Thoughts on Readings 1/28/09-Part II

Bottom Billion by Paul Collier

This was a economic theory of the countries that could be categorized as being in the "bottom billion" in terms of development and growth. He goes into detail on how growth is sort of a complicated topic-more leaders in the field are focused on "poverty reduction and the other Millennium Development Goals, not about growth rates". According to Collier, there is a suspicion of growth that has (inadvertently) undermined genuinely strategic thinking.

He outlines a series of "traps" that countries in the bottom billion typically fall into which slows down growth or reverse it completely. Interesting that globalization comes into play here as well-China and India are two countries who were poorer than the current countries on the "bottom billion".

I thought this was an interesting approach to a complicated issue.

Fear of Small Numbers by Arjun Appadurai

Anthropologist Arjun Appadurai delves into the syndrome of ethnic hatred, which he links to globalization. As he puts it:

"Ethnic minorities do not come preformed. They are produced in the specific circumstances of every nation and every nationalization. Minorities, in a word, are metaphors and reminders of the betrayal of the classical national project."
Nationalization can breed marginization and in an extreme form, ethnic cleansing.

Globalization is such a new concept that has created incredible wealth for the more advanced countries who are willing to embrace new technologies (verterbrae vs. cellular world systems). That wealth has resulted in a fundamental imbalance between rich vs. poor nations.