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5. Development and Globalization

What is Development? 1

  • International development activities come in several forms and are driven by various economic, security, humanitarian, or other reasons.
  • Many suggest that improving development outcomes can help support a range of other outcomes, including democratization, conflict prevention, and climate resilience.
  • For others, international development is an important form of international influence known as soft power.
  • Historically, international development efforts focused on economic measures to expand countries’ gross domestic product (GDP). Today, however, development is not just about economics. Many contemporary understandings of development include questions such as
    • Are people able to move freely without discrimination?
    • Are people able to access education and access decent work opportunities?
    • Can they access quality health care and live in environments free of pollution?
    • Do they have political equality and strong, free, and fair elections and institutions?
  • International development challenges:
    • Inequality within countries has grown; despite the inequality between countries decreasing.
    • Climate change is a significant threat to development (14 million people are displaced by climate change every year).
    • Pay gaps between men and women are still significant (women only earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns).
  • Contemporary international development broadly aims to support efforts, as promoted by the UN Development Program, to “end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030”.
  • In 1952, French demographer Alfred Sauvy helped coin a framework that divided the world into three categories:
    • First World: The United States and its allies.
    • Second World: The Soviet Union and its allies (Eastern Bloc).
    • Third World: All other countries that were not aligned with either of the first two groups.
  • In 1969, an American writer named Carl Oglesby coined the term Global South to refer to countries formerly known as the third world, building that category based on a measure of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita or citizens’ average income.
  • Another alternative paradigm that global actors have substantially used is low and middle-income countries; or least-developed countries.
  • Organizations participating in the development work:
    • Government agencies: The US, Germany, Japan, and the UK are the largest donors.
    • International organizations: The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
    • Private sector: Companies like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the MasterCard Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.
  • Categories of International Development:
    • Humanitarian aid: Emergency assistance to people affected by natural disasters, armed conflict, or other crises.
    • Foreign aid: Assistance provided by one country to another, typically in the form of money, goods, or services.
    • Official Development Assistance (ODA): the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) manages assistance from donor countries to developing countries that should promote economic development and welfare.
    • Philanthropic aid: provided by private individuals, foundations, and corporations to support development projects.
    • Bilateral aid: Assistance provided by one country to another.
    • Multilateral aid: Assistance provided by multiple countries to one country.
    • Grants: Money given to a country or organization that does not need to be repaid.
    • Conditional aid: Assistance that comes with conditions that the recipient must meet.
    • ODA loan: the OECD issues special loans to developing countries that are low-interest and have long repayment terms.
    • Private sector investment: Companies invest in developing countries to make a profit.
  • USAID manages the bulk of U.S. development and humanitarian aid and nearly $20 billion in funds.
  • Some organizations focus on certain metrics; for instance, the UN Development Program uses the Human Development Index (HDI), which factors in life expectancy, education, and income.
  • In contrast, the World Health Organization predominantly focuses on healthcare-related indicators, such as healthcare accessibility, disease prevalence, and healthcare infrastructure.

Economic Inequality 2

  • In 1965, CEOs of American companies earned, on average, twenty times more than their typical employee. By 2020, that ratio had soared to 351 to 1.
  • But the United States is hardly alone. More than 70 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where economic inequality has widened since 1990.
  • Economic inequality can fuel democratic backsliding, influence migration, hamper economic growth, and exacerbate health crises.
  • Economic inequality refers to the disparity in wealth (one’s total assets) and income (the money one receives from activities like work or investment) between people. The higher the disparity, the greater the inequality.
  • Measuring inequality:
    • The average income level is gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, which measures the amount of money the typical person contributes to the economy each year. In the United States, this figure stood at approximately $76,399 in 2022.
    • A Gini coefficient (0-1):
      • 0 means a country’s income distribution is perfectly equal, with everyone earning exactly the country’s GDP per capita.
      • 1 means just one person controls the entire country’s economy—making it extremely unequal.
      • It fails to account for future earnings (e.g., a student’s future income) and non-monetary wealth (e.g., property).
  • The United Nations made reducing inequality within and among countries one of its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals in 2015 because inequality threatens long-term social and economic development, harms poverty reduction and destroys people’s sense of fulfillment and self-worth.
  • Consequences of inequality:
    • Endangers democratic norms.
    • Influences migration: People are more likely to leave countries with high inequality.
    • Limits economic growth: Inequality can lead to lower investment in education and health, which can limit economic growth.
    • Exacerbates health crises: Inequality can lead to worse health outcomes.
  • South Africa has the world’s highest Gini coefficient (the most unequal country), while Slovenia has the lowest (the most equal country).
  • How can governments reduce inequality?
    • Progressive taxation: Taxing the wealthy at higher rates.
    • Direct payments: Giving money directly to the poor.
    • Public services: Providing free or low-cost services like healthcare and education.
    • Labor rights: Ensuring workers have rights and protections.
    • Removing barriers to entry: Such as reducing the cost of education, so more people can afford good jobs.
  • Between 1981 and 2018, the percentage of the global population living in extreme poverty plummeted from 43 percent to just 9 percent.

What is Womenomics? 3

Implications of Womenomics on the Relationship 4

  • Under the leadership of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012-present), the Japanese Government has launched an economic policy that aimed at boosting the Japanese economic sector.
  • The three pillars of Shinzo Abe’s economic policies are aggressive monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy and growth strategies.
  • Womenomics is an effort that needs to be applied in social welfare and economy; and increasing the role of women in achieving gender equality in Japan.
  • The rate of female workers in Japan has increased significantly since 2012 to reach 64.7% in 2015, above the OECD average of 58.5%.
  • The Japanese society observes patriarchal culture in the structure of society, not only in the domestic and community life but also in the work environments.
  • Only women from elite backgrounds can assume positions in politics, managerial duties, and other high-level positions.
  • Japan openly accepts modernization from Western culture but still filters influences to find out whether or not that culture matches its traditional culture.
  • Japan’s cultural values come from Confucianism which makes Japan a patriarchal society.
  • The main objective of Womenomics structural reform:
    • Provide a favorable work environment for women in the professional world when caring for children or not.
    • Improvise the business environment in improving the progress and career role of women in the professional world.
    • Increase the number of Japanese female workers to achieve economic growth and stability.
  • The factors of the reduced number of productive workforce and declining birth rate are also other reasons for implementing Womenomics.
  • Womenomics is a policy in Japanese women’s reform in the professional world during PM Abe’s tenure which focuses on empowering women as part of the solution to the problem of the Japanese stagnating economy.
  • Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Womenomics Strategy:
    • Increase women’s participation in the workforce.
    • Achieve a 30% percentage of women in leadership positions by 2020.
    • Increase the number of women returning to the workforce after having children.
    • Accelerate the construction of childcare and after-school facilities.
    • Increase the number of fathers taking paternity leave.
    • Reduce the number of companies requiring more than 60 hours per week.
  • The analysis shows that Womenomics has negative implications for the relationship between female and male workers.
  • These implications include the emergence of:
    • Maternity harassment: mental and physical harassment of pregnant or just-given-birth women.
    • Single parasites: refer to the children who are not married and still live with their parents.
    • Hikikomori: refers to the people who are socially withdrawn and still depend on their parents.

Video Resources 5 6

  • Birth rates are declining in Japan because of the high cost of living and the lack of support for working mothers 5
  • Most women who have children do not return to work.
  • The increase in the percentage of women in high positions and reducing the pay gap between men and women have economic benefits.
  • To solve Japan’s problem:
    • Raise birth rates.
    • Increase immigration.
    • Increase female participation in the workforce.
  • High and middle-income (China, Mexico) countries are aging really fast, and in desperate need of more workers 6.
  • Only low-income countries have a growing workforce (Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East).
  • To maximize the development impact of migration:
    • Corporations and governments in origin and destination countries need to work together to develop policies that benefit all parties.
    • Financial institutions need to provide more support for migrants and non-citizens.
    • More inclusive policies are needed to ensure that migrants are not left behind.

References

  1. Council on Foreign Relations. (2024, January 16). What Is Development? World101. https://education.cfr.org/global-era-issues/development/what-is-development ↩

  2. Council on Foreign Relations. (2023, July 27). What is Economic Inequality? World101. https://education.cfr.org/learn/reading/what-economic-inequality ↩

  3. Consulate of General of Japan in New York/Japan Information Center. (2015). What is Womenomics? ↩

  4. Setiawaty, D. A. & Virgianita, A. (2019). Implications of Womenomics on the relationship between female and male workers in the professional and social environment: A preliminary study. In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Strategic and Global Studies, ICSGS 2018, October 24-26, 2018, Central Jakarta, Indonesia. https://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/1874621/mod_book/chapter/519560/eai.24-10-2018.2289659.pdf?time=1710772301488 ↩

  5. TEDx Talks. (2011, May 21). TEDxTokyo - Kathy Matsui - Womenomics - [English] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOrRAoI37Ls ↩↩

  6. World Bank. (2023, April 26). Summary of the World Development Report 2023 Key Findings [Video]. https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/video/2023/04/26/summary-of-the-world-development-report-2023-key-findings ↩↩