Developing World and International Relations

Cleavages matter in all social relations. Given that international relations are a specific form of social relations, it is normal that the role of cleavages is taken seriously. Cleavages can be geographic, political, cultural, or economic. They indicate the extent of polarization of the world around different criteria. For instance, cultural cleavages derive from various differences, including religion, ethnicity, and nationality. Political cleavages are linked to differences in ideology or institutional setup, such as authoritarian regimes versus democratic ones. Economic cleavages have to do with the level of development. In international relations, they are translated through the antagonism between the developed world (the Global North) and the developing world (the Global South). The concept of the developing world is an important one that has acquired an enduring meaning in international relations. This entry examines the concept of the developing world through a discussion of the cleavage between the North and the South.

The developing world cannot be understood without reference to the developed world—they form an antagonistic couple. Each of these worlds has specific attributes. It could be said that while the developed world is a world of high economic performance and standard of living, the developing world is a world of relative or absolute deprivation. However, it is important to bear in mind that the concept of the developing world is an overgeneralization of a complex reality. Instead of a single developing world, there are several such worlds. The concept of the developing world does not refer to the same reality in Asia and in Africa. The level of poverty and the lack of industrialization are not the same. For example, in 1970, China was viewed as an underdeveloped [Page 640]country in relation to the average Northern developed country, not underdeveloped African countries. There is a hierarchy within the developed world in which some countries of the South are seen as nearer to those of the North. Moreover, the developed world is not a monolithic world. This concept of development is dynamic: One country can be considered part of the developing world at one time and of the developed world at another. For example, today, China is viewed as much more economically powerful than it was several decades ago. While some Arab countries such as Libya, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait are global financial players due to the incomes generated by oil, they remain poorly industrialized and have a lower literacy rate than other developed countries. Within the developing world, countries can be classified as having relatively low, medium, or high levels of development. Therefore, it appears that the concept of developing world is elastic, and it can easily be simplified when those realities are under scrutiny. Thus, the notion of developing world should be considered as relative and provisional. Through the mediation of international institutions, the dynamics of international relations has progressively defined the notion of developing world. For instance, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) uses its Human Development Index to measure development in terms of several indicators such as life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and human poverty. The UNDP's Millennium Development Goals are another entry-way to understanding the developing world. The goals, adopted in 2000 by many members of the international community, identify eight objectives to be achieved by 2015. For example, the first goal, “to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger,” includes the target of reducing by one half the proportion of people living on less than $1 per day. The UNDP goals are a way of identifying the objective reality that characterizes developing countries. However, a country's recognition and identification of itself as underdeveloped also constitutes a subjective reality; the underdevelopment status is also created and demanded by the underdeveloped countries. A supplementary illustration of this point is an African country that seeks World Bank status of “highly and poorly indebted country” to receive international relief.

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