1. Lecture
GEOG 335
Fall 2007
October 2, 2007

2. Background to the Development Project
What do you think of when you think of development?
Let’s just throw out some words.
What does it mean to be developed?
Who/where is in need of development?
What sort of activities do you think of as development?

3. Defining Development
“Gradual unfolding, fuller working out; growth; evolution…; well grown state, stage of enhancement; product; more elaborate form….”
- Oxford English Dictionary (adapted in Potter et al, 2004)
“Development is a founding belief of the modern world….In development, all the modern advancements in science, technology, democracy, values, ethics and social organization fuse into the humanitarian project of producing a better world”
(Peet & Hardwick 1999)
“for two thirds of the people of the earth, [the] positive meaning of the word ‘development’ - profoundly rooted after two centuries of its social construction - is a reminder of what they are not. It is a reminder of an undesirable, undignified condition. To escape from it they need to be enslaved to others’ experiences and dreams.”
(Esteva 1992)
[Read quotes – note huge disparity in the way Dev’t is thought about]
As we can see, “development”- like all important ideas - is a powerful, confusing and hotly contested term. It means different things to different people in different times and different places. So when a person or institution talks about “development” or a “development” project, it is important to understand the context – and to think about what “development” means to them and what they hope to achieve.
There are however, some themes underlying the way in which “development” has been commonly talked about and understood in the past 50 years:

4. Emphasis on movement/progress
Moving from an undesirable to desirable condition (
poor to rich,
traditional to modern,
primitive to civilized,
agrarian to industrial)
Historical movement: towards a better future
Geographical movement: spreading from one place into another place
Strong emphasis on (linear) movement – of forward progress.
Moving from an undesirable state to a desirable state. (poor to rich, traditional to modern, primitive to civilized, from agrarian to industrial, etc.)
Movement through history (the past to the present and into the future)
Movement across geography (spreading from one place into another)

5. Emphasis on common goals
Who sets development goals?
What criteria is used to set goals?
How are development goals evaluated?
Goals can be a window on “meanings” of development.
Strong emphasis on standards and goals – in order to achieve it development must commonly defined and understood – so that we can all work towards development. One of the major themes of this class has to do with thinking about development standards and goals. We will ask:
Who sets development goals?
What criteria are used to set those goals?
How are those development goals evaluated?

6. Development actors/subjects
Who “does” Development?
(Development Actors)
The way in which development is usually talked about, particularly in speaking about “international development”, it is implied that there are actors (who “do” development) and subjects (who are, as a result, developed). Another major theme of this class is to explore the actors and subjects of development.
Who are the actors? (slide of development actors)

7. Development actors/subjects
Who has Development “done” to them?
(Development Subjects)
Who are the subjects? (slide of development spaces/subjects)

8. Development/development
“…‘big D’ Development [can be] defined as a post-second world war project of intervention in the ‘third world’ that emerged in the context of decolonization and the cold war, and
‘little d’ development [as] the development of capitalism as a geographically uneven, profoundly contradictory set of historical processes.”
(Hart, 2001: 650, quoted in Lawson 2006: 3)
As I’ve already mentioned, we are going to draw on a large variety of sources, but primarly out of Critical Development Studies literature, in order to think critically about Development in two ways:
“Big D” development: refers to the Post-WWII Development Project or, as it is often termed, the Development Industry.
“little d” development: “refers to the unfolding of economic and social processes within capitalist societies.”
Of course, the two meanings of development are closedly interconnected to one another, and together they represent a particular (and dominant) way of seeing the world, or “worldview” that draws on shared understandings and assumptions about the meaning of concepts such as: progress, modernity, rationality, and so forth.
And to understand where that “worldview” comes from we need to spend a few minutes talking about the origins of devleopment.

9. Origins of Development

10. 18th and 19th Century Europe
(particularly in England)
Development as unfolding (18th century)
Development as evolution/growth/scientific progress (19th century)
The moral need for controlled development in the face of uncontrolled capitalist growth
Development as a moral response to economic change/industrial revolution:
centered around scientific & industrial progress
emphasis on Christian ideals: trusteeship, mission/conversion, moral duty (“White man’s burden”)
The word development, as it is understood today, had its precursors in 18th and 19th century Europe – and particularly in England. In the 18th century it had a root sense of unfolding and in the 19th century it was closely associated with ideas of evolution forwarded by scientists such as Darwin. This gave the word its strong associations to ideas of growth, science and progress within the Western world.
Development was also associated with economic theories and debates emerging at this time, and these debates took on moral, ethical and theological overtones as they were set against the perceived disorder, chaos and injustices of rapid capitalist growth as theorized by economists such as David Ricardo, Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus.
These early ideas of development emphasized the need for controlled development as a response to liberal economists promotion of unfettered and uncontrolled capitalist growth and accumulation. These early critics of the industrial revolution based their ideas both on the theoretical/moral belief that unregulated and uncontrolled desire was the root of misery and vice, but also based on the real world injustices and immiseration of large numbers of people in course of the industrial revolution.
So development emerged as a cultural and theological response to economic change in Victorian Europe (and North America) and as part of the struggle and debate on how to define and to understand progress.
So development centered around industrial and scientific visions of capitalist progress but that were also bound up with what were termed “Christian ideals” such as: trusteeship, mission and faith.

11. Colonialism and the Third World
Colonial Possessions, c. 1945
At this time, we also must consider the international context of the industrial revolution – colonialism – this phase of colonialism (or imperialism as it is also called) peaked in the late 19th century and was absolutely key to the industrial revolution. This is important to emphasize, because often the idustrial revolution is talked about as if it existed in a vacumn – in isolated parts of England, when in fact, England’s imperial/colonial project was a crucial part of the process. What this means, and we will discuss this point in more detail later in the course, is that without the colonies (which later became “developing countries”) there would have been no industrial revolution and therefore no “developed countries.”
This is because colonialism during this time was rooted in world capitalism – the search for raw materials and for new markets. It worked in two phases, like this –
“Third World”

12. Phase 1: Search for Wealth
Gold, ivory, spices
SLAVES – why?
Looking for precious goods. – Mechantilism, accumulation of wealth in terms of Capital (bullion)
Beginnings of international political economy…
Triangle Trade

13. Political Economy of Slavery
Plantation and mining economies of the “New World” required cheap slave labor…
… producing cheap raw materials for European and New England manufacturing
.. Finished goods (like guns, alcohol, iron) exported from Europe to purchase slaves

14. Phase 2: Search for Raw Materials
raw materials (including food, natural resources, and labor power) were extracted from the colonies, sent to the home countries, turned into manufactured goods (of higher value) and then sold back to both the domestic markets and to the colonies (at higher prices). A prime example of this process was in textile manufacturing. Cotton came from the colonies of Egypt and India, was shipped to England, where it was manufactured into cloth (often using motifs and patterns – such as paisley – adapted from traditional Indian designs), and then sold back on market in India (where home production of textiles was banned – under the justification of being ‘inefficient’ and ‘backwards’).
was the key era of this form of colonialism such that between 1875 and 1915, ¼ of the earth’s land surface was colonized by half a dozen states. At this time, Britain, France and Germany increased their holdings by 4 million, 3.5 million and 1 million square miles respectively.
This form of colonialism is described as ‘classical imperialism’ and was no longer rooted in mercantilism but was rooted in a new phase of capitalist and nationalist development.
… to feed the industrial revolution

15. Colonialization Redraws the Map

16. Justifications & Motivations for Colonialism (…and Development)
A philanthropic effort, often with religious and moral overtones
A benign force of economic modernization and social advancement
A way to gain access to resources and to open up new markets
A way to shape the geopolitical landscape by influencing/controlling territory (now countries) and by denying your rivals/enemies influence/control
Similar to justifications for “Development”:
Motivations for colonialism (during both this and earlier phases) were understood in terms that are similar to contemporary justifications for development (the readings for next week discuss this connection/continuation in more detail):
A philanthropic effort, often with religious and moral overtones (a civilizing mission, the white man’s burden, a need to convert heathens to Christianity)
A benign force of economic modernization and social advancement – ensuring law and order, the sanctity of private property, infrastructure, and modern political and legal institutions.
A way to gain access to resources (particularly raw materials) and to open up new markets (to sell all of those goods you are now able to manufacture).
A way to shape the geopolitical landscape by influencing and controlling places (now countries) and (more importantly) denying your rivals/enemies control and influence.

17. Colonialism & Capitalism
The success of the industrial revolution based on European colonial expansion
Colonies provided raw materials for extraction and markets for manufactured goods.
Between 1875 and 1915: 1/4 of the earth’s land surface was colonized by a handful of countries
Different from merchantilism: rooted in new economic (capitalist) and political (nationalist/ imperialist) processes
Summary –
NOT MERCHANTILISM ANY MORE… This form of colonialism is described as ‘classical imperialism’ and was no longer rooted in mercantilism but was rooted in a new phase of capitalist and nationalist development.

18. Emergence of the Modern Development Project
Nationalism and Struggles for Independence in the Colonies
Rise of Economics as dominate force in Development Theory
Applying Economic Development to (former) Colonies (particularly in Africa)
President Truman and the “invention” of Development
During the two world wars what is now known as development theory became dominated by the profession of economics, which itself had redefined itself as a ‘scientific’ discipline unconcerned with moral/ethical/theological considerations and based on material well-being, rationality, governable laws, and predictability.
During the 1930s the colonial world began to be reconfigured into the developing world as colonies began the long fight for independence and statehood. These colonies and later countries, especially in Africa, became serious objects of planned economic development after the Great Depression in the 1930s.
The contemporary meaning of “development” is viewed by historians as ‘invented’ or ‘discovered’ by President Harry Truman in his famous inagural speech of 1949.
In his inaugural address he announced his concept for a ‘fair deal’ for the entire world. He also positioned the US as the problem solver for the ‘underdeveloped areas’ of the world.

19. Truman’s 1949 Inaugural Address