GE21001 Dynamic Human Worlds Lecture 5 Development, Power and Place

GE21001 Dynamic Human WorldsLecture 5Development, Power and Place Dr. Susan P. Mains Geography

Lecture Outline • Defining Development • Forms of Development: • - political context • -uneven development, • e.g., politics of tourism • ‘measures’ • Useful Readings: • *Radcliffe, S. (2005) Rethinking Development. In Cloke, P., Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (Eds) Introducing Human Geographies. 2nd Edition. London, Hodder Arnold, pp.200-210. • Willis, K. (2005) Theories of Development. In Cloke, P., Crang, P. and Goodwin, M. (Eds) Introducing Human Geographies. 2nd Edition. London, Hodder Arnold, pp. 187-199.

Defining Development • A range of social, economic, political and health factors • How do we measure “political development”? • Shift from financial to more holistic measures • Cultural context significant • What kinds of “development” are desirable?

Defining Development “Development” created in a particular political context President Harry Truman “underdevelopment” 1948 at the beginning of the Cold War Relational The idea of a continuum 1st, 2nd, and 3rd World, later a 4th? Again political context significant US imperialism

Uneven Development • Socio-spatial inequalities, • Neil Smith—uneven development • Tourists visiting low income neighbourhoods • Jamaica Kincaid • A Small Place

As Kincaid (1988, 18-19) notes in her novel, A Small Place, exploring tourism and colonialism in Antigua: • “Every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere. Every native everywhere lives a life of overwhelming and crushing banality and boredom and desperation and depression, and every deed, good and bad, is an attempt to forget this. Every native would like to find a way out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives—most natives in the world—cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place where they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go—so when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself.” • http://mtvdesi.com/2011/01/26/poor-homeless-kids-indias-latest-tourist-attraction/ • ‘Poor Homeless Kids = India’s Latest Tourist Attraction’

Ways of Measuring ‘Development’ Population Characteristics Check the Population Reference Bureau: DataFinder www.prb.org for up-to-date statistics Doubling Time: the measure of how long it will take the population of an area to grow to twice its current size Life Expectancy: the average number of years a newborn infant can expect to live

More Population Measurements Total Fertility Rate (TFR): the average number of children a woman will have throughout her lifetime Infant Mortality Rate (IMR): the number of deaths of infants less than 1 year of age compared to the number of live births for that same year (or infant deaths per 1,000 live births)

Education Indicators Literacy rate: the percentage of the population over age 15 years able to read and write, and is often broken down by sex Secondary School Enrolment

Economic Indicators Gross Domestic Product (GDP): a monetary measure of the value of goods and services produced within a national economy over a given period of time Gross National Product (GNP): GDP + net income from abroad GNI PPP per capita: the Gross National Income (with purchasing power parity) per person

Human Development Index • GDP and GNP are seriously deficient as measures of economic activity: • they omit whole areas of work • they perversely count as wealth creation that which may destroy the foundations of all productive activity • Human Development Index: The United Nations uses a Human Development Index, which is calculated on measures of life expectancy, educational attainment and personal income.

Non-Demographic Indicators III Human Development Report (UNHDP) Links between environmental and political contexts Links between, infrastructure, policy, education & health Role of national and international institutions, everyday experiences, obstacles and opportunities for change e.g., the politics of water http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYsZOI8gftU&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL1C485D484939EC26

Millenium Development Goals • Time specific targets • Millennium Summit (2000) • Millennium Declaration • 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) • Millennium Development Goals for 2015 • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3p2VLTowAA&feature=related

Millenium Development Goals • Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education • Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women • Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rates • Goal 5: Improve maternal health • Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases • Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability • Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

The purpose of politics is to bring the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people—Jeremy Bentham

Political Indicators • Global Peace Index (2010) • http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/human-rights-maps-41-global-peace-index/ • The Map of Freedom • http://www.worldaudit.org/ • Corruption Perceptions Index • http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/results • Border Disputes • E.g., the Arctic • http://www.dur.ac.uk/ibru/resources/arctic/ • http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/new-arctic-map-shows-just-what-boundaries-well-be-fighting-over-for-oil.php

GE21001 Dynamic Human Worlds Lecture 5 Development, Power and Place