Читать книгу World Politics since 1989 - Jonathan Holslag - Страница 22

During the early post-Cold War period, there was enthusiasm about the rise of the Global South, about Africa, South Asia, and Latin America. But this area was eclipsed by China. China’s growth was the fruit of the hard work of hundreds of millions of citizens and a government that did a better job in attracting the foreign investment that came with technology and experience. This had important consequences.

Figure 1.6 Accumulated length of border fences and walls (km)

Source: Verified news sources. For instance: India building new “steel fence” along Pakistan, Bangla borders. Economic Times, January 10, 2020; Tom Head, 2020. SA’s new R37m border fence with Zimbabwe badly damaged. The South Africa, April 13, 2020; Ilan Greenberg, 2006. Kazakhstan: Fence for part of Uzbek border. The New York Times, October 20, 2006.

The Global South remained beset by poverty. The World Bank stressed that the $1.90 poverty threshold is too low to measure economic distress and proposed higher thresholds. Figure 1.7 shows the number of people below the threshold of US$5.2 per day. US$5.2 per day barely covers food purchases and basic needs. It is not extreme poverty, but it remains poverty. The number of people in the Global South, Africa, Latin America, and South Asia living below this threshold grew by about 500 million.

A critical problem for the Global South concerned the limited availability of jobs. Once more, the difference from China was striking. Between 1990 and 2019, China’s population between 15 and 64 years of age increased by 245 million. At the same time, it created 207 million additional jobs. Between 1990 and 2019, the combined population between 15 and 64 years of age in Africa and South Asia increased by 870 million. But the total number of jobs only increased by 170 million. In 2019, 16 percent of the South Asian population between 15 and 64 years was employed, 15 percent in Africa. Many thus remained dependent on self-employment in agriculture or informal employment in cities (figure 1.8). Yet, subsistence farming in the agricultural sector was threatened by climate change, water shortage, and cheap products exported by the West, and the informal sector in the cities by inflation, crime, and cheaper goods dumped from China.

Figure 1.7 People living below US$5.2 PPP per day (million)

Source: WDI.

Figure 1.8 People employed as share of people between 15 and 64 years old (%)

Source: WDI.

Figure 1.9 Deaths caused by homicide, armed conflicts, and terrorism (thousands)

Note: All data are approximate.

Sources: UCPD, WDI, GTD.