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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Bildung
- Sprache: Englisch
Understanding Development offers a comprehensive introduction to the multidimensional and evolving nature of international development in the contemporary world. This new edition has been fully revised and expanded to incorporate the key events, trends and debates that are shaping development today, such as humanitarianism and the global refugee crisis, the growing number of fragile states, and the contested nature of trade and trade deals. Building on the book's original framework, the second edition also includes three new chapters which explore development in relation to global policy formation, focusing on the end of the UN Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and the start of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which will run until 2030.
Designed to offer something different to the standard introductions to the topic, this issues-driven text examines the debates that have generated the most interest and passion among practitioners and non-practitioners alike. Always attentive to the contested and plural nature of the field, it makes the case for a genuinely interdisciplinary approach which takes full account of the impact of globalization. Both wide-ranging and critical, Understanding Development is the essential student guide to one of the most challenging subjects of our age.
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Contents
Cover
Dedication
Title Page
Copyright
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
Acronyms and Abbreviations
Introduction: Understanding Development
A brief history of development
Development and the United Nations system
Conceptualizing development
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITE
Notes
1 Theorizing Development
From three worlds to the North–South divide
Major economic approaches to development
The East Asian ‘miracle’
Conclusion
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
2 Approaching Development
Culture and development
Anthropology and development
Post-development perspectives
Conclusion
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
Notes
3 Health, Education and Population
Population and development
Health and development
Education and development
Conclusion
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
4 Gender and Development
A brief history of gender and development
Women and development
Gender and development: critical debates
Gender and development: future trajectories
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
5 Conflict, Security and Development
The merging of development and security
Fragile and failing states
Human security
Peacekeeping
Post-conflict development
The reform of the United Nations system
Conclusion: conflict, security and development
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
6 Trade and Development
The free trade debate
Fair trade and development
The WTO and the world trading system
Trade and development: a complex relationship
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
7 Participation and Representation in Development
Participatory development
NGOs and development
International institutions and representation
Civil society, social capital and development
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
8 Financing Development: Foreign Aid and Debt
The debt crisis in the developing world
Dealing with debt
Foreign aid
Does aid work?
The G8 Gleneagles agreement
Enhancing the effectiveness of aid
Global development cooperation
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
9 Sustainable Development
Development and the global environment
Globalization, development and the environment
Global governance and the environment
Sustainable development
Conclusion: global sustainable development
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
10 Globalization and Development
Approaching globalization
Globalization and the developmental state
Globalization and development
Globalization and the network society
Globalizing cities and uneven development
Conclusion
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
11 Migration, Displacement and Humanitarianism
Displacement, development and the refugee crisis
Conclusion: displacement, development and the refugee crisis
Humanitarianism and development
Conclusion: humanitarianism and development
Migration, remittances and development
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
12 The UN Millennium Development Goals
The UN Millennium Development Goals
Criticism of the MDGs
MDGs – the achievements
How effective were the MDGs?
Conclusion
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITE
Notes
13 The UN Sustainable Development Goals
The formation of the Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals: critical perspectives
The need for a data revolution
Financing the Sustainable Development Goals
The prospects for the Sustainable Development Goals
Conclusion
Summary
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITE
Notes
Conclusion: Development – Future Trajectories
What has development actually achieved?
In defence of development
Development: future trajectories
Conclusion
RECOMMENDED READING
WEBSITES
Notes
Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
Figures
5.1 UN peacekeeping budget
10.1 Percentage of individuals using the internet in 2016
11.1 UNHCR’s persons of concern
11.2 International humanitarian response, 2000–2015
11.3 International migration trend, 2000–2015
Boxes
1.1 Walt Rostow’s stages of economic growth
1.2 A critique of Rostow’s thesis
3.1 The gender imbalance in some developing societies
3.2 The Ebola epidemic in West Africa
3.3 South Africa and HIV/AIDS
3.4 The Six Education for All Goals
4.1 Gender and development policy approaches: 1950 onwards
4.2 The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action
4.3 MDGs Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
4.4 MDGs Goal 5: Improve maternal health
4.5 The Millennium Development Goals Report 2008
4.6 Criticisms of WID
4.7 Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN)
5.1 The peacekeeping record of the UN
5.2 The Brahimi Report of 2000
5.3 Peacekeeping in Darfur
5.4 Who are the UN peacekeepers?
7.1 Robert Chambers – ‘putting the last first’
7.2 Participatory approaches to development
7.3 The Kribhco Indo-British Farming Project
8.1 G8 Summit results in relation to aid, debt and trade
8.2 Debt cancellation at Gleneagles
9.1 The costs of China’s rapid development
9.2 The Rio Earth Summits Agreement
9.3 MDGs Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
9.4 The Brundtland Report and sustainable development
10.1 The return of the developmental state?
11.1 Definition of a refugee
11.2 The role of the UNHCR
11.3 The Dadaab refugee camp, Kenya
12.1 Key targets for MDG 1
12.2 MDG 1 achievements by 2015
12.3 Key target for MDG 2
12.4 MDG 2 achievements by 2015
12.5 Key target for MDG 3
12.6 MDG 3 achievements by 2015
12.7 Key target for MDG 4
12.8 MDG 4 achievements by 2015
12.9 Key targets for MDG 5
12.10 MDG 5 achievements by 2015
12.11 Key targets for MDG 6
12.12 MDG 6 achievements by 2015
12.13 Key targets for MDG 7
12.14 MDG 7 achievements by 2015
12.15 Key targets for MDG 8
12.16 MDG 8 achievements by 2015
13.1 The 17 Sustainable Development Goals
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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For Mum, Shaun, Tracey, Emma and Annaand in memory of my Dad
Understanding Development
Issues and Debates
Second edition
PAUL HOPPER
polity
Copyright © Paul Hopper 2018
The right of Paul Hopper to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First edition published in 2012 by Polity PressThis second edition published in 2018 by Polity Press
Polity Press65 Bridge StreetCambridge CB2 1UR, UK
Polity Press350 Main StreetMalden, MA 02148, USA
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-1054-2
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hopper, Paul, 1963- author.Title: Understanding development / Paul Hopper.Description: Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2018. | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2017021116 (print) | LCCN 2017023716 (ebook) | ISBN 9781509510535 (Mobi) | ISBN 9781509510542 (Epub) | ISBN 9781509510504 (hardback) | ISBN 9781509510511 (pbk.)Subjects: LCSH: Economic development. | Sustainable development. | Social policy. | Commercial policy. | Emigration and immigration.Classification: LCC HD82 (ebook) | LCC HD82 .H597 2018 (print) | DDC 338.9--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017021116
The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.
Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the publisher will be pleased to include any necessary credits in any subsequent reprint or edition.
For further information on Polity, visit our website:politybooks.com
Preface to the Second Edition
This revised and expanded edition of Understanding Development incorporates the key recent events and trends that are shaping international development, such as international migration, humanitarianism, population displacement, the global refugee crisis, the rise in the number of fragile states and the contested nature of trade and trade deals. This second edition also covers development in relation to global policy formation, focusing on the end of the UN Millennium Development Goals in 2015 and the start of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which will run until 2030. Three new chapters are added to this second edition dealing with these matters. However, the book builds on the framework of the original edition which presented a comprehensive introduction to the multidimensional and evolving nature of international development.
Acknowledgements
I am extremely grateful to Dr Louise Knight and Nekane Tanaka Galdos, and their colleagues at Polity Press, for their helpful advice and professional assistance at every stage in the production of the second edition of this book. I would also like to thank my anonymous reviewers who provided me with extensive notes on my manuscript and much to think about. Tony Inglis, my co-director at the Future Policy Organisation, and my brother, Shaun Hopper, helped me with the design of the graphics. My students on the BA (Hons) Globalisation: History, Politics, Culture and the MA Globalisation: Politics, Conflict and Human Rights at the University of Brighton deserve special mention both for allowing me to course-test this book and for their enthusiasm. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and working with you all. As with my previous books, I dedicate this book to my family.
Acronyms and Abbreviations
AAA
Accra Agenda for Action
AAPPG
Africa All Party Parliamentary Group
ACP
Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific region
ADB
African Development Bank
ADF
African Development Fund
AFTA
ASEAN Free Trade Area initiative
AGE
advisory group of experts
AIDS
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
AIIB
Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
AOAV
Action on Armed Violence
ART
anti-retroviral therapy
ARV
anti-retroviral
ASEAN
South East Asian Nations
ASI
Adam Smith Institute
ATPC
African Trade Policy Centre
AU
African Union
BNA
Basic Needs Approach
BRICS
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa
BWIs
Bretton Woods Institutions
CAP
Common Agricultural Policy
CAR
Central African Republic
CBDR
‘common but differentiated responsibilities’
CBOs
community-based organizations
CFCs
chlorofluorocarbons
CGD
Commission on Growth and Development
CHS
Commission on Human Security
CPEs
complex political emergencies
CSD
Commission on Sustainable Development
CSOs
civil society organizations
DAC
Development Assistance Committee
DAWN
Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era
DDR
disarmament, demobilization and reintegration
DFID
UK Department for International Development
DPKO
UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations
DRR
disaster risk reduction
ECLA
Economic Commission for Latin America
ECLAC
Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
ECOSOC
United Nations Economic and Social Council
EFA
Education for All
EJM
environmental justice movement
EPAs
Economic Partnership Agreements
ERM
European Exchange Rate Mechanism
ESAF
Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility
EU
European Union
FDI
foreign direct investment
FFD3
Third Financing for Development summit
FIDES
Fonds d’Investissement pour le Développement Economique et Social
FLO
Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International
FTAs
free trade agreements
G-77
Group of 77 countries
G8
Group of 8 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States)
G20
Group of 20 countries.
GAD
Gender and Development
GATT
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
GDI
Gender-related Development Index
GDP
gross domestic product
GEF
Global Environment Facility
GEG
global environmental governance
GEM
Gender Empowerment Measure
GHI
Global Hunger Index
GII
Gender Inequality Index
GNI
gross national income
GNP
gross national product
GOARN
Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (part of the WHO)
GPEDC
Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation
HDI
United Nations Human Development Index
HIPC
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative
HLF
High Level Forum
HLP
High-Level Panel
HSRP
Human Security Report Project
HSU
UN Human Security Unit
IATI
International Aid Transparency Initiative
ICANN
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
ICC
International Criminal Court
ICPD
International Conference on Population and Development
ICTs
information and communication technologies
IDA
International Development Association
IDC
International Development Committee (UK)
IDPs
internally displaced persons
IDPS
International Dialogue on Peacebuilding and Statebuilding
IDS
Institute of Development Studies (Brighton, UK)
IEAG
Independent Expert Advisory Group
IFIs
international financial institutions
IFPRI
International Food Policy Research Institute
IGO
international intergovernmental organization
IISS
International Institute for Strategic Studies
ILO
International Labour Organization
IMF
International Monetary Fund
INGOs
international non-governmental organizations
IOM
International Organization for Migration
IPA
International Peace Academy
IPCC
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPD
infectious and parasitic disease
IPFA
Information Project for Africa
ISI
import-substitution industrialization
ITU
International Telecommunication Union
KRIBP
Kribhco Indo-British Farming Project
LA21
Local Agenda 21
LDCs
least developed countries
LEDCs
less economically developed countries
LRRD
linking relief, rehabilitation and development
MDGs
Millennium Development Goals
MDGGTF
MDG Gap Task Force
MDRI
Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative
MEAs
multilateral environmental agreements
MEDCs
more economically developed countries
MERCOSUR
Southern Cone Common Market
MMR
maternal mortality rate
MNCs
multinational corporations
MRG
Minority Rights Group International
MSF
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders)
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement
NAM
Non-Aligned Movement
NATO
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NGOs
non-governmental organizations
NICs
newly industrializing countries
NIEO
new international economic order
NNGOs
northern non-governmental organizations
NPA
New Policy Agenda
NSDS
national sustainable development strategy
OCHA
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
ODA
official development assistance
ODI
UK Overseas Development Institute
OECD
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OPEC
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
OWG
UN Open Working Group
P2DT
Post-2015 Data Test initiative
P5
Permanent Five members of the UN Security Council (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States)
PAR
participatory action research
PBC
Peacebuilding Commission
PPA
participatory poverty assessment
PPPs
public–private partnerships
PRA
participatory rural appraisal
PRGF
Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility
PRSs
poverty reduction strategies
PUA
participatory urban appraisal
PWC
Post-Washington Consensus
R2P
responsibility to protect
RRA
rapid rural appraisal
SADC
Southern African Development Community
SAF
Structural Adjustment Facility
SAPRIN
Structural Adjustment Participatory Review International Network
SAPs
structural adjustment programmes
SARS
severe acute respiratory syndrome
SDGs
Sustainable Development Goals
SDSN
Sustainable Development Solutions Network
SDT
special and differential treatment
SMS
short message service
SNGOs
southern non-governmental organizations
TB
tuberculosis
TNCs
transnational corporations
TPP
Trans-Pacific Partnership
TRIPs
Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights
TTIP
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
UN
United Nations
UNAIDS
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS
UNAMID
African Union/United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur
UNCED
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
UNCTAD
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNDESA
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
UNDG
United Nations Development Group
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNDPKO
United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations
UNECA
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
UNEF
United Nations Emergency Force
UNEP
United Nations Environment Programme
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNFPA
United Nations Population Fund
UNGA
United Nations General Assembly
UNHCR
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNICEF
United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund
UNIFEM
United Nations Development Fund for Women
UNMD
United Nations Millennium Declaration
UNOCHA
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
UNPD
United Nations Population Division
UNPROFOR
United Nations Protection Force
UNSC
United Nations Security Council
USAID
United States Agency for International Development
WAD
Women and Development
WB
World Bank
WBIEG
World Bank Independent Evaluation Group
WCED
World Commission on Environment and Development
WED
Women, Environment and Development
WEO
World Environment Organization
WFP
World Food Programme
WHO
World Health Organization
WHS
World Humanitarian Summit
WID
Women in Development
WTO
World Trade Organization
Introduction: Understanding Development
A brief history of development
Development and the United Nations system
Conceptualizing development
International development has undergone significant changes in the five-year period since the publication of the first edition of Understanding Development in 2012. Most notably, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that framed international development for a 15-year period came to an end in 2015 to be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are designed to be achieved by 2030. These important episodes are addressed in two new chapters at the end of this second edition (chapters 12 and 13, respectively). Likewise, other key recent events and trends that are shaping international development – international migration, humanitarianism, population displacement and the global refugee crisis – are examined in the other new chapter of this edition (chapter 11).1 These chapters not only deal with new topics, but also the range of material that they cover serves to update some of the original chapters. For example, chapter 11, ‘Migration, Displacement and Humanitarianism’, builds on the conflict, security and development themes covered in chapter 5. Likewise, chapter 13 on the SDGs addresses recent changes in relation to international development finance, and in doing so it updates chapter 8 (‘Financing Development: Foreign Aid and Debt’).
Most importantly, the book continues to problematize development, highlighting and exploring its contested and plural nature. Each chapter deals with the main issues and debates surrounding a particular development topic, including conflict and security, gender, foreign aid and debt, health and education, the environment and globalization. However, before analyzing these issues and debates, we need to understand the meaning and nature of development. A useful starting point in this regard is to survey the history of development.
A brief history of development
The origins of development are disputed, but for many writers on this subject its intellectual roots lie within the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century.2 The themes that run through this particular episode in human history, notably those of progress, rationalism and modernity, have exerted an enormous influence upon development and for some (for good or ill) they underpin the whole project.3 Indeed, the notion of becoming modern and modernizing are often viewed as both the goal and process of development. Further contributing to this mode of thought were the dominant themes of the nineteenth century in the form of science, capitalism, industrialization and imperialism.
1940s and 1950s
Development in its contemporary guise emerged after the Second World War, with the creation of the United Nations (UN) and in particular institutions like the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that were designed to bring about post-war reconstruction and international economic stability, respectively (see Helleiner 2006).
However, some of the development approaches and policies of the 1940s and 1950s had to an extent been outlined in the 1920s and 1930s, although putting them into practice was disrupted by the Great Depression and then the Second World War. More specifically, the emergence of some aspects of development policy and practice can arguably be traced to colonial development prior to 1940. For example, the contemporary practice of aid provision dates to this period. In 1929, the Colonial Development Act was passed in the United Kingdom, which set up a Colonial Development Fund to allocate relatively small amounts of British government money to colonial economic development. There were parallel developments in France, with the creation of the Fonds d’Investissement pour le Développement Economique et Social (FIDES) in 1946. Indeed, such policies led into the ‘developmentalist colonialism of the 1940s and 1950s’ (Cooper 2002: 197). In the case of Africa, what has been termed a ‘second colonial occupation’ began with increased investment by Britain and France in the transport infrastructures, education systems and agricultural production of their African colonies. In this vein, Uma Kothari has sought to reconstruct ‘the colonial genealogies of development’ (2005: 50) by interviewing former colonial officers who subsequently worked in development. She argues that mainstream development neglects its colonial past and is, perhaps unwittingly, seeking to portray development as something distinct and ‘good’.
But it is important not to overstate the relationship between colonialism and development, especially as they are driven by different motives. Thus the ‘second colonial occupation of Africa’ has also been viewed as an attempt by the colonial powers to develop their colonies as trading partners that contributed to the colonial economy. Others see it as a way of Britain and France trying to nullify the growing domestic and international criticism of colonialism. Likewise, the Colonial Development Act has been viewed as the United Kingdom’s response to the economic crisis caused by the Great Depression, rather than as an example of British philanthropy. In sum, for its critics, colonialism was an exploitative and extractive enterprise whose association with development is therefore questionable.
For many, a defining moment in the history of development was the inaugural address given by President Truman on 20 January 1949. In his speech, Truman announced his plan for a ‘fair deal’ for the rest of the world, declaring that: ‘We must embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas. The old imperialism – exploitation for foreign profit – has no place in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development, based on concepts of democratic fair dealing (Truman 1967).
Many writers identify ‘underdeveloped areas’ as the key phrase in this speech, viewing it as the moment when the condition of underdevelopment emerges and the task of development begins (e.g., Dodds 2002; Escobar 1995b; Esteva 1992; Potter et al. 2004).4 For critics, the real purpose of Truman’s speech was to get developing countries to look to the United States as a source of support and as a model to emulate, and in doing so he was preparing the way for American hegemony in the post-war period (Esteva 1992: 6). This claim formed part of a wider critique of the West which was that it was engaged in establishing a range of neo-colonial relationships through development (Nkrumah 1965). Indeed, for many in the South, development was simply a continuation of the forms of trusteeship pursued by some European powers towards the end of their colonial rule.5 From their perspective, development was a patronizing project that enabled the West to continue dictating to the non-western world. Furthermore, modernization theory, the dominant development approach in the 1950s, was considered to be a part of this process as it promoted a European conception of development.
Even at this early stage, counter-theories and approaches to the domination of development by the North existed. In this period, it took the form of structuralism, which emerged from Latin America. Indeed, structuralists advocated protectionism and forms of disengagement from the international economy, such as import-substitution industrialization (ISI), in order to nurture development in the region. Likewise, many anti-colonial and nationalist leaders – like Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi in India, Kwame Nkrumah (1965) in Ghana, and Julius Nyerere (1967a, 1967b) in Tanzania – articulated positions on development as part of their drive for autonomy and independence.
1960s
Modernization theory continued to define development as the 1960s – the first United Nations Development Decade – began. As the decade progressed, another significant trend in the history of development emerged in the form of increasingly critical perspectives being articulated by writers from the South (e.g., Samir Amin, Arghiri Emmanuel and Andre Gunder Frank).6 This criticism was reinforced by the fact that anticipated levels of economic growth had failed to materialize in the South and, in countries where growth had been achieved, the benefits were unevenly distributed. For southern writers, the plight of their countries was due to the nature of the international economic system, which had established the South’s dependency upon the North by creating unfair terms of trade, among other measures (see chapter 1).
1970s
In the 1970s, the appeal of dependency theories was strengthened by the persistence and deepening of global inequalities, with some countries were showing little sign of breaking free from ‘underdevelopment’. International agencies like the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Bank responded by turning their attention to ‘redistribution with growth’ and ‘basic needs’. These philosophies continued to stress the necessity of economic growth, but placed greater emphasis upon gearing development towards meeting the needs of the poor. The decade was also marked by certain other changes of focus within development. In particular, there were signs of greater appreciation of the ways in which gender is implicated in development, as well as the different experiences of underdevelopment for women and men. Similarly, growing environmental awareness was encouraged by the 1972 UN Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment. Finally, economic growth and development for all countries was profoundly shaped by disputes over energy, and specifically the oil crises of this decade, which contributed to recession, inflation and debt (see chapter 8).
1980s
A notable feature of the 1980s was the debt crisis faced by developing countries, especially in Africa and Latin America, as they struggled to cope with high interest rates (chapter 8). Debt servicing was made more difficult by the weak international demand for their exports and declining commodity prices, a by-product of the slowing down of the world economy in the late 1970s, which became a global economic recession in the early 1980s. Both Africa and Latin America were also confronted with declining foreign direct investment (FDI), which was a consequence of unfavourable lending conditions during this period (Hewitt 2000). All of this meant that many developing countries sought financial assistance from international financial institutions (IFIs), like the World Bank and the IMF, during this period. This context and the widely perceived shortcomings of statist theories of development, a view encouraged by the collapse of the state socialist regimes in Eastern Europe, contributed to neo-liberalism becoming the new orthodoxy within development. The shift to neo-liberalism was confirmed by the World Bank/ IMF’s structural adjustment programmes (SAPs), which meant that financial assistance for developing countries was conditional upon them reducing state socio-economic activity and participating in global markets.
The 1980s was also the decade when the concept of sustainable development gained increasing acceptance within development circles. Indeed, in 1987 the World Commission on Environment and Development was held, out of which emerged the influential Brundtland Report, Our Common Future (chapter 9). Interestingly, at the very time that sustainable development was being articulated in development conferences, countries in East Asia were starting to enjoy rapid export-oriented economic growth.
1990s
During the 1990s, with neo-liberalism continuing to guide official thinking, post-development perspectives began to gain currency, with the nature and purpose of development increasingly questioned. Above all, the cultural bias of development was emphasized, with many writers highlighting its European Enlightenment roots and arguing that such Eurocentrism could only be challenged by turning to grass-roots approaches and valuing indigenous knowledge. Indeed, culture became an increasingly important theme within development (see Schech and Haggis 2000).
Outside of debates within academia, the unpredictability of development was highlighted by the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the effects of which were felt far beyond this region. Nevertheless, the economic rise of China and India continued, as did environmental concerns over fossil fuel-driven economic growth. The signing of the Kyoto Accord in 1997 was an attempt by much – though not all – of the international community to address the serious issue of global warming caused by carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases (chapter 9). Towards the end of the decade, as a result of the widespread criticism of SAPs, the World Bank began to employ the vocabulary of local engagement, participation and poverty reduction. This shift was reflected in the World Bank’s promotion of poverty reduction strategies (PRSs), which place the onus upon developing countries themselves formulating their own development approaches based on local consultation. However, critics have questioned the amount of local input that goes into these strategies and argue that the neo-liberal emphasis upon markets and a minimal state persists within the documents and policies of the IFIs.
The new millennium
Today, as we move further into the twenty-first century, the contested and plural nature of development has never been more apparent as neo-liberalism, participatory approaches, post-development perspectives and sustainable development all compete to define contemporary development theory and practice and do so within the context of globalization, world population growth and environmental decline. Furthermore, issues and debates that came to the forefront in the final years of the twentieth century, like debt, the international terms of trade, the role of aid, conditionality, ‘good governance’, human security and the environment, look set to continue to be important in this century.
Development and the United Nations system
In the post-war period, a number of international institutions have been set up to facilitate development. Indeed, when the UN was created in the aftermath of the Second World War, the need to address development and related issues was acknowledged in its charter. However, this commitment was broadly defined and expressed, and arguably it was not until the early 1960s, with the launch of the UN First Development Decade, that the UN began to engage seriously with development. Reflecting the emerging critical literature of the time, a literature that was to evolve into dependency theory, figures within the UN, such as Raúl Prebisch and his colleagues at the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA), began to urge the organization to take a more sympathetic stance towards the plight of developing nations, and for northern governments to do more to help them (Thomas and Allen 2000: 200).
Concern about the nature of the economic relationships between developing countries and the West led to the setting up of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in 1964. Its task is to integrate developing nations into the global economy, and it has become a focus for their economic grievances. But in truth UNCTAD has little substantive power and influence – certainly in comparison with the World Bank and the IMF that the western powers dominate and prefer to deal with – and consequently it has an uneven record of achievement. Martin Khor (2003) emphasizes the extent to which the more interventionist UN and its agencies are in competition with the neo-liberal IMF–WB–WTO trinity over the future course of global economic governance, with much of the differences between them centring upon a philosophical dispute over the role of the market in development.
The UN is funded by a combination of voluntary contributions and the assessed contributions of countries. A range of criteria is employed to determine a country’s contribution to the UN, but of high importance is their respective gross national product (GNP) and per capita income. This funding system means that the UN is heavily reliant upon national governments fulfilling their financial commitments. However, each year the UN is faced with the challenge of unpaid contributions or contributions that are paid late. Funding has a major influence upon how the UN system operates, determining not only the nature and scope of its development activity but also arguably how critical the UN and its agencies can be of member states.
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
As its title suggests, this organ of the UN was established to coordinate the economic and social aspects of its work, encompassing the different agencies, organizations and programmes that cover this sphere of activity. Key specialized agencies under its auspices include the World Bank and the IMF, although, in the case of these two organizations, such is their importance that effectively they are operating separately from the rest of the UN. The World Bank and the IMF are known as the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs) because they were established on 1 July 1944 during a conference of 44 countries in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire.
The World Bank
The initial task of the World Bank was to drive reconstruction in the post-war period. Subsequently, it has gone on to provide LEDCs with loans and grants worth many billions of dollars. In 2009, it had a membership of 186 countries – with entry into the IMF a prerequisite for membership of the World Bank – and it sees its role as promoting economic development and reducing poverty. From the late 1970s onwards, the prevailing neo-liberal philosophy within the World Bank was that achieving these ends required reducing the role of the state and ‘getting prices right’. It led to charges that the World Bank was relegating the human and environmental dimensions of development, which critics argued was evident in its funding of environmentally harmful projects, such as the Sardar Sarovar dam project on the Narmada River in north-west India (Peet 2003). However, the World Bank responded in 1993 by setting up the Inspection Panel in order to monitor the social and environmental record of the projects and countries that it is involved with. Moreover, a combination of criticism of SAPs and their disappointing performance, belated acknowledgement of the role of governance in Asian economic growth, and the influence of academic scholarship (e.g., Evans et al. 1985) has led to a greater appreciation of the state’s role in development within World Bank circles.
International Monetary Fund
The IMF has performed its macroeconomic role of securing the international monetary system by helping countries overcome balance-of-payments problems and other economic crises through a combination of financial loans and technical advice. Thus the IMF has negotiated loan packages with Mexico in the 1980s, South East Asia and Russia in the late 1990s, and Argentina in 2001. In fact, 56 countries took out loans under the Structural Adjustment Facility (SAF) between 1986 and 1999. More recently, richer nations like the United States – concerned that the Chinese yuan and some other Asian currencies are too low, enabling these countries to boost their exports – have been pushing for the IMF to ensure that currencies are correctly valued. The IMF also played a prominent role in setting up the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative (HIPC) in 1996, designed to reduce the debt burden of many developing countries (chapter 8).
To its critics, the IMF has a history of enforcing a ‘one size fits all’ model that has been inapplicable in certain countries and regions and has led to real hardships, notably in the form of budget cuts. For example, during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, the IMF insisted that the countries affected must respond by cutting their budget deficits, a move that led to governments cutting back on their social welfare spending. In addition, anti-globalization groups contend that IMF market liberalization has enabled large multinational corporations to encroach further into the economies of developing countries often at the expense of their domestic industries.
World Bank and IMF responses
Defenders of these institutions maintain that they have helped to ensure the continued smooth running of the international economy, and indeed overseen its expansion. Moreover, their intervention has enabled numerous states to overcome financial crises and they have provided funding that has enabled many more states in the South to continue to develop and modernize. This turnaround has been possible because of the low interest loans that have been provided under the SAF and its successor, the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF), as well as the technical assistance on economic policies that they provide for recipients and members generally. Where their interventions have not had the desired effect, advocates of the World Bank and the IMF argue, unsurprisingly, that this is because governments have invariably ignored their prescriptions (Madslien 2004).
Officials within both the World Bank and the IMF also maintain that they have been responding constructively to criticism. For example, the ESAF has been replaced by the so-called Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), which places greater emphasis upon consulting local opinion, and national governments and aid organizations playing a greater role in the formulation of policy. This policy shift, which is a part of the emerging Post-Washington Consensus (PWC), stems from a joint meeting of the IMF and the World Bank in 1999, and entails individual countries compiling their own poverty reduction strategies as the basis for determining lending and debt relief. However, critics have argued that by continuing to emphasize financial discipline, the IMF has a more restrictive conception of the PWC when it comes to dealing with poverty and inequality (Őniş and Şenses 2005).
Finally, in thinking about development in relation to the United Nations system, it is important not to overemphasize the power and influence of the leading institutions within it. This is because other agents are also actively involved in development. In particular, developing countries and their respective governments should not be thought of as playing a passive role in this process. Indeed, in multiple and diverse ways they will help to frame, negotiate and contest development.
Conceptualizing development
In addition to its diverse history and institutional complexity, there are other factors that add to the difficulty of conceptualizing development. In particular, there are a range of perspectives on development as will now be shown.
What is intended by development?
At a very basic level, development has been defined simply as change (Brookfield 1975). Robert Chambers (1997) adds a positive spin to this definition by describing development as ‘good change’. Of course, others may disagree with this view and consider development to be ‘bad change’. For this reason, we need to probe a little deeper when thinking about development and acknowledge, as Cowen and Shenton have noted, that the real issue is ‘what is intended by development?’ rather than simply a concern with ‘what is development?’ (1996: viii). But what makes it more difficult to determine the intention of development is that over time it has accrued many different approaches, theories and areas of interests, so that it has become a multifaceted phenomenon. Furthermore, development is not simply confined to the developing world; rather, it is something that all countries and regions experience, although the focus within development studies has been upon countries in the South, which are perceived as being insufficiently economically developed, at least from the perspective of many in the North.
Conceptualizing development is further complicated by the fact that its nature and meaning has changed over time. It has evolved from a concept concerned primarily with economic growth to one which pays more attention to the quality of human life, a shift that has entailed attaching greater weight to the attainment of political freedom and social welfare targets. This pattern reflects the post-war dominance of development by economics, but also how other academic disciplines have come to exert greater influence upon the subject in the recent period (see chapters 1 and 2).
Reflecting these changes, from the late 1980s onwards the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) began to employ the Human Development Index (HDI) as an alternative measurement of development to GDP. This is encapsulated in the Human Development Report, 2001: Promoting Linkages (UNDP 2001), which emphasizes the importance of having a range of opportunities in order to lead productive and creative lives, and to develop our human capabilities. Development from this perspective is about ‘expanding the choices people have to lead lives that they value’ (UNDP 2001: 9). Hence the HDI acknowledges that the most basic of human capabilities are to lead long and healthy lives, to be knowledgeable through access to education and to have the necessary resources to achieve a decent standard of living. The focus is therefore upon human well-being. For many people working within development, this goal also entails the ability to participate in the life of the community, human security and empowerment. Of course, economic growth continues to be an important determinant of development, and indeed helps to provide the resources necessary to attain human well-being, a point acknowledged within the HDI, which continues to factor in an economic measurement in the form of per capita income.
A key theme within human-centred development is the notion of empowerment. This concept has received particular attention in relation to the position of women (chapter 4) and participation (chapter 7). In the case of the latter, for example, there are some advocates of participatory development who believe empowerment necessitates a reduced role for ‘experts’ in the development process. This broader conception of development can also be found in Amartya Sen’s influential work Development as Freedom (2001) in which he makes the case for development being oriented towards enhancing human freedom and the provision of choice and opportunity for people, employing the vocabulary of ‘entitlements’ and ‘capabilities’. It also reflects the increasing prominence of human rights, as well as ethical and moral agendas, within development (Corbridge 1998b; Elliott 2002).
The complexities of development
Beyond debates about the type of development that is being pursued, there are other factors that can shape the course of development within a given country. Such factors can include the influence of culture and history, the degree of political stability and social cohesion in the country, geography and natural-resource endowment as well as the particular development strategy that is being pursued. Furthermore, there is often a problem in determining the extent of development in a society even if we view it in purely economic terms. This is due to difficulties in gaining access to data in some developing countries, for reasons ranging from the lack of adequate data-gathering mechanisms and institutions to the control of such information by governments.
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, households, private companies, local communities, individuals, multilateral organizations and development workers (see Porter, Allen and Thompson 1991).
As Cowen and Shenton have noted, it means that development ‘comes to be defined in a multiplicity of ways because there are a multiplicity of “developers” who are entrusted with the task of development’ (1996: 4). Moreover, exponents of particular theoretical approaches differ as to who they consider to be the main actors or agents of development. For example, dependency theorists focus their attention upon the state, while neo-liberal writers stress the importance of NGOs and the private sector. In addition, the role and significance of particular actors and agents in development can change. For example, the developmental state was the pivotal development institution for much of the post-war period before declining in the late 1970s, while more recently there have been calls for it to be revived (chapter 10).
Alan Thomas (2000) has expressed concern that development is increasingly viewed as the practice of development agencies such as multilateral organizations, governments, NGOs and social movements that conceptualize development in terms of alleviating problems and setting targets (ibid.: 774). While recognizing the contribution of these agencies in combating poverty, Thomas believes that accepting this as the main meaning of development diminishes its complexity, ambiguity and multidimensionality. In particular, it relegates within development the view of it as a historical process of social change and of striving for the desirable society (ibid.: 773). In short, development becomes simply whatever is done in the name of development (ibid.: 777). Furthermore, the target-based approach to poverty neglects the fact that dealing effectively with such complex issues can require deeper structural changes to societies and even social transformation. In addition, the multidimensional and subjective nature of poverty can be marginalized by the emphasis upon quantitative targets (White 2006).
For many people working in development, its primary purpose is to tackle global poverty and inequality (see Collier 2007; Cornia and Court 2001; McKay 1997; Smith 2005). As will be shown in chapter 12, the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were the first concerted international effort at poverty reduction, although they neglected poverty and deprivation within advanced industrial economies.
However, the MDGs failed to address the persistence of high levels of global inequality (Saith 2006). Indeed, until relatively recently policy makers in the IFIs have neglected the issue of inequality, choosing instead to prioritize economic growth through a neo-liberal or market-led policy approach (chapter 1). But a landmark report by the UN Economic and Social Affairs Department – Report on the World Social Situation 2005: The Inequality Predicament – found that in 2005, despite considerable economic growth in many regions, and improved living standards in some places, inequality between and within countries was greater than it was in 1995 and, crucially, poverty remained entrenched (United Nations 2005b). The report concludes that: ‘[f]ocusing exclusively on economic growth and income generation as a development strategy is ineffective, as it leads to the accumulation of wealth by a few and deepens the poverty of many’ (ibid.: 1). Thus, ‘[i]gnoring inequality in the pursuit of development is perilous’ (ibid.). The World Bank’s World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development similarly noted that tackling inequality is the key to development, conceding that economic growth will not be enough to end world poverty and that it will require forms of redistribution (World Bank 2005b). Continuing this theme, the World Bank’s 2016 report, Poverty and Shared Prosperity 2016: Tackling Inequality, called for a renewed drive to tackle inequality in order to meet its twin goals of eliminating extreme poverty by 2030 and boosting the incomes of the bottom 40 per cent of populations in each country. According to the report, achieving this ambition will require faster growth and a range of anti-inequality measures (World Bank 2016).
Cumulatively, these reports reflect a growing awareness that tackling poverty and inequality requires a mixture of policies, including government intervention, institutional reform, redistributive taxation, better transport and communications networks, access to housing and health care and investment in education, depending on local conditions, and cannot simply be left to pro-growth policies. In other words, economic growth – while it is important – is not the same as development, as will be highlighted during the course of this book.
Summary
Development is a contested area of study as is evident in the different disciplinary and theoretical approaches to the subject.
The dominant conception of development has changed over time, and today there is much greater emphasis upon quality-of-life issues.
Development is now taking place within the context of globalization and increasing evidence of global environmental decline.
RECOMMENDED READING
Useful introductory works to development are: Robert Potter, Tony Binns, Jennifer Elliott and David Smith’s
Geographies of Development
(2004) and Kate Willis,
Theories and Practices of Development
(2005).
WEBSITE
www.undp.org
provides a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of development.
Notes
1.
The original chapter structure of the first edition (chapters 1–10) covered the evolution of international development and has therefore been kept and simply updated where appropriate.
2.
However, Gilbert Rist (2002) identifies the roots of western thought on development in the work of Aristotle and St Augustine.
3.
In contrast, Cowen and Shenton (1996) trace the origins of development thinking to a critique of progress that some European thinkers, such as Auguste Comte and the Saint-Simonians, articulated in response to the social upheavals being generated by industrialization.
4.
Rist (2002) maintains that interest in underdevelopment, and in particular concern about the plight of what today we call the South, pre-dates Truman’s speech.
5.
Trusteeship has been defined as: ‘The intent which is expressed, by one source of agency, to develop the capacities of another’ (Cowen and Shenton 1996: p. x).
6.
More recently, the South has come to be described as the ‘Global South’. The UNDP initiative of 2003,
Forging a Global South
, has helped promote this concept by seeking to encourage South–South cooperation (UNDP 2003c). Furthermore, aspects of globalization – such as migration, global cities, transnational capitalism and the network society – have disrupted the traditional North–South distinction, with areas of poverty found in the North, and areas of affluence existing in the South (see Dirlik 2007).
CHAPTER 1Theorizing Development
From three worlds to the North–South divide
Major economic approaches to development
The East Asian ‘miracle’
To understand development requires knowledge of how this subject has evolved as well as the major theoretical approaches that have defined it, and addressing these areas is the concern of this first chapter. It begins by looking at how this subject has been conceptualized from a geographical perspective, considering the spatializing of development through an examination of ‘the Third World’ and ‘the North–South divide’. The second section surveys the history of economic theories of development, including modernization theory, structuralism, dependency theory and the rise of the neo-liberal paradigm in the 1980s. The East Asian development experience is a useful testing ground for the leading development theories and consequently is examined in the final section. It also provides evidence of the difficulties of pursuing development within the existing international economic order.
From three worlds to the North–South divide
From its very beginnings, there has been a strong spatial dimension to development, with the world divided at various times into different regions or blocs to indicate different stages and types of economic development, including ‘core’ and ‘periphery’, a ‘world-system’ and the idea of semi-peripheries. The most well-known attempt at spatial division in relation to development has been to describe the planet as consisting of three worlds.
The making of ‘the Third World’
As was stated in the Introduction, development in its contemporary guise began to emerge in the aftermath of the international economic and political turmoil created by the Second World War. However, it was also shaped by the emergence of the Third World. Indeed, dealing with problems and challenges faced by the Third World gave development much of its impetus and moral purpose. Furthermore, as European colonial rule came to an end in the two or three decades following 1945, development was firmly on the agendas of the leaders of the newly independent countries both as a means of consolidating independence and of strengthening their own political positions.
Thus 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 in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, but also as the future of international affairs appeared to be between two alternative worlds: either that offered by Washington or by Moscow (Harris 1986).1 It was initially a deeply political concept because it highlighted global divisions and inequalities, and as such constituted a critique of the existing international order (see Worsley 1964). Indeed, 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 (Merriam 1988).
In line with the rejection of the international status quo, as well as desiring to thwart and remain outside of the Cold War, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) emerged during the 1950s, coming to prominence with the Bandung Conference in 1955. The forms of cooperation upon which the NAM was based, and which it encouraged, helped to ensure that developing countries remained significant players during the Cold War. Indeed, the NAM contributed to the establishment of UNCTAD (see Introduction) and the Group of 77 (G-77) at the UN that led to the practice of southern states voting together as a bloc on issues like trade. In the 1970s, the NAM contributed to southern calls for a new international economic order (NIEO) to replace the US-dominated Bretton Woods system with an international economic system more in tune with the interests of the Third World.
Following this initial radicalism, the term the ‘Third World’ entered into everyday usage during the Cold War period, coming simply to denote a set of countries and geographical regions that today are commonly referred to as developing countries or the developing world (Harris 1986: 7). These are otherwise known as LEDCs (less economically developed countries) and are generally taken to include countries from Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and are distinguished from MEDCs (more economically developed countries) that can be found in the industrialized West. The following are typical of the criteria that are frequently used to define Third World countries:
relatively low per capita (for each person) incomes.
mainly agriculturally based economies with low levels of technology, and reliant upon primary exports.
ruled by a colonial power in the past.
sizeable populations and growth rates, but also shorter life expectancies and higher rates of infant mortality.
a low degree of social mobility.
societies in which religion, custom and tradition continue to exert a strong influence.
lower levels of educational attainment, reflected in higher rates of illiteracy. (Adapted from Hoogvelt 1982; Merriam 1988; Rapley 2007)
However, the problem with the above categorization of the Third World is that it is Eurocentric and largely an economic interpretation. The emphasis upon wealth generation, technology and breaking free from tradition is rooted in the European conception of modernity, and specifically notions of progress, rationalism, science and materialism (see chapter 2). Thus, when it comes to classifying the Third World, much rests upon the criteria that we employ and who has the power to determine such classificatory systems.
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 exists throughout the world (Norwine and Gonzalez 1988: 1). Even within the category of the Third World, it includes some of the world’s wealthiest and poorest nations in terms of per capita incomes. There is also considerable diversity within the First World. Berger (1994) points to 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.2
