Fundamentals of Political Science Dr. Sujian Guo Professor of Political Science San Francisco State Unversity

Development and Underdevelopment Development refers to a state of human well-being or the actual process of changing or making a progress toward some sort of expansion, improvement and completeness in terms of economic productivity, social well-being, quality of life, and political structure. Underdevelopment is mainly used in the sense of a group of nations being underdeveloped by some outside forces, as the result of the historical process of global capitalist development, as well as referred to as a state of dependency and marginality in the periphery nations which creates obstacles for the development of these countries.

Problems of Development Politically marginalized: these countries lack the political and economic power to play an active role in global and regional affairs, largely rely upon foreign aid and official development assistance, and are largely forced to react to global changes rather than play significant part in influencing those changes; Economically marginalized: they are usually in a disadvantageous position when they trade with the industrially developed countries, with a limited economic base and financial resources, rely heavily on agriculture, on one or two major exports, such as coffee, oil, copper, fruit, and on imported manufactured goods and machinery;

Problems of Development Problems of economic development: these countries seek economic development and modernization, but suffer from political instability, economic underdevelopment or stagnation, and other social problems; Problems of political development: these countries seek political development, facing such fundamental challenges as nation-building, state- building, participation, and distribution.

Problems of Development Political regimes and institutions: most of these countries have weak and unstable civilian political institutions, with low levels of legitimacy and public acceptance, primarily dominated by personal rule, military dictatorships, and one-party rule; (India, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Colombia, and Jamaica are a few exceptions) Most are undemocratic, while many are making transitions to democracy. Historical legacies: most of these countries were for a considerable period of time colonies of one of European nations, and one of colonial legacies is a weak sense of national identity among the inhabitants within a given territory, in terms of their ethnic, tribal, religious, or linguistic differences. This is mainly because their borders were laid down by competing European powers, with little regard for local differences. National identity is the minimum prerequisite for political stability and development in a country.

Contending Theories  Modernization Theory  Dependency Theory  World-system Theory

Modernization Theory 1.divides all societies into traditional and modern; 2.emphasizes that economic development is prerequisite for democracy; 3.emphasizes the need to enhance the capacity of political system; 4.emphasizes the role of political culture in the transformation of traditional societies into modern societies;

Modernization Theory 5. emphasizes the effects of economic growth in the transformation of traditional societies into modern societies; 6. assumes that all societies will travel from tradition to modernity, and that industrial and democratic Western countries are the model for the latecomers to emulate; 7. assumes that modernization will inevitably dissolve the traditional traits of the Third World countries, and traditional values and structures must be replaced by a set of modern ones;

Modernization Theory 8. defines the nature of the relations between the North and the South as interdependence based upon the principles of comparative advantages and free trade; 9. the solution or policy implication the modernization theory suggests is that the traditional and backward Third World societies should look to the modern and developed Western societies for guidance, while the Western countries should transmit more modern values, institutions, technology, financial investment to the Third World countries.

Major critics modernization theory is criticized as biased and ethnocentric, that is, the development categories, stages, and processes involved are all derived from the Western experience rather than from the developing countries. There are other paths available to the Third World countries, and these alternatives neither have to use democratic institutions nor do LDCs need to reach a Western level of development to be considered successful.

Major critics modernization theory misinterprets the role of traditional values and institutions in the economic development, social coherence, and political stability. It was often possible for a Third World country to retain their own traditional cultural attributes along with a modern economy;

Major Critics some radical critics even charge that modernization theory is a political ideology that is tended to promote the Western values and used to justify Western dominance and to keep the Third World in control or “in chains” by which they could resist communist appeals.

Dependency Theory 1. divides the world into core and periphery countries; 2. dependency is seen as a general process applicable to all Third World countries; 3. dependency is understood to be an external condition, imposed by the historical experience of colonialism and the perpetuation of the unequal international division of labor; 4. dependency is largely a result of the flow of economic surplus from Third World countries to Western capitalist countries;

Dependency Theory 5. the political economy of the periphery had been totally restructured by Western colonialism to meet the needs of the core countries, thereby leading to the underdevelopment; 6. dependency is regional polarization of the global economy -- underdevelopment in the periphery countries and development in the core countries are two aspects of a single process of capital accumulation; 7. dependency is seen as incompatible with the development, although minor development can occur during periods of the de-association with the core capitalist world;

Dependency Theory 8. defines the nature of the relations between the North and the South as dependency based upon political/economic/cultural/technological dominance of the core countries and inequality exchange between periphery and core countries; 9. the solution or policy implication the dependency theory suggests is that peripheral countries should sever their ties with core countries and adopt a self-reliance model -- relying upon their own resources and planning their own paths of development so as to achieve independence and autonomous national development.

World-system Theory 1. divides the world into core, periphery, and semi-periphery countries – the central core of industrially advanced capitalist states, a periphery of industrially undeveloped countries, and a semi-periphery of a mixture in between those of core and periphery; 2. the world economy is not composed of individual independent national economies that happen to trade with each other, but tied together by a complex network of the capitalist world economy; 3. the uneven development of the world capitalist system leads to an unequal international economic division of labor; 4. the relations among core, periphery and semi-periphery countries are conditioned and shaped by an integrated single capitalist world-system.

World-system Theory 5. defines the nature of the relations between the North and the South as the dominance-dependence and the inequality in industrial capacity and state power. That is to say, the core countries control or dominate the economic, political and cultural life of the periphery countries on one side, while the periphery countries are subjected to the development and expansion of the core countries in the global system and lack the internal dynamic which could enable them to function as independent and autonomous entities on the other side. 6. Therefore, the solution to the problem of economic underdevelopment can only be found in the reform of the world-system -- “an equalitarian world-system.”

Major Critics (1)The above discussion has shown that both world-system and dependency theorists, while somewhat different from each other, share the same methodology – “looking outward” and attributing underdevelopment to its external relations in the world market and international system that are governed by the interests of dominant nations and of certain classes and groups in them. However, both dependency and world-system theorists overlook the impact of the internal constraints of the underdeveloped countries -- the economic, political, social, and cultural characteristics and structures of these countries -- upon the development of the underdeveloped areas and countries.

Major Critics (2)For the policy implications under this category, breaking-up of the old system is seen as necessary before the establishment of “an equalitarian world-system;” in the meanwhile, the periphery states should cooperate to offset the power of the core. However, this involves them in a problematic relation with the global economic dynamics that underlies the change of the world-system and the possibilities in the direction of development at every occurrence of upward and downward turns in the world- economy.

Who is right? Three theories have provided three solutions to the Third World development: - Increase of modernity - Independence and de-linking from the world economy - Reform of the world system Q: Which side do you think has more power for explaining the Third World development in the last several decades?