World Capitalism and Third World Urbanization
Uploaded by Doraemon on Jan 03, 2005
World Capitalism and Third World Urbanization
Urbanization has been a leading characteristic of the development of the Third World in the Twentieth Century. As developing countries entered the international economic stage, and as they industrialized, urban populations and areas began to increase and develop. Bryan Roberts' article, "Urbanization, Migration and Development" examines Third World urbanization, and explains how it relates to the new international economic order. Roberts discusses the Third World's experience with import substitution industrialization, and the new international division of labor, concluding that the newly interconnected world economy directly contributes to urbanization.
It is important to have an understanding for the contemporary world economy before discussing the ways in which it has contributed to Third World urbanization. Integral to the new economic order is the idea of an international division of labor. The new economy is dominated and mediated by multinational corporations and supranational agencies, creating a highly integrated and transnational economic system (Roberts, pg. 666). The role of the Third World in this system lies mainly in export, as it provides a cheap labor source for manufacturing. The development and exploitation of this labor force has led to both state directed and export oriented industrialization, resulting in high levels of urbanization. Because of such a high level of integration in the world economy, the Third World has become extremely dependent on the First World, limiting the means by which the Third World can address the problem of urbanization (Roberts, pg. 666).
Roberts first attempts to explain the link between international economic integration and Third World urbanization by comparing different regions and their experiences with such integration. He argues that non-core country's differing levels of urbanization can be directly explained by when and how they have been incorporated into the economic order (Roberts, pg. 667). The first type of incorporation that he discusses is that which entered the system the earliest. These regions thus have the highest levels of urbanization and have experienced a radical shift in social relationships in the rural sector. This type of incorporation is characteristic of Latin America.
The second type is characterized by early incorporation by states with previously developed internal markets. Because regions such as China and India had already established internal markets and chose not to integrate highly, they did not have such a radical shift in social dynamics, and subsequently witnessed low levels of urbanization (Roberts, pg. 669). The third type of incorporation describes...