Geography, Development, and Governance Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering vocabulary and key concepts from the lecture on geography, development traps, institutional theories, conflict, corruption, and sustainability.

Single Factor Fallacy

A relevant theory that misses key variables, leading to stereotypes and distorted results by suggesting a single factor (like geography) alone determines a country's development.

Spillover Effect

In the context of landlocked countries with bad neighbors, this refers to the disruptive consequences of neighboring conflict, such as the movement of refugees.

Urban Bias

A concept by Lipton describing systematic distortions where governments favor urban areas over the countryside in resource distribution and investment.

The Resource Curse

A poverty trap where an abundance of natural resources leads to states being more likely to experience corruption and authoritarianism.

Rentier States

States with significant foreign revenue derived from selling natural resources, where the government is the principal recipient of this "rent" rather than the private sector.

Dutch Disease

An economic phenomenon where the discovery of natural resources causes a country's currency to rise, making other exports uncompetitive and increasing internal prices.

Rent

Income accrued from the "gift of nature" or geography, typically derived from foreign sources like minerals and natural resources.

Production States

States that rely on taxes from the domestic economy for income, which often leads to citizens acting as a watchdog on government spending.

Allocation States

States that embark on large expenditures using resource revenue instead of taxation, often using those resources for patronage.

Warlordism

A situation where actors seek to control territory with valuable, easily lootable resources like diamonds, often when a state is weak.

Civil War

A violent conflict between a people and its government involving at least $1000$ related deaths, with each side incurring at least $5\%$ of those deaths.

Greed vs. Grievance

A debate on civil war causes: greed suggests participation for economic gain, while grievance suggests participation due to anger toward the government.

Security Dilemma (Domestic)

A situation where high military spending leads to internal distrust and makes neighboring states nervous.

Human Security Paradigm

A security framework that broadens threats to include economic, environmental, health, and food issues, shifting focus from state protection to protecting the individual.

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

A global political commitment endorsed by all UN member states to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.

Ethnic Fractualization

The probability that two randomly selected individuals in a country belong to different ethnolinguistic groups.

Ethnic Polarization

A measure of social tension between groups with different preferences across political issues, which increases the likelihood of civil conflict.

Heterogeneity

Diversity within a population that can lead to varied demands on government and challenges to national unity if highly centralized.

Federalism

A decentralized system of government that balances the benefits of scale with local preferences, often used to manage large, diverse states.

State Autonomy

The ability of a regime to act decisively and independently of public pressure to maintain law and order.

Systemic Corruption

A level of corruption that is widespread throughout society and considered to be a routine, accepted norm.

Capital Flight

The phenomenon where citizens or foreign investors move their money out of a country due to a lack of law enforcement or stability.

Malthusian Dilemma

The theory by Thomas Malthus that population grows exponentially while food production grows linearly, leading to eventual food supply failure.

Entitlement Protection

Amartya Sen's concept that famine prevention depends on political arrangements that ensure people have the means to access food, rather than just the availability of food.

Green Revolution

The development of high-yield "miracle" seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation, funded to build economies and prevent the spread of socialist "red" revolutions.

Borlaug Hypothesis

The argument that the Green Revolution prevented deforestation by making existing agricultural land more productive per acre.

Monocropping

Growing the same crop year after year on the same land, which increases efficiency but depletes soil nutrients.

Official Development Assistance (ODA)

Foreign aid measured by the OECD that is undertaken by official agencies for economic development at concessional financial terms.

Brain Drain

The loss of a country's best and brightest individuals to higher-paid international positions or richer countries.

Microcredit

Small loans given to poor people who lack collateral, based on Muhammad Yunus's idea that the poor lack access to capital rather than talent.

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs)

Programs where governments provide money to poor families in return for behavioral changes, such as children attending school or receiving healthcare.

Human Capital

Investing in the population's health and education to create long-term economic growth and development.

Economies of Agglomeration

The benefit of businesses clustering together in one area, which makes it harder for poorer countries without existing industry to compete.

First Generation Rights

Civil and political rights, such as free speech and voting, known as "negative rights" because they require the government to not interfere.

Second Generation Rights

Economic, social, and cultural rights, such as food and healthcare, known as "positive rights" because they require the state to provide resources.

Third Generation Rights

Collective or global rights, such as the right to a clean environment or cultural heritage.

Cultural Relativism

The view that a person's values and beliefs should be understood within their own cultural context rather than through universal standards.

Asian Values

An argument championed by Lee Kuan Yew that Asian societies prioritize order, family, and social harmony over individual liberty.

Sustainable Development

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Greenwashing

When organizations or governments pretend to care about sustainability for image purposes without making substantive changes.

Regenerative Culture

A developmental focus on actively restoring and improving systems rather than just maintaining (sustaining) them.