World Development The Theories

Modernisation Theory What stages of development did we have to go through?

The History of Modernisation Theory World War 2 ends… Countries are freed from colonial rule The Cold War begins Modernisation is the economic theory encouraged to those aligned with the west for development

Walt Rostow (1960) – The evolutionary ladder Traditional Society Pre-conditions for take-off Take-off Drive to maturity Age of Mass Consumption

How does modernisation help? Financial assistance can kick start the economies of developing countries – Stimulus packages But…this does not come without conditions Capitalist values must be taken on by the country and capitalist systems introduced

But what was wrong with the way we were? Modernisation stresses internal blocks to development Traditional Values High Birth Rates Lack of Skills Lack of infrastructure and institutions Lack of technology

Why is capitalism better? The wider state over the community The ability to succeed as an individual – What McClelland (1961) refers to as ‘the need for achievement’ in his The Achieving Society. The ‘cough’ ability to transcend social barriers Hoselite (1952) – cities are key They are centres passing on social and cultural developments Allow for a centralised workforce Transport links Inkles (1997) – Media as an agent of development

Does it work? Rostow predicted China and India would develop to the stage they are at now during this timeframe We still use development aid But…African countries (and others) have received large amounts of development aid and have failed to develop

Ethnocentric It is an ethnocentric theory – It judges other cultures by the values of western civilization It devalues traditional values and promotes western ones

Other Criticisms It assumes that every country has the natural resources for industrial expansion The investment in the economy often benefits the rich and not the poor (although there is supposed to be a trickle down effect) It ignores historical context The internal ‘blocks’ to development may be because of a lack of development not the cause of it

Consolidation Do you agree? How could you describe this theory in terms of a smaller human relationship? i.e. between a parent and child, husband and wife etc Create 5 revision cards One summarising Modernisation theory One for Rostow One for Hoselite One for Inkles One for McCelland

Traditional Marxism Agrees that capitalism is the way forward for development Disagrees with the distribution of wealth Beyond modernisation there is a socialist next stage Bill Warren (1980) – Capitalism is working to develop countries it is just happening slower than expected and being hindered by some misguided policies.

Dependency Theory Dependency Theory focuses on historical factors It sees the problem as external (caused by the developed countries) rather than internal (caused by failings in the developing countries)

Colonialism – Mercantile Era

Colonialism – Direct political control and the slave trade

The British Empire

Colonialism – Neo-Colonialism Although we have let many subject nations become independent we still retain a huge amount of political and economic control Capitalism is based on exploitation – the west exploits the LEDCs to further its own ends We benefit from the poverty and lack of development in third world countries We buy off a countries elites who then exploit the population

Andre Gunder Frank (1969) Studies the Latin American Economy Concludes that the development of the first world is reliant on the underdevelopment of the third world

Satellites/periphery nations (Reliant third world nations) Metropolis/core (Centre in the developed world)

Why does this mean that modernisation theory is rubbish? As the first world was developing it was never exploited It ignores the historical context and continuing legacy of colonialism For more see Potter on the next slide!

Potter (2000) Developing countries policies are not internal but dictated by outside demands (by core/metropolis) Because the country was ruled for so long they have experience of democracy Western powers have left a legacy legitimising force to quell uprisings The skilled workers in society were never native so when the western powers left so did the skilled workforce Colonialism leaves behind the idea of western invincibility

Pre-western influence Benin Empire (in modern day Nigeria)

Incans

What do they need to do to develop? Keep out foreign capital Isolate and become self sufficient Break away when the core/metropolis is weak Avoid capitalism

Criticisms It is very pessimistic with no view of real development ever being possible It does not give a guide to realistic action It ignores the internal factors

Consolidation Do you agree? How could you describe this theory in terms of a smaller human relationship? i.e. between a parent and child, husband and wife etc Create 3 revision cards 1 for dependency theory 1 for Gunder-Frank 1 for Potter

World Systems Theory Develops from the work of Immanuel Wallerstein 1970s Based on dependency perspective The factors influencing development are external but not a single individual country but the system itself But…if a country is producing a desired commodity it can move up forcing other countries down There will always be under developed countries which are taken advantage of

World Systems cont. There is a modern world system in which countries move up and down not simply core and periphery but semi-peripheral (these countries have developed and un-developed areas) It is a dynamic system with upwards and downwards movement Globalisation of capitalism

Criticisms Still no answer to overcome the problem Deterministic No internal factors – corruption

The Theory Impasse David Booth (1985) Old Theories are no longer adequate Modernisation cannot explain slow progress Dependency cannot account for rapid growth of Asian Tigers Communism’s end shows that traditional Marxism fails Postmodernism emerges and there is no longer a single metanarrative

Neo-Liberalism The new official theory of the 1980’s There are internal blocks – economic institutions which inhibit development Without these being removed capitalism cannot develop

Neo-Liberalism cont. Increase the importance of capitalism values and reduce the value of the state Sell off public assets to private sector Stop government interference in economy Reduce state spending Cut taxed to allow more spending Remove blocks on imports exports to allow integration in global economy

How it is imposed? Voluntary – as in the UK Structural adjustment programs imposed by the IMF and World Bank as part of the Washington Consensus (1989)

Has it worked? It appears to in China and India Where it has not the policies have not been properly introduced On the other hand…The Centre for Economic and Policy Research (study carried out by Weisbrot et al. 2001) – found there was less growth from 1980-2000 than there had been between 1960-1980