Chart 1.

    Origins of the Problematique Humaine Associated With Three Models of Internationalizing Social Work Education


The
Social Welfare
Model
The
Social Development
Model
The
"New World Order"
Model
The dominant economic and political systems reinforce particular values or principles at the expense of a large, and growing, "under class" of impoverished or socially disenfranchised persons who are unable to participate equitably in these systems (e.g., individualism, competition, wealth accumulation)

Certain groups of people--owing to factors beyond their control (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender)--are disadvantaged by stratification, mobility and other norms that reward some, but penalize others

Other groups of people owing to age, disability, illness, solitary survivorship, etc. are unable to remain self-sufficient and, thus become dependent on resources of the "commonwealth" to meet their needs

Social welfare is viewed as the primary instrumentality through which society responds to the legitimate needs of dependent persons

Dominant national and international social, political, and economic systems frustrate the efforts of disenfranchised persons and developing countries in achieving parity with "social haves"

Inequalities between "rich" and "poor" countries are largely the product of three forces: (1) for the majority of developing countries, the legacy of a recent colonial past; (2) "victimization" by dominant international economic and political forces that are controlled by rich countries and over which poor countries are able to exercise comparatively little control; and (3) "accidents" of geography that "trap" resource poor, land-locked, and small island developing countries in conditions of perpetual deprivation

Within developing countries, economic and political inequalities mirror those that exist in the international political order, i.e., greed and the pursuit of personal wealth and political power by the few at the expense of the many

Existing world order systems (social, political, economic, and moral) are controlled by a minority of self-interested rich and powerful nation-states located in the industrialized "North"

Because of their comparative advantages, rich countries have a vested interest in sustaining the economic dependency of the South on the North; as a result, the North "manipulates" the existing world economic and political order so as to sustain the South's dependency

These activities are perceived to be particularly important because of the North's dependency on developing countries for cheap labor, raw materials, military bases, and markets to which finished products can be exported

Hence, rich countries contribute sparingly toward the South's efforts to acceleration the pace of their own social, economic, political, and military development


Footnote: 1 A phrase used by the Club of Rome to describe the profound and menacing "...cluster of worldwide problems--not only material in nature--(that are) growing at an incredible speed when viewed in historical perspective" (Mesarovic and Pestel, 1974. Mankind at the Turning Point, p. xii).