Explain why the North-South divide may no longer be considered relevant?

The concept of the North- south divide emerged from the 1980 Brandt reports explaining the idea that business and prosperity was generally situated in the North meanwhile poverty and corruption was concentrated in the South. This divide has been exaggerated by developing states, world debt and the ways transatlantic companies are able to exploit the rural south with low wages and low investment, demonstrating the structural inequalities. However, this may be considered irrelevant due to the emergence of development in the South. China, India and the 'Asian Tiger' economies have made vast economic gains with China lifting over 6 million people out of poverty. These economies can no longer be considered structurally incompetent, demonstrating the majority of poverty to be concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa. Also, the term has been abandoned due to its vagueness as poverty and under development are complex issues often caused by social, cultural and political issues such as corruption and dictatorships. This means that we cannot class states as simply developed and underdeveloped, a more meaningful description would be using the Peripheral models or Wallerstein's Core. Finally, there are new patterns of poverty and disadvantage which render the North-South divide obsolete. With the emergence of Neo- colonialism there are new forms of poverty which may not take the traditional under developed economic form and instead create a state dependent on a TNC.