CHAPTER INTRODUCTION
In the last 200 years the benefits and influences of industrialization have spread, in varying degrees, to all parts of the Earth. In many countries this process has produced intra-regional contrasts that tend to intensify the contrasts between urban and rural populations. This development is, unfortunately, often more symbolic than real for many countries and actually helps these societies very little. Industrialization is not the solution for many countries seeking to improve conditions for their citizens. Success is measured in many ways but should be judged based upon criteria and achievement applicable to the society involved. In the late I990s poorer less industrialized countries must balance goals and ambitions with the needs of their populations.
Patterns of Development
The global economic picture is characterized by enormous gaps between rich and poor countries, but the geography of economic well-being also reveals regional disparities within countries at all levels of development. There are even areas within the industrialized countries themselves where change is slow in coming. Parts of the rural South in the United States still experience significant poverty and remain comparatively remote from the effects of national economic growth. Life has changed little in remote areas of western and northern Japan , and areas of isolation and stagnation persist in Europe .
In poorer less industrialized countries, there are places where clusters of industries have emerged and rapid urban growth is taking place, producing local conditions that differ sharply from those prevailing in surrounding areas. Recent economic growth on the Pacific Rim of East Asia has created huge regional disparities in economic conditions between some coastal provinces of China and distant interior provinces. Such regional contrasts have significant as well as political consequences. Regional economic disparities are increasing throughout the world.
Concepts and Approaches
Economists and geographers use a variety of approaches to describe the wide disparities in the global economy. Countries with high levels of urbanization and industrialization and high standards of living have long been referred to as developed countries (DCs), in contrast to underdeveloped countries (UDCs). This approach divides the world into two major categories, but also assumes that all countries are at some stage of development. But, the concept of development is a complicated one. How, for example, should development be measured? The GNP index provides one approach, but it has many shortcomings. There are a number of things it does not measure, such as the informal economy and contrasts within countries. Other approaches provide a richer basis for thinking about development, but none of these approaches produces a clear dividing line between developed and underdeveloped countries. Since some countries that were classed as underdeveloped began to change, the term developing country came into use in the 1960s and 1970s, but problems still existed, not the least of which was no country wanted to be classed as “under-developed,” and with good reason. The definition came from developed countries. Thus the developed-underdeveloped distinction was largely replaced by a developed-developing distinction. What all this showed is that while economic disparities are usually thought to be due to different levels of development, in reality development is much more complex and cannot be reduced to simple categories.
The Core-Periphery Model
Because of many criticisms and shortcomings in the “traditional” divisions of developed, developing, and underdeveloped system, a new approach to describing global economic disparities has been proposed. The new one is more sensitive to geographical differences and the relationships among development processes occurring in different places. The proposed core-periphery model, which is also used in discussions of political power, views the world as characterized by a core, semi-periphery, and periphery. Since the model focuses attention on the economic relationships among places, it is a key component of many theories that treat the global economy as a large system, and is actually quite different than the developed-developing-underdeveloped approach. The most important difference is the explicit identification of the power relationships among places, and it does not assume that socioeconomic change will occur in the same way in all places. This is important, because underlying economic disparities is a core-periphery relationship among different regions of the world. This affects how economies develop in both the core and the periphery.
A Changing World
As the twenty-first century approaches, some states are still subsistence-based and poor (traditional), whereas others are in the takeoff stage. These terms are part of a theory proposed by economist Walt Rostow in the l96Os, referred to as the modernization model. Rostow’s model suggests that all countries follow a similar path through five stages of development. The model provides a useful view of how certain parts of the world have changed over time, but it has been criticized because it does not take into account the different constraints that regions face because it suggests a single development path that is not influenced by cultural differences, In the world of the late 1990s, rapid development is taking place under widely different political systems. It is often associated with democratization, but it is also occurring under authoritarian regimes. We should remember that there are many routes to development.
CHAPTER OUIZ
MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. The world’s fourth most populous country is:
a. India
b. Canada
c. Indonesia
d. the Philippines
2. The core-periphery model focuses attention on the ? relationships among places.
a. social
b. economic
c. military
d. political
3. The World Bank groups states into four categories based on income. Which of the following is NOT one of the regions where low-income countries are concentrated.
a. Africa
b. South Asia
c. East Asia
d. South America
4. According to World Bank statistics, there are how many middle-income countries.
a. 45
b. 55
c. 65
d. 75
5. Europe had laid the foundation for its colonial expansion and global economic domination by the middle of which century.
a. eighteenth
b. sixteenth
c. seventeenth
d. nineteenth
6. Which of the following statements is correct concerning the world economic system.
a. it works to the advantage of the periphery countries
b. it works to the disadvantage of periphery countries
c. it works to the advantage of both the core and periphery countries
d. it works to the disadvantage of the core countries
7. Geographically peripheral countries tend to be marked by:
a. good regional developmental balance
b. good site locations
c. severe regional disparities
d. good situation locations
8. In the modernization model of economic development as formulated by Walt Rostow, when a country reaches the drive to maturity stage, a majority of workers enter what sector of the economy.
a. extractive
b. service
c. industrial
d. managerial
9. In the world of the late 1990s, communism remained in control in three countries. Which of the following is NOT one of them
a. Cuba
b. China
c. Panama
d. North Korea
10. In the late 1990s, which of the following was NOT a low-income Western Hemisphere country.
a. Ecuador
b. Haiti
c. Guyana
d. Nicaragua
TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
1. In all the rich developed nations pockets of extreme poverty still exist. (TF)
2. Because of development On the Pacific Rim, all the Chinese people are now wealthier. (TF)
3. Gross national product figures for countries are not completely accurate because they leave out some sources of income. (TF)
4. The core-periphery model focuses on the economic relationships among places. (TF)
5. Middle-income states outnumber the poorer states. (TF)
6. The periphery countries cannot legitimately accuse developed countries of neocolonialism. (TF)
7. Tourism has been very beneficial to periphery countries by helping the poor. (TF)
8. The modernization model proposes that countries in the drive to maturity stage have sustained
growth taking hold. (TF)
9. When many developing countries tried to adopt the communist state control method of economics the results were most often disastrous. (TF)
10. Politics and economics go hand-in-hand. (TF)
STUDY QUESTIONS
1. List and explain the different models of development. Give some of the strong and weak points of each, if given. Do you think any one covers all the problems in deciding the development stage of a country? List some of the factors that help or hinder a country in its economic development.
2. Why do you think there are such regional economic differences within a country?
3. Why are the seven measures of development in the Focus on box hard to apply in some countries?
4. Describe the core-periphery model. How is it different from other models?
5. Study Figure 26-1. List the conditions that put countries in the periphery. How do their industries differ in kind and dimension from core countries?
6. How does tourism affect the poorer countries? What contrasts are found?
