Within the last 60 years, Third World development has been a global priority, at the top of virtually every Western agenda. And with the rise of the global population and poverty levels continuing to rise along with it, it is very easy to see why human development is becoming such a topic of focus and discussion among members of the academia. But one question that everyone wants the answer too is, how does Third World development fit into Globalization? Despite apparent compatibility, when closely examined it is clear to see that Globalization actually contradicts Third World development due to the conflict of agendas. Both Globalization and Development hold views concerning market reform, social structure and regulation, which are incompatible at best and totally contradictory at worst. It is because of this, that one must be dominant over the other, and thanks to the power of transnational capital, Globalization emerges as the victor at the expense of the impoverished citizens of developing nations. Using Mexico and its economic relationships as a reference point and a parallel to Globalization, I intend on outlining the opposing agendas found in Neoliberal and Development camps, despite what looks like harmony between the two.
Before discussing underdevelopment and its relationship with globalization we must first have a thorough understanding of underdevelopment and its history. Presently the majority of Latin America, let alone Mexico, is caught in the web of underdevelopment. But this is not simply due to present day circumstances, the build up to this has been in centuries-long participation in the process of world Capitalist development (Frank, 108). Today the bonds of colonialism have long been broken but the consequen...
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...s like Mexico, for the betterment of the developed nations, like the US. A look at the rise of East Asia proves that the combination of import substitution and export promotion is not only feasible but also more successful than neoliberal market policy (Kiely, 139). The only problem with it is that it takes away the control of the transnational corporations and their Capitalist parent nations. Market civilization is ugly and contradictory and has no true desire for dealing with for the frontline issues of development, such as malnourishment, lack of education, and unemployment (Gill, 399). The trickle-down/top-down reform and development methods are simply proposed to appease the masses. But indeed, without the collective potential of the people and a bottom up restructuring, the “organic crises” mentioned by Antonio Gramsci, will never be solved (Gill and Law, 63).
The following case study critiques Upton’s vision to establish a sustainable community through implementing comprehensive sustainable strategy. The urban periphery development is thought to demonstrate superior execution of sustainable principles in development (Jackson 2007). As a parallel, the report focuses on the development of Upton’s design code and demonstrates how large -scale mix-use developments can incorporate sustainable practice and principles of urban growth.
Mexican Lives is a rare piece of literature that accounts for the human struggle of an underdeveloped nation, which is kept impoverished in order to create wealth for that of another nation, the United States. The reader is shown that the act of globalization and inclusion in the world’s economies, more directly the United States, is not always beneficial to all parties involved. The data and interviews, which Hellman has put forth for her readers, contain some aspect of negativity that has impacted their lives by their nation’s choice to intertwine their economy with that of the United States. Therefore it can only be concluded that the entering into world markets, that of Mexico into the United States, does not always bring on positive outcomes. Thus, one sees that Mexico has become this wasteland of economic excrement; as a result it has become inherently reliant on the United States.
Those groups who bled and died from 1910-1917 for a more just and equitable Mexico were subsequently denied the fruits of economic growth and transparent political representation. Efforts to accelerate growth since the mid 1930s “have tended to produce- or at least, to reinforce- a highly inequitable pattern of income distribution” (Hansen 71). According to Roger Hansen, the author of The Politics of Mexican Development, “no other Latin American political system has provided “more rewards for its new industrial and commercial agricultural elites” (87) since 1940 and “in no other major Latin American country has less been done directly by the government for the bottom quarter of society” (87). Mexico’s development created a middle class and brought a certain measure of industrialization but further disenfranchised the poor. Mexico’s leaders implemented a development policy which violated the ideals of the revolution by shirking the responsibilities of a social democracy.
Argentina, which was soon to become the economic powerhouse, quickly descends into a ghost town of abandoned factories and mass unemployment. President Carlos Menem transformed Argentina by selling out every public asset he could find; he privatized factories, and created many corporate handouts. The nation approved of Menem’s changes, and Washington said “This is the best thing ever” (The Take) What the citizens didn’t realize is that by transforming the nation this way, Menem was creating a capitalist wild west. This caused more than half the people to live under the poverty line, and they were at the point where being offered food for pay was the citizen’s only option.
With the removal of an authoritarian rule, the transnational oriented elites rose to power and have been given “ the opportunity to reorganize the state and build a better institutional framework to deepen neoliberal adjustments” (Robinson 180). Politically, the program changes the control of the political system to less direct coercive rule. Economically, it eliminated state intervention in the economy; this allowed the adjusting of local economies to serve the global economy instead of their
Neoliberalism is a form of economic liberalism that emphasizes the efficiency of private enterprise, liberalized trade, and relatively open markets. Neoliberals seek to maximize the role of the private sector in determining the political/economic priorities of the world and are generally supporters of economic globalization. During the 1930s and the late 1970s most Latin American countries used the import substitution industrialization model to build industry and reduce dependency on imports from foreign countries. The result of the model in these c...
Peter Singer, in his influential essay “Famine, Affluence and Poverty”, argues that affluent people have the moral obligation to contribute to charity in order to save the poor from suffering; any spending on luxuries would be unjustified as long as it can be used to improve other’s lives. In developing his argument, Singer involves one crucial premise known as the Principle of Sacrifice—“If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it” . To show that such principle has the property to be held universal, Singer refers to a scenario in which a person witnesses a drowning child. Most people, by common sense, hold that the witness has the moral duty to rescue the child despite some potential costs. Since letting people die in poverty is no different from watching a child drowning without offering any help, Singer goes on and concludes that affluent people have the moral duty to keep donating to the poor until an increment of money makes no further contribution.
In this book, globalization is defined as “an internationalization of contractual hiring, exploiting even cheaper migrant labor” (page 231). Globalization is a cultural phenomenon process in which a business or an organization begins to operate their production on an international scale. In his book, we see how globalization affected corn farmers in Mexico. Globalization open the door to the system a free market trade. In Illegal People, U.S corn farmers sold their corn to Mexico, causing Mexican corn farmers to severely lose profit since American farmers were selling their corn way cheaper. An example of how globalization is seen on Sleep Dealer is how an American company privatized water in Memo’s rancho. By privatizing the water, the company sold quantities of water at unreasonable prices, leading Memo’s dad to struggle to maintain his corm field. The American company who privatized the water could this through the usage of technology. Technology is one of the factors that led to the rise of
When faced with inexplicable working conditions, one’s first consideration would be to quit their job and to find a new one. In the case of the factory workers at Hacienda Tijuana, a Mexican tortilla factory, that is certainly not the case. Throughout this article, there are many issues that are presented to the reader. This essay is structured to examine three of the main issues. It begins by looking at the exploitation of the women and their lack of rights as workers in the factory. It examines the analytical framework that would be most appropriate for this situation and then progresses to relate many sociological theories to this issue. Next, it examines the mostly negative effects of globalization, modernization and industrialization. It then follows the same procedure as the previous section and categorizes the issue into the analytical framework model and proceeds to connect it to sociological theories. Finally, the last issue in which this essay discusses is Mexico’s progression to neoliberalism. Overall, this piece of writing addresses, analyzes and discusses many of the targeted issues mentioned in the article through a sociological lens.
Most Latin America countries are known as third world countries because the economic structure still in development. To overcome such judgment the countries had been developing different policies since the 1970s. The policies promise to help the countries to obtain a healthier economy and have an economic growth. The author Franko explains in the book The Puzzles of Latin America Economic Development how the economist Paul Rosenstein “believes that in order to achieve sustained growth, an economy must develop various industries simultaneously, requiring a coordination of investment or a big push.” (pg. 19) But to accomplished economic growth countries need to reduce the government control over the economy and start developing a market-base economy. Market-base economy would not only guarantee positive results of development, but will also create a more stable economy. Mexico is one of the countries that have integrated new policies and other economic change which have been giving the country positive results mainly on its economy.
These results change or modify political organizations to be suitable for the needs of global capital. Regions and nations are encouraged to import and export of goods from other parts of the world rather than supplying or manufacturing them in their own homeland. Thus, seeking expensive manufactured supplies or goods from third world countries to import them to the first world corporation’s injunction with the free trade zones of globalization (Ravelli and Webber, 2015). These negotiations raises new organizations, for example, the World Trade Organization (WTO) to aid and supervise both countries to for a legalized trade. However, Neoliberalism amplifies the negative aspects of globalization’s effect on the economy. For example, deregulation, decrease of government benefits, and tax modifications (Bunjun, 2014). Nevertheless, relating these negative aspects to the documentary Made in L.A. (Carracedo, 2007) which is the main issue of increased risk of employment for both the first world and third world countries. In regards to, a switch from full time stable and secure jobs to part time unstable and insecure jobs. This reduces career growth for many employees, which they recognize, and thus switch jobs – where as they may not fit as well (Bunjun, 2014). As a result, globalization causes market inefficiency via labor market segregation and exploitation, unemployment and underemployment, unequal access to employment (Bunjun,
The rise of development theory has been an interesting phenomenon. In the latter half of the 20th century, many theorists have tried to explain the origins of "under-development." The debate over the idea of development has been intense, and has led to the emergence of two contending paradigms: Modernization theory and dependency theory. Upon close investigation, one realizes that both theories are problematic. This paper is based on readings of Escobar, Martinussen, Cruise O'Brien, and Pieterse. The purpose of this paper is to chronicle the origins and growth of development discourse, and to show how both paradigms share three flaws: an economist approach to social change, and an ethnocentric and teleological worldview of development, and the perceived universal application of the West's development experience throughout the developing world.
“…increasing international trade and financial flows since the Second World War have fostered sustained economic growth over the long term in the world’s high-income states. Some with idle incomes have prospered as well, but low-income economies generally have not made significant gains. The growing world economy has not produced balanced, healthy economic growth in the poorer states. Instead, the cycle of underdevelopment more aptly describes their plight. In the context of weak economies, the negative effects of international trade and foreign investments have been devastating. Issues of trade and currency values preoccupy the economic policies of states with low-income economies even more than those with high incomes because the downturns are far more debilitating.1”
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
The First World is said to be the industrialised, capitalist countries of Western Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand who are developed (as explained in the definition). The Third World includes the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America who are still in the mode of developing. Normally we understand the situation of underdevelopment is because the third world was under the colonies or the colonial rule for a certain period of time and lags behind the first world in every aspect like- social, economical, political, technological advancements which are yet to be seen in the third world fully like the first world. In this paper we will talk about various theorists from Karl Marx (capitalism and class conflict), Kay and Amin (merchant capitalism, colonialism and neo-colonialism), Vladimir Lenin (imperialism), Andre Gunder Frank (third world dependency), Lipton (urban bias) and dependency theory.