"Developing Nations"

Pro:

•  Conveys idea of change

Con:

• Implies fixed pattern of "development," from one specific condition to a predetermined end point.
• Implies there is development, when in fact there may not be.
• Confuses "nation" (group of people sharing cultural identify) with "state" (government over specific territory).
• Obscures extent to which problems are cause by fact that the "state" includes many "nations."

Pro:

• Conveys idea of change from "traditional" to "modern" society (Max Weber)
• Conveys our special interest in social systems just leaving but still close to the traditional end of this continuum

Con:

• Conveys idea of a pre-determined, inevitable end result

 

"NICs" ("Newly Industrialized Countries")

Pro:

• Reminds us that some countries have made remarkable development of industry (including urbanization and many cultural changes)

Con:

• Doesn't remind us of the many countries that have failed to develop their industrial economies.

"The South"

Pro:

• Reminds us that countries are south of the equator, or at least south of Europe and of North America
• Reminds us of complex problems of tropical agriculture and of tropical diseases

Con:

• Conveys idea that problems are basically geographical.
• Note: there are scholars who argue that geography is critically important to how civilizations develop:
• Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel emphasizes geography
• Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Civilizations, argues that success is determined by climate and geography.

"Third World"

Pro:

• Taken as globalization of French Idea of "Third Estate," emphasizes that we are looking at poor, rural part of the world.

Con:

• Implies some ordering compared to First World and Second World.
• Easily confused with geopolitical ideas of "Free World" and "Communist Bloc,"  between the two, or an alternative path of development
• Obscures the extent of urbanization and industrialization

"Post Colonial World"

Pro:

• Accurately specifies the portions of the world under discussion (Latin America, Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Mid East (mostly)
• Accurately indicates a critical, common component of their political-economic-social processes, namely the historical impact of colonialism

Con:

• Risks value laden approach
• Uses historical concepts that are not intuitively clear to people in the United States
• Understates degree to which problems are based on internal dynamics
• Understates degree to which global markets can help development

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