THE

CONTEMPORARY
WORLD
 The Global Divides:
North and South
A Socio-economic and Political Division

By:
PATTAL, KRIS C.
LUMASOC, JOSHUA O.
PATONGAO, ASHANTI L.
Overview

THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE

socio-economic and political division that exists
between the wealthy developed countries and
the poorer developing countries (least developed
countries)
THE NORTH THE SOUTH
the wealthy the poorer
Keywords

developed developing
countries countries
 THE NORTH

• Mostly correlated with the

western world and the first
world, along with much of the
second world
• Consists of the richest and
most industrialized countries

THE SOUTH
Keywords

• largely corresponds with the

Third World and Eastern
world.
THE BRANDT LINE
More developed countries
Less developed countries
TRIVIA
Willy Brandt (1913 – 1992)
A former chancellor of West Germany who
proposed the Brandt line in the 1980s.
a visual depiction of the north–south
divide. It encircles the world at a
latitude of approximately 30° North,
passing between North and Central
America, north of Africa and the
Middle East, climbing north over China
and Mongolia, but dipping south so as
to include Australia and New Zealand in
the "Rich North". It was proposed in
the 1980s as a way of showing how the
world was geographically split into
relatively richer and poorer nations.
INTRODUCTION
The two groups are often defined in terms of their
differing levels of wealth, development, income
inequality, democracy, political and economic freedom,
as defined by freedom indices.
SINCE THE PROCESS OF GLOBALIZATION IS
UNEVEN, IT FOLLOWS THAT THERE IS AN
INMBALANCE IN THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND
POLITICAL CATEGORIES OF THE WORLD. THE
Keywords
WORLD IS DIVIDED INTO THE NORTH AND
SOUTH ANF FIRST, SECOND AND THIRD.
 INTRODUCTION
OFW IN EUROPE, AUSTRALIA AND AMERICA TEND TO SEE THE BIG
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE WAYS OF THE LIVING IN THE PHILIPPINES
AND IN THE WESTERN COUNTRIES. SOME OF THEM COME HOME AS
ÖNE DAY MILLIONAIRES”. GIVING OUT PRESENTS TO THEIR FAMILIES,
RELATIVES, NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS. ALTOUGH THEIR INCOMES
ARE RELATIVELY HIGHER THAN IF THEY WORK IN THE PHILIPPINES,
THEY REALIZE THAT LIFE IS STILL TOUGH DESPITE THE REMITTANCES
THEY SEND TO THEIR FAMILIES AND TAXES THAT THE COUNTRY
GAINS FROM THESE. FURTHERMORE, THEY CANNOT ESCAPE THE
REALITY THAT THEIR OCCASSIONAL VACATIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES
ARE TEMPORARY BECAUSE THEY WOULD NEED TO GO BACK TO
WORK IN ORDER TO CONTINUE MAKING A LIVING IN ANOTHER
COUNTRY. THIS IS A REFLECTION OF THE GLOBAL DIVIDE BETWEEN
THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH AS EXPERIENCED BY THESE FILIPINOS
GLOBAL SOUTH

A metaphor for Countries that were colonized There is also a

interstate inequality by the Spaniards in the split based on
and a product of southern part of the American labor-the core,
western imagination continent are collectively the semi-
(Claudio, 2014). called Latin America. By virtue periphery, and
Historically, there of the Treaty of Tordesillas in the peripheries
had been divisions 1494, the newly discovered
and labeling among lands outside Europe were
the different nations divided into two-the West
of the world. belonging to the Crown of
Castile and the East belonging
to the Portuguese Empire.
The Treaty of Tordesillas was an
agreement between the Kingdoms of
Spain and Portugal regarding rights
to discover and conquer lands
outside of Europe. The world was
divided by a north-south line situated
in the Atlantic Ocean, 370 leagues
(roughly 1100 miles) west of the
Portuguese-controlled Cape Verde
Islands off the northwest African
coastline. Under this agreement,
Spain could claim ownership of all
non-Christian lands west of the line,
and Portugal alone lay claim to all
non-Christian lands east of the line.
THE NORTH-SOUTH DIVIDE
2. GLOBAL SOUTH

SEMI-
These countries act as the
PERIPHERY
periphery to core
PERIPHER countries, and as a core to
Poor” countries that the countries on the
Y
CORE primarily subsist by periphery. Typically, such
small set of exporting primary countries are regional
technologically products such as powers with moderate
advanced and agricultural produce levels of development
industrialized and natural resources indices and growing
capitalist. to the core countries. capitalist economies.
Ex. CHINA Ex. CENTRAL ASIA Ex. TURKEY
 • The global south refers to the socio-economic and
political divide primarily focused on the southern
hemisphere of the 1569-designed Mercatorian map.
• Consists of Africa, Latin America, and Asia including the
middle east. These nation-states are deemed to be not
aligned with nation-states located in the northern
hemisphere that adhere to fair labor practices, rights,
free trade, reduced tariffs, and policies on sustainable
development.
• The global south also connotes developing countries as
opposed to rich, industrialized, and wealthy nations.
GLOBAL SOUTH

Home of all The Global South It is also the abode

members of the continues to be of the four powerful
Group of Eight imagined and re- permanent members
(G8)-Canada, imagined by those who of the United
France, Germany, dominate it even as Nations Security
Italy, Japan, movements from Council. It also refers
United Kingdom, below reshape these to the developed
Russia, and the constructions through countries in Asia,
United States of resistance, (CLAUDIO Australia, and New
America. 2014) Zealand
 • Although usually associated with developing nations, the Global
South is also found in developed countries. Economically poor
families, underprivileged individuals, unfair labor practices, and
suppression of human rights, and other violations of basic rights
in Europe, Australia, US, and Canada are the pieces of evidence
that people from developed countries also share similar
experiences with people from developing countries
• Conversely, a trip to the cosmopolitan metropolis of Metro Manila by
someone from Tupi, South Cotabato denoting high standard of living,
availability of better transport system, prevalence of banking and financial
institutions, presence of big commercial establishments, and centrality of
the national government-is that person's experience of the "Global North."

• The Global North, therefore, is also relatively experienced

within the geographical boundaries of the Global South.
History (THIRD WORD)

During Cold War, the Global

Divide was made official with
the East and West Power.

WEST POWER
- United States EAST POWER
- Allied - Soviet Union
Countries - China
 History (THIRD WORD)

They divided the world into three (3) categories that embodies 3
types of countries along the globe: the First World, the Second
World, and the Third World.
The “Three Worlds Theory”
First World Second World Third World

Composed of industrialized Former communist Non-aligned world and as

and democratic countries,
which most members were
assumed to be allied with
United States against Soviet
Union. (Canada, Australia,
Japan, Western Europe, etc.)
countries that aren’t the global realm of poverty
quite in poverty but and under-development.
aren’t prosperous either (Afghanistan, Latin America,
(East Germany, Georgia, Asian countries, etc.)
Poland, Ukraine, etc.)
The “three worlds theory,”
however, was conceptually
incoherent, combining
incommensurate geopolitical
and socio- economic features.

By 1989 - 1991, the Second

World, by any definition, ceased
to exist when Soviet Union
collapsed. With the Second
World gone, the three-words
model no longer made any
sense.
Countries in red represent First World, green for Second World and Blue for the Third World .

Nowadays, we are still using though the terminologies “First World”

and “Third World” countries to categorize the developed countries
which are industrially advanced, democratic and with high Human
Development Index (HDI) from the developing nations, which are
poor, economically underdeveloped and with low HDI.
By now, one can say that the terms
Global South and Third World are
conceptually the same. They both refer
to conditions usually found in
developing countries. But the term
Third World is the antecedent of
Global South (Claudio, 2014)
 THIRD WORLD

To illustrate, India was considered a Third World country for it was a colony
of the United Kingdom. According to this categorization, the Philippines was
classified as Third World. Later, the category was used to refer to countries
that were neither capitalist nor socialist. Since many countries were
impoverished, the term was also used to refer to the poor world. These
countries were considered to be non-industrialized and newly industrialized.
They lacked the standard systems in banking, finance, and trade

Hence, it is outdated to say that countries in Southeast Asia belong to the

Third World for the term has ended its usage after the Cold War. These
countries may be classified as the Global South though some of their citizens
experience the Global North within their territories.
 The North-South Divide is criticized for being a way of
segregating people along economic lines and is seen as a factor
of the widening gap between developed and developing
economies. However, several measures have been put in place
to contract the North-South Divide including the lobbying for
international free trade and globalization.

The United Nations has developed a program dedicated to

narrowing the divide through its Millennium Development Goals.
This includes improving education and health care, promoting
gender equality, and ensuring environmental sustainability.