital.
Large foreign debt.
Investment into non-performing activities.
Explain three factors promoting inequalities
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Poverty is often Produced
Component
Issues
Precariousness
Income and savings.
Food supply and housing.
Cannot consider long term issues (e.g. education).
Excluded locations
Ghettos / shantytowns / projects.
Low quality infrastructure and services.
Difficult access to employment.
Weak community organizations.
Physical limitations
Physical or mental health.
Race and/or gender.
Rule of law
Lack of security (law not enforced).
Disempowering institutions (unequal application of the rule of law).
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Poverty and its Vicious Circle
■ Subjective needs
• Needs associated with a modern society:
• Status symbol.
• Clothing and entertainment.
• Some poverty can be perceived more than be a tangible reality.
• Governments:
• Can place more attention on subjective needs than on real needs.
• For the sake of modernity and prestige.
■ The “victimization” of poverty
•
•
•
•
Is poverty a self inflicted situation?
Poor often portrayed as victims of some form of “unfairness”.
The aid business.
Samaritan’s dilemma:
• Income transfers alleviating hardship.
• Income transfers remove incentives to consider alternatives.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Poverty and its Vicious Circle
Poverty / Population
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
More children to compensate high mortality.
More children to help as labor.
Children seen as a form of social security.
Lack of education plays against family planning.
Unemployment and low incomes, dilution of gain.
Division of property among several children.
Overburden of healthcare, social services and utilities.
Population / Environment
•
•
•
•
•
•
Pressures over marginal land, overexploitation, and deforestation.
Erosion and floods.
Increase use of fertilizers, pesticides and irrigation.
Migration to shantytowns.
Erosion, salination and floods lower agricultural yields.
Overpopulation increases health problems and lowers productivity.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Poverty and its Vicious Circle
How can poverty be a vicious
circle for a country?
Poverty / Environment
•
•
•
•
Short term needs are a priority and forbids environmental protection.
Development wins over environmental issues.
Usage of cheapest fuel alternatives (e.g. coal).
Lack of capital available for more environmentally efficient facilities.
Instability
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Fall back of democracy, repression and dictatorship.
Security takes most of public spending.
Bad investment environment, loss of tourism incomes.
Disorganization of health and education services.
National and international resources towards urgencies.
Social divisions and political problems.
Refugees and potential for terrorism.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Basic Needs (Wants vs. Needs)
Food
Health
Education
Context
Basic caloric and
nutritional
requirement. 2,500
calories per day is
the minimal intake
for a working adult.
Consumption of
health services.
Provide a level of Fundamental
education to
expression of
insure continuity. comfort and
status.
Issues
Population growth
and changes in diet
Aging of the
population
Advanced
economies
require a higher
level of
education.
Faster spread
vectors.
Global
information
networks.
Globalization Growing availability
of food in quantity,
quality and diversity.
Housing
Necessitates raw
materials and
infrastructure.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Percentage of the Population Living on Less than $2 per Day, 19812002
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1980
1985
1990
East Asia
South Asia
1995
2000
Sub-Saharan Africa
2005
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Countries with More than Half of Population in Extreme Poverty,
2011 (less than $1.25 per day)
Mali
Sierra Leone
Republic of Congo
Angola
Haiti
Nepal
Burkina Faso
Dem. Rep. of Congo
Mozambique
Chad
Central African Republic
Swaziland
Zambia
Nigeria
Madagascar
Tanzania
Malawi
Rwanda
Burundi
Liberia
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Income of the 10% Richest and the 20% Poorest, c2005
Japan
Denmark
Sweden
Germany
Canada
India
United States
Russian Federation
China
Mexico
Brazil
Bolivia
Haiti
0
5
10
15
20
25
Highest 10%
Lowest 20%
30
35
40
45
50
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Reducing Inequalities
Private property
Guaranteeing and protecting private property (e.g. title to land).
Participation of
women
The capacities, perspectives and contributions of women have long been
undervalued or ignored.
Often been valued primarily for their reproductive role.
Recognition of basic rights and responsibilities: Autonomy in person and
property; Rights to land ownership and inheritance; Access to credit.
No changes in participation rates since 1990 (global figures): 1990 (58.9%);
2004 (57.8%).
Progress in developing countries compensated by aging of the global
population.
Healthcare
Improve the quality of life and increase productivity.
Access to healthy and safe shelter, to water, sanitation and to productive
livelihoods.
Education
Exercise of personal capacities.
Opportunities for further advancement.
What are the main strategies used to reduce inequalities?
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Labor Participation Rate, 2004
United States
Thailand
Sweden
South Africa
Saudi Arabia
Russian Federation
Female 2004
Mexico
Male 2004
Japan
Italy
India
China
Brazil
0
20
40
60
80
100
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Corruption
■ Corruption
• Where there is government there are misallocations:
•
•
•
•
•
Corruption is a form of misallocation.
Using public power to regulate, coerce and confiscate.
Lack of transparency.
Weak legal systems leaving limited recourse if wronged.
Cronyism (favoritism shown to friends and associates); bailouts.
• Types of corruption:
• Systemic: Part of the society and way of life (access to resources,
employment, services).
• Political: Leads to the misallocation of resources, but it also perverts the
manner in which decisions are made.
• Petty: A source of income for low paid bureaucrats (hospitals, schools,
licensing, police, taxation).
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Perceived Level of Corruption in Selected Countries, 1998-2012
(10=none)
Nigeria
Russia
Indonesia
Mexico
India
China
Italy
2012
Brazil
2007
Taiwan
1998
U.S.
Japan
Germany
Canada
Singapore
Denmark
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Corruption is a State Sponsored Business
Head of government
Amount allegedly
embezzled
GDP per capita
(2001)
Mohamed Suharto, President of Indonesia (19671998)
$15-35 billion
$695
Ferdinand Marcos, President of Philippines (19721986)
$5-10 billion
$912
Mobuto Sese Seko, President of Zaire (1965-1997)
$5 billion
$99
Sani Abacha, President of Nigeria (1993-1998)
$2-5 billion
$319
Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia/Yugoslavia
(1989-2000)
$1 billion
Jean-Claude Duvalier, President of Haiti (1971-1986)
$300-800 million
$460
Alberto Fujimori, President of Peru (1990-2000)
$600 million
$2051
Pavlo Lazarenko, Prime Minister of Ukraine (19961997)
$114-200 million
$766
Arnoldo Aleman, President of Nicaragua (1997-2002)
$100 million
$490
Joseph Estrada, President of Philippines (1998-2001)
$78-80 million
$912
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Foreign Debt
■ Context
• Capital contracted for present projects (consumption) at the
expense of future tax revenues (consumption):
• Invest in infrastructure (roads, utilities, telecom, etc.).
• Cover operating expenses.
• Allocation of capital contracted through debt:
• Not necessarily a problem if capital accumulated in infrastructure and
revenue generating projects:
– Roads, ports, utilities (aqueducts, sewers, power generation).
• Capital allocated in non revenue generating assets imposes a burden:
– Monuments, sport infrastructure, “roads to nowhere”.
• Many countries have accumulated large foreign debt and have
difficulties servicing it.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Total Debt Service, % of Exports of Goods, Services, and Income,
2010
Argentina
Guatemala
Colombia
Papua New Guinea
Honduras
Philippines
Macedonia, FYR
Brazil
Lebanon
Lithuania
El Salvador
Armenia
Georgia
Romania
Turkey
Ukraine
Serbia
Kazakhstan
Jamaica
Latvia
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
IMF and World Bank Debt for Dictatorships
Country
Indonesia
Brazil
Argentina
Philippines
Syria
Sudan
Thailand
Nigeria
Chile
Zaire/Congo
Dictator
Suharto (1967-1998)
Military dictatorship (1964-1984)
Military dictatorship (1976-1983)
Marcos (1965-1986)
Assad (1970-present)
Nimeiry/al-Mahdi (1969-present)
Military dictatorship (1950-1983)
Buhari/Abacha (1984-1998)
Augusto Pinochet (1973-1989)
Mobutu (1965-1997)
Debts at start
of
Debts at end of Dictator debts Dictator generated
Dictatorship Dictatorship
generated
debt % of total debt
3
129
126
0.98
5.1
105.1
100
0.56
9.3
48.9
39.6
0.42
1.5
28.3
26.8
0.65
0.2
21.4
21.2
0.99
0.3
17
16.7
0.98
0
13.9
13.9
0.15
17.8
31.4
13.6
0.43
5.2
18
12.8
0.47
0.3
12.8
12.5
0.98
The problem of transition (odious debt)
Many developing countries went through a phase of dictatorship:
Chile (Pinochet).
Haiti (Duvalier).
Indonesia (Suharto).
Dictatorial regimes often borrowed large sums to fund spurious projects.
Once the regime overthrown, the new government is left with the responsibility of assuming the debt.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
C – WAR, CONFLICTS AND TERRORISM
The Nature of Conflicts
Resource Wars
Neo-Warfare
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
The Nature of Conflicts
■ Driving forces
• Economic factors:
•
•
•
•
•
Economic inequality.
Economic decline or stagnation.
High poverty.
Low social expenditure (infrastructure and services).
Valuable natural resources (resource wars).
• Political factors and grievances (history):
•
•
•
•
•
•
Low state resources and weak governments.
Self-determination.
Religious, political, ethnic identity.
Displacement / internally displaced populations.
Predominance of one ethnic or religious group.
Ethnic Cleansing/Genocide.
What are the main driving forces behind conflicts?
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Types of Conflicts
How conflicts are categorized and which form of
conflict is the most common?
Colonial or imperial war
• Between a state and a non-state group outside its own territory.
• Power fighting to retain control of a territory outside the state system.
• Ex: Vietnam (1954-55), Indonesia (1946-49).
Interstate conflict
• Between two or more states.
• Ex: Israel / Egypt (1967), India / Pakistan (1971)
Internal conflict
• Between the government of a state and one or more internal opposition group(s)
• Ex: Cambodia (1976).
Internationalized conflict
• Between the government of a state and one or more internal opposition group(s) with intervention
from other states.
• E.g. Afghanistan (2001-), Iraq (2003-2010).
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Number of Conflicts by Type, 1946-2012
60
50
40
30
20
10
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
0
Colonial or Imperial War
Interstate Confict
Internal Armed Conflict
Internationalized Internal Armed Conflict
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Resource Wars: The Stakes
Energy
• Conventional resource war (oil); many conflicts since the mid 20th century.
• Often involves economic powers (e.g. USA).
• Punctual locations.
Land
•
•
•
•
Capture of cropland (for exports)
Cash crops (e.g. coffee), timber or drug production.
Developing countries are particularly vulnerable.
Diffuse locations.
Water
• Mostly for irrigation.
• Linearity (upstream / downstream); often cross-border.
• Now over oceanic masses (EEZs)
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Types of Resource Conflicts
War / Coup d'état
Formal conflict between states.
Algeria (gas), Angola (oil), Chad (oil), Iran-Iraq (oil), Iraq-Kuwait (oil),
Liberia (iron ore, rubber), Nicaragua (coffee).
Secession
Separation from an existing state.
Angola/Cabinda (oil), Caucasus (oil), Indonesia (oil, copper, gold),
Nigeria/Biafra (oil).
Rebellion / rioting
Rejection of authority.
El Salvador (coffee), Guatemala (cropland), Israel-Palestine (water),
Mexico (cropland).
Warlordism
Informal control of a territory, mostly through force.
Afghanistan (opium), Angola (diamonds), Burma (timber, opium),
Caucasus (drugs), Cambodia (gems, timber), Columbia (cocaine), Liberia
(timber, diamonds, drugs), Peru (cocaine), Sierra Leone (diamonds),
Somalia (piracy, bananas).
What are resource wars and what type of conflicts
they are associated with?
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Global Water Scarcity: A Landscape for Present and Future
Conflicts
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Neo-Warfare (Unconventional Warfare)
Nuclear
• Nuclear weapons are deterrents (Cold War).
• Risk of rogue states (Iran, North Korea).
Chemical / biological
• Kill or incapacitate humans, animals or plants as an act of war.
• Interdict an area.
Terrorism
• Asymmetrical violence against non-combatants; usage of fear.
• Wear opponent down.
Cyber warfare
• Gathering intelligence.
• Incapacitating infrastructure (e.g. air transport) and utilities (power grid).
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Essay: Conflicts in the 21st Century
Looking at the forms of conventional and unconventional warfare, what
could be the most significant sources of conflict in the 21st Century?
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
D – THE ENVIRONMENT
Global Environment: The Tragedy of the Commons
Selected Issues: Deforestation and Climate Change
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Technological Changes and Environment Relationships
Hunter-Gatherer Survival based by gathering edible plants and killing animals.
Societies
Little accumulated economic and food surplus.
Small numbers, decentralized and little use of resources.
Strong linkage with nature.
Agricultural
societies
Produce larger and more stable food supplies.
Larger settlements and populations.
First major environmental degradation.
Decline or collapse of civilizations linked with the degradation of
the soils and resource bases.
Human domination of nature (anthropocentric view).
Industrial
societies
Substitution of human and animal labor by machines.
Urbanization (population outside natural surroundings).
Exploitation of resources exacerbated many environmental
problems and created new ones.
Pollution exacerbated by the use of synthetic materials.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Reasons to Study Environmental Problems at the Global Level
■ Transboundary and global nature of environmental
problems
• Not bound to a single area or jurisdiction.
• Increase the complexity of assessments and mitigation.
■ Significant (and potential) impacts on the economic
and environmental welfare of the global economy
■ Global environmental governance
• Not a single actor can effectively address the issue.
• International environmental agreements.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Global Environmental Issues: The “Tragedy of the Commons”
■ The tragedy of the commons
• Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all.
• All the resources will be used.
■ Solutions
• Private property:
• Removes some of the Commons from access.
• Encourages conservation and wise management.
• Vested interest in maintaining it for future use.
• Collective property:
• Parts of the Commons not possible to divide into private segments atmosphere, oceans, etc.
• Collective (global) ownership.
• Taxation and coercive laws as the primary means of preservation.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
List of the Most Important Global Environmental Issues
■ Climate change
• Weather systems and sea level.
■ Environmental degradation
• Habitat destruction and invasive species.
■ Overpopulation
• Environmental footprint.
■ Pollution
• Air, soil, water.
■ Resource depletion
• Fishing, logging, mining, water.
• Renewable and non-renewable resources.
■ Waste
• Hazardous materials (e.g. nuclear waste).
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Environmental Perception: Who Cares?
Very Important
World
Climate Change
Nation
Community
Some Importance
Little Importance
No Importance
Pollution
Hazardous materials
Family
Week
Year
Lifetime
Next Generation
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Deforestation
■ Overview
• Farmed or natural forests that can yield timber products.
• Environmental functions:
•
•
•
•
Erosion prevention.
Climate stability.
Maintenance of hydrological cycles.
Sustaining ecological systems.
• The world has almost lost half of its original forest cover:
• 62 million km2 (1900) to 33 million (1995).
• Most of if was destroyed over the last 30 years.
• Forests left occupy ecologically less productive land with exception of
some few remaining inaccessible jungle areas.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Changes in the World’s Forest Cover
Growing economies and consumption.
Population growth and demand for new land.
Policies promoting the overexploitation of
forests.
Corruption and illegal trade.
Poverty and landlessness.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Average Global Temperature and World Carbon Emissions From
Fossil Fuel Burning, (in millions of tons) 1800-2013
10,000
14.8
9,000
14.6
8,000
14.4
7,000
14.2
6,000
14
5,000
13.8
4,000
13.6
3,000
13.4
2,000
13.2
1,000
13
0
12.8
Million Tons of Carbon
Average global temperature
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Expected Geographical Impacts of Climate Change
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Essay: The Global Environment
Identify two global environmental issues and what are their causes, impacts
and what forms of mitigation they have been subject to.
© Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue