THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD

ATTENDANCE TIME!

PLEASE SAY PRESENT (Turn ON

YOUR MICROPHONES) WHEN
YOUR NAME IS CALLED.
WHAT IS GLOBAL DIVIDES?
- Global Divides refers to disparities or the separation between the developed
(Global North) and the developing (Global South) countries.

- The North-South divide is a socio-economic and political categorization of

countries and it arose during the Cold War of the mid 20th century. Before,
countries were primarily categorized according to their alignment between the
Russian East and the American West.

HOW DO WE DEFINE NORTH, SOUTH, LATIN AMERICA?

LATIN AMERICA
- a region, cultural and geographical world or group of countries having a lot of
geographical, political, cultural and other similarities between themselves and at the
same time very different from one another.
o Latin America is a cultural entity of a very diverse group of people who differ by
nationality, race, ethnicity and culture.
o Spanish is common throughout Latin America and Portuguese is the main
language of Brazil..
o Among the exceptions that could not be considered part of Latin America are
Belize, Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago.
NORTH AMERICA

- North America is a continent that includes Canada, the United States,

Mexico, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean Sea.
o Geographically, the North American continent also includes
Greenland, though culturally and politically, the country is more
aligned with Europe.
o In some uses of ‘North America’, Central America and the
Caribbean are excluded and in others, even Mexico is left out of
the definition.
o North America includes 23 independent countries.

SOUTH AMERICA
South America is the other continent in the Western
Hemisphere and the fourth largest in the world. It includes the nations
south of Panama, including 12 independent countries and 3 major
territories.
o In some uses, ‘South America’ may include the portion of
Panama south of the Isthmus of Panama.
o Islands near the main continent are also considered to be part
of South America. These include Easter Island (Chile), the
Galapagos Islands (Ecuador), the Falkland Islands (U.K.) and
South Georgia Islands (U.K.).

CAUSES OF THE DIVISION

BETWEEN THE NORTH AND SOUTH
AMERICA
1. Industry vs. Farming – In the mid-1800s, northern states did not
need to rely on slave labor in farming due to transition from farming to
industry, while southern states maintained a large farming economy
based on slave labor.

2. Slavery – The South’s issues revolved around slavery, as it was

relied upon for labor. Abolitionists, like John Brown, Frederick
Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe, argued for its
illegalization, causing fear among the South.

3. Bleeding Kansas- The Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 led to the first

fighting over slavery in Kansas, resulting in Bleeding Kansas, a
skirmish involving several deaths, and ultimately resulting in Kansas
becoming a free state in 1861.

4. Abraham Lincoln – Abraham Lincoln, a member of the anti-slavery

Republican Party, won the presidential election in ten southern states
without being on the ballot, causing tensions in the South.

5. Secession – Due to Lincoln winning the election, many of the

southern states decided to leave the United States, starting with
South Carolina, eleven states would eventually leave and form a new
country called, “Confederate States of America”. Abraham Lincoln
tried to stop the South from Leaving and the Civil War began.
 During the Cold War, countries were categorized based on their
alignment with the Russian East and the American West. This
division was abandoned after Second World countries joined First
World countries. The North-South Divide emerged, with the First
World with some second world countries as the North and Third
World countries as the South.

GLOBAL SOUTH

- Global South has traditionally been used to refer to underdeveloped

or economically disadvantaged nations. These countries are those
who tend to have unstable democracy, are in the process of
industrializing, and have historically frequently faced colonization by
Global North countries (especially by European countries).

HERE ARE SOME CHARACTERISTICS COMMONLY ASSOCIATED

WITH THE GLOBAL SOUTH:

 - Economic challenges
 - Colonial history
 - Natural resource dependency
 - Limited Infrastructure
 - Political instability
 - Cultural Diversity
 Countries: CARIBBEAN, LATIN AMERICA, AFRICA, SOUTH AMERICA,
AND PARTS OF ASIA (these countries were used to be called the third
world during the cold war).

- There are nations that were once considered part of the Global South
but have made significant progress and transitioned to being part of
the Global North. Some examples include: SOUTH KOREA,
TAIWAN, SINGAPORE, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES.

GLOBAL NORTH

- Global North is a widely accepted synonym for first-world or

developed countries, which are also the richest countries in the world
according to metrics including GDP per capita. The Global North is
the economic opposite of the Global South, a term coined in 1969 to
describe the world’s developing and least developed countries.

Characteristics of Global North :

o Have developed economies and account for over

90% of all manufacturing industries in the world,
o Account for only one- quarter of the total global
population but they control 80% of the total income
earned around the world.
o 95% of the population have enough basic needs and
have access to education
 Countries: US, CANADA, ALL COUNTRIES IN
WESTERN EUROPE, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND,
JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA. (Regarded as first world
countries during cold war)

GLOBAL SOUTH VS.

THIRD WORLD

Global South

o Is a new and simpler classification of developing

countries. It is the term that replaced ‘third world’ that
emerged in the 1970’s during Cold War of the mid 20 th
century.
o It was coined in 1952 by the French Demographer,
anthropologist, and economic historian Alfred Sauvy.
 Third World

o is more often referred to today as “South” or “developing countries,”

o Term is also inaccurate and outdated, there are more than 100 countries
that fit the “third world" but they have vastly different levels of economic
stability. Some are relatively poor but many are not.
o “Third World” was coined during the Cold War to describe nations that
neither supported ‘the West’ (NATO) nor ‘the East’ (the Communists). In
effect, the term was created as a marker for a nation’s political ideology
(perhaps often pacifism in the case of “Third World countries”) in a time of
great global unrest.

Thank you for your

participation today!
Virtual Class Dismissed!