LECTURE NOTES: January 16th Towards A Definition of Development and Underdevelopment (I) Concepts of Development Definitions of concepts, strategies

to achieve development. Notions of developments contradicting with many different definitions Concept of development is new (late 40s early 50s as a result of Cold War when colonies were stuck and trying to help them to develop)

1st Definition: attached to economic growth and development based on a particular GDP/GNP. It is defined by having a high income which correlated with how developed a particular country was (having higher consumption, being satisfied economically, and not define by scarcity). World band categorizes into 4 areas by: 1. Low income group: by 2009, the GN income per capita was <$995 per year. Ex: Haiti, Mali Mozambique, etc. 2. Lower middle income: GNI per capita between $996-3945 3. Middle income: GNI per capita between $3946-12,195 the countries in this level are a mix with great variation. Ex: Namibia, Russia 4. High income: GNI per capita > $12196

2nd Definition: Mid 60s; UN now defined development as economic progress and social change (because there can be a country that has high income but low development i.e. the oil countries being more feudal than industrial, male dominant and traditional). Social change meant a change in the political system, shift from agricultural to urban, change in distributions of wealth to being more equitable, and also change in fundamental psychology. It implies that certain mechanisms must be adopted in order to become developed. However this is not fundamentally different from the first definition because we still assume economic growth to be essential. What do we mean by social changes? There is no set definition. Earlier development implied that a country will either follow a Western or a USSR model of development. Things required to become industrialize: This is not something that is essential to the definition rather it is just that industrialization occurred in the West first. The market is the main place of transaction of goods, etc.

Need scientific understanding of nature (not based on traditionalism) therefore rationalization of the world Once you have attained this, you can have a vision of modern notion of progress (Progress is a very modern concept)

3rd Definition: Some people still felt that US and USSR views didnt imply development (as Indicated by economic growth). They looked at development as ethical things that are not based on economic wealth but are rather based on humans treating each other well. This implies that satisfaction of basic needs of people is fundamentally important. Robert McNamara: President of World Bank. He argued that fulfillment of basic human needs (health, etc.) to be developed. Still talked about economic but it was not made a central point

Theology of Liberation: Applied in Latin and Central America. What was required for transformation was a redistribution of resources to lead to equity (pushing aside elites) the movements were mere disempower and the ideology was pushed aside.

The UN came up with the notion of development defined as he Human Development Index (HDI) which was different from purely economic growth. HDI defined overall achievement in countries on 3 different categories. 1. Longevity: average age of death a. Measured by life expectancy which told about a countries abilities to provide basic health care needs 2. Knowledge: education a. Adult literacy 3. Decent standard of living: some form of economic development, etc. a. Adjusted income to pattern of consumption prices in different countries This set up can allow for a low income but a high HDI. HDI gave rise to HPI (human poverty index which is the lowest of all three categories) HDI implies that developed societies dont have to be a society of mass income but rather one that can provide basic human needs. Difference between needs (part of biological need ex: companionship, healthcare, education, etc.) And Wars (rooted and fabricated by society ex: consumerism, etc.)

4th Definition: extremely old and collapsed with the collapse of USSR. It is the Marxist notion of development. Stated that a capitalistic revolution was needed- the working class would take power and redistribute wealth thus the major enterprise would be owned by people/society. Science and technology would lead to good society and be able to create a post scarcity society. Profits would not exist and this would people to world less due to post scarcity. The development would ultimately be served by the technology, etc. However, societies that have adopted this have not sustained.

READING NOTES The No-Nonsense Guide to International Development (pg 10-29) Idea of development was incented to help backward countries catch up with the industrialized world with its help. However, the concept of development has created a field of thinking and practice that is constantly changing but the conditions of the people under these practices have gotten worse. So is the concept of development still useful? Many development projects such as building infrastructure, etc. are justified in that they aim to help the poor people. However, these are often undertaken at their expense while providing little to no benefits to them Forced dislocation of people is referred to as development cleansing as a majority of the dispossessed are minorities Over optimistic projects (in their cost benefit ratio) force a country to focus on paying back its debts rather than serving its citizens through investment in education, health, etc. Often development projects are undertaken by the false claim of improving the lives of the poor but are rather for the conveniences of the rich Concept of development was born in the West Newly independent countries lacked industrialization thus were I poverty thus they needed to capital resources technical knowledge from developed countries (either first or second world). This lead to the notion international investment. 'Developed' and 'developing' nations had emerged, later re-formulated as North and South. In certain regard, the Decade had been a success: most developing countries had managed to raise their GNP per capita by at least five per cent. However, the new wealth had made little/no impact on the majority of their peoples (only a small section benefited). More people were poor than before the mission began. As Oil countries and number of non-oil-rich 'newly industrializing countries' in Asian and Latin America were prospering from the globalization of the world economy, economies in Africa were in decline, food production was unable to keep pace with population growth, exacerbated by drought and civil conflicts. Recession in the industrialized world had repercussions on countries that traded heavily with these countries. They lost time and effort towards development which was instead used towards debt repayments. In the 80s US and Britain under Reagan and Thatcher decided to severely minimize foreign aid and what was provided a was often to benefit either US or Britain.