Mr.

Birdwell AP Human Geography

CONCEPTS OF DEVELOPMENT I. Introduction A. Differences in per capita GNP for selected countries (Table 26-1) 1. The economy and social geography of the contemporary world is a patchwork of contrasts a) Shifting cultivators b) Mechanization of grain farming in North America, Ukraine, and eastern Australia c) Papua, New Guineatoolmakers still fashion implements by hand B. Still areas within industrialized countries where change is slow 1. Rural South in the United States 2. Remote areas of western and northern Japan 3. Examples of Pacific Rim of East Asia, and China II. Concepts and approaches A. Classifying countries into categories of development 1. Developed countriescountries with high levels of urbanization, industrialization, and high standards of living

2. Developing countriesopposite end of the development scale 3. Concept of development is complicated 4. Gross National Product 5. Measures of Development 6. Classifying countries became more acute in the 1960s and 1970s a) Some countries classified as underdeveloped began shooting ahead b) Examples of South Korea and Taiwan c) Term developing countries came into use 7. Term underdeveloped has a negative connotation and is being used less and less 8. Discussion of how the effort of classifying countries in terms of levels of development has come under attack B. The core-periphery model 1. Some scholars have argued for a new approach to describing global economic disparities 2. They have proposed the core-periphery model a) Core regions are those that have achieved high levels of socioeconomic prosperity b) Periphery regions are poor and dependent in significant ways on the core, and do not have much control over their own affairs c) Semi-periphery regions exert more power than peripheral regions, but are dominated to some degree by core regions 3. A key component of many theories because it focuses attention on economic relationships among places 4. Does not assume socioeconomic change will occur in the same way in all places 5. Has the advantage of being able to describe developments at any spatial scale C. Patterns on the map

1. Development concepts are still widely used despite their limitations 2. Character and extent of economic disparities at the state scale can be seen in Figure 26-1

III. Global economic disparities A. Figure 21-1 is in large measure a reflection of the course of history 1. Present divisions began long before the Industrial Revolution 2. Industrial Revolution increased Europe's need for raw materials 3. Europe's increased products increased need for control over colonies 4. System of international exchange was born 5. Little changed at the end of colonialism in the midtwentieth century 6. Periphery countries accuse the core of perpetuating its advantage through neo-colonialism B. Conditions in the periphery 1. Political instability, corrupt leaders, and misdirected priorities 2. Misuse of aid, and cultural resistance to modernization hamper development 3. Suffer from numerous demographic, economic, and social ills 4. Poor nutrition, high incidence of disease, and health-care facilities are inadequate 5. Rural areas are overcrowded and surface communications are of low quality 6. Landholdings are often fragmented, and little is produced for local markets because of poorly organized distribution systems

7. On farms, yields per unit area are low, and subsistence modes of life prevail 8. In urban areas, overcrowding, poor housing, inadequate sanitation, and lack of services prevail 9. Geographically, peripheral countries tend to be marked by severe regional disparities C. Levels of industrialization 1. Some industries exist in virtually all periphery countries 2. Some countries seeking accelerate economic development have undergone massive industrialization 3. Under Stalin, Soviet Union planners poured huge quantities of resources into industry 4. Peripheral countries have built their own steel mills and national airlines to serve as symbols of "progress" 5. Some governments have made agriculture, not industry, their main priority 6. Tourism Boon or Bane? 7. all periphery countries continue to face enormous obstacles 8. Now foreign debt crisis is affecting economic well-being of low- and middle-income countries IV. Models of development A. Type of models 1. Liberal models defined 2. Structuralist models defined B. The modernization model 1. One of the most influential liberal models 2. Formulated by Walt Rostow in the 1960s 3. Suggests all countries follow a similar path through five stages of development a) Traditional b) Preconditions of takeoff

c) Takeoff d) Drive to maturity e) High mass consumption C. Dependency theory 1. Holds that political and economic relationships between countries and regions of the world control and limit economic development possibilities of less well-off areas 2. Sees very little hope for economic prosperity in regions and countries that have been dominated by external powers 3. Like modernization theory, is based on generalizations about economic change 4. Pays very little attention to geographical differences in culture, politics, and society V. A changing world A. Change is occurring almost everywhere 1. In many countries significant indicators are showing improvement 2. One reason for achievement of "takeoff" levels lies in major political and economic changes 3. Until the end of the 1980s, there were three major politicaleconomic blocs 4. Collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in a period of tumultuous transition whose outcome is still uncertain 5. The notion of a Third World is obsolete 6. Discussion of China 7. Despite current shift toward free-market practices, we should remember there are many routes to development