The world is at a crossroads. Despite significant increases in wealth, its global distribution has remained uneven, with citizens in “the bottom billion” getting further behind. Climate change has impacted everyone, but the poor are suffering its adverse consequences much more than the rich. Democratic erosion, political violence, and gender inequality continue to be problematic in many countries. International aid does not seem to be effective in solving these problems.
This panel brings together scholars undertaking research on the effects of development in different world regions. The papers collectively question the prevailing perspectives and offer new frameworks for comparative analysis of development. For example, Hiroi and Maldonado’s paper calls attention to the mining of 3TG minerals—highly valued commodities today but have not been sufficiently studied in the resource curse literature. The authors argue that their artisanal small-scale mining method increases small-scale violence in the mine’s vicinities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, democratization does not seem to be the key to eradicating violence. Utilizing variance in state capacity and the quality and extent of democratization in South Korea and other countries, Porteux’s paper demonstrates how the use of state-based violence evolves but never disappears.
Political actors also seek to influence outcomes through international regimes. The paper by Genna, López-Vallejo Olvera, and Stevens examines the lack of a regional climate policy in North America. The authors argue that high degrees of federalism in the US and Canada have led to the fragmentation of climate policymaking in these countries and prevented the emergence of a regionally homogenized climate policy. Omori’s paper addresses how China’s rise as an economic superpower has altered low-income countries’ relationships with the international monetary regime. The paper shows that China's development aid discourages developing countries’ entry into the IMF programs, making China “the Lender of the First Resort.” Takamatsu’s paper explains why international aid programs promoting gender equality often falter. By examining the post-2021 coup in Myanmar, the author argues that actions taken to counter authoritarian structures can sometimes inadvertently contribute to the reconstruction of gender-discriminatory power structures.