North-South? Pitfalls of dividing the world by words

The phrase 'North-South divide'-as rich as variations such as 'North-South gap' or `North-South cleavage'-has become well established in public discourse and scholarly writing. The phrase, however, is highly problematic, as it is simplistic and as there is et substantial danger of misapprehending it for 'reality' as such. The indiscriminate usage of the phrase 'North-South divide' overlooks tire ways in which words create and shape our understanding of the world, on which we, in turn, base our judgements and decisions. The arm of the present paper is to point out specific ways through which this linguistic distinction-as much as any other-shapes our conception of (social) reality. The paper is in trio parts. In the first Ire will initially draw out some pitfalls that inhere in the notion of a `North-South divide' qua notion, and then point to other pitfalls that relate to the usage of the expression. In the second part tyro case studies are presented to illustrate our arguments: one of their deals with China, the other with intellectual property, rights.