Week 1

Question 1

How is Development measured?

Answer 1

Development (& underdevelopment) is measured by economic and governance indicators.

Question 2

Economic Indicators for underdevelopment?

Answer 2

countries that have not achieved economic development & industrialization are classified as developing/underdeveloped.

Question 3

Governance Indicators for underdevelopment?

Answer 3

non-democracies or fragile democracies are classified as developing/underdeveloped.

Question 4

What are the main roles/purposes of a state? (3)

Answer 4

1) Solving collective action problems
2) Protecting domestic populations from foreign attack
3) Protecting citizens from each other

Question 5

What is a Collective Action Problem?

Answer 5

a situation in which everyone would be better off cooperating, but fail to do so because of conflicting selfish interests

Ex: climate change

Question 6

What is the Treaty of Westphalia?

Answer 6

Origins of the Modern State
* Ended the 30 Years War in central Europe, 1648
* Enshrines beginning of sovereignty, recognition of borders, and separation of church & state

Question 7

Charles Tilly on European State Formation (& its aftermath) (3)

Answer 7

1) “War made the state & the state made war”
2) ** Interstate War Mechanisms**
3) Results of state formation process

Question 8

Explain what Charles Tilly meant by “War made the state & the state made war” (4)

Answer 8

The ongoing process of frequent wars between states (interstate) at the very beginning of formation has resulted in the states we see now: (4 formative mechanisms)

1) Raising an army (centralization of political power)
2) Collecting taxes
3) Building infrastructure
4) The ‘rally around the flag’ effect (built up nationalism)

Question 9

Charles Tilly: “War made the state”

Answer 9

The ongoing process of frequent wars between states at the very beginning of formation has resulted in the states we see now

Question 10

Charles Tilly: “The state made war”

Answer 10

States decide to go to war with one another

Question 11

What’s the difference between an Interstate War & a Civil War?

Answer 11

Interstate Wars occur between states while Civil Wars occur within states

Question 12

What are the Impacts of Wars Within States? (civil wars)

Answer 12

• More civil wars than interstate wars
• Weaken/divide states
• Colonial legacies prevail
• Drawing borders

Question 13

What effect do Interstate Wars have on the population of a country?

Answer 13

may generate a sense of nationalism (strengthens states)

Question 14

What effect do Civil Wars have on the population of a country?

Answer 14

create divisions within a state (weakens state)

Question 15

What kind of wars have there been more of since 1945?

Answer 15

More civil wars than interstate wars

Question 16

Civil wars are often the result of what?

Answer 16

Colonial legacies, arbitrarily drawing borders

Question 17

What was the Berlin Conference? 1884/5

Answer 17

pivotal moment in border drawing, Eu & US delegates met to ‘carve up’ Africa (‘Scramble for Africa’/ partitioning/ mapping)

Question 18

What were the drivers of European colonialization? (2)

Answer 18

1) Greed for Resources
* Land: agri plantations, mines
* Labour: cheap & available (slavery)
2) Beliefs of White Racial Superiority

Question 19

What two roles did the colonial state have? (2)

Answer 19

1) Maintain Control over Territory: with enough military, governing by force
2) Extracting Resources: maximizing resource wealth, to become profitable & self-sufficient

Question 20

What were the results of the Berlin Conference? (‘Scramble for Africa’)

Answer 20

• their strategy was ‘Divide & Conquer’:
• borders were drawn arbitrarily, split up pre-existing political/ethnic/religious groups (not viable), creating conflict between them
• this made it easier for the colonial powers to rule; if they were fighting each other, they weren’t fighting the colonial power

Question 21

What does it mean by ‘Path Dependency’?

Answer 21

States & societies often have difficulty changing their trajectory after formative experiences & processes
* ‘habits’ based on histories

Ex: Colonial Legacies

Question 22

Colonial Legacies (ex: Path Dependency)

Answer 22

Colonization has left certain broad legacies:
* Economies overwhelmingly reliant on certain NR
* Export economies
* Social/Political marginalization of darker-skinned peoples
* Violent coercion of the labour force, remnant from slavery

Question 23

Example of Path Dependency: Mineral extraction & forced labour in the Spanish Colonial Empire

Answer 23

• Mita: forced labour system for mineral extraction carried out in Peru/Bolivia from 1573-1812
• Required 1/7th of Indig. men to work local mines
• Resulted in: lower incomes, poverty, less edu., worse health ==> less developed infra., less prod. in market economy

Question 24

What does the Gini Coefficient (G) or Gini Index measure?

Answer 24

the level of income inequality in a country, based on disproportionalities in wealth
* Share held by top 10% wealthiest vs Share of bottom 10% equates to the rate of inequality

• Ex: if the top 10% controls 50% of the country’s wealth while the bottom 10% controls only 1%, this is highly unequal

Question 25

Does income inequality (Gini Index) have anything to do with colonialism?

Answer 25

Yes, those countries that rank the highest on the Gini Index (the highest rates of income inequality within a country) have all been impacted by colonization at some point in their histories. * countries involved in TAST * very strong correlation, not necessarily causation

Question 26

What is the importance of the Case of Nigeria in explaining the effects of colonialism? (**borders**)

Answer 26

Nigeria is the quintessential example of a state whose borders were arbitrarily drawn by colonial powers. * British colonizers pinned ethnolinguistic groups against one another, causing post-colonial instability * Independence in 1960, led to: 1) Numerous coups d'etats, 2) Civil wars, 3) Repeated patterns of political violence * Has been since difficult to govern, no real majority * Much oil wealth, but not distributed equally (economic/religious marginalization)

Question 27

Describe **Boko Haram** in the Case of Nigeria

Answer 27

**Boko Haram** radical Islamist militant group in northeast Nigeria, reject their national gov't as 'weak' * Translates to "Western education is sacrilegious" * Perpetrator of many murderous attacks, suicide bombings, and is responsible for the kidnapping of hundreds of schoolgirls from Chibok * Aligned itself with ISIS * Operates primarily in northern/major cities (Kano, Jos, Maiduguri), but activity spreads to neighbouring countries (Niger, Chad, Cameroon)

Question 28

What is a **De Facto** State? +example

Answer 28

A territory that organizes and acts like a country (has government, police, court systems, etc) but is not *officially* recognized by the rest of the world Ex: **Somaliland**

Question 29

What is a **De Jure** State? +example

Answer 29

A *'state'* that has legal legitimacy but cannot exercise sovereignty * Exists by *law* Ex: **Somalia**

Question 30

What limitations to statehood might De Facto & De Jure states tell us? (Trappings of Statehood)

Answer 30

Many developing nations whose existence and borders are *internationally recognized* (De Jure) are *weak in reality* (in De Facto terms)

Question 31

**Somaliland**: Example of a De Facto State

Answer 31

- Somalia collapsed into factional fighting in 1989, and there has been no successful government since, its government has little capacity of legitimacy, and the country is plagued by rebels and insecurity - the former UK colony Somaliland has a strong, centralized government, robust economy, effective security forces, and popular legitimacy - however, Somalia is internationally recognized as a state (de jure) even though it does not seem to possess the proper characteristics (de facto), while Somaliland is not (de jure) and only exists de facto

Question 32

**Somali**: Example of a De Jure State

Answer 32

- Somalia collapsed into factional fighting in 1989, and there has been no successful government since, its government has little capacity of legitimacy, and the country is plagued by rebels and insecurity - the former UK colony Somaliland has a strong, centralized government, robust economy, effective security forces, and popular legitimacy - however, Somalia is internationally recognized as a state (de jure) even though it does not seem to possess the proper characteristics (de facto), while Somaliland is not (de jure) and only exists de facto

Question 33

What kind of non-state actors may come into power?

Answer 33

Rebel Groups: weak states leave a *vacuum* for these armed, non-state actors who resent a state to challenge it for its failures, giving rise to entire rebel movements (Ex: Star Wars) * Rebel groups usually seek to control territory & have influence over people, and are sometimes more successful at this than actual De Jure governments * Successful rebel groups often behave like states: collecting taxes, setting/enforcing laws