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Summary Understanding Development Paul Hopper
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IntroductionGoal and process of development are becoming modern and modernizing. Some dominant themes of
the 19th century are: science, capitalism, industrialization and imperialism.
After WWII, UN, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were designed to bring about post-
war reconstruction and international economic imperialism. Also Colonial Development Act (CDA) which
set up a Colonial Development Fund (CDF) to allocate relatively small amounts of British governmental
money to colonial economic development.
Africa has been termed ‘second colonial occupation. It has been invested by France and Britain to
develop transport infrastructures, educational systems and agricultural production of their colonies.
In this view the colonial is seen as something good and positive for the development. Others see it as a
negative effect, colonial powers attempted to develop their colonies as trading powers that contributed
to the colonial economy. And not for the development of the countries themselves, in their eyes
development was a patronizing project that enabled the West to continue dictating to the no-western
world.
In the early stage the counterattacks and theories of colonization took the form of structuralism which
advocated protectionism.
Later on the appeal of dependency theories was strengthened by persistence and deepening of global
inequalities without countries breaking free from underdevelopment.
In the 80s there was the debt crisis that stroke the developing countries. This caused high interest rates.
Africa and Latin America were confronted with declining FDI (foreign direct investment) because of the
recession. Therefore many developing countries sought financial assistance from international financial
institutions (IFI) like the World Bank and the IMF.
Development of the UN system
The UN is created after the second World War to foster development and address related issues.
Concern about the nature of the economic relationships between developing countries and the West led
to the setting up of UN commission for trade and development (UNCTAD). Their goal was to integrate
developing nations into the global economy. (no success and low influence)
The UN is funded from a combination of voluntary contributions and the assessed contributions of
countries.
Conceptualizing development
What is intended with development? This is hard to answer because over time there have been several
terminologies of development. Therefore it has become a multifaceted phenomenon.
Development is also being experiences in different ways by different countries/people. It also changed
over time: in the beginning, development was a concept which pays more attention to the quality of
human life, so more attention is paid to political freedom and social welfare.
Therefore the UN started the HDI (Human Development Index) as an alternative measure of
development to GDP. In this way development is expanding the choices of people have to lead lives that
they value.
,So the focus lays upon leading long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable through success to
education, and have the necessary resources to achieve a decent standard of living.
A key theme within human-centred development is the notion of empowerment. Especially with the
concept of women and participation. Development may also be related to being free, and the provision
of choice and opportunity for people: ‘entitlements’ and ‘capabilities’.
There are several factors that may have an influence on the shape of development. Culture, history,
degree of political stability, degree of social cohesion in the country, geography , natural resource
endowments.
Further complicating matters is the fact that there is a range of actors and agencies in the development
process, including international institutions, states or governments, bilateral donors, NGOs, aid
agencies, private companies, etc. This means that development comes to be defined in a multiplicity of
ways because there are a multiplicity of developers who are interested with the task of development.
Globalization, poverty and inequality
Poverty seemed to be reduced, but the inequality rose. Especially in countries like China, Indian, Russia,
Sweden, the UK and the United States. While China’s rapid economic growth has reduced absolute
poverty within the country, it has also contributed to a sharp increase in inequality that threatens future
poverty reduction.
Thus the income and wealth generated by the fast economic growth of countries like China, India and
Brazil has generally not been evenly spread within those societies. With this problem and the fact that
poverty, development will be impeded.
Measuring global poverty and inequality
It is hard to measure because data may be manipulated and is difficult to access. Poverty is mainly
measured at the household level, but this can generate its own problems as households often contain
their own inequalities and in particular they can be highly gendered institutions.
The problem of measurement also includes the way poverty and inequality are defined, what is de
concept and are they measured on the basis of income, consumption or capability.
Capability = quality of life outcomes, like longevity (length of life), education and health. The freedom to
achieve various lifestyles. Development should therefore be about us utilizing and expanding our
capabilities, and hence our freedom, as a means of enriching our lives.
Also inequality should be more than only the differences in income and wealth between or within
countries. It also refers to differences in consumption expenditure levels and the access to education,
health care and other social services.
Poverty and inequality are therefore context specific, they are shaped by the intersection of global,
local, regional and national factors and processes. But there are indeed general explanations for the high
incidence of poverty and inequality: level of debt in poor countries, legacies(nalatenschap) of
colonialism, the failure of aid programmes, the impact of technological change upon levels and types of
employment, the social devision created by an abundance of natural resources (example: experiences,
resources and productive capacity)
The resource curse = internal mismanagement and inappropriate development strategies and political
unstable and corrupt states.
, Tackling global poverty and inequality
The main way is MDG, Millennium Development Goals.
Focussing only on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is ineffective, as
is leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many. Inequality should
therefore not be forgotten.
Chapter 1 Theorizing development
From 3 worlds to the North-South divide
The notion of a Third World began to be articulated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as the
decolonization process was getting under way of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, but also as the future of
international affairs appeared to be between two alternatives worlds: either that of Washington or
Moscow. The Third World rejected the notion of a world divided into two, offering the prospect of a
new type of politics that did not take the path of either Soviet Socialism or Western capitalism. The
name Third World entered the world during the Cold War period coming simply to denote a set of
countries and geographical regions, which today are commonly referred to as developing countries or
the developing world. These are otherwise known as LEDs (less economically developed countries).
Some criteria that are frequently used to define the Third World countries:
1.) Relatively low per capita incomes
2.) Mainly agriculturally based economics with low levels of technology
3.) Ruled by an colonial power in the past
4.) Sizeable populations and growth rates, but also shorter life expectancies and higher rates of
infant mortality
5.) A low degree of social mobility
6.) Lower levels of educational attainment
Criticisms of the concept of the Third World
Some commentators consider that a global socio-economic classification scheme with only three
categories is too broad to reflect the great diversity of economies, cultures, political systems and values
that exist throughout the world. In every category there is diversity, the existence of underclasses within
First World societies, who can live in conditions equivalent to and in some cases worse than those found
in the Third World.
There are also big differences between countries within the Third World with regard to their
experiences of colonialism, their economic systems and their political systems.
There
Major economic approaches to development
1.) Economic growth theory
Keynesianism is the approach most associated with economic growth theory, and it came to exert an
enormous influence upon governments throughout the world after 1945.
Keynes emphasized the positive role governments could play in stimulating economic growth through
investment in new infrastructure projects, even if they have to borrow money to do so. This would lead
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