Personal Comment essay

The emergence of the South in recent year is a remarkably and apparently unusual trend, taking into consideration the historical domination of the global North. In such a context, the optimism of the Human Development Report may be pre-mature in regard to multiple problems the South is likely to face and the global economy and community may confront in the context of the emerging economy of the global South.

In fact, the Human Development Report holds the premise that the growth of the global South in the time of the global financial crisis opens larger opportunities for the economy of South and the world at large. However the economic growth does not necessarily mean the progress of the quality of living of the population of the global South. For instance, the enormous gap between the rich and the poor in the global South is well-known. Therefore, the economic growth of the South means that the rich grow richer, while the poor are still stumbling in poverty, and the poor comprise the large part of the population of the global South.

Furthermore, the global South, including China, India or Brazil as the behemoths of the global South, have not invented their own way of development that would make their future different from that of the North, i.e. the future free of economic crises, for instance. Instead, they just follow the lead of the North and they are likely to face the same pitfalls, such as regular economic crises and respective social instability.

Finally, the political instability and the lack of democracy can raise unsurpassable barriers on the way of the South to the breakthrough in human development and quality of living.