Research Paper on North-South Relations: Understanding Inequalities Between Rich and Poor Nations

Introduction

The terms North and South relations are used by political scientists to describe the relationship between the rich Northern countries such as America, Japan, and others and the poor Southern countries such as Africa, Asia and some parts of Latin America (Doty, 1996). The terms refer to the inequalities in the two extremes of political and social formations, but not necessarily the two hemispheres. Other political scientists refer to them as either the first world and the third world or the developed and the developing countries. Reasons behind these inequalities between the North and South runs back to the colonization period and the policies established in the new era that has maintained the status quo. The terms do not necessarily mean the northern and southern hemisphere, as some countries in the northern hemisphere belong to the South and the vice versa. But the terms refer to countries that are far apart in terms of political, social and economic classes. Political differences between North and South, colonization and oppression, have a historical background to the origin of these differences. Since its colonization by Japanese Empire and after gaining independence over 50 years ago, South Korea still bleeds over the effect the colonizers left on them and how through advanced policies, the two entities still remain far apart in terms of political and economic advancements.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Though some may argue that, colonization and globalization brought civilization and growth and improvements in the South, a case study of South Korea shows how the same was used as an avenue by the mighty to oppress the weak, and how it only made the rich, more vibrant, and the poor became poorer. Wars that accompanied this colonization and fought for freedom left scars and wounds that are fresh every day, and they have therefore not achieved the purpose of making life better for all. Many changes are being witnessed in the developing countries in social, political and economic sectors, most of which are chaotic. Some remarkable achievements have been made in some East Asia countries, mostly in the advancements that South Korea has made to date, but these are just but some exceptions. To the rest of the South, what remains is a memory of broken promises, dreams of social and political independence, which never comes true, and poverty that have stricken these people forever. The dawn of the twentieth century began with many hopes to the Southerners, and for they thought nationalism, globalization, and advance in technology would change their lives for better, this remains to be a mirage.

Theories of Underdevelopment in South Korea

At the end of World War II, the old order of invasion and colonization came to an end. Japan had lost the battle and it ended up surrendering its authority over South Korea. What was ushered in was a new way of doing business. During the inaugural of US president Truman, on 20th January 1949, he declared that, an audacious new program would be needed to exploit the advantages of modern science and technology for the growth of the South, stressing that its idea of fair trade on a democratic basis would have nothing in common with the old imperialism of European powers based on the exploitation of colonies for the benefit of foreign financiers (Truman, 1999). This interest resulted in the development theory being established in the 1950s at American colleges as a distinct scholarly discipline - a discipline led by modernization paradigm which lasted up to late 1960s.

Modernization Theory

Modernization theory emerged in, at 60's explaining how the North developed (Myint, 1982). It claims that societies evolve and they become increasingly complicated in relatively predictable phases. Development is mainly dependent on technology importation as well as several other political and social modifications. The modernization framework is based on the view that the shift from tradition into modernity is a comprehensive and predictable method in which contemporary developing world move over the same phases of growth like in the previous ones. Modernization can also be described as a method of social shift through which less advanced countries obtain features prevalent to more advanced nations.

Western Europe and particularly the Anglo-Saxon nations (US and UK) were defined as the pillars of liberalism, technology, industrial development, vibrant innovation, accomplishment, objectivity, and liberty in the modernist structure. It focuses on deficiencies of developing countries as caused by a lack of democratic space, poor technology, and under-industrialization. The poor countries are viewed as traditional, stagnant economically, conservatives and emotionally settled with their status.

On the other hand, developed countries are characterized by capitalism, where wealth is privately owned, and more developments are made for more. Rostow (1960) defines five stages of economic growth where the first one is the traditional society characterized by monoculture, small scale agriculture, and reliance on foreign aid. The conventional community gives in to a level of simple manufacturing under international watch, which offers the preconditions to take off. Then it followed by the "take-off", and that drives to maturity.

A case study of Japan and South Korea shows these disparities. Japan is recognized as a high-growth, advanced nation. The technological innovation of Japan is more sophisticated than the rest of the globe. It has experienced prosperous contemporary nation with the structured economy in terms of modernization theory principle. Bai Gao said, "The practice of controlled economy wasn't just affected by international financial thoughts, but also endorsed by the lengthy culture of government intervention in Japan's post-Meiji financial thinking" (Gao, 1994 quoted in Yagi). The method of economic development in Japan is an instance of a non-Western approach as it has more impacts from history, culture, as well as social progress in the home. Before engaging in Western impact, Japan began from a process of gaining a feeling of self-determination in a conventional way.

On the other hand, South Korea's development has taken place both in the path of revolutionary change as well as in the contemporary context of a pattern of westernization. South Korea's technological progress is centered on Sup (2010) in several layers; social unit, secondary organization, families, personality. Most of those rates were from squeezing understanding and technologies from Western countries. This modernization method, however, has elicited South Koreans ' dependence on Western nations. Even though they are independent, the U.S. urged them to embrace the political and economic structure of Western norms. In this situation, South Korea's growth progress is likely to be predicted as an American personality as it is founded on the United States model of society (Sup, 2010). Unlike Japan, South Korea has undergone a total western modernizing. Western ideas like education, innovation, and governance were infiltrated by the system. As a result, it lost its identity and culture and was under strain from Western countries to establish policies, but it has a decent rank in advanced data and technology advanced nations (Sup 2010).

The theory of modernism is based on the assumption that poor countries must conquer social institutions and ideals in terms of developing. Relations between North and South and their effect on the growth of the individual nations of the South are either overlooked by modernization theorists, or they suppose that it would be in the interests of the developing countries to borrow from the advanced nations of the North and collaborate as effectively as possible.

Dependency Theory

The theory of dependence had been created in the 1960s by Latin American researchers and was affected by previous imperialist Marxist theories (Hays, 1964). Unlike the modernization paradigm, which focuses is generally limited to the assessment of individual cultures and countries of the South, the theory of dependency focuses on relations between the North and the South. It claims that in modern developed nations, financial growth generated economic inequality in the aftermath of the third world. They think that the development of today's wealthy nations (Capitalism) has weakened the developing world, and therefore, this advancement is still blocked by the powers of the global capitalist system. Capitalism began to evolve as a world system in the 16th century. Capitalists from Europe started to seek profits from around the globe, to pursue benefits, gradually came through colonial empires to control the remainder of the world. Capitalist markets have dominated the world since the 16th century, and these capitalist markets have fundamentally altered third world social structures.

The case of industrialization and successive growth of South Korea is extremely discussed. Two ideologies, notably neo-classical concept (neoliberalism) and government theory of development (referred o as statistical approach), remain competitive to provide sufficient proof for their statements. One of the theories argues that South Korea evolved mainly as a result of its strategies of transparency, a free economy, and exchange-driven development, while the other one states that comprehensive government regulation and selectivity established prerequisites for free markets that subsequently stimulated export-driven development.

Marxism (Karl Marx) Theory

The foundation of Marxist college is the assessment of third world societies ' class structures rather than the development of resources and technology as in the theory of modernization) or foreign domination (as in the theory of dependency) (Cohen, 2000). Social change is as a result of class conflict between categories in classic Marxism, between individual groups who may have distinct interactions with the productive system of society. For instance, workers are fighting against capitalists or farmers against landholders. Marginalization, vibrant development, revolution, liberalism, or any number of other modifications may emerge from these confrontations. According to Marx, solutions to challenges facing the social structure of third world countries, are within them and not foreign. The two fundamental classes were the gentry and thus the slaves in state capitalism after the ancient world's slave structures. The servants were manipulated because they were compelled to pass some of their yield, time, or both to their owners.

South Korea had demonstrated the Marxist theory through its political and social development. The country has gone through different forms of government ranging from dictatorial military rule to classical democratic rules. Through these levels of self-definition, South Korea has re-shaped its developmental goals that have made the country to become one of the most developing countries in Eastern Asia.

Origin of North-South Relations

Political scientists view north-south relations as starting with decolonization after the Second World War. States that had just become autonomous were regarded as much impoverished within the global economic system.

A Case Study on South Korea Colonization by the Japanese Empire and the Aftermath

In 1897, Joseon, a Korean kingdom based in 1392 (Dudden, 2006), was renamed the Korean Empire, and King Gojong became Emperor Gojong. The imperial government aimed to determine a powerful and freelance nation by implementing domestic reforms, strengthening military forces, developing commerce and trade, and measuring land possession. Japan set out to repress Korean traditions and culture after the annexation and create and enforce strategies mainly for the advantage of Japanese. Transport and c...