From International to Global Development: New Geographies of 21^st Century Development

Abstract

Recent claims of 21st century global convergence and the 'rise of the South' suggest a profound and ongoing redrawing of the global map of development and inequality. This article synthesizes shifting geographies of development across economic, social and environmental dimensions, and considers their implications for the 'where' of development. Some convergence in aggregate development indicators for the global North and South during this century challenge, now more than ever, the North-South binary underlying international development. Yet convergence claims do not adequately capture change in a world where development inequalities are profound. Betweencountry inequalities remain vast, while within-country inequalities are growing in many cases. Particular attention is given here to exploring the implications of such shifting geographies, and what those mean for the spatial nomenclature and reference of development. This article concludes by arguing for the need, now more than ever, to go beyond international development considered as rich North/poor South, and to move towards a more holistic global development -where the global South remains a key, although not exclusive, focus.

Illusions of Inclusion: Assessment of the World Development Report 2019 on the Changing Nature of Work

“…Even the promise of rapid increases in job quantity are dubious in view of weak evidence of actual increases in the net number of digital jobs, and the uncertain and unstable income that they provide. Supporting forms of work that make worker incomes more unstable while defending the interests of employers serves to perpetuate rather than address the forces that are driving increasing inequality (Horner and Hulme, : 365). In the process, promises to change the geography of work in favour of regions struggling with high levels of poverty, unemployment and informality boil down to a plan to expand and digitize rather than to reduce the large informal economies of the developing world.…”

Inequality and regional development in resource economies of advanced capitalist economies

“…Secondly, it translates to wage inequality between Global North and South (cf. Afonso & Gil, ; Horner & Hulme, ). While this aspect has led to hyper‐precarious migrant labor of industries in advanced capitalist nations with seasonal or flexible work needs (such as agriculture), it has not occurred in mining or energy being dominated by government and large company contracted labor (cf.…”

“…Indeed, as noted by Horner, Schindler, Haberly, and Aoyama () and Rodríguez‐Pose (), there has been a reversal in how globalization processes are interpreted in advanced capitalist and developing nations, with a “backlash” in the former from the political right as uneven development deepens within its nations. As such, it is no longer appropriate to assume “poor” developing nations are “catching up” to rich advanced capitalist nations, as rich and poor dichotomies are increasingly within nations not between binary divisions (Horner & Hulme, ). There is a need then to tackle this through more nuanced approaches taking into account distinct “micro‐geographies” of different economy types (Pike, Rodríguez‐Pose, & Tomaney, ), as simplified binaries misrepresent the challenges of what should be more holistic, progressive, and sustainable development (Pike, Rodriguez‐Pose, & Tomaney, ) or more place‐sensitive development policies (Rodríguez‐Pose, ).…”

What is Global Development?

“…Such patterns of "converging divergence"involving some convergence between countries (especially between North and South) and divergence within countriesnow more clearly than ever raise issues about a division of the world into a rich North and a poor South. Although inequalities between countries are still vast across many indicators, these trends unequivocally question any exclusive focus of development on the Global South (Horner and Hulme 2017).…”

“…Little 'd' processes of ongoing economic transformation, often involving civil society and firms, as well as states, have long been argued to be especially crucial (Hart 2001). Across a number of different spheres, whether it be in terms of income (UNDP 2013), wealth (OECD 2010), a global middle class (Sumner 2016), poverty (Kanbur and Sumner 2012), inequality (Bourguignon 2015;Milanovic 2016) or development cooperation (Mawdsley 2015), new geographies of development can be identified over the last decade (Horner and Hulme 2017). Indeed, the boundaries between 'developed' and 'developing' countries are blurring, one indicator being the World Bank's April 2016 announcement that it will no longer distinguish between the two groups in its annual World Development Indicators.…”