GSGS 2000: Test 2

What global changes occurred post WWII?

Rise of US and Soviet Union, decline of colonial empires, Rebuilding of Europe (marshall plan), Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Trumans fourth point

Foreign aid initiative sharing US resources and knowledge with underdeveloped regions 

What is Development (Gilbert Rist)?

A set of practices aimed at increasing commodity production that transforms and often destroys social relations and the environment

What was created in 1945 to support global development?

World Bank

USAID

Established in 1961 to manage US foreign aid

What did SUNFED become in 1965?

UNDP

Two regional development banks

African Development Bank (1964), Asian Development Bank (1966)

Anti-politics machine

Development projects that depoliticize poverty by framing it as a technical problem

Technomanagerialism

Using technical, expert driven solutions that centralize power and ignore politics

Rendering Technical

Turning political/social issues into technical problems

Key lesson from Lesotho

Development strengthens bureaucratic power, even if it fails economically

Fergusons alternatives to development

Local political participation, supporting grassroots movements, emphasizing local autonomy

How did microfinance reframe poverty?

As an individual entrepreneurial problem caused by lack of credit

Critique of women’s empowerment discourse?

Shifted focus away from structural issues (land, labor) to self-improvement

Phatic Labor

Social interactions that create networks and infrastructure, as well as trust, information flow, and economic exchange systems

Phatic communication

Communication that maintains social relationships

Wasta

Relationship based mediation

Semiotic commons

Shared systems of meaning, symbols, and communication within a community

Factors of environmental degradation

Fuel harvesting, over irrigations, political expansion of farming

Westphalian System

System of sovereign states with non interference following the Hundred years war (est. 1648)

Human security

Protection from threats to daily life

3 Key parts of Westphalian system

Sovereignty, equality of states, non-interference

Why are weak states a concern?

They cannot maintain internal (governing its own population) or external sovereignty (maintaining independence)

What is ‘End of History’?

The idea that liberal democracy is the final and best political system

States and Religion

It creates transnational identities that can override state authority

Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

States must protect citizens; international community can intervene if they fail

Culture talk

Explaining political conflict as cultural differences instead of historical/political causes. Erases history and simplifies complex issues.

Cultural Chauvinism

Idea that ones culture is superior

Cultural Relativism

Judging cultures by their own standards

Critical Relativism

Work with locals while recognizing your own biases

Justificatory Authoritarianism

Justifying authoritarian rule as necessary for collective benefit

What is the “Good Muslim / Bad Muslim” framework?

A post-9/11 narrative that divides Muslims into “good” (pro-Western, secular) and “bad” (extremist, anti-Western)

Key takeaway from Mamdani?

We must analyze political violence through history and power relations—not reduce it to culture or religion