Comp Politics in Global South Midterm 1

Research Question

A question about how or why political events happen (ex: normative vs empirical questions)

South Korea v.s. Nigeria

Both had similar income levels in 1960, but South Korea grew into a high-income country while Nigeria remained lower-middle income.

Gaps today: South Korea has much higher life expectancy & schooling, and lower poverty/ bribery rates

Poverty Headcount Measure

The percentage of people living below a set poverty line

(ex: living on under $1.90 a day)

Outliers in Data

Data points that do not fit the pattern

(ex: nations where GNI is much higher than GDP due to money being sent home by citizens abroad)

Types of Correlations

Positive: both variables go up together

Negative: As one goes up, the other goes down

Correlation does not equal causation!

Nominal Measures

Raw numbers using basic currency exchange rates

Real Numbers

Adjusted measures that reflect actual purchasing power or inflation

What is Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)?

A method that adjusts economic numbers to account for local prices and cost of living.

Why does Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) matter?

It helps compare real living standards fairly across countries with different costs of living.

Give an example of countries that can be compared using Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Vietnam and Switzerland.

Output (production)

The total goods and services a nation produces

Consumption

What people actually buy and use

GDP per Capita

Total GDP/ Total Population, it measures the average economic output per person

GDP

Value of everything made inside a country's borders

GNP/GNI

Value of everything made by a country's citizens/ companies, even if they are abroad

Causal Inference

Figuring out if one thing actually caused another, rather than happening by coincidence

Operationalization

The planning process of turning an abstract concept into a specific, workable definition

Measurement

The actual collection of data or assignment of values using that plan (operationalization)

Explanatory Variables

The cause/independent variable (education level)

Variable

Anything that can change or vary

Outcome variable

The effect/ dependent variable

Hypothesis

A testable guess that answers a research question

ex: Wealthier countries are more likely to be democratic

Normative Question

Asks how the world should be

ex: should rich countries give aid?

Empirical Question

Asks how the world actually works

ex: why is country x richer than country y?

Sustainable Development (Sachs 2000)

Development that satisfies current needs without ruining future generations' ability to meet theirs. As natural limits began threatening economic growth, the goal shifted from saving nature to preserving development itself

Global Development and Global Peace (Sachs 2000)

After World War 2, the UN and the U.S. decided global economic growth was necessary for world peace. Promoting development served as a strategy to maintain international stability and build cooperative partnerships between rich and poor nations.

Point Four Program (Sachs 2000)

A program proposed by U.S. President Harry Truman in 1949 to share American scientific and technical knowledge with poorer regions. Sachs views this as the official starting point of the "development age."

Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 Speech on GNP

Argued that GNP is a flawed measure of progress because it counts expenditures on harmful things (like pollution, warheads, and jails) while ignoring things that make life worthwhile (like child health, education, and compassion).

Poverty Headcount Measure

A metric that counts the proportion or percentage of a population living below a specific poverty threshold (e.g., $1.90/day in 2011 PPP) to measure basic deprivation.

Difference Between GDP per Capita and Poverty Headcounts

GDP per capita measures the total average size of an economy per person, while Poverty Headcounts focus on the bottom of the income distribution to see who lacks basic necessities.

Global Trends in Extreme Poverty

Over the past several decades, global extreme poverty has dropped dramatically (from over 50% in 1960 to under 10% by 2020), largely driven by rapid economic growth in East Asia (especially China).

Human Development Framework

Pioneered by Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, this approach defines development as expanding human freedoms and capabilities, rather than just growing national income.

Human Development Index (HDI)

A composite score created by the UNDP in 1990 to measure human development across three core dimensions: Health, Education, and Living Standards.

The 3 Dimensions of HDI

Health: Life expectancy at birth, Education: Mean years and expected years of schooling, Living Standards: Gross National Income (GNI) per capita

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

A set of 8 global targets established by the UN in 2000 (with a target date of 2015) focused primarily on reducing extreme poverty, hunger, and disease in developing nations.

MDG Achievement Record

Out of 14 quantitative targets, 4 were met (halving extreme poverty, gender parity in education, reversing malaria/TB, and halving the share of people without safe drinking water).

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

A set of 17 broader global goals set by the UN in 2015 (targeting 2030) that cover economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability for all countries.

Assessment of SDG Impact (Biermann et al. 2022)

Studies show that while many governments integrated it into administrative policies, there is little evidence that public budgets or funding were significantly reallocated, leading to limited overall impact.

Counterfactual

A hypothetical scenario asking "what would have happened if a specific event or policy had not occurred?" Used to test whether an intervention (like the MDGs) actually caused an observed outcome.

State

A human community that successfully claims the monopoly on the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory (Weber 1919).

Nation

A social group sharing a common ideology, institutions, customs, sense of homogeneity, and a strong collective attachment to a particular territory

Nation-State

A state whose territorial political boundaries coincide directly with a single cultural/national identity (ex: Japan)

Imagined Community

Benedict Anderson's (1983) concept defining a nation. Highlighted because members will never meet or know most fellow citizens, yet in the mind of each lives the mental image of their social unity and communion.

Sovereignty

The freedom to act and the ultimate political authority to make decisions within a territory.

Internal Sovereignty

The practical power and capacity to enforce laws and rule within domestic borders (Empirical Statehood).

External Sovereignty

Official international recognition by other states granting the legal right to rule (Juridical Statehood).

Empirical Statehood

Having sufficient political will, institutional capacity, and organized power to rule, keep order, and deliver public goods.

Juridical Statehood:

Formal international recognition granting equal legal rights and status among sovereign nations, regardless of internal government control.

Quasi-States

Post-colonial states that possess international recognition (juridical statehood) but lack effective domestic authority and administrative capacity (empirical statehood) (Jackson 1987).

Monopoly on the Legitimate Use of Force

Max Weber’s (1919) core requirement for defining a state. A condition where a governing institution exclusively claims the sole legal right to authorize or execute physical force within its borders.

Fragile States / Failed States

Countries experiencing extreme deficits in empirical statehood where public institutions fail to maintain security or provide basic governance.

Treaty of Westphalia (1648)

The peace accord that ended Europe's Thirty Years' War. Marked the birth of the modern international system of state sovereignty and non-interference.

Japan

An example of a homogeneous Nation-State.

Belgium

A multinational state split into distinct regions/nations (Flanders and Wallonia).

North & South Korea

One single nation split into two separate states.

Kurdistan

A stateless nation spread across Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran.

Somalia

Has juridical statehood (recognized globally) but lacks full empirical statehood.

Somaliland

Breakaway region with empirical statehood (functioning government) but no juridical statehood (unrecognized).

Hezbollah

Non-state actor in Lebanon exercising state-like coercive power.

South Sudan

Became the 193rd UN member state in 2011, facing ongoing empirical state-building challenges.