• Economic wellbeing (can meet basic needs; stable income, ability to make economic decisions)

• Education

• Social equality (services, clean air)

• Health and nutrition (absence of disease, presence of healthy choices / access)

Different ways of measuring it:

• UNDP human development index (HDI)

  • Long and healthy life

  • Level of knowledge

  • A decent standard of living

• Multidimensional poverty index (MPI)

  • Measures the intensity of poverty

  • Health

  • Education

  • Standard of living

  • + 10 indicators

• Uneven development

• Role of Globalization / neoliberalism / free trade in development (or underdevelopment)

• Post-colonial global order

• Impact of imperialism on future outcomes / legacy of colonialism

• Institutions like World Bank, IMF

• Haiti (podcast)

• Discussion of poverty in SSA, South Asia

• Development over time (graphs from Class 8 lectures)

• "The Rest vs. The West" -- which countries are developed? (Hall reading)

• The World is Flat reading (Friedman)

• etc...

• 1450 - c. 1750 = 1st Age of Empire

• 1750 - 1875 = Informal Empire

• 1875 - 1914/45 = 2nd/High/ Classic Age of Empire

• 1945 - 1965 = Widespread decolonization (after WWII) 

• 1965 - present = contemporary globalization 

Imperialism- form of extension of state power across space, domination of one geographical area over another.

Colonialism- a form of imperialism, formal control of one territory by another.

Ways to measure development: GDP, HDI and the MPI

Readings: Chang, Hall, "West and the Rest", Seshasayee & Hari, The Daily Podcast

1) The age of Empire and subsequent decolonization set in place the current world order where western powers are the main world leaders and formerly colonized countries are still far behind in terms of economic development.

2) The age of empire entrenched modern Capitalism and, more broadly, western ideas of "modernity."

3) The economic disparities found across the world today originated through colonization and also unfair processes of decolonization.

Key concepts:

• shift in institutional power: previously, the US dominated negotiations. In Doha, emerging economies could vocalise their non-alignment with the hegemon.

• regulations on free trade: different countries have different expectations of how free trade should be

• divergence between developed-developing world: developing world was supposed to receive funds and agricultural subsidies from the developed world -> impasse

• tension between universality principle and differential treatment: china wanted to be categorised as a developed country, "china paradox"

Key concepts:

• Bretton woods conference (1944)

• World Bank

• IMF

• GATT

• World Trade Organization

• UN

• Hegemon's dilemma

• Multilateralism

  
  

Cases it's linked to:

• US Hegemony and World Bank

• Multilateral trade negotiations at the WTO

  
  

Readings:

• UN declaration of human rights

• Tumult in the trading system

• Washington post cobalt reading (vertical disintegration and trade regulation)

  
  

Colonization was concentrated in Asia and Africa.

EX: Opium Wars in China.

Related cases and readings:

• W3L2 Post WWII Intl Order (GATT Rounds)

• Hopewell, Kristen (2023). “Tumult in the Trading System: The China Paradox, Declining US Institutional Power, and the Crisis at the WTO” In: Gao H, Raess D, Zeng K, eds. China and the WTO: A Twenty-Year Assessment. Cambridge University Press:183-203

• Wade, Robert (2002). “US Hegemony and the World Bank: The Fight Over People and Ideas,” Review of International Political Economy, Vol 9, No 2, pp. 201-229

  
  

EX: Scramble for Africa, power held by France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Belgium.

Colonial territories in Pacific Asia.

Characterized by direct rule and indirect rule.

Discourse is a narrative the West pushed forward to justify colonization; there is obvious bias and indicative of a power dynamic, with the West seemingly holding more power than the "Rest"

• Ex: the non-West is referred to as "savages" oftentimes holding a negative connotation

Globalization: one of two definitions for globalization. Big "G" globalization refers to globalization as a political discourse.

• advocates for neoliberalist policies pushed by powerful institutions (The West, hegemons)

• Washington Consensus, TINA & Margaret Thatcher, free market and laissez faire principles

• both a process (David Held) and discourse

globalization: globalization as a process, the interdependence of economic, social, cultural, ecological, and political processes in everyday life

Today:

European expansion and forms of imperialism
• “Globalizing” effects
• Production networks
• Consumption habits
• Social, political, and cultural legacies

David Held

Sparke

Cobalt Mining

Development of global infrastructure like the IMF & World Bank

• definition: a set of policies that promote free market, loosened regulations on the economy

  • started in the 80s, key proponents include Margaret Thatcher & Ronald Reagan

Key concepts it is related to:

• Washington consensus

• Globalization

• Capitalism

• Vertical disintegration

• Special economic zones

Cases it is linked to:

• Africa: reason for its lack of economic growth since the 80s (Chang)

• creation of the World Bank and IMF

• Opium War in China

• Planet Money T Shirt

Readings:

• Chang (Thing 11)

• Sparke

• Bloomberg

Wallerstein's World System's Theory- core, semi-periphery, and periphery (explains the relationship between suppliers and producers of global goods)

"West vs. the Rest"- advanced vs. emerging economies

Industries in Colombia vs. Bangladesh- industries in Bangladesh are a source of social upheveal rather than a typical job

Cobalt Pipeline- lives of artisanal "diggers" as a result of vertical disintegration

"Double Debt"- reparations for not attacking France + loans from French banks

• Common Policies

  • Customs free

  • Tax-exempt

  • Simple administrative procedures

  • Access to free or below-market price for utilities

  • Strategic location

  • Weaker labor regulations (ex. Banning strikes, lowing minimum wage)

  • Weaker environmental regulations

• MNCs take advantage of differences between places to increase profits

• World Trade Org

• regulates global commerce 

• Creates rules for trade between countries

Tensions within the multilateral trading system 

• Reciprocity and University 

• Special and differential treatment 

Linked Key Terms: "free" trade, trade protectionism, uneven development, hegemon's dilemma, and US hegemony

Related Cases: US hegemony and the World Bank

Top Countries by Exports Graph (Lecture 8)

China as a Developing Country (Lecture 8)

Resources: "US Hegemony and the World Bank: The Fight Over People and
Ideas"

"China and the WTO: A Twenty-Year Assessment"

Related concepts:

• "g"lobalisation - vertical disintegration is a key tenet of the process of globalisation; as social, economic, political processes gets increasingly interconnected, it allows us to easily tap on different producers/resources around the world to produce just one component of a final good.

• offshoring/outsourcing - vertical disintegration typically comes with some offshoring/outsourcing (i.e. outsourcing sewing of t-shirts to workers in another country instead of producing it in the same factory in the home country).

• trade in intermediate goods - in the process of vertical disintegration, we have to export unfinished goods to other countries for other workers to add-value to them before exporting them again.

Relevant cases and readings:

• Planet Money makes a T-shirt

• Cobalt Pipeline

• Introducing Globalisation