Chapter 11: The Less Developed Countries

Thinking About the Third World Interdependence Sites of “Western” resources and battles

Thinking About the Third World The Basics –Poverty The world’s poorest states Least effective health care Lowest literacy levels Resource-dependent economies High levels of national debt

Thinking About the Third World The Basics –Environmental Threats Rapidly growing populations Exploitation of environments for any possible material benefit Ethnicity and Conflict: legacy borders divide cultural groups and force others into “cohabitation –Globalization and Structural Adjustment – Global influences (dependency, MNCs, WTO, IMF, and World Bank) limit LDC states more than others

Key Questions Why are global forces more influential in LDCs and how do they contribute to their poverty? Why are Third World societies so deeply divided? Why are so many of their states weak if not failed?

The Evolution of Politics in the Third World Imperialism and its Legacy –Commercial agriculture –Natural resource exploitation –Slavery and ruling of native peoples

The Evolution of Politics in the Third World Independence –18th and 19th centuries in Americas –Early 20th century in Middle East –Post-World War II in Asia and Africa

The Evolution of Politics in the Third World Postcolonial Problems –Appearance of authoritarian rule –Civil wars and Big Power proxy conflicts –Dissolution of political integration –Growth of cleavages between elites and others

Political Culture in Less Developed Countries Identity –Lack of national identities –Colonial languages

Political Culture in Less Developed Countries Ethnic and other divisions –Patron-client networks –Religious cleavages (especially fundamentalism) –Rapid change –Growing demands on government

Political Culture in Less Developed Countries A lack of legitimacy –Little trust in governments and regimes –Demands nearly impossible to meet

Political Participation in Less Developed Countries supportive participation –patriotic exercises –civic actions (voting) –co-opted participation –Coerced participation

Political Participation in Less Developed Countries demands on government –patron-client actions –communal group (civil society) activity –roles of NGOs

Weak States Types of States –Democracies (e.g. India, Costa Rica) –Single-Party Regimes (e.g. Baathist Iraq, PRI Mexico) –Military Regimes national military a sign of sovereignty bias of military is for stability power often leads to corruption –Personal Dictatorships (Zimbabwe, Iraq, Libya, Zaire, et al.) built on political and patron-client networks sometimes outgrowth of military rule

Weak States States and Power –Failed States apparent order of authoritarian states mask weakness in most other areas few resources for health care, education, and infrastructure lack of long-term institutions to carry out policies corruption, lack of transparency, and weak judiciaries

Public Policy: The Myths and Realities of Development Import Substitution: produce domestically what otherwise would be imported –inefficiencies of scale –foreign debt –need for hard currencies Structural Adjustment –open economies to market forces –integrate economies into the global market

Public Policy: The Myths and Realities of Development International Financial Institutions (IMF, WTO, World Bank) –loans conditional on structural adjustment –trade terms conditional on opening domestic markets Foreign Aid –need recognized since WWII –usually tied to strategic interests of donor nations (e.g. military aid) –strings attached require purchases from donor nations

Public Policy: The Myths and Realities of Development Microcredit –Muhammad Yunis, Bangladesh (Nobel Prize) –small loans to poor people with community support –model followed in 110 countries

Feedback Lack or absence of Western-style independent media personal communication vital (communal and patron-client networks) Radio and cell phone networks are compensating in some areas

Conclusions: Democratization a hopeful trend political attitudes and behaviors of citizens have been key components of change small scale successes in human rights, material progress, and law and order encourage pragmatic support of regimes that work regime survival through a few election cycles establishes momentum for success democracy, rule of law, and capitalism all contribute global factors are important regimes that develop might look different from Western democratic ones

Learning Objectives After mastering the concepts presented in this chapter, you will be able to: Understand the summary of the current economic and political situation in the third countries. Understand basic contrasts between the richest and the poorest countries. Comprehend the basics of the less developed countries, such as: Poverty, Environmental threats, Ethnicity and National Identity, Globalization Define the role of multinational corporations in the process of globalization and their affect on the third world countries. Recognize the key elements of the historical formation and impact of imperialism. Understand the concept of subsistence economies. Define the process of decolonization and the fight for independence of former colonies.

Learning Objectives After mastering the concepts presented in this chapter, you will be able to: Discuss challenges of political culture and political participation in the third world. Define the role of the communal groups. Recognize weak states and their challenges in the less developed countries. Differentiate among: Democracy, Single-Party Regime, Military Regime, Personal Dictatorship Comprehend the difference between import substitution and structural adjustments as strategies of development used in the third world countries. Understand the role of the following international financial institutions: IMF, World Bank, WTO Define the concept of conditionality used by the IMF in many developing countries. Understand the concept of foreign aid and identify key international donor states. Discuss the challenges for democratization of the third world countries.