Economic and Human Development in Global North and Global South

The disparities between the Global North and Global South is accounted by the low level of Economic and Human development in the Global South compared to the Global North. The four underlying factors that contribute to this lack of development in the Global South are Institutions, Culture, Geography, and Imperialism/Colonialism. The Global North refers to “industrialized nations, including West Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, that are part of a structurally integrated system of global capitalism”(MacLean and Wood p.245). The term Global North is interchangeable with developed countries, the West, industrialized countries or the First World. The Global South refers to a “categorization of less developed nations that are not part of a structurally integrated system of global capitalism” (MacLean and Wood p.245) and are characterized by “low levels of per-capita income, high inflation and debt, large trade deficits, low levels of socioeconomic development, a lack of industrialization, or undeveloped financial or legal system” (MacLean and Wood p.244). The term Global South is interchangeable with less-developed countries, developing-countries or the Third World. These disparities are discussed in terms of the North-South Gap, “the disparity in resources (income, wealth and power) between the industrialized, relatively rich countries in the West ( and the former Communist bloc) and poorer countries in Africa, the Middle East and much of Asia and Latin America”(Goldstein, Pevehouse, and Whithworth p.16 ). In this assessment, I will (a) expand on Economic Development and Human Development, discussing definitions and perspective, then (b) expand and on each of the four factors .

What accounts for the dispariti...

... middle of paper ...

...e Good Society, An Introduction To Comparative Politics. 2. Longman, 2012. Print.

Goldstein, Joshua S., Jon C. Pevehouse, and Sandra Whithworth. International Relations. Second Canadian Edition. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada, a division of Pearson Canada Inc., 2008. Print.

Kacowicz, Arie M. . "Globalization, Poverty, and the North–South." International Studies Review. (2007): 565-580. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

Maclean, George A., and Duncan R. Wood. Politics, An Introduction. Oxford Univ Pr, 2010. Print.

Reuveny, Rafael X., and William R. Thompson. "The North–South Divide and International Studies: A Symposium." International Studies Review. (2007): n. page. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.

Slater, David. "Geopolitical imaginations across the North - South divide: issues of difference, development and power." Political Geography. 16.8 (1997): 631-653. Web. 14 Feb. 2012.