Development and the Third World

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Development and the Third World

• Some Introductory Concepts and Definitions

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What is the Third World?

• Great awareness of contrasts in living standards
• Originated after WWII as a political category
  implying positive neutralism in Cold War
  context
• Talk broadly about rich and poor countries
• Less affluent countries also referred to as
  backward, underdeveloped , less developed or
  developing
• More recently terms used such as South, and
  2/3rds World

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Development Worlds

• 1st World largely Western industrial and market
  economies
• 2nd World planned economies-former East
  European countries but now shrinking rapidly
• 3rd World poor or developing economies
• 4th World the very poorest economies where
  little development progress has occurred

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How to Identify the Third World?

• 2003 World Bank scheme based on per capita income
  (Per Capita Gross National Income)
  (www.worldbank.org/data/countryclass/
  countryclass.html)
• Low Income lt 735
• Lower Middle Income 736-2935
• UpperMiddle Income 2,936 - 9,075
• High Income gt9,075

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http//www.worldbank.org/data/maps/maps.htm
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Other Measures of Underdevelopment

• But income is only one measure used to indicate
  levels of development-others are
• Literacy- Education Levels especially beyond
  Elementary School
• Agriculture- Arable Land, Average Daily Caloric
  Intake and more generally Diet
• Health- Lifespan (lt 50 years), Access to Medical
  Care, Delivery of Family Planning Services

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Other Measures of Underdevelopment

• Access to basic services such as potable water
  and electricity
• Land- Owning, rather than renting, sufficient
  land to provide for an average sized family
• Availability of Employment beyond minimal
  services occupations

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Historical Perspectives on the Third World

• 1945-1955 Period of western disconcern-little
  interest in problem of underdevelopment
  developed nations preoccupied with their own
  reconstruction and growing East-West-Cold War
• 1955-1965 Period of optimism and high
  expectations 3rd World was object of intense
  attention primary belief-poor countries were
  lagging and with outside assistance they would
  catch up various aid schemes conceived

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Historical Perspectives on the Third World contd

• 1965-1975 period of growing skepticism
  widespread disillusion with realization that
  development more complex than previously realized
• 1975-1990 period of pessimism and re-evaluation
  growing frustration brought on by worldwide
  economic crisis (increased energy costs, high
  inflation, massive unemployment, economic
  stagnation, growing indebtedness expansion of
  deregulation, PVOs, NGOs decline in demand for
  raw materials from 3rd World

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Contemporary Situation

• Strong impact of globalization at all levels
  (nation, region, village and family) especially
  significance of firms searching for cheap labor
• Democratization empowerment and participation
  movements
• Liberalization deregulation and privatization
• Women and gender roles in development scrutinized
  and emphasized