Transcript What is Political Economy?

What is Political Economy?
How does the Global South differ
from the North?
Political Economy of the Global South
Prof. Tyson Roberts
Responses to readings and film
What is political economy?
Write down your answer, then share with a
neighbor
What is political economy?
• A topic
• An approach
What is political economy?
• A topic
– For example (from J.S. Mill, 1844):
• “Political Economy is a science which teaches, or
professes to teach, in what manner a nation may be
made rich.”
• "The science which treats of the production and
distribution of wealth, so far as they depend upon the
laws of human nature.”
What is political economy?
• An approach
– For example, (from Frieden 1992):
• “Modern political economy, simply put, studies how
rational self-interested actors combine within or
outside existing institutional settings to affect social
outcomes.”
Modern Political Economy Approach
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Actors
Interests & Ideas
Policy Preferences
Groups
Institutions
Outcomes
Frieden’s stylized evolution of crisis
politics
What were some crises in the Mobutu film?
Mobutu example
1. Crisis: Copper production falls, Cold War aid
ends
2. Unfavorable effect on soldiers & civil servants
(salaries unpaid), students (no scholarships), etc.
3. Groups put pressure on government for relief
4. Government policies enrich Mobutu and family
at cost of other groups
5. Pressure for change in political leadership or
regime
In this class we will treat “political economy” as
both a topic and an approach
What is the global south?
Write down your answer, then share with a
neighbor
Categorizing Nations
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1st, 2nd, and 3rd World
Developed and Developing
Low, Middle, and High Income
Global North and South
1st, 2nd, and 3rd World
• French demographer Alfred Sauvy wrote of
"Three worlds, one planet" in 1952
• 1st World: U.S., Western Europe & allies
• 2nd World: the “Communist Bloc”: USSR,
China, Cuba & friends
• 3rd World: The remaining nations, which
aligned with neither group
1st, 2nd, and 3rd World
1st, 2nd, and 3rd World
• Drawbacks to this categorization scheme
– Unclear which countries are included in 3rd World
– Does “Communist Bloc” exist anymore?
– Why should the West be considered “1st”?
The World Bank includes Low and Middle
Income countries as “Developing Countries”
What is Gross National Income per
capita?
• GDP is Gross Domestic Product, the sum of gross
value added by all resident producers in the
economy
– Plus any product taxes and
– Minus any subsidies not included in the value of the
products.
• GNI (Gross National Income) is GDP plus net
receipts of primary income (compensation of
employees and property income) from abroad
• GNI per capita is GNI divided by population
The Group of 77 (G77) is a coalition of
“developing nations” in the UN (now with 134
members) with common interests
Developing vs. Developed Countries
• Drawbacks to this categorization scheme
– Implies hierarchy of nations
– Implies that “developed nations” have achieved
ideal state
– Implies that “developing nations” are growing
– Use of GNI per capita ignores issues such as
inequality, environmental deprivation, etc.
Global North vs. Global South
• Using language that is more neutral, the Global
North refers to the advanced industrialized
nations in North America, Europe, and Japan
• Drawing the line between the two is a challenge,
since many former Communist countries are in
the north but relatively poor, while the Asian
Tigers are south but wealthy
• West German Chancellor Willy Brandt drew a line
that included Africa, the Middle East, and most of
Asia (excluding Japan) as the Global South
The Brandt Line
Global North vs. Global South
• According to Wikimedia,
• The Global North includes
– Australia, Canada, Israel, Hong Kong, Macau, New
Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the
United States & all of Europe (including Russia).
• The Global South includes
– Asia (with the exception of Japan, Hong Kong, Macau,
Singapore, South Korea & Taiwan), Central America,
South America, Mexico, Africa, & the Middle East
(with the exception of Israel)
Developing vs. Developed Countries
• Drawbacks to this categorization scheme
– Implies hierarchy of nations
– Implies that “developed nations” have achieved
ideal state
– Implies that “developing nations” are growing
– Use of GNI per capita ignores issues such as
inequality, environmental deprivation, etc.
Global North vs. Global South
• According to Wikimedia,
• The Global North includes
– Australia, Canada, Israel, Hong Kong, Macau, New
Zealand, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, the
United States & all of Europe (including Russia).
• The Global South includes
– Asia (with the exception of Japan, Hong Kong, Macau,
Singapore, South Korea & Taiwan), Central America,
South America, Mexico, Africa, & the Middle East
(with the exception of Israel)
Defining characteristics
• What are some general characteristics of the
Global South (or “developing countries”)
– Consider the Lipset article
Differences between “Global South” relative to
the “Global North” (in general, per Lipset)
• Lower wealth
– Less income, doctors, motor vehicles, telephones,
radios, and newspapers per capita
• Lower industrialization
– Fewer workers in agriculture, less energy consumed
per capita
• Less education
– Lower literacy and enrollment rates
• Less urbanization
• Fewer stable democracies
Question: Is democracy related to
development level?
• How to answer such a question?
• One approach: Case studies
– Together we will examine DRC/Zaire and Bolivia
– Each student will study his/her own country
• Another approach: Cross-national analysis
Source: PWT & Polity IV via QoG; Year: 2007
“…. In this symposium, … deviant cases which do not fit a
given proposition are cited to demonstrate that there
are no social conditions which are regularly associated
with a given complex political system. So the conflicts
among political philosophers about the necessary
conditions underlying given political systems often lead
to a triumphant demonstration that a given situation
clearly violates the thesis of one’s opponent, much as if
the existence of some wealthy socialists, or poor
conservatives, demonstrated that economic factors
were not an important determinant of political
preference.”
Seymour Martin Lipset, 1959: 70
The potential danger of selecting few cases…
Source: QoG; Year: 2007
Linear regression
Polity score = 2.3 + 1.3 * GDP per capita in $10k + “error”
Source: QoG; Year: 2007
What are some topics or questions you are
interested in for this class?