Summary in English of the book "Theories and Practices of development" by Katie Willis (2nd edition). Summary includes notes from the lectures about this book (written in grey).
Cultural anthropology and development studies Radboud University
Willis “Theories and practices of development” – 2nd edition
Summary
Chapter 1 “Introduction: what do we mean by development?”
In 2000 the United Natons adopted the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). hhey suggest that
the end point of a society materss not so much how the goals are achieved.
Box 1.1: MDGs: 8 goals including goals for educatonn ooertyn gender equalityn healthn enoironmental
sustainability and global artnershi for deoelo ment.
Development:
- Development is a very contested concept.
o Naton building: natonal identtys communites.
o Modernizaton: progress.
o Economy: incomes independences debts.
- Nowadays there is more atenton to the diversity of experiences and development
models.
Modernity = the conditon of being moderns new or up-to-date. What is modern will change over
tme and also spatally.
- Modernity has been used as a term to describe partcular forms of economy and society
based on experiences of Western Europe and the USA. It encompasses industrializaton and
increased technology and Enlightenment.
- hhe term has been taking out of its context. Now it is interpreted as development or
progresss or the destructon of natural environments and a decline in the quality of life.
People who defne modernity as development look at development in economic terms.
hhey use the Gross Natonal Income (per capita) to determine income and so
development. hhey assume that with greater wealth come other benefts that improve
the quality of life. So it focuses on economic indicators.
- GNP = natonal products GINI= diferences within a country (usually comes with violence).
Box 1.2
Gross Domestc orduct (GD ): oalues of all goods/seroices roduced within a country.
Gross Natonal roduct (GN ): oalue of all good/seroices claimed by residents of a countryn regard;ess
of where the roducton tooo lace.
Gross Natonal ncome (GN ): alternatoe name for GN .
hhere are now more revised versions of the GNIs as the Human Development Index. hhe HDI counts
economic aspects plus other indicators related to well-being (healthy lifes educatonnknowledges
standard of living). hhere are great similarites between the results of the GNI and the HDIs but there
is not a complete overlap.
hhese results do not consider inequality in spatal terms or social terms.
Later came the MDG’s (internatonal commitment)and the DSG’s (focus on the interrelatons of
problems and atenton to inequality in hhe North.
SDG’s are very quanttatve without addressing the inequality.
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,Cultural anthropology and development studies Radboud University
hhird world:
- hhe term is developed afer WWII when many former colonies became independent.
- It also refects the efects of the Cold War.
- In the 90’s the term was no longer appropriate because of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the
widespread economic liberalizaton and democratzaton.
Development at diferent scales:
- individuals locals regionals natonals global. De defniton of and the approach to development
can difer by scale.
- For examples natonal development fgures say nothing about the diferences between
regions in a country. In a sub-natonal scales income per capita may be good but it says
nothing about the equality of diferent people.
Poverty indicators are problematc. For examples the income may be higher in cites than in rural
areas bur the cost of living and availability of food may compensate for this.
It is also problematc to measure development. What indicators do you use? How are these defned?
Do countries have enough resources to collect the data? Measures are mostly quanttatves but can
you exclude the qualitatve feelingsnopinionsnexperiences pf individuals? We usually use outsiders
ideas of development or poverty to measure local people. a qualitatve examinaton of poverty
puts the experiences of the people directly afected at the heart of the study.
hhe term developed in the distncton developedndeveloping implies that development has an end
points that once you reach a certain point you are developed. hhis fails to recognize the dynamism of
all societes and the contnued desire for improvements.
Eurocentrism = the assumpton that European or western ideas are the only ideas or approaches that
are important. So westernnnorthern superiority. It is also based on the assumpton that the north is
homogenous. It is regarded as refectng the power relatons such that the opinions of the white
middle-classn elite man is privileged.
Colonialism:
= the politcal control of peoples and territories by foreign statess whether accompanied by
signifcant permanent setlement or not.
- hhe importance of colonialism for development studies:
1. It created bonds and interactons at a global scale. hhe bonds between diferent regions
are referred to in many development studies.
2. hhe nature of power relatons imbedded in colonial processes. It helps explain power
inequalites between the north and south. neo-colonialism = global relatonships
which refect the dominance of the north over the south despite legal independence.
3. hhe colonial experience varies across the world depending on the colonial powers pre-
existng social economic and politcal structures and the tming of the colonial power.
- Afer WW2 the pressure for decolonizaton increased: the USA and USSR advocated for
decolonizaton + the war had caused major economic problems in western Europe.
- But there was stll no politcal independence for the newly independent states. Partly
because of the representaton of the western way of doing things as ‘beter’.
Actors in development: individuals households communitys governments NGOs private companiess
multlateral organizatons.
Agency = an individual or group is able to make decisions and do things based on their
own choices.
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, Cultural anthropology and development studies Radboud University
hhe ‘impasse’ in development theory: global economic problems in the 80’s and the awareness that
de existng development theories had had no practcal successs led theorists to stop and think about
what development was and how it could be achieved. hhis led to greater diversity within the
concepts of development.
Postmodernism from the 80’s onward:
- It stresses diversity in socials spatal and temporal terms. Not everybody is the same.
- Understands the importance of power relatons and the infuence it has.
Postcolonialism from the 80’s onward:
- Seeks to disrupt ways of thinking about the world bases on northern assumptons.
- Recognizes diference but partcularly within the context of places and people who have
experienced colonialism.
- Atempts to understand the ideas about development that have been transferred as part of
the colonial process.
Critcism: it is playing academic games instead of dealing with the day-to-day problems.
Post-developmentalism: the development process as it has been experienced by southern countries
is based on Eurocentric assumptons. Development has helped incorporate large areas of the globe
into northern-dominated economic and politcal systems which has destroyed indigenous cultures.
Chapter 2 “modernization, Keynesianism and neoliberalism”
Changes in thinking about economic models to foster development: cyclical development = from
market to state to market.
Adam Smith:
- Protectonism = allowed merchants to carry out their actvites without competton. For
example: high import tarifs for goods produced outside a country. Against trade wars.
- Adam saw this as detrimental to the economic growth and the greater welfare of citzens.
- Division of labor improves productvity and economic growth.
- Invisible hand of the market = individuals act in self-interest so they don’t by products that
are too expensives so prices become lower to adjust. hhe same counts for low wages:
workers would go to a beter paying job. In other wordss individual eforts to pursue their
own interest may have societal benefts.
David Ricardo:
- Advocate of free trade.
- hheory of comparatve advantages = countries should concentrate on producing and selling
goods that they have an advantage in producing because of their assets. hhis means a global
division of labor. hhrough specializings producton would become more efcient.
Economic crises showed risks of the market: Keynes need for the government to regulate
economy and invest in service delivery (stmulatng economic development).
Economic growth theory:
- Classical economists believed in the market as a mechanism for maximizing efcient resource
use and human well-being. hhis was challenged in the 20 th century due to market failure.
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