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North-South divide
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The North-South Divide is the socio-economic and political division that exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as "the North", and the poorer developing countries (least developed countries), or "the South." Although most nations comprising the "North" are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is not primarily defined by geography. The North is home to four out of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and all members of the G8. "The North" mostly covers the West and the First World, with much of the Second World.
The expression "North-South divide" is still in common use, but the terms "North" and "South" are already somewhat outdated.
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The North-South Divide is the socio-economic and political division that exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as "the North", and the poorer developing countries (least developed countries), or "the South." Although most nations comprising the "North" are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is not primarily defined by geography. The North is home to four out of five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and all members of the G8. "The North" mostly covers the West and the First World, with much of the Second World.
The expression "North-South divide" is still in common use, but the terms "North" and "South" are already somewhat outdated. As nations become economically developed, they may become part of the "North", regardless of geographical location, while any other nations which do not qualify for "developed" status are in effect deemed to be part of the "South."
Problems with the divide
The fall of the Soviet Bloc countries and the associated poverty further weakened the expression "North-South Divide" since many Soviet Bloc nations now fall into developing status, and the term "Second World" is presently out of use. On the other hand, many nations previously considered "developing," such as East Asian Tigers or Turkey, are now developed and are part of the modern "First World;" however, in some maps of the North-South Divide, such nations are depicted as part of the "South," which is inconsistent with the above-given definition. The dependencies of the developed nations are also referred as "South," although they are part of the developed world.. Moreover, some development geographers have argued that over concentration on the North-South divide as the main organizing principle for understanding the world economy ignores the role of inter-imperial conflicts between the United States, Japan and Europe. .However, as we know, the Brandt line isin't completely correct, in many cases, the divide leaves out vital information about some very well know MEDCs and leaves out information about some unkown LEDCs. As a result, the LEDCs that are not portrayed on the map can not get the vital help they need from world aid campaigns such as Oxfam. This makes it hard for such organisations to see which least developed country needs the most help. So as a source used today, this isn't as useful as some people make it out to be.
The north
Organisations such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), generally agree that the group of developed countries includes the following countries/regions (in alphabetical order):
- Special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China:
Brandt Line
The Brandt Line is a visual depiction of the North-South divide, proposed by German Chancellor Willy Brandt in the 1980s. It approximately encircles the world at a latitude of 30° N, passing between North and Central America, north of Africa and India, but dipping south so as to include Australia and New Zealand in the "Rich North".
Digital divide
The global digital divide is often characterised as corresponding to the North-South divide, however it is interesting to note that Internet use, and especially broadband access, is now soaring in Asia compared with other continents. This phenomenon is partially explained by the ability of many countries in Asia to bypass older Internet technology and infrastructure, coupled with booming economies which allow vastly more people to get online.
Development gap
The North-South divide has more recently been named the development gap. This places greater emphasis on closing the evident gap between rich (more economically developed) countries and poor (less economically developed countries) countries. A good measure of on which side of the gap a country is located is the Human Development Index (HDI). The nearer this is to 1.0, the greater is the country's level of development and the further the country is on its development pathway (closer towards being well developed), exemplified well by Walter Rostow's model of development and the Clark Fisher model.
See also
External links
- , a 1980 report by a commission led by Willy Brandt that popularized the terminology
- , a recreation of the original commission with an updated report (information on original commission at site)
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