GLOBAL DIVIDES:

The North and the South

(Focus on the Latin America)

By:
Dr. CESAR A. ARAO, Ll.B.
What is Global Divides?

Global Divides refers to disparties

or the separation between the
developed (Global North) and the
developing (Global South) countries.
Global Divides
The term North and the South, when used in global context, are alternative
designations for ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ countries. It constitute virtually the
entire global population. 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.

First World countries

West- the United States and its allies
Second World countries
East- the Soviet Union and China
The poor countries were eventually labelled as Third World countries.

The categorization was abandoned after the Second World countries joined the
First World countries, new criteria was established to categorize countries which
was named the North-South divide.
Global Divides
Five Major Dimension that Differentiate the North and the
South:

POLITICS
 COLONIALISM
 TECHNOLOGY
 WEALTH and
DEMOGRAPHY
How Do We Define North, South, Latin America?

Latin America” can be regarded as 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.
How Do We Define North, South, Latin America?
The term ‘Latin America’ when referring to the countries settled by Spain or
Spaniards and their descendants. The term is often used to refer to all of the
countries south of the United States, including all of South America. It is used
more as a cultural reference to describe all Spanish – and Portuguese  – speaking
nations in the Western Hemisphere.


Latin America is a cultural entity of a very diverse group of people who differ by
nationality, race, ethnicity and culture.

Spanish is common throughout Latin America and Portuguese is the main
language of Brazil.

Latin America cover those countries where “romance languages” are spoken
(Spanish, French  and Portuguese). So the countries under Latin America are all
the countries of Central America, and all the countries of South America  and the
Caribbean countries that speak Spanish and Portuguese.

Among the exceptions, that could not be considered part of Latin America are
Belize, Guyana, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago.
What is North America?
North America is a continent that includes Canada, the United States,
Mexico, Central America and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. In general, it is
defined as any country to the north of (and including) Panama.


Geographically, the North American continent also includes Greenland,
though culturally and politically, the country is more aligned with Europe.


In some uses of ‘North America’, Central America and the Caribbean are
excluded and in others, even Mexico is left out of the definition.


North America includes 23 independent countries.


A number of the Caribbean islands are territories or dependencies of other
(often European) countries.
What is 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.


In some uses, ‘South America’ may include the portion of Panama south
of the Isthmus of Panama.


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?
Below are the causes that created a divide
between the North and the South that
eventually caused the Civil War.

Industry vs. Farming

States' Rights

Expansion

Slavery

Bleeding Kansas

Abraham Lincoln

Secession
Causes of the Division Between the North and South America?
There are many causes that led to the American Civil War. While slavery
is generally cited as the main cause for the war, other political and cultural
differences between the North and the South certainly contributed. Below
are some of these differences and how they created a divide between the
North and the South that eventually caused the Civil War.

Industry vs. Farming

In the mid-1800s, the economies of many northern states had moved
away from farming to industry. A lot of people in the North worked and
lived in large cities like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. The southern
states, however, had maintained a large farming economy and this economy
was based on slave labor. While the North no longer needed slaves, the
South relied heavily upon slaves for their way of life. 
Causes of the Division Between the North and South America?
States' Rights
The idea of states' rights was not new to the Civil War. Since the
Constitution was first written there had been arguments about how
much power the states should have versus how much power the federal
government should have. The southern states felt that the federal
government was taking away their rights and powers.

Expansion
As the United States continued to expand westward, each new state
added to the country shifted the power between the North and the
South. Southern states began to fear they would lose so much power that
they would lose all their rights. Each new state became a battleground
between the two sides for power.  
Causes of the Division Between the North and South America?
Slavery 
At the heart of much of the South's issues was slavery. The South relied on
slavery for labor to work the fields. Many people in the North believed that slavery
was wrong and evil. These people were called abolitionists. They wanted slavery
made illegal throughout the United States. Abolitionists such as John Brown,
Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and Harriet Beecher Stowe began to convince
more and more people of the evil of slavery. This made the South fearful that their
way of life would come to an end.

Bleeding Kansas
The first fighting over the slavery issue took place in Kansas. In 1854, the
government passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act allowing the residents of Kansas to
vote on whether they would be a slave state or a free state. The region was flooded
with supporters from both sides. They fought over the issue for years. Several
people were killed in small skirmishes giving the confrontation the name Bleeding
Kansas. Eventually Kansas entered the Union as a free state in 1861. 
Causes of the Division Between the North and South America?
Abraham Lincoln
The final straw for the South was election of Abraham Lincoln to
President of the United States. Abraham Lincoln was a member of the new
anti-slavery Republican Party. He managed to get elected without even
being on the ballot in ten of the southern states. The southern states felt
that Lincoln was against slavery and also against the South. 

Secession 
When Lincoln was elected, many of the southern states decided they
no longer wanted to be a part of the United States. They felt that they had
every right to leave. Starting with South Carolina, eleven states would
eventually leave the United States and form a new country called the
Confederate States of America. Abraham Lincoln said they did not have the
right to leave the United States and sent in troops to stop the South from
leaving. The Civil War had begun. 
What is Global South?
The phrase “Global South” is the term that has been
emerging in transnational and postcolonial studies to refer to
what may be called “developing World” (i.e. Africa, Latin
America, and the developing counties in Asia), “developing
countries”, “less developed countries” and “less developed
regions. It can also include poorer “southern” regions of
wealthy “northern” countries. The Global South is more than
the extension of a “metaphor for underdeveloped countries.
In general, it refers to these countries’ “interconnected
histories of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential
economic and social change through which large inequalities
in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources
are maintained.
Global South
- Less developed countries primarily in the southern hemisphere.

Characteristics:
• Relatively low GDP
• High Population
• Accounts for only a fifth of the globally earned income but accounts for over three
quarters of the global population,
• Lack of basic amenities,
• 5% of the population is able to access basic needs such as food and shelter,
• economies are rely on imports from the North and have low technological
penetration.

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)
Global North
- Wealthy industrialized countries primarily in the northern
hemisphere.

Characteristics:
have developed economies ad account for over 90% of all
manufacturing industries in the world,
account for only one- quarter of the total global population but they
control 80% of the total income earned around the world.
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)
Difference Between Global South from the Third
World
Global South It is a new and simpler classification of
developing countries, It is the term replaced to ‘third world’
that emerged in the 1970’s during Cold War of the mid 20th
century. (alternative post cold war term) The term “third
world” was first used to label poor countries before since it was
coined in 1952 by the French Demographer, anthropologist,
and economic historian Alfred Sauvy.
Third World are more often referred to today as "South" or
"developing countries," surely an improvement over the
former designation, "backward countries." "Third World"
continues to be a useful and powerful analytic concept,
however, because its problems are not only and primarily
economic, much less geographic.
Difference Between Global South from the Third
World
Term is also inaccurate and outdated , there are more than
100 countries that fit the “third word but they have vastly
different levels of economic stability. Some are relatively poor
but many are not.

Moreover, the term this simply archaic. “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. So
why is the term still used today despite the end of the first
Cold War?
What Made Some Parts of the World Develop
Faster and Economically Speaking than Others?
Theories of Global Stratification
Global stratification compares the
wealth, economic stability, status,
and power of countries across the
world. Global stratification
highlights worldwide patterns of
social inequality.
Modernization Theory
Modernization theory is a theory used to explain the process of
modernization that a nation goes through as it transitions from a
traditional society to a modern one. This theory frames global stratification
as a function of technological and cultural differences between nations.
This theory specifically pinpoints two historical events that contributed
to western europe at a faster rate than much of the rest of the world. These
are the following:
1. Columbian exchange This refers to the spread of goods, technology,
education, and diseases between the America and europe after Christopher
Columbus's so called “discovery of the Americas”.
2. Industrial revolution (18th and 19th centuries) this when new
technologies, like steam power and mechanization, allowed countries to
replace human labor with machines and increase productivity. Countries
that industrialized in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries saw massive
improvements in their standards of living and countries that did not
industrialize lag behind.
Walt Rostow took a historical approach in suggesting that developed countries
have tended to pass through 5 stages to reach their current degree of
economic development.
Stages of Growth

High Mass
Drive to Consumption
Take-Off Maturity People have
Introduction New ideas more wealth
and rapid and maturity and to buy
Pre- growth improve and goods and
conditions (industrial replace older services
The for take off revolution) industries, (consumer
Traditional Building of manufac- economic society),
Society Infra- turing growth welfare
Based on structures industries, spreads systems are
Subsistence, that is better infra- throughout fully
farming, needed structure, the country. developed,
fishing, before financial trade expands.
forestry, and development investment
some mining can take and culture
place. change
Dependency Theory
and the Latin
American Experience
Dependency Theory
Dependency theory was initially
developed by Hans Singer and Paul Prebish
in the 1950’s and has been improved since
then.
Dependency is the condition in which
the development of the nation-states of the
south contributed to a decline in their
independence and to an increase in
economic development of the countries of
the North (Cardoso and Felato, 1979).
Latin American Experience

How These New Conception of

Global Relations Emerged from
the Experiences of Latin
American.
Latin American Experience

Latin American countries experienced poverty and tyranny

since time immemorial. It is said that they are remained
underdeveloped since they are not pursuing the right economic
policies or their government are corrupt and authoritarian.
Thus notable Latin American scholars sought to explain
persistent levels of underdevelopment in Latin America by
situating national economies within their global economic
context. It goes under the name of “dependency theory.” in
their theories they pinpoints that Latin America is not
developing because of the global stratification in which a
product of colonialism. During the days of industrial revolution
in the west , colonization of the south led to the colonial
pattern of the North- South trade which is still present today.
Latin American Experience
After de–colonization, there are still important ties
between the developed and less developed countries,
which mainly consist in the exploitation of peripheral
natural resources and workforce by the center.
Latin American dependency theory is a strand of
political-economic thought that developed out of the
UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the
Caribbean (ECLAC) shortly after World War II.
Dependency theory argues that under-development
as experienced in Latin America and elsewhere is the
direct result of capital intervention, rather than a
condition of “lacking” development or investment.
The Two Main Sub-Theories
1. North American Neo- Marxist approach (1969)
Andre Gunder Frank espoused the North American Neo-
Marxist approach and also rejected the idea that internal sources
cause a country’s underdevelopment; rather it is their dependency
to capitalist system that causes lack of development.
2. Latin American Structualist Approach
Developed mainly by Latin American scientist:
• Palma( 1979) noted that chief among arguments accounting for Latin
American underdevelopment was the “excessive” reliance on exports of
primary commodities, which were the object of fluctuating prices in the
short term and a downward trend in relative value in the long haul.
• Cardoso and Faletto (1979) believed that Latin American economies were
the results of capitalists expansion in the united states and Europe.
Capitalist World Economy Model
By American sociologist Immanuel Wallerstein. The terms
“core nations” and “peripheral nations” are the heart of
dependency theory.
Core Countries
• More industrialized nations who receive the majority of the
world’s wealth.
•The Manufacturing base of the planet where resources funnel
in to become the technology and wealth enjoyed by the
western world today.
Peripheral Nations
•Countries that are less developed and receive unequal
distribution of the worlds wealth.
•Natural resources and labor support the wealthier countries
Capitalist World Economy Model
The dependency theory describes a vicious cycle that
enforces a hierarchy of nations across the globe. Some
countries were not developing around the world because
the international system was actually preventing them
from doing so.

Industrial Goods

Core Peripheral
Countries Nations
Food, Raw Materials
Conclusion:
Dependency theory of development is an international relations theory that
examine the relationships and interactions often between Global North and
Global South states, where the Global South states are often reliance on the
Global North for trade, economic aid, etc. Viotti And Kauppi (2013) .
Dependency theorists saw that the development of peripheral nation is
stagnant because of the exploitative nature of the core nations (Ferraro,
2008). Less developed periphery countries are said to primarily serve the
interest of the wealthier countries and end up having little to no resources to
put forward their own development.
Dependency theory argues that liberal trade causes greater impoverishment,
not economic improvement to less developed countries (Toye,2003). A
conventional wisdom has evolved in the Latin American which blames the
United States for Latin America’s ills. It further argues that the prospects of
both wealthy and poor countries are inextricably linked.
In sum, under dependency theory, the problem is not that there is lack of
global wealth; it is that we do not distribute it well.
Thank you!!!