LO2: Causes and Consequences of Global Inequality

Colonial Countries

• Colonial Countries (Belgium) extract resources from colonised countries (DRC) using them to develop but leaving the colonised to have fewer resources to develop

Neo colonialism

• Colonial Countries (Belgium) extract resources from colonised countries (DRC) using them to develop but leaving the colonised to have fewer resources to develop

Closed Systems

• Can limit the amount of trade a country can do globally, eg. North Korea

Open System

• Allow foreign direct investment into a country eg. by building roads or factories increasing physical development + GDP

Quality of Governance

• Higher corruption means that there is no money to develop a country eg. Zimbabwe mismanaging HIV crisis to limit development.

Landlocked countries

• No access to the ocean so there are no ports to import + export leading a lower GDP from trade eg. China

Mountainous countries

• Difficult to build transport infrastructure + farms, meaning there is less trade eg. Eswatini

Climate

• Heavy rainfall causes flooding (crop damage and low exports) washing away roads so government has to spend money on repairs

• Arid conditions causing drought (crop failures and low exports).

• Extreme weather events: constantly spending money recovering instead of developing, climate related diseases (malaria spreading more in humid + hot conditions) Poorly wont work, low GDP

Lack of investment in healthcare

• Poorly people won’t work, putting pressure on healthcare systems.

• Lowers GDP / increases hospital wait times / increases death rate

• Eg. Sierra Leone post 1963 independence

Lack of investment in education

• Unqualified less educated population cause fewer high paying tertiary and quaternary jobs as TNCs are less likely to invest.

• Lowers GDP

Social Consequences

• 775 million globally cannot read or write

• 1 billion people have no access to clean water

• Migration to developed countries

• Lack of availability to fight HIV and AIDS

• TNCs unlikely to invest

Environmental Consequences

• More significant impacts of extreme weather events

• Poor farming practices (degradation)

• Developed countries release more GHG

• Worse ability to manage disaster

Political Consequences

• Worse political ties with other countries

• Poorer quality of life for minorities

• Many have no right to vote

• Wars over internal resources

Economic Consequences

• 1/5 live on less than $1 per day

• Government corruption

• Huge wealth inequalities

• Limited ability to buy basic necessities

• Lack of investment in farming equipment for future development

Host country

Country migrants move to

Source country

Country migrants are fr

How has migration became more prominent?

• Globalisation has increased awareness of opportunities in more developed countries.

• Easier to migrate due to development in transport

What are the pros and cons of migration as a host country

Pros:

• Filling unemployment gaps for lower pay

• Able to tax immigrants to increase GDP

• Solution to service pressures

Cons:

• Puts pressure on jobs increasing higher unemployment due to competition

• Pressure on services (healthcare and education)

What are the pros and cons of migration as a source country

Pros:

• Remittences sent back to increase GNI

• Lower pressure on jobs

• Lower pressure on services

Cons:

• Fewer workers, less tax and less GDP

• Brain drain - educated people move away therefore countries are less skillful

What is frank’s dependency theory?

• This model argue that the world is split into the economic core (developed) and the economic periphery (developing)

• Argues that uneven development is due to colonialism and capitalism, benefitting the core at the cost of the periphery

According to frank’s dependency theory, how has colonialism caused uneven development

• Colonialism has allowed developed countries to become rich at the expense of developing counties by exploiting natural resources which they use to manufacture and make lots of money from.

• This is mirrored by neo colonialism today

• Chain of exploitation

Chain of Exploitation

Core devleops at the expense of the periphery

According to frank’s dependency theory, how has capitalism caused uneven development

• Capitalism has allowed rich countries to sell high-valued manufactured goods to poor countries to a high price and buy raw materials at a cheap price

What is Frank’s dependency theories solution?

Socialism, providing a fairer society

Advantages of Frank’s dependency theory

• Acknowledges uneven resources between countries

• Not eurocentric

• Shows relationship between countries

• Explains gap in development

Disadvantages of Frank’s dependency theory

• Doesnt explain the countries not involved in colonialism (Ethiopia never colonised, poor. Singapore, colonised, rich)

• Some socialist countries remain poor (Tanzania)

• Some poor countries have successfully developed (South Korea)

• Rich countries influences today could be positive

Advantages of Rostow’s modernisation theory

• Shows UK + Europe’s development accurately

• Development of countries over time

Disadvantages of Rostow’s modernisation theory

• Eurocentric therefore not all countries follow the trend

• Assumes that everyone starts the same (not capitalist)

• Lack of detail about progression from one stage to another

What is Rostow’s modernisation theory

Development is linear in five stages:

• Traditional society

• Preconditions for take-off

• Take off

• Drive to Maturity

• High Mass Consumption

Rostow Modernisation Theory stage one

Traditional Society

• Most working on land + living in rural

• Subsistence farmers

• Primary industry

• Limited technology

• UK in the middle ages

Rostow Modernisation Theory stage two

Preconditions to take-off

• Labour intensified industries

• Primary but some secondary industry

• Few low tech

• UK early years of industrial revolution

• Rail and canal infrastructure

Rostow Modernisation Theory stage three

Take-off

• Rapid growth of manufacturing

• Better infrastructure

• Some primary, most secondary and some tertiary

• Economy growth due to admin systems like banking (start of tertiary)

• UK industrial revolution

Rostow Modernisation Theory stage four

Drive to Maturity

• Economic growth extends to all parts of the economy

• Infrastructure grows

• New developed industries in machinery

• Secondary dominant, some tertiary

• UK in the 1850s

Rostow Modernisation Theory stage four

High Mass Consumption

• Economic system almost self sustaining due to buy and sell economy

• Trade expands

• Wellfare systems fully developed

• Tertiary dominant

• UK in the 1940s