The differences in the global distribution of wealth are still incredible: There are very rich countries in the Northern hemisphere and many poor countries in the Southern hemisphere. What are the reasons for this big gap? How could the gap be reduced?
The differences in the global distribution of wealth are still incredible: There are very rich countries in the Northern hemisphere and many poor countries in the Southern hemisphere. What are the reasons for this big gap? How could the gap be reduced?
Jared Diamond gives a very interesting explanation to the question why some countries became rich and others staid poor. If you havn't read his book yet I would really recommend it to you. It's one of my favourite books:
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Stee
What's your opinion about his theory? Do you have other theories?
Jared Diamond gives a very interesting explanation to the question why some countries became rich and others staid poor. If you havn't read his book yet I would really recommend it to you. It's one of my favourite books:
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Stee
What's your opinion about his theory? Do you have other theories?
Now, it becomes confusing, because I just created a new post about Jared Diamond in the books category. If the forum Moderators agree, we will discuss the General topic here and the books of Jared Diamond in the books category! Do you agree? Therefore in the future I try to be more economical with my posts! 
Now, it becomes confusing, because I just created a new post about Jared Diamond in the books category. If the forum Moderators agree, we will discuss the General topic here and the books of Jared Diamond in the books category! Do you agree? Therefore in the future I try to be more economical with my posts!
No problem Simon! It's great to see your energetic curiosity about world affairs and it is also contagious :-)
No problem Simon! It's great to see your energetic curiosity about world affairs and it is also contagious :-)
The differences in the global distribution of wealth are still incredible: There are very rich countries in the Northern hemisphere and many poor countries in the Southern hemisphere. What are the reasons for this big gap? How could the gap be reduced?
One could write a book!
Colonialism and post-colonialism where the colonist administrators left but maintained there financial connections and influence behind. Collaboration between rich ruling elites in both North and South. Lawlessness (lack of laws or lack of enforcement) in the South but in a more subtle way in the North. IMF/WB neo-liberal restructuring in countries receiving loans. Loans to dictators who siphon off much to Swiss and other banks leaving the population to pay back the loans from which they did not profit and in fact lost through restructuring e..g. tariff reduction, fuel and food subsidy removal, opening up financial markets to predatory in and out western institutions destabilising the country currency affecting food and other commodity prices. WTO. NAFTA and other 'free trade' agreements. Privatisation of water. Environmental destructions such as arsenic (cyanide?) (used for gold extraction from ore)poisoning of water in Gold mining in South America by Canadian mining companies for example. Freedom of capital mobility while labour is more or less fixed and less easy to relocate. Racism or religious hatred often used to divide and conquer. Dehumanisation of the other. Land expropriation e.g. the forest people of India where Maoist 'insurgents' are active and where rich Indians from outside the region want to mine the land to enrich themselves in the name of the advancement of Indian society (such altruits!). On India and communal violence, land expropriation for hydroelectric power, the corruption of both BJP and Congress parties in either formenting (BJP) or turning a blind eye (Congress) fo fundamentalist Hindus against Muslims and other social issues google Arundhati Roy or read 'Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy': http://www.amazon.com/Field-Notes-Democracy-Listening-Grasshoppers/dp/160846024X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312973323&sr=1-1
And so much more - as I said a book or better yet books could be and are written.
How to solve it: Democracy! But informed and representative democracy, for which you need an educated (not necessarily a university degree) people with analytical skills, unbrainwashed by corporate media, think tanks, 'experts' etc. A population that knows what rationality and logic mean. A healthy dose of cynicism i.e. don't believe everything you're told. Ability to identify bias and assumptions in other people's arguments. A love of learning and discovery and not just education focused on rote memorization of 'facts' and myths about our nation's glorious past of a pure Teutonic race uncorrupted by Jewish marxist bolshies etc. etc. Simple, but no easy task especially when people are so busy trying to raise a family and make a living and are worried about losing job and/or home etc.
One could write a book!
Colonialism and post-colonialism where the colonist administrators left but maintained there financial connections and influence behind. Collaboration between rich ruling elites in both North and South. Lawlessness (lack of laws or lack of enforcement) in the South but in a more subtle way in the North. IMF/WB neo-liberal restructuring in countries receiving loans. Loans to dictators who siphon off much to Swiss and other banks leaving the population to pay back the loans from which they did not profit and in fact lost through restructuring e..g. tariff reduction, fuel and food subsidy removal, opening up financial markets to predatory in and out western institutions destabilising the country currency affecting food and other commodity prices. WTO. NAFTA and other 'free trade' agreements. Privatisation of water. Environmental destructions such as arsenic (cyanide?) (used for gold extraction from ore)poisoning of water in Gold mining in South America by Canadian mining companies for example. Freedom of capital mobility while labour is more or less fixed and less easy to relocate. Racism or religious hatred often used to divide and conquer. Dehumanisation of the other. Land expropriation e.g. the forest people of India where Maoist 'insurgents' are active and where rich Indians from outside the region want to mine the land to enrich themselves in the name of the advancement of Indian society (such altruits!). On India and communal violence, land expropriation for hydroelectric power, the corruption of both BJP and Congress parties in either formenting (BJP) or turning a blind eye (Congress) fo fundamentalist Hindus against Muslims and other social issues google Arundhati Roy or read 'Listening to Grasshoppers: Field Notes on Democracy': http://www.amazon.com/Field-Notes-Democracy-Listening-Grasshoppers/dp/160846024X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312973323&sr=1-1
And so much more - as I said a book or better yet books could be and are written.
How to solve it: Democracy! But informed and representative democracy, for which you need an educated (not necessarily a university degree) people with analytical skills, unbrainwashed by corporate media, think tanks, 'experts' etc. A population that knows what rationality and logic mean. A healthy dose of cynicism i.e. don't believe everything you're told. Ability to identify bias and assumptions in other people's arguments. A love of learning and discovery and not just education focused on rote memorization of 'facts' and myths about our nation's glorious past of a pure Teutonic race uncorrupted by Jewish marxist bolshies etc. etc. Simple, but no easy task especially when people are so busy trying to raise a family and make a living and are worried about losing job and/or home etc.
Jared Diamond gives a very interesting explanation to the question why some countries became rich and others staid poor. If you havn't read his book yet I would really recommend it to you. It's one of my favourite books:
http://www.amazon.com/Guns-Germs-Steel-Fates-Societies/dp/0393317552
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Stee
What's your opinion about his theory? Do you have other theories?
Looks interesting. I had a quick read through the wikipedia and saw some things I thought a bit strange (but that's wiki and you need to read the primary source). However I did note the criticism of Eurocentrism and I confess to having had a Eurocentric view of History until 10 years ago when I read Clive Ponting's 'World History: A New Perspective' and learned about Asian, Babylonian, North and South American Indian history (the latter two I've read much about over the last 30 years).
I wonder what he has to say about Arab contributions to science, law and economics? I read not long ago that for example that Arab societies were far greater affected by the plague than Europe because Arab societies were so further advanced in everything including urban development that they were more vulnerable to the effects of the plague and consequently suffered more devastation than Europe. And this happened at the same time Europeans were starting to 'discover' the world and make some technological/industrial advances so that Europe outstripped Arab cultures in all areas of development, leaving them behind and obviously eventually colonising them and keeping them 'primitive'.
I have enough reading on my hands currently but thanks and I'll keep the author and book in mind for some future time slot!
Looks interesting. I had a quick read through the wikipedia and saw some things I thought a bit strange (but that's wiki and you need to read the primary source). However I did note the criticism of Eurocentrism and I confess to having had a Eurocentric view of History until 10 years ago when I read Clive Ponting's 'World History: A New Perspective' and learned about Asian, Babylonian, North and South American Indian history (the latter two I've read much about over the last 30 years).
I wonder what he has to say about Arab contributions to science, law and economics? I read not long ago that for example that Arab societies were far greater affected by the plague than Europe because Arab societies were so further advanced in everything including urban development that they were more vulnerable to the effects of the plague and consequently suffered more devastation than Europe. And this happened at the same time Europeans were starting to 'discover' the world and make some technological/industrial advances so that Europe outstripped Arab cultures in all areas of development, leaving them behind and obviously eventually colonising them and keeping them 'primitive'.
I have enough reading on my hands currently but thanks and I'll keep the author and book in mind for some future time slot!
And I know my English is not the best, but I hope you don't get a headache when you read it. The reason is that I am usually a bit too lazy to consume English newspapers and movies, when I can get the same information in German. But to read and write in the forum is really a thing that motivates me a lot.
Moreover to take part in an international forum is much more interesting to me than in a German forum, because you have many different cultural backgrounds there. And i really think that we need an international public to understand the way of thinking of people from other countries. Otherwise the national media get a too simple game to play with national prejudices!
So, thanks a lot to the Glocals-Team that maintains the homepage and the possibility to discuss in the forum and to meet at several events!
And I know my English is not the best, but I hope you don't get a headache when you read it. The reason is that I am usually a bit too lazy to consume English newspapers and movies, when I can get the same information in German. But to read and write in the forum is really a thing that motivates me a lot.
Moreover to take part in an international forum is much more interesting to me than in a German forum, because you have many different cultural backgrounds there. And i really think that we need an international public to understand the way of thinking of people from other countries. Otherwise the national media get a too simple game to play with national prejudices!
So, thanks a lot to the Glocals-Team that maintains the homepage and the possibility to discuss in the forum and to meet at several events!
Ah, my last post was the answer to Nefertiti!
@Marksist: Thanks for your book tips! Yes, there are indeed so many interesting books to read, that it's really hard to decide which will be the next on the list. Diamonds book is mainly a comparison of the emergence of agriculture in different world regions and the consequences. I just liked the book, because typical historians usually don't talk about this epoche and only start their history with the Greeks or Agyptians. Diamonds explanations about specific arabic history are very brief, because he counts the Arabic region to Eurasia and the border to Africa is the Sahara for him. (He analyses everything from a geographical point of view.) So I think there are much better books about Arabic history, but if you are interested in the Neolithic revolution and its consequences you will have to read Diamonds book!
Ah, my last post was the answer to Nefertiti!
@Marksist: Thanks for your book tips! Yes, there are indeed so many interesting books to read, that it's really hard to decide which will be the next on the list. Diamonds book is mainly a comparison of the emergence of agriculture in different world regions and the consequences. I just liked the book, because typical historians usually don't talk about this epoche and only start their history with the Greeks or Agyptians. Diamonds explanations about specific arabic history are very brief, because he counts the Arabic region to Eurasia and the border to Africa is the Sahara for him. (He analyses everything from a geographical point of view.) So I think there are much better books about Arabic history, but if you are interested in the Neolithic revolution and its consequences you will have to read Diamonds book!
The differences in the global distribution of wealth are still incredible: There are very rich countries in the Northern hemisphere and many poor countries in the Southern hemisphere. What are the reasons for this big gap? How could the gap be reduced?
well the simple reason is that rich people like to keep their money...I suspect many are extremely paranoid on losing the odd billion as they would only have several billion to survive on!
in terms of countries its no surprise there has been no or little rebalanccing simply because western economies RELY on the huge differences in wealth. Basically India and China are the physical production centres of the world...what would we do without their slave labour
possibly the only way this will change is if there was a sudden change of political and financial systems...in short dont hold your breath
well the simple reason is that rich people like to keep their money...I suspect many are extremely paranoid on losing the odd billion as they would only have several billion to survive on!
in terms of countries its no surprise there has been no or little rebalanccing simply because western economies RELY on the huge differences in wealth. Basically India and China are the physical production centres of the world...what would we do without their slave labour
possibly the only way this will change is if there was a sudden change of political and financial systems...in short dont hold your breath
