Question

1. Briefly explain the difference between the United Nations 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

2. Briefly explain why China is still categorized as a “Global South” country today despite its economic and military strength.

3. What are the three countries that eventually became part of the Global North group in the late 1990's - mid 2000's.

Answer 1

1. The Difference between UN 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have emerged from the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). In simple terms, SDGs represent the advanced version of the MDGs. The differences between the two concepts are given below -

i) Origin - Very firstly, the basic difference between the two concepts comes from their respective origins. The MDGs comprise of 8 goals, 21 targets and 63 indicators aiming towards international development, developed in the year 2015. The following year, in the year 2016, a series of 17 goals with 169 targets, named as SDGs emerged which aimed at the sustainable development of the countries.

ii) Difference in Goals/Aims - MDGs have exclusively focused on the Health and the Well being of the people. It focused mainly on the mortality rate and the communicable diseases. On the other side, the SDGs focused on a variety of issues. It focused on Human Developement, Human Rights and Equity. Besides this, it also focused on the Health and Well Being of the individuals.

iii) Establishment - The MDGs were established by a group of experts of the UN Headquarters. On the other hand, SDGs were development after a series of meetings, surveys, participation of Working Groups, thematic and country consultations.

iv) Target Countries - The MDGs targetted Developing countries and the the wealthy countries gave the funds. On the other hand, all the countries whether Developed or developing, came under the control of SDGs, irrespective of their status in the world.

v) Vision for Partnerships - MDGs had no provision to have partnerships with the private sector whereas the SDGs planned some partnerships with the private sector for help and support.

vi) Role of CSOs (Civil Society Organizations) -  CSOs had no proper role in the working of MDGS while SDGs planned considerable tieups with CSOs.

2. Why China is still considered to be a 'Global South Country'?

China is still considered to be a 'Global South Country' despite its economic and military strength.

Well, let us first understand the meaning of a 'Global South Country'. It implies the areas of Latin America, Africa, Oceania and Asia which mostly includes weak or low income nations, countries with many loopholes pertaining to equality and economy, necessarily a developing country.

Now, we totally agree with the fact that China has really come a long way but it still lacks at some points. China has become the second largest economy with so many developments and market reforms but we cannot deny the fact that it still counts as a 'Developing country' somewhere.

The reasons for China to be counted as a 'Global South' Country are as follows -

- China is located in East Asia, which is one reason of being a 'Global South' Country.

- World Bank indicates that the country is an 'Upper middle income' country, but still a high level of inequality has been observed. There is a high rate of migration from rural areas to urban areas,but the low key jobs are highly competitive. Even the wages offered are low.

- Though Poverty levels have fallen down drastically from 84% in 90s to 12% in 2010, but approximately 100 million people are still poor there, which is not a good sign for the development of the country.

- It has been widely observed that the environmental conditions are also poor in China. The carbon emissions are quite high contributing to the high levels of pollution. This puts a big question mark on the 'Environmental Sustainability' of China.

- Moreover, people have been facing many issues in the 'Human Rights' offered to them by China. They do not prove to be very efficient.

Hence, we conclude that though China has really been successful in many areas but it still has many big loopholes in its working. So, it is still considered to be a 'Global South Country'.

3. What are the three countries that eventually became part of the Global North Group in late 1990s - mid 2000s?

The three countries that eventually became a part of the Global North Group in late 1990s to mid 2000s include Australia, Canada and United States.