South Divide Research Articles

(Post)Colonial Complexities and World (Re)Ordering: Contestations from/within the “Margin(alized)”

Abstract The changing constellation of international politics and the rise of emerging powers and new actors especially in the Global South (considered to be at the margins of international politics) are a characteristic feature of today’s world order. These actors challenged the cosmology of dominant Northern/Western liberal discourses on agenda-setting in international politics by creating alternatives like the Non-Aligned Movement, BRICS, and G77 focusing on South–South Cooperation, Pan-Asianism, and Pan-Africanism. However, racial capitalism and neo-imperial forces and conditions continue to define the global capitalist order manifesting in the rise of populism and nationalist sentiments across the Global North and the Global South. These developments have significant implications for world order(ing) and necessitate a deeper engagement with world ordering practices, especially within the Global South, which previously developed contestations of the dominant liberal international world order. Foregrounding postcolonial complexities existing within the “margins” of international politics, I examine the strategic appropriation of marginality by the Bharatiya Janta Party led Indian government externally (highlighting North–South Divide and portraying itself as the leader of the Global South) and internally (through language and elite/non-elite discourses) to gain legitimacy at the domestic level. I further explore how it promotes a particular ethnocentric vision of the world by bringing about changes in the education policy and curriculum. The world (re)ordering that is happening inside the states in the Global South can fertilize global discourses on addressing new and often conflicting ideas on the world order and practices of world (re)ordering.

The Widening of the North–South Divide: Debt Sustainability in a World Weakened by COVID-19

This research compares the global debt trends in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on economies that frame the North and South divide. The research centers on debt ratios, which serve as indicators of countries’ ability to finance recovery and development projects. The study period runs from 2015 to 2022 and follows the IMF’s country classification, which divides the world into advanced economies (AE) and emerging market and developing economies (EMDE). The research employs panel data regressions to assess three key debt ratios—external debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), external debt to exports, and public debt to GDP—against various pandemic-related indicators and control variables. The analysis provides three major contributions. Firstly, an examination of external and public debt burdens is conducted, showing that escalated external and public debt burdens in EMDE contrast with increasing public debt in AE, primarily due to fiscal stimulus. Secondly, it is argued that the ongoing pandemic has intensified the widening economic gap between the North (AE) and the south (EMDE). Thirdly, a review is presented of both orthodox and heterodox policies identified in existing literature that are considered capable of mitigating external vulnerabilities in EMDE. Findings highlight the critical need for multifaceted measures to address debt vulnerability and promote sustainable economic recovery in a post-pandemic world.

Visualizing the North–South Divide of international visitors: Evidence from the Yangtze River Delta in China

The North–South Divide, which historically divided global national development, is now being questioned due to the rise of the Global South represented by China. We analyze the impact of this divide using global connections observed through international visitors to the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China. We visualized the global origins of international visitors to the YRD region and their spatial distribution within the region. The cartogram depicts a significant contribution of the Global North to the scale of international visitors in the YRD region, indicating a closer functional connection between mainland China and the Global North. This suggests that the influence of the North–South Divide on mainland China persists. Despite mainland China strengthening South–South Cooperation through the Belt and Road national strategy, the crucial role played by the Global North in China’s economic globalization is challenging to reverse in the short term. Additionally, the successful path taken by China may not be universally applicable to all of the Global South.

The Italian North–South Divide in Perceived Dishonesty: A Matter of Trust?

The Italian North–South Divide in Perceived Dishonesty: A Matter of Trust?

Book review: Samuel Paul and Kala S. Sridhar, The Paradox of India’s North–South Divide: Lessons from the States and Regions

Samuel Paul and Kala S. Sridhar, The Paradox of India’s North–South Divide: Lessons from the States and Regions. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2015, 252 pp., ₹1,095.00 (Hardback).

Advancements and Challenges in Ancient DNA Research: Bridging the Global North-South Divide.

Ancient DNA (aDNA) research first began in 1984 and ever since has greatly expanded our understanding of evolution and migration. Today, aDNA analysis is used to solve various puzzles about the origin of mankind, migration patterns, and the spread of infectious diseases. The incredible findings ranging from identifying the new branches within the human family to studying the genomes of extinct flora and fauna have caught the world by surprise in recent times. However, a closer look at these published results points out a clear Global North and Global South divide. Therefore, through this research, we aim to emphasize encouraging better collaborative opportunities and technology transfer to support researchers in the Global South. Further, the present research also focuses on expanding the scope of the ongoing conversation in the field of aDNA by reporting relevant literature published around the world and discussing the advancements and challenges in the field.

The North and South Divide: A Drag on the Italian Economy

Over the last three decades, Italy's GDP growth has seen generally seen stagnation. In the European Union, Italy's economic development rate is among the poorer levels and is internationally recognized as a country not suitable for investment. This has directly led to a decline in Italy's international voice. When it comes to the causes of Italy's economic development stagnation, the North-South gap within Italy is one of the important reasons, which is manifested in the excessive difference between the GDP per capita of the South and the North within Italy. For a long time, the north and the south of Italy have developed differently, including the different distribution of economic pillars (this paper focuses on agriculture, industry, and tourism), the different employment patterns of workers, and the different motivations of people to engage in economic development. These differences have led to an extreme imbalance in the economic development of the north and south of Italy, especially in the south, where the level of development is lower than that of the north. Such an imbalance in economic development is undoubtedly detrimental to the overall economic development of Italy. The comparison with Germany and Spain leads to the conclusion that Italy needs to reduce the gap between the North and South of the country by improving the quality of workers, introducing advanced technologies and regulating the employment system of immigrants.

The North–South Divide on Public Perceptions of Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering?: A Survey in Six Asia-Pacific Countries

ABSTRACT Solar radiation management (SRM) is a controversial technological proposal to deliberately cool the Earth for addressing climate change. Because of great concerns over global consequences of SRM deployment, an inclusive and global conversation is considered necessary for the governance of SRM. However, public perception research on SRM to date has been mostly limited to the Global North or Western democracy. Because social acceptability is crucial for SRM governance, such research must also encompass the Global South or Eastern perspectives beyond the Western bias. The present study conducted an online survey of college students in six Asia-Pacific countries (Australia, China, India, Japan, the Philippines, and South Korea) about their attitudes toward stratospheric aerosol geoengineering, one of most discussed SRM proposals. Our results showed that students from the Global South (China, India, the Philippines) were more willing to accept geoengineering as a potential option than those from the Global North (Australia, Japan, and South Korea). We also found an overwhelming consensus in support of geoengineering governance principles such as information disclosure and pre-deployment regulation across all six countries. Our results suggest that more nuanced and granular understandings of non-Western perspectives are critical to enable inclusive democratic debate on geoengineering governance.

Political Discontent Across English Regions: The Role of Economic Grievances in the North South Divide

Political Discontent Across English Regions: The Role of Economic Grievances in the North South Divide

Cross-National Research Partnerships in International Relations: A Study of Research Groups’ Practices of MERCOSUR—Re-Envisioning Scholarly Activities Beyond the Global North–Global South Divide

This article assesses international partnerships by observing research collaboration dynamics of International Relations research groups of MERCOSUR. We contest the models based on center–periphery or North–South divide as we built our assessment to explain the collaboration dynamics both in an international and regional level from the agent’s point of view. We moved beyond Scientometric analysis and conducted an exploratory case study with interviews, a focus group and a questionnaire. We demonstrate that, despite asymmetries, researchers from the South do not have a passive role in the interactions and exchanges, as there is space for reciprocity and agency. We argue that integration of research through international partnerships is pragmatic and the condition of autonomy varies according to the features of the groups, their positions within the field and the prestige of their researchers.

Heterogeneous Firms and the North–South Divide in Italy

In this paper, we document how the productivity gap between firms in the North and in the South of Italy is essentially due to a difference in local competitive pressures, lower in the South. In fact, we find that lower average productivity in the South is driven by the presence of relatively more inefficient firms on the left tail of the distributions, while no significant difference is found among the most productive firms across the country, after controlling for industrial specialization patterns, time-invariant geographic characteristics and different institutional environments at the province-level. In addition, firms’ entry and exit dynamics are more frequent in the provinces of the North, where the average productivity is already higher, pointing to a stronger market selection process than in the South. Eventually, after entry, new firms register productivity levels not different from local incumbent firms, i.e. higher where the average productivity is already higher. Finally, we argue that policies that do not consider the emergence of firm-level heterogeneity at the local level fail in tackling regional disparities.

Transgressing North–South Divide: Foxconn Production Regimes in China and the Czech Republic

In Europe, as elsewhere in the global North, the label “Made in China” has become synonymous with low wages, excessive overtime, and exploitative working conditions. Conventional literature on the international division of labor reifies the North–South divide in particular with respect to class formation and labor agency. Contrasting the working conditions in China to those in Europe sets these up as opposites in their managerial practices and treatment of the workforce. This article challenges such dualism and makes visible the commonalities of contemporary global capitalism. It does so by examining Foxconn’s production regimes in China and the Czech Republic and identifying a specific set of strategies on the part of the firm that enable its global organization of production. In indicating which practices Foxconn imported from China and which are an outcome of global extended production, the article challenges the Chinese political economy literature that posits the “Chinese model” as warranted when production is globally organized.

The North and South Divide in the Practice and Application of International Law: A Humanitarian and Human Right Law Perspective

The North and South divide in the practice and application of international laws have been previously perceived to be evident in international environmental law where the Global developed North countries on the one hand advocate for a collective action to protect the environment while the Global developing Southern countries, on the other hand, argue for social and economic justice in practice. However, in recent times the North and South divide has permeated other aspects of international law such as International Human right and International Humanitarian law (IHL), hence the essence of this article. Thus, this article contributes to the existing literature by providing evidence to the existence of the North and South divide in the application of IHL and human right law.The article is divided into four main parts. The first part gives an introduction to the North and South divide in the application of international law. The second part reviews the literature on the existence of North and South divide in the application of international environmental laws. The third part gives a new dimension to the North and South divide in the application of international humanitarian and human right laws with the Syrian Crisis, Malaysian Airline flight MH17 and the 2007 draft resolution on the peace and security of Myanmar as the case studies. The last part concludes by giving an overview of how this phenomenon threatens world peace and consequently offers some recommendations.

The digital divide experienced by older consumers in smart environments

AbstractThe continuing transition of the Internet from wired to mobile has facilitated changes in Internet use. By focusing on older consumers as a potentially disadvantaged group, this study examines whether smart environments have the potential to bridge the digital divide. Data were derived from an analysis of the 2013 South Korean Information Divide data set (n = 2386 for those 60 years and older; n = 5841 for those under 60 years). The existence of a digital divide in the smart environment was verified by comparing younger and older South Koreans; this showed that continuing consumer education is needed to enhance older people's experience and skills regarding information and in its use of communication technology. The digital divide was measured based on three aspects: accessibility, competence, and usage. In smart environments, gaps in accessibility and competence between the age groups increased whereas the gap in information usage decreased. Compared with the personal computer‐based environment, members of both groups in the smart environment exhibited increased usage levels with regard to social relationship services, while the gap between the groups with regard to use of convenience services was reduced.

Is there also a North–South Divide in the Diffusion of Crime? A Cluster Analysis of Italian Provinces

AbstractThe presence of crime is often considered as one of the most important social variables to be negatively associated with economic development. As is well known, Italy exhibits an economic divide between its central‐northern and southern regions. This paper tries to ascertain whether there is also a divide in the diffusion of crime. To this purpose, Italian provinces are classified into groups by using a new methodology that combines cluster analysis with time series cross‐section data. The statistical searches for groups are carried out by using an unbalanced time series cross‐section data‐set made up of yearly observations. The results of the analysis show that crime is not inextricably tied to certain geographical locations, and not others, as is usually believed.

Samuel Paul and Kala Seetharam Sridhar, The Paradox of India’s North South Divide: Lessons from the States and Regions

Samuel Paul and Kala Seetharam Sridhar, The Paradox of India’s North South Divide: Lessons from the States and Regions

Population Pressures and the North–South Divide between the first century and 2100

This article examines the relationship between the populations of the more and less developed societies between the first century and 2100. Such an analysis reveals a changing dependency between the level of development (and GDP) achieved and population numbers between the first century and 1998. In relation to the past the article suggests a dynamic model for dividing the world into more and less developed areas. In relation to the present and the future it bases the population analysis on the developmental division of the world as published by one of the co-authors of this article. The article largely uses population estimates (with those referring to the past taken from Angus Maddison and those referring to the future from the most recent projections by the United Nations). Taking the 2013 UN projection as a model, it discusses three variants for demographic development in the North and South up to 2100. It argues that the more restrictive population growth variants of the UN projection predict a greater relative ‘Third Worldisation’ of the world than does the most dynamic projection.

Is There a North–South Divide in Integration Outcomes? A Comparison of the Integration Outcomes of Immigrants in Southern and Northern Europe

Integration models are often viewed as a necessary tool for framing integration policies, and for measuring integration efficiency. While “old” European immigration countries in Europe account for a systematic framework of integration policies embedded in a given integration philosophy, new immigration countries (particularly Italy, Greece, Portugal and Spain) have lacked a coherent set of integration policies and practices and, it goes without saying, a philosophical approach to integration. This vacuum has often been seen as a source of marginalization and ‘differential exclusion’, suggesting the existence of a North–South divide in integration matters, and more importantly, outcomes. However, there is still a striking lack of appropriate comparative empirical evidence backing or dismissing this divide. The objective of this article is to explore national-level differences in the real performance of immigrants in selected European countries of immigration along key indicators of integration outcomes, including school attainment and labor market participation. We here discuss the position of Italy, Spain, Greece and Portugal as a coherent cluster of countries and compare the performance of their migrants with that of other foreign-born workers settled in the West of Europe. Our evidence provides little support for the idea that the Southern countries are a unique cluster and that they homogeneously lag behind in terms of integration outcomes.

The Political Economy of Post-invasion Kabul, Afghanistan: Urban Restructuring beyond the North–South Divide

The article applies the Althusserian concept of overdetermination to a contemporary case of urban restructuring in the global South. Since the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, the international aid industry has been using its capital city, Kabul, as a laboratory and launch pad for liberal policies and programmes to demonstrate that security, economic growth and democracy are mutually reinforcing and can therefore be achieved in conjunction. These interventions have resulted in fundamental structural changes in Kabul’s political economy that mimic processes of accumulation by dispossession in the urban global North. Formerly shaped by indigenous political activism and cautious democratic experimentation, Kabul today is a space of accelerated accumulation in the shadows of international peacebuilding.

Spatially unbalanced growth in the British economy

The financial crisis and consequential recession that brought the UK’s long economic boom of 1992–2008 to a dramatic end have generated considerable debate about the need to ‘rebalance’ the economy, both sectorally and spatially. In this article, we examine the scale and nature of imbalance in the British economy. We first examine the stylized facts of spatial economic imbalance, especially in relation to the recurring debate over the existence and persistence of a ‘North–South Divide’ in the nation’s economic landscape. We then review some theoretical accounts of unbalanced regional growth and the role they give to sectoral structure and competitiveness. Next, dynamic multi-factor partitioning methods are used to determine the relative contribution that sectoral composition has made to Britain’s North–South growth gap. In the light of our findings, we argue that the Coalition Government’s policies to redress that imbalance are unlikely to have any profound impact.