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The global north - south divide: A description and explanation
The North-South Divide by Valerie Graf
The North-South divide is the term that indicates the separation of the poorer southern part of the world with the wealthier North. The division line is called often the Brandt line because of reports published by the commission headed by Willy Brand, explained in a chapter below.
There may be many reasons why this divide exists and the separation border depends on the categories chosen for the evaluation. Generally, the following points show that there is a difference between the wealth in the north and the wealth in the south; (Health conditions · House prices · Earnings · Government expenditure · Political influence)
However, when including other aspects such as the cost of living, the divisions are sometimes not as clear.
The Brandt Commission
by Valerie Graf
An independent Commission on International Development Issues has been formed by the West German chancellor, Willy Brandt in 1977. It examined the problems of the poorer countries with the aim of come up with plans to help them. The two main reports were called the ‘North-South’, which was published in 1980 and ‘Common Crisis’, which was published in 1983. Both reports point out the issues of food and agricultural development, global negotiations, energy, aid, trade, international monetary and financial reform.
THE HISTORY OF THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE
by Isabel Martel Francisco
The history of the North-South divide stems all the way back to colonialism, where “guns, germs and steel” allowed nations to overpower and capture other countries: with industrialization, the bringing of new diseases to foreign lands and fire arms. How the world powers conquered and divided the world amongst them selves greatly impacted the world until this day. For generations, England, France, Spain and many other European countries have been world powers, dated back to when their were kings and queens ruling the land. For example, Spain took control over the Philippines, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba. France and Great Britain controlled land in Africa as well. Britain took control of Nigeria, Egypt, Sudan and some of South Africa, while France imperialized West Africa for example, Morocco and Algeria. (These are all countries in the south of the divide.)
(SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA INFORMATION MAP)
During the late 1800’s the European powers divided the land in Africa amongst themselves. This was known as the Scramble for Africa, where the countries were fighting for the most land. This led to the Berlin Conference, which is also known as the validation of the division of the countries in Africa. The imperializing countries did not treat their colonies well and left the majority with a great deal of damage, both social and economical. The European countries did not have any knowledge about the tribes and ethnicities that lived within Africa and did not take this into consideration when dividing land. They cut across countries and land, separating tribes and forcing enemies to live with each other which caused fights and conflicts. This is also why Africa is the continent with the most LEDC’s, because the countries have been in battles and were drained of natural resources. Such as, the Congo, Rwanda and Cape Town, South Africa. In Rwanda, the Belgians that colonized made the natives believe that they way someone looked justified how smart or how much they were entitled to, which led to a mass genocide, devastating the country. When the European powers left Africa they didn’t assist in the colonies’ transition to running their own government, which ended up with a very unstable and corrupt governing system. This is a perfect example of why many of the nations that were colonized or that had lost during a war are not first world countries.
The Cold War also assisted is the creation of the North-South divide. The Cold War separated countries into two different sectors, communists and capitalists. The powerful capitalist countries were the US, the UK and France. The powerful communist nations were Russia (the Soviet Union). Both parties were battling for power, trying to influence over countries around the world. This wrecked havoc for numerous places due to the fact that communists and capitalists would start wars and battles in other nations which ruined infrastructure and caused the countries to loose a lot of money. Capitalists would influence half the country while, communist would influence the other half, resulting in a civil war. For example, in Korea and Vietnam. Today, North Korea is still a communist state with a dictator.
This shows how history truly affected the status in countries up until this day. Leaving most of the countries in the southern hemisphere in worse conditions in comparison to those in the North. Each of the countries that had been in wars and that had been colonized were left with a damaged environment, usually stripped from a great deal of their natural resources and supplies because their land was used by the colonizing countries . Countries had to rebuild their economy and start from scratch, learning how to govern their own nation which in a lot of cases resulted with dictatorships. Until today many nations are still trying to fully ‘fix’ their economy and government.
ACTIVITIES by Isabel Francisco
( see attachments at the bottom of the page)
1) Crossword puzzle
2) Quiz
Citations
Beck, R. B. (2006).Modern World History: Patterns of Interaction(7 Student ed.). United States of America: Mcdougal Littell.
Bhatti, R. , 2006-03-22 "Ecological Debt, Ecological Credit: A North-South Divide?"Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Studies Association, Town & Country Resort and Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA<Not Available>. 2009-05-25
NEWS. (n.d.). BBC NEWS | UK | North-south split 'getting wider' .BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Retrieved March 23, 2010,
The North–South divide and the compulsions for the 21st century*. (n.d.).Indian Academy of Sciences - Index. Retrieved March 23, 2010,
North-South divide: Facts, Discussion Forum, and Encyclopedia Article . (n.d.).AbsoluteAstronomy.com. Retrieved March 23, 2010,
Shah, A. (n.d.). Third World Debt Undermines Development. ” Global Issues.Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all: Global Issues. Retrieved March 23, 2010,
List of Countries:
DATA TABLE OF A FEW OF THE MEDC's AND LEDC's(medc's are the developed northern countries and ledc's are the less developed southern countries)by- JAE
| MEDC (1st to 8th) and its GDP | LEDC (172th to 180th) and its GDP | ||
| Luxembourg | 94,418,000 USD | Malawi | 352,000 USD |
| Norway | 76,692,000 USD | Sierra Leone | 342,000 USD |
| Qatar | 75,956,000 USD | Eritrea | 328,000 USD |
| Switzerland | 66,127,000 USD | Zimbabwe | 303,000 USD |
| Denmark | 55,942,000 USD | Guinea-Bissau | 244,000 USD |
| Ireland | 51,128,000 USD | Liberia | 210,000 USD |
| Netherlands | 47,042,000 USD | Burundi | 174,000 USD |
| United Arab Emirates | 46,584,000 USD | Congo | 171,000 USD |
Click this link for GDP ranking of all the countries recorded by IMF, World Bank, and CIA fact book ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)_per_capita )
The 3rd world debt.
3rd world debt originated from colonialism. Wealthy countries, such as England, US, and some European countries gained dominance over African, or mid-Asian (and more) countries. Wealthy countries aided the 3rd world countries with monetary support, and idea of industrializing. However, they took a large percentage of interest, and the 3rd world’s natural resources in return for their aid. Some countries however didn’t even receive any heritage of the loans from the wealthy countries due to the corrupt dictators, who took the money for their private wealth and comfort (This happened in many African countries, such as: Zimbabwe, Libya, CAR (Central African Republic), Zaire, and Uganda) also, some misled spending has lead the country to be stagnated from advancement, then rather pulled the country even further behind to the extent of becoming HIPC (Heavily In-depth Poor Countries) this has lead to some 11million deaths of children deaths per year in African continent. Although IMF and World Bank is trying to aid these 3rd world countries (by conducting projects such as the jubilee 2009 initiative) but it hasn’t totally saved them from poverty and left them classified as “Southern country” Some Asian countries, such as India, Japan, China and Korea has underwent some heavy war casualties after world war 2 and other crisis'. And of these countries, Korea and Japan has managed to step up as one of the northern countries, either by well-lead economic plans and aid from other countries.
Citations
3rd world debt originated from colonialism. Wealthy countries, such as England, US, and some European countries gained dominance over African, or mid-Asian (and more) countries. Wealthy countries aided the 3rd world countries with monetary support, and idea of industrializing. However, they took a large percentage of interest, and the 3rd world’s natural resources in return for their aid. Some countries however didn’t even receive any heritage of the loans from the wealthy countries due to the corrupt dictators, who took the money for their private wealth and comfort (This happened in many African countries, such as: Zimbabwe, Libya, CAR (Central African Republic), Zaire, and Uganda) also, some misled spending has lead the country to be stagnated from advancement, then rather pulled the country even further behind to the extent of becoming HIPC (Heavily In-depth Poor Countries) this has lead to some 11million deaths of children deaths per year in African continent. Although IMF and World Bank is trying to aid these 3rd world countries (by conducting projects such as the jubilee 2009 initiative) but it hasn’t totally saved them from poverty and left them classified as “Southern country” Some Asian countries, such as India, Japan, China and Korea has underwent some heavy war casualties after world war 2 and other crisis'. And of these countries, Korea and Japan has managed to step up as one of the northern countries, either by well-lead economic plans and aid from other countries.
Citations
- Exchange rates. (n.d.). Naver Cafe. Retrieved March 21, 2010, from blog.naver.com/mybung07/140059224769
- Shah, A. (n.d.). Third World Debt Undermines Development â Global Issues. Global Issues : social, political, economic and environmental issues that affect us all â Global Issues. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://www.globalissues.org/issue/28/third-world-debt-undermines-development
- Top Five African Dictators with the Most Bizarre Titles | PurpleSlinky. (n.d.). PurpleSlinky | Offbeat, Funny, Entertaining Content. Retrieved March 24, 2010, from http://purpleslinky.com/humor/life/top-five-african-dictators-with-the-most-bizarre-titles/
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NORTH SOUTH DIVIDE QUIZ.doc (Word Document - 32k)
posted by FranciscoI Mar 24 2010, 11:42 AM EDT
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cross word (Unknown File - 70k)
posted by FranciscoI Mar 24 2010, 10:53 AM EDT
a puzzle about the north south divide
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