14 Economic transition
Consequences of the development gap
The development gap has significant consequences for people in the most disadvantaged countries (Table 14.1). Development may not bring improvements in all four areas at first, but over time they should all show advances. Table 14.1 Consequences of the development gap Economic
Global integration is spatially selective: some countries benefit, others it seems do not. One in five of the world’s population lives on less than a dollar a day, almost half on less than two dollars a day. Poor countries frequently lack the ability to pay for (1) food (2) agricultural innovation and (3) investment in rural development.
Social
More than 850 million people in poor countries cannot read or write. Nearly a billion people do not have access to clean water and 2.4 billion to basic sanitation. Eleven million children under 5 die from preventable diseases each year. The inability to combat the effects of HIV/AIDS is of huge concern.
Environmental
Poor countries have increased vulnerability to natural disasters. They lack the capacity to adapt to climate-change-induced droughts. Poor farming practices lead to environmental degradation. Often, raw materials are exploited with very limited economic benefit to poor countries and little concern for the environment.
Political
Poor countries that are low on the development scale often have non-democratic governments or they are democracies that function poorly. There is usually a reasonably strong link between development and improvement in the quality of government. In general, the poorer the country the worse the plight of minority groups.
Now test yourself
Tested
1 Why does the primary sector dominate employment in the poorest countries of the world? 2 Explain the changes in employment structure that have occurred in NICs. 3 The human development index includes education. Why is the level of education considered to be such an important measure of a country’s development? 4 What were the reasons for the development of the first generation of newly industrialised countries?
Answers on pp.222–223
14.2 The globalisation of industrial activity Global patterns of resources, production and markets Globalisation is a recent phenomenon (post-1960), which is very different from anything the world has previously experienced. The modern global economy is more extensive and complicated than it has ever been before. There are many aspects of globalisation: l economic l urban l social/cultural l linguistic l political l demographic l environmental Transnational corporations and nation states are the two major decision-makers in the global economy. Nation states individually and collectively set the rules for the global economy but the bulk of investment is through TNCs, which are the main drivers of global shift. It is this process that has resulted in the emergence of an increasing number of NICs since the 1960s.
Revised
Globalisation is the increasing interconnectedness and interdependence of the world – economically, culturally and politically. Global shift refers to the large-scale filter-down of economic activity from MEDCs to NICs and LEDCs.
Typical mistake It is easy to think of globalisation as being only an economic phenomenon, but it has many other aspects, as identified in this section.
Paper 3 Advanced Human Geography Options
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