How is development defined?
Thomas (2000): “A positive change in society”
Measured in: Economic growth, Education, Health, Democracy, Human Rights, Gender Equality, Happiness & Wellbeing, Sustainability, Poverty Rates
What is economic growth?
The monetary value of the country’s produce increases over time, relative to other countries
1) Subsistence
2) Mass Production & Consumption
3) Service Industries
How is economic growth measured?
Gross National Income (GNI) - the total value of all goods and services produced by a country in a financial year. Often given ‘per capita’ = dividing by the total population
Problems with GNI as a measure of development
- Fast development is rarely sustainable (economically or environmentally)
- Failing to invest in sustainability leads to ‘boom and bust’, where those unable to save or buy assets will suffer
Social measures of development
- Education (% in school, % of literacy)
- Health (IMR, MMR, # of hospitals)
- Democracy (free elections, voting rights)
- Gender Equality (pay, voting, life expect.)
- Human Rights (UN Human Rights)
- Happiness & Wellbeing (UN survey)
- Sustainability (Booom/Bust)
What is the Human Development Index (HDI)?
A composite measure that combines 3 figures to produce a score
- GNI per capita
- Education (yrs in educ. by 25, expected yrs in educ.)
- Health (life expectancy)
What is the UN’s Human Development Report?
A report that looks at humanist measures of development.
1) Multidimensional Poverty Index (MDI) - looks at more kinds of poverty
2) Gender Inequality Index (GII) - measures various women’s issues (eg. employment)
3) Inequality-adjusted HDI (IHDI) - a total equality measure compared against HDI. Bigger difference - smaller score
How do ‘Hyper Humanists’ suggest measuring development?
1) Gross National Happiness
2) Happy Planet Index
3) Good Country Index
4) Social Cohesion & Cultural Continuity
What is poverty?
The inability to access a good standard of living, often relative to expectations in society.
‘Three Worlds’
1948-1989
1) First World - industrial, capitalist
2) Second World - industrial, communist
3) Third World - everyone else
- Creating ‘them and us’ mentality
‘Global North and Global South’
1970s-1990s
Northern hemisphere countries tended to be richer/more ‘developed’
‘Majority and Minority Nations’
from 2000s
- Attempt to respect other cultures in definitions
- Majority are ‘Third World’, minority are ‘developed’
‘Developed and Underdeveloped Nations’
2000s - current
- Implies some countries have missed out on development
- Focus on exploitation - neo-marxist
‘Levels of Economic Development’
2000s - current
- MEDC = More Economically Developed Country
- LEDC = Less Economically Developed Country
- LLEDC = Least Economically Developed Country
‘The Bottom Billion’ (Collier, 2007)
2007 - current
- Most (6.8B out of 7.8B) are developed or developing well
- Need to focus on Bottom Billion
Current UN measures of poverty
- GNI for countries
- More difficult for individuals as we need to look at their poverty within their country
- World Bank: extreme poverty is <$1.25/day (15% in extreme poverty)
Why is Poverty distributed in this way?
- Disease
- Access to Sea / Natural Resources
- Culture / Religion
- Beliefs about money & wealth (cap. v. comm.)
- Type of gov / political tensions
- Weather conditions / Climate
- History / Imperialism
- Corruption / Nepotism
What did the UN propose to address poverty in 2000?
In 2000, the UN agreed to a set of foals that aimed to increase poverty. They set the target of completing them all by 2015.
- These were called ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs)
- There are lots of them, but for poverty the UN aimed to:
- ‘Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2015’
- Between 2000 & 2015, extreme poverty fell from 1.2B to 736M - c. 15%- - c.9%
What did the UN agree to address poverty in 2015?
UN decides MDGs were mostly successful but we need to change focus. New ‘Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’ introduced in 2015.
- These have 17 goals
- Revisions include ‘eliminating poverty’ rather than ‘reducing poverty’ and a focus on protecting the environment
- Responsibility often passed from governments to NGOs such as Oxfam
What criticisms have been made of the UN’s MDGs and SDGs?
- MDGs set absolute, unachievable goals without guidance
- SDGs are loosely defined, hard to monitor and too open to interpretation
- SDGs move responsibility away from government; onto charities
- MDGs failed so the UN just ‘moved the goalposts’ rather than learning lessons
