Structural Transformation and Sustainable Development in the Global South
An Integrated Approach
- 136 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
Structural Transformation and Sustainable Development in the Global South
An Integrated Approach
About This Book
This book investigates the relationship between sustainable development and structural transformation within international development policy.
On the one hand, sustainable development is promoted as a multi-dimensional concept for achieving environmentally and socially responsible change. On the other hand, structural transformation refers to a sustained period of growth in living standards and incomes that brings sectoral change. For some, these two objectives seem at odds with each other, but this book argues that incorporating environmental initiatives into structural transformation goals in lower-income countries actually results in better results than strategies prioritising economic growth. Drawing on extensive structural equation modelling and original analysis, the book presents an innovative inclusive sustainable development framework to demonstrate the benefits of a more integrated approach to development planning, aiming for structural transformation in line with inclusive sustainable development principles.
This book will be of interest to students and researchers of global development, and to policymakers within government and development organizations.
Frequently asked questions
1 Policy dilemmas for structural transformation to be sustainable
1.1 Contemporary policy mix
Box 1.1 Meta-discourse on the COVID-19 crisis and beyondOver the past months and year, the entire world has suffered from a shutdown, self or institutional quarantine, the collapse of medical systems, teleworking challenges, economic downturn and many other developments to which we had previously given little thought, if any. Nonetheless, we have also proved ourselves in terms of having the resilience, determination and solidarity to overcome such hardships observed across many countries in the world. What we have confronted and gone through together has given rise to new perceptions and emerging trends in the fields of politics, economy, industry, education, health and the environment. In other words, it has become clearer that we, the people, should respond proactively rather than fear the upcoming “new normal.” We need to unravel our new way of viewing the future we are facing; explore several potential policy considerations at the national level; and dissect the likely-to-be redefined future narrative of the post-COVID-19 era.1.1.1 Smart government for a newly redefined national security context
Despite its many uncertainties, the COVID-19 crisis is arguably an ideal opportunity to redefine the role of the state (EBRD, 2020; Greer et al., 2020). We have clearly observed and sometimes experienced that the safety of people is directly affected by the governance and institutional quality of individual governments. In parallel, citizens will have more room to tolerate any form of state intervention if it helps to ensure their lives and safety. During its crisis response, national governments seem to have secured justification to intervene regarding various state-led public health and socioeconomic interventions. Accordingly, a series of strong measures would in turn generate a great opportunity to strengthen its public administration capability if it attaches priority to how smart it is to protect people’s lives and safety, and how smartly it can provide public services and support during these difficult times and beyond.In the new normal era, the concept of competition between nations that has until now been centred on hard power, such as the economy and the military, will likely be re-centred on soft power, and our COVID-19 experiences may further emphasise that humanity itself becomes the ultimate goal of national security (Szymanski, Smuniewski and Platek, 2020). Effectively managing various newly and potentially redefined national security concepts, including economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security and political security would not be possible without a fully functional smart government systematically underpinned by a broad range of modern technology (Gupta et al., 2021).With respect to an e-governance system, smart government must be capable of facilitating and supporting better planning and decision-making to provide timely quality public services, with a particular focus on public health and cybersecurity, while the rest of the resources available will have to be invested in enhancing the role of the private sector to bring about innovative technology solutions to improve the smart governance system itself. In doing so, national governments will have to take a leading role in the smart governance solution by taking advantage of its status as a pioneering e-government system.1.1.2 Control tower for supply chain resilience
The degree of responsiveness to the rapid dynamics of the restructuring of the global supply chain has become a core capability in the COVID-19 era and will be even more so beyond the crisis’ end. As the current pandemic is seriously disrupting global and regional value chains, a sizeable number of multinational corporations are expected to take action by reshoring or U-turning to their home countries (Hoek, 2020).According to a survey conducted by the Bank of America (2020), nearly 80 per cent of China-based multinational corporations are currently considering reshoring. In effect, many are exposed to serious damage whereby only one supply chain disruption in the global value chain would destroy their business operations due to being closely linked to a globalised division of labour, from production to sales. No wonder, in this regard, that reshoring, or at least a plan to repatriate part of production from one country to another, would be encouraged in terms of supply chain system risk management if the pandemic persists. It should, however, be noted that reshoring or the U-turn option cannot be considered a fundamental solution capable of mitigating such risks. Diversifying the production bases to reduce labour and transportation costs and maintaining an international division of labour that fits the characteristics of each country and relevant businesses would remain essential in achieving global and regional market competitiveness.Monitoring such likely dynamic trends associated with supply chain disruption is a particularly critical consideration for a country that has maintained its trade performance by relying heavily on a certain group of countries or regions. Because of this, line ministries and relevant agencies must closely monitor and assess the changing trajectory in the global and regional supply chain. An integrated national approach to quickly respond to such changing dynamics will most probably be the key to future prosperity (Baek, 2019). Hence, the establishment of a nationwide supply chain crisis response centre should be carefully considered. This centre should be fully capable of supply chain resilience planning and management through close cooperation with import/export companies, trade unions, food authorities and a cooperative society. Full digitalisation of all these processes and the cooperation and integration of innovative technology solutions such as blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) will be required in the months to come (Kalla et al., 2020).1.1.3 Untact culture and industrial restructuring
Reflecting on our radical experiences over the past months and year, there is an increasing desire to enjoy meals and leisure at home as long as social distancing guidelines emphasise that we do so to protect ourselves from COVID-19. We will have to prepare thoroughly for when this so-called untact culture is routinised, something that the COVID-19 crisis will most likely leave behind as part of its legacy (Bae and Chang, 2020). In other words, this pandemic is likely to instil in us a perception that a house where one can control everything is the safest place to be. The spread of such an outlook may influence changes in the structure of service sectors, and hence predicting new demands and responding in advance will be crucial for businesses in preparation for new business opportunities. Meanwhile, there would also be an urgent need for governments to prepare preemptive policy alternatives that effectively respond to anticipated industrial restructuring (de Jong and Ho, 2020).Such prospective restructuring is likely to lead to a new era of distance education. This may consist of blended learning, which combines online and offline education, or flipped learning, in which teachers and students engage in offline discussions after prior online learning (Kocoglu and Tekdal, 2020; Ince, Kabul and Diler, 2020). Such methods are expected to become widespread during and after this crisis. Now is the time for national governments to ...
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title
- Series
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- List of boxes
- Preface
- 1 Policy dilemmas for structural transformation to be sustainable
- 2 Revisiting the theoretical foundation of structural transformation towards sustainability
- 3 An integrated framework for sustainable structural transformation
- 4 Prioritising interventions for sustainable structural transformation: A structural equation modelling approach
- 5 An integrated approach to shaping the future we want
- Index