Download Hunger

Chapter 29
Poverty, Development, and Hunger
Deng Lihua (ID00503)
Introduction
• traditional International Relations theory neglected the
challenge of global underdevelopment, and it focused more
on issues relating to conflict between states.
• Poverty, hunger, and disease remain widespread, the
economic gap between rich and poor states and people has
been increasing.
• This chapter examines the orthodoxy mainstream
understanding of poverty, development, and hunger, and
contrast this with a critical alternative approach.
Poverty
orthodox conception of poverty
critical alternative view of poverty
• poverty is interpreted as a
condition suffered by
people—who do not earn
enough money to satisfy
their basic material
requirements in the marketplace.
• Critical alternative view of
poverty does not put
emphasis on money, but on
spiritual values, community
ties, and availability of
common resources.
• developed country
advocate further integration
of global economy in order
to overcome global poverty.
Development
• Economic liberalism and the post-1945
international economic order
• The achievements of the post-1945 international
economic order
• Assessment of the post-war international economic
order —— orthodox approach vs. critical alternative
approach
• A critical alternative view of development
• The orthodoxy incorporates criticisms
Economic liberalism and the post-1945
international economic order
 IMF, World Bank, and GATT was established since 1945 in
order to set up a liberal international economic order.
 These 3 institutional pillars provide the foundations of a
liberal international economic order based on the pursuit of
free trade, but allowing an appropriate role for the state
intervention in the market in support of national security
and national and global stability. This has been called
embedded liberalism.
 The cold war stimulated competition between the West
and East to win allies in the developing world. Most of the
latter were born into the Western international economy
The achievements of the post-1945
international economic order
 Progress was achieved up to the 1980s
according to the orthodox development criteria
of GDP per capita, economic growth, and
industrialization.
6
5
4
Per capita
GDP
Total GDP
3
2
1
0
1960-70
1970-80
1980-87
Per capita and total GDP growth rates in the
South between 1960 and 1987
The achievements of the post-1945
international economic order
 Despite significant improvements in global
social indicators such as adult literacy, access
to safe water, and infant mortality rates, global
deprivation continues.
Income poverty
Child mortality
(living on less than $ 1 a day)
(under 5s deaths)
EA+P
CEE+CIS
LA+C
SSA
SA
AS
EA+P
CEE+CIS
LA+C
SSA
SA
Access to water
EA+P East Asia & the Pacific
(people without access to improved water) CEE+CIS Central & Eastern Europe &
EA+P
CEE+CIS
LA+C
SSA
SA
AS
the Commonwealth of Independent
States
SA South Asia
LA +C Latin America & the Caribbean
SSA Sub-Saharan African
AS Arab States
Gender equality
(primary age girls not enrolled in school)
EA+P
CEE+CIS
LA+C
SSA
SA
AS
Access to sanitation
EA+P
CEE+CIS
LA+C
SSA
SA
AS
EA+P East Asia & the Pacific
CEE+CIS Central & Eastern Europe &
the Commonwealth of Independent
States
SA South Asia
LA +C Latin America & the Caribbean
SSA Sub-Saharan African
AS Arab States
Assessment of the post-war international economic order
— orthodox approach vs. critical alternative approach
orthodox assessment
critical alternative assessment
Although it acknowledges
that neo-liberal economic
policy has result in greater
inequalities within and
between states, it does not
regard this as a problem
so long as the social and
political discontent which
inequality engenders is
not so extensive as to
derail implementation of
the project itself.
Despite impressive rate of
growth in GDP per capita
enjoyed by developing
countries, this success was
not reflected in their
societies at large, and while
a minority became
substantially wealthier, the
mass of the population saw
no significant change.
A critical alternative view of development
 The alternative conception of development
argued that the process of development
should be: need-oriented, endogenous, selfreliant, ecologically sound, and based on
structural transformation.
 Grassroots movements are playing an
important role in challenging entrenched
structures of power in formal democratic
societies.
The orthodoxy incorporates criticisms
 The development orthodoxy remains essentially
unchanged. However, the mainstream debate has
shifted from growth to sustainable development
 Voices of criticism are growing in number and
range. Supporter of globalization are keen to
temper its most unpopular effects by modification
of neo-liberal policies. Small but nevertheless
important changes are taking place.
Hunger
A Paradox ?
In recent decades, despite the enormous
increase in food production per capita, hunger
and malnourishment remain widespread.
Hunger
(1) Orthodox view— nature-focused approach which
identifies the problem largely as one of
overpopulation
• continuation of hunger is that population
growth outstrips food production.
• Thomas Robert Malthus assert that,
population growth naturally outstrips the
growth in food production, so that a
decrease in the per capita availability of
food is inevitable.
Hunger
(2) Alternative view — society-focused
approach, which sees the problem more
in terms of distribution.
• An alternative explanation for the continuation of
hunger focuses on lack of access or entitlement to
available food. Access and entitlement are
affected by factors such as the North-South global
divide; particular national policies; rural-urban
divides; class; gender; and race.
Hunger
(3) Globalization and Hunger

Globalization can simultaneously contribute to
increased food production and increased hunger.
- Now we are witnessing an increasingly global
organization of food provision and of access to food, with
transnational corporations playing the major role.
- the post-war, US-dominated, global food regime has had
a number of unforeseen consequences as the following:
Hunger
First, the domestic production of food staples in
developing countries was disrupted.
Second, consumer prefer the cheap USA imports.
Third, there has been a stress on cash-crop production.
Conclusion
poverty
development
Hunger
Orthodox approach
Unfulfilled
material
needs
The possibility of
Not enough food
unlimited economic to go around
growth in a freeeveryone
market system.
Critical alternative
approach
Unfulfilled
material and
non-material
needs
Diverse paths,
locally driven
There is enough
food, the problem
is distribution
and entitlement
—
END
—