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The Paradigm Shift of Global Economy: Is it Possible?

Critical Analysis on the Article “Forget ‘developing’ poor countries,

it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich countries”

By: Nessy Nicholle T. Saturion

“Are poor countries really developing? Or does the poor is developing the rich?” In
the modern world, it is notable that Global North controls the economic world, while the Global
South are the main provider of trades for these rich countries. In other words, the rich countries
mostly depends on the poor countries for resources and survivability, therefore, effectively
developing them. However, is this fair? Certainly no. This set up poor countries to a steady
state, where they stay developing which in fact they aren’t really developing, but being used to
develop other powerful nations. Thus, a shift of paradigm is suggested by James Hickel, an
anthropologist, in his article Forget ‘developing’ poor countries, it’s time to ‘de-develop’ rich
countries” as the new approach. However, although this ideal change is enticing to hear, the
idea of achieving it is low given the fact that rich countries are known to be competitive and
powerful in nature.

The article explains the unequal global consumption and over-exploitation of the global
north on resources that affect both the world economics and the environment. In addition, the
author argues that the world has already overgrown and the need to shift ‘perspectives’ is
necessary. It is also notable that the article is not only concern for the global inequality, but
also to the ecological state of the world. On the other hand, the author mentioned that poor
countries will take many years just to earn about $ 1.25. Thus, changing the strategy from
focusing on expanding growth to having the rich countries ‘catch down’ (de-developing),
instead of the poor ‘catching up’, will help eradicate poverty and to ensure that poor countries
get a fair say in the policies that affect them. Though this is quite challenging, however, the
author argues that it is still possible. Moreover, the article mentioned that the idea of a happy
life is not always directly proportional to a person’s income and consumption. This suggests
that GDP should not be the basis of the nation’s progress. Instead, Genuine Progress Indicator
(GPI) is much more efficient to measure it. Furthermore, the article also mentioned different
concepts of happiness in each country which he suggests we must revive.

Certainly, it is crucial that voluntary simplicity (an idea that an individual’s happiness
and quality of life are not necessarily linked to the accumulation of material goods), sustainable
consumption, sustainable development, must be practiced in each countries – in order to help
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eradicate poverty and environmental issues related to overexploitation. However, the idea of
catching down of rich countries is the most challenging part. This is because the solution
heavily relies on the rich countries and its success depends entirely either they participate. Yet,
given to their clear nature, rich countries are economically competitive and powerful. In other
words, there is no assurance that rich countries will de-develop. On a global scale, the
consumption of the world is overshooting a number of key planetary boundaries, in which most
of this overshoot came from rich countries. This make them the real development challenge of
the 21st century.

In addition, global northern countries has the power to control all economic system. For
example, their power influences the voting system of World Bank, IMF and World Trade
Organization, which enables them to dictate the macroeconomic policy across much of the
global South and to push through policies that primarily benefit themselves. Having this power
around the globe is crucial for these powerful countries to build their economies even more.
Losing this power will not let them stay on top of the trade, thus, shifting from a paradigm of
charity to a paradigm of justice to end poverty would be hard to consider for these countries.
Moreover, there are no other big factors or organizations that can help us push this paradigm
shift. Because surely, if there is so, these huge organizations might also be under the power of
the rich countries. For instance, The United Nations is a huge and powerful organization that
aims to support and help its members in times of wars or crisis. However, people tend to
question their actions during the times of needs. For example, during the Palestine and Israel
war, the UN cannot operate completely if one of the big countries, such as US opposes or halts
the plan responding to this conflict. In addition, the concept of “de-developing” is also
subjected to misconception, which also affects the chances of this paradigm to succeed, and a
need for orientation is always necessary.

Although the author has given substantial ideas and perspectives on how to have a fair
share of global income to every country, the article still lacks the specific ways on how to
achieve this solution. However, it did well on explaining the current issue, and providing new
ideas on these problems. The author, through his article has spread awareness and shows
concern to our economic and environmental world that we must consider. Assistance and viable
change of global economy is really needed that involves everyone, suggesting that it’s time to
move past capitalism and toward something better: something more compassionate, and
ecological.
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Despite the great idea of paradigm shift from poor countries “catching up” to rich
countries “catching down”, the chances of achieving it highly depends on the rich, which the
probability is low, given to these global north traits – competitiveness and power. However, as
the economy of the world is growing faster, hopefully all nations, especially the rich ones, will
consider the problem and change the rules of the global economy.