The summary of the book "challange of the developing worls" plus chapter 3 on aid from the book " Lieshout, P. et al. (eds.) (2009). Doing Good or Doing Better. Developing Policies in a Globalizing
World. The Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press."
If I may be honest, the summary is okay. It contains basic information but it's missing a lot of sub sections of each chapters. Which is a pity, because the summary is a bit expensive for what you get.
By: shskhrv • 3 year ago
Hey!
Thanks for the feedback! I summarized the most important parts of the books which we also talked about in the lectures. Would you mind telling me what you think is missing?
By: ahlamdessalgen • 3 year ago
This summary helped me to understand the important parts for the exam! It is a clear and easy to understand summary.
By: shskhrv • 3 year ago
Thank you! I hope you have a good grade
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Challenges of the developing world book summary
2020-2021
Chapter 1- Understanding development
Developing countries vary widely in terms of history culture size and economy however they also
generally share a number of common characteristics all of them so from at least some aspect of
political, economical or social under development all of them so from at least some aspect of
political, economic or social underdevelopment. Although some East ages nearly industrialising
countries, for example, South Korea and Singapore are no longer economically underdeveloped they
still share a vulnerability to global economic forces and continue to suffer from aspects of political
underdevelopment, on the other hand, Costa Rica and word why are relatively well developed
politically and socially but manifest a number of economic underdevelopment problems.
The historical origins of the developing world
Many important characteristics of the contemporary developing world were shaped by the
experience of colonialism. The exploitation of Congo by King Leopold second of Belgium, for
example, is believed to have caused millions of African deaths. It was during the colonial period the
territories were divided borders were drawn and economies and their associated infrastructures
were established to serve European needs all with effects that would last well beyond the colonial
era. During and after the colonial rule in African Asian foreign companies are European settlers often
controlled most of the lucrative economic assets. European rule also imposed legal systems and
political administrations in doing so It aggravated sometimes social cleavages through the used
divide-and-rule tactics by the colonial power. Ethnic religious and tribal tension into Sudan and
Rwanda have all been attributed to prior colonial policy. Colonial powers had only a limited interest
in developing local capacities meaning that many countries emerge from this period as weak states
with untested political structures and contested political identities.
Economic underdevelopment
Economic underdeveloped, the most salient characteristic of many developing countries, is poverty.
At the national level, this can be seen in a combination of low per income capita, unequal income
distribution, inadequate infrastructure and limited use of modern technology. At a grassroots level,
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,economic and development connotes widespread scarcity, substantial unemployment substandard
housing poor healthcare conditions low literacy and education levels.
Purchasing power parity - Means that income has been adjusted to reflect differences in local
prices
Human development index - Composite statistics of life expectancy education and per capita
income indicators
Gross domestic product gross national product and gross national income are all measures of the
size of an economy. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced within the country in a year
well GNP and GNI adjust this total to account for incomes earned by foreign residents and non-
residents.
While per capita income is a useful indicator of a country's level of economic development, it does
not give us a complete picture of living conditions because it fails to take into account how equitably
that income is distributed.
The Gini Index Is a mathematical measure of the level of equality in each of the countries. A Gini
score of 0 would indicate that the country has perfect equality that families in the country have the
exact same income there are no richer people or no poor people, a Gini of a thousand would
indicate that one family makes all the countries national income and the rest of the population earns
nothing.
Countries with more equal and inequal income gap
The former communist countries of central and Eastern Europe generally have the greatest income
equality reflecting their past communist governments' confiscation of most of the property
belonging to urban business people and rural landowners. Western Europe's highly economically
developed capitalist countries as a group tend to have the second-highest level of income equality
this reflects the substantial influence of left parties and Labour unions in the 20th century.
This is particularly true of the Scandinavian and Nordic countries whose long tradition of Democratic
socialism has produced some of the most equal income levels in the world. The United States lacks a
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,strong leftist political party and has the most unequal income distribution of any economically
developed country in the world. Generally, developing countries tend to have more in equal income
distribution than highly developed nations, but there are considerable variations within the
developing world. Latin America has the most unequal income distribution of any world Region due
to the Spanish colonial rule prior to the 19th century. The Spanish concentrated land ownership in
the hands of the colonisers leaving the original indigenous populations with small plots of land and
landless. After independence, Latin American countries began to industrialise and income in the
region remained highly unequal. Asia has the lowest rate of inequality in any part of the world.
Income is more equally distributed in India (democracy) with its case system and extensive poverty
than in the united states. This is due to the extensive agrarian land reforms carried out in the region
which redistributed some the large agricultural states to either state farms or directly to peasants.
The communist governments Vietnam and Cambodia confiscated all of the large private farms that
had existed under the old order and turned them into state farms cooperatives or individual plots. In
reaction to Asians communist revolutions, the governments of South Korea and Taiwan initiated
extensive land redistribution to the rural poor To prevent peasants radicalisation these governments
have bolstered crop prices in order to reduce the substantial income gap that almost all developing
nations have between the urban and rural regions. Today after the industrialisation and extensive
economic development, the two countries have some of the most equal income distributions in the
world.
China is the greatest exception, despite its communist revolution, the nation currently has a
relatively high degree of income inequality. The government introduced free-market economy
policies so today while the communities still controlled the government the economy is substantially
based on private enterprise these reforms have made the Chinese economy very productive and
have made China a world leading economic power but have also produced considerable economic
inequality within the country. Of all regions, sub-Sahara Africa has the most levels of a variety of
incoming quality and inequality. Since the colonial era, the countries white minority held absolute
political and economic control while keeping the black majority in power. The country still suffers
from tremendous income inequality. The income distribution varies considerably depending on such
factors as the extent to which land was concentrated in European hands during the colonial period
the level of ethnic disparities between different tribal groups and the degree of government-
initiated economic redistribution since independence.
Social underdevelopment
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, Poverty in developing countries is associated with poor social conditions such as high infant
mortality and low literacy rates which in turn reduces opportunities for human development in other
areas. If these countries are to be developed economically, politically and socially they most extend
and improve their educational systems and thereby raise the rate of literacy an educated workforce
contributes to higher labour productivity. Moreover improved education also expands mass political
participation which contributes to greater Government Accountability. Greater gender equality has
also shown to contribute greatly to social development.
A country is an overachiever if that government has allocated a greater percentage of its spending
towards improving health sanitation an indication. In comparison, underachieving governments have
spent a lower percentage of their revenue on improving those services. All of the world's greatest
underachievers are petroleum producers that have largely failed to fully translate their oil wealth
into greater quality of life for their citizens.
Political underdevelopment
While many modernisation theorists believe that government in the developing world should model
themselves after western industrialised democracies, they are also mindful of important differences
between the regions that limited the possibility. For example, recognising that most western
European countries did not fully democratise until they were well along the path to industrial
development. Political development involves the creation of specialised undifferentiated
government institutions that effectively carry out necessary functions such as collecting tax revenue
defending national borders, maintaining political stability stimulating economic development and
improving the quality of human life. Too many developing countries suffer from bad governance - a
combination of corruption catering to special interests and mismanagement. However, many of
them also believe that a political system could be considered developed even if it was not a
democracy at least as the terms is defined in the West. A full democracy includes fair and
competitive election in which opposition parties have a realistic chance of winning universal or
nearly universal adult suffrage alternatives for political participation free and open mass media and
government respect for human rights including minority rights.
Many scientists claim that developing countries first priority is political stability even if that might
initially require military rule or other forms of authoritarian government.
Political economic and social underdevelopment are interrelated. More economically advanced
countries can better educate their populations and provide them with superior healthcare, and
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