I' NGOs and Global Civil Society

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• I. NGOs and Global Civil Society
• II. Poverty and Hunger
• III. Amartya Sen Preventing Endemic Deprivation
  and Famine
• IV. HDR Globalization with a Human Face
• V. Human Development Index
• VI. Women and Development
• Video Beyond Beijing Women and Economic
  Development

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NGOs and Global Civil Society

• Not long ago just states and IGOs
• Today As we enter the twenty-first century, we
  find a complex and highly decentralized global
  governance structure that involves much
  cooperation among INGOs, IGOs (led by the UN),
  and states.Global consensus is often hard to
  reach, but the globalization of issues--the
  degree to which issues and policies are debated
  and settled at the global level--is continually
  on the rise. (p. 244-5)

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Globalization and Democracy
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Some Key NGO Concerns

• Human rights and democracy
• Refugees
• Famines
• Poverty
• Women and development
• Microcredit

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• World Bank Income Measuresof Poverty
• Extreme Poverty 1 per day in purchasing power
  parity
• Upper Poverty Line 2 per day in purchasing
  power parity

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• Summary
• The largest number of poor people are in South
  Asia (mainly India, Pakistan, Bangladesh)
• Africa has the highest proportion of its
  population below the poverty line
• East and Southeast Asia has been the major
  success story
• About 1.2 billion people remain below the
  extreme poverty line, and almost 3 billion below
  the upper poverty line

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• Some additional facts
• Nearly 1/5 of children in the poorest countries
  dont live to age 5
• The number of poor people is growing in every
  region except East/Southeast Asia
• Poverty growth is most rapid in the transition
  economies
• The gap between the richest 20 countries and the
  poorest 20 has doubled in the past 40 years
• Most medium-term poverty goals are not being met

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• Amartya SenFocus on Hunger
• Start with the distinction
• famines
• endemic deprivation

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"There were two 'Reigns of Terror', if we could
but remember and consider it the one wrought
murder in hot passions, the other in heartless
cold blood the one lasted mere months, the other
had lasted a thousand years the one inflicted
death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a
hundred million but our shudders are all for the
"horrors of the... momentary Terror, so to speak
whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the
axe compared with lifelong death from hunger,
cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city
cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that
brief terror that we have all been so diligently
taught to shiver at and mourn over but all
France could hardly contain the coffins filled by
that older and real Terror - that unspeakable
bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been
taught to see in its vastness or pity as it
deserves. Mark Twain
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India vs. China how do they compare on these two
variables?

• India no famines since independence but
  extensive endemic deprivation
• China More limited endemic deprivation but at
  least one major famine

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Whats the point of this chart? What does it
suggest about what it takes to reduce endemic
deprivation?
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• The Case of Kerala
• One of Indias poorest states but with the best
  record in terms of endemic deprivation
• Investments in health and education and in
  participatory growth all reduce endemic
  deprivation
• One advantage of backwardness providing these
  services costs less

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Question what is Sens key point about famines?
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Famines

• are seldom caused by lack of food
• often occur in areas that are exporting food
• are the result of entitlement failures

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Entitlements

• claims on goods through production or trade
• how might these claims be disrupted?
• Lost production through draught, crop failure,
  war, etc.
• Loss of purchasing power through loss of
  employment, increased prices, declining wages,
  etc.
• claims on government
• public employment for cash wages the India
  success story
• the importance of democracy and a free press

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It is not, in fact, surprising that in the
terrible history of famines in the world, there
is hardly any case in which a famine has occurred
in a country that is independent and democratic
with an uncensored press. This absence of
famines applies not only to the rich countries,
but also to poor but relatively democratic
countries, such as post-independence India, or
Botswana, or Zimbabwe.
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The persistence of severe famines in many of the
sub-Saharan African countries--both with
left-wing and right-wing governments--relates
closely to the lack of democratic political
systems and practice. The issue relates also to
the Chinese famines of 1958-61...

• poor communication of information
• no adversarial critique or pressure

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Special Issue on Globalization

• Globalizationis the growing interdependence of
  the worlds people
• Contemporary globalization is characterized by
• new markets
• new tools
• new actors
• new rules

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• The highest-income countries with 20 of the
  worlds population account for 86 of world GNP
  the bottom 20 accounts for 1
• The top 20 account for 82 of exports the
  bottom 20, only 1
• The top 20 account for 68 of foreign direct
  investment the bottom 20, only 1
• The top 20 account for 93.3 of internet uses,
  the bottom 20, 0.2.

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• 80 countries had lower per capita incomes than a
  decade earlier
• Big increases in inequality, measured by the
  GINI index, were registered in all transitional
  economies, the US, UK, Sweden, and many other
  countries.
• Globally, the income gap between the top and
  bottom fifth increased from 30 to 1 in 1960 to 74
  to 1 in 1997.
• The assets of the three top billionaires were
  more than the combined GNP of all the least
  developed countries and their 600 million people

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The report calls for globalization with

• ethics
• equity
• inclusion
• human security
• sustainability
• development

Globalization with a human face
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And the means to this end is stronger
governance Globalization offers great
opportunities for human advance--but only with
stronger governance. The globally integrated
world will require stronger governance if it is
to preserve the advantages of global market
competition, and to turn the forces of
globalization to support human advance.
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Reading Between the Lines Test Yourself
The current debate (over global governance)
istoo geographically unbalanced, dominated by
the largest economies--usually the G-7, sometimes
just the G-1 About the IMF, WB, ITO, etc
There is little transparency in decisions, and
there is no structured forum for civil society
institutions to express their views.
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• Human Development Index (HDI)
• We need a measure of the same level of vulgarity
  as GNP--just one number--but a measure that is
  not as blind to social aspects of human lives as
  GNP is. --Mahbub ul Haq
• A means of broadening the development discussion
• Introduced in 1990 in first HDR

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• Human Development Index (HDI)
• A composite index
• Life expectance at birth
• Adult Literacy
• Combined enrolment ratio
• Adjusted per capita income in PPP
• Subsequently Gender-related Development Index,
  Gender Empowerment Index, Human Poverty Index.

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HDI rankings are most interesting when they
diverge from PCI rankings...
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Some Disparities (HDR 2000) Qatar -
21Kuwait -31Sweden 15Costa
Rica 18Cuba 40Sri Lanka 25South
Africa -54Vietnam 24Guatemala -24Angola -34
Tanzania 17
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Women and Development
We are convinced that womens empowerment and
their full participation on the bais of equality
in all spheres of society, including
participation in the decision-making process and
access to power, are fundamental for the
achievement of equality, development and
peace. Beijing Declaration, UN Fourth World
Conference on Women
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Video Beyond Beijing--Women and Economic
Development