Development Concepts

Basic needs - a term used to describe basic goods and services (food, shelter, clothing, sanitation, education, etc) necessary for a minimum standard of living

Development - the process of improving the quality of all human lives. According to Todaro three important aspects of development are: a/ raising people’s living levels , i.e. their incomes, and consumption levels of food, medical services, and education through “relevant” economic growth processes; b/ creating conditions conducive to the growth of people’s self esteem through the establishment of social, political and economic systems and institutions which promote human dignity and respect; c/ increasing people’s freedom to choose by enlarging the range of their choice variables; e.g. increasing varieties of consumer goods and services.

Development as Economic Growth - too often commodity output as opposed to people is emphasized-measures of growth in gross national product (GNP) and per capita income (PCI). Note here the persistence of a dual economy where the export sector contains small number of workers but draws technology as opposed to traditional sector where most people work and is dominated by inefficient technology

Development as Modernization - emphasizes process of social change which is required to produce economic advancement; examines changes in social, psychological and political processes; how to develop wealth oriented behavior and values in individuals; profit seeking rather than subsistence and self sufficiency; shift from commodity to human approach with investment in education and skill training

Development as Distributive Justice - views development as improving basic needs; Interest in social justice which has raised three issues:

  1. Nature of goods and services provided by governments,
  2. Matter of access of these public goods to different social classes,
  3. How burden of development can be shared among these classes;

Target groups include small farmers, landless, urban under-employed and unemployed

Dualism - the coexistence in one place of two situations or phenomena (one desireable and the other not) which are mutually exclusive to different groups of society: eg., extreme poverty and affluence, modern and traditional economic sectors, growth and stagnation, university education among a few and mass illiteracy.

Enclave economies - those economies found among LDCs in which there exist small pockets of economically developed regions (often due to the presence of colonial or foreign firms engaged in plantation and mining activities) with the rest of the larger outlying areas experiencing very little progress (see also dualism).

Neocolonial Dependence Model - Outgrowth of Marxist thinking-Dos Santos; existence of underdevelopment due to historical evolution of an unequal international capitalist system of rich country-poor country relations ; sets up center (developed countries) versus periphery (developing countries) contrast; attempts to become self-reliant and progressive are surpressed by this relationship; Moreover certain elites in the developing world (e.g landlords, entrepreneurs, merchants) enjoy high incomes, social status and political power and thus perpetuate inequality and conformity and are rewarded; They serve international power groups such as multi-national firms, assistance agencies (World Bank) and other agents

Modernization Theory - suggests that economic dimension alone is insufficient and adds theories on institutional and social change; Incorporates non-economic elements such as social practices, beliefs, values and customs (McClelland, Achieving Society); Diffusion and speed of change is critical as is removal of various cultural and social barriers; Backward internal structures-rather than external factors-cause underdevelopment

Neo-Liberal Development Theory - grew in the 1970s and designed to counteract impact of Keynesianism; New emphasis on supply side factors in development- private initiatives and market led growth; move away from demand stimulation (interest rate manipulation), import substitution, state intervention and centralized planning; Gradual industrialization with ‘trickle down’ of benefits to all social classes


NGO - non-governmental organization - independent organizations which attempt to foster development and serve needs of people and communities.

PVO -private voluntary organization -

subsistence economy - an economy in which production is mainly for “own consumption” and the standard of living yields no more than the basic necessities of life-food, shelter and clothing.

Vicious circle - a self-reinforcing situation in which there are factors that tend to perpetuate an undesirable phenomenon - e.g. low incomes in poor countries lead to low consumption which then leads to poor health and low labor productivity and eventually to the persistence of poverty.

Popular Development - avoids ‘grand theories’ and emphasizes solutions viewed in context of development which is part of historical process; context of development is constantly changing in scale and time; accommodates geographical and historical diversity; theory of little use to practitioners of development; stresses local diversity, human creativity, process of social change through pragmatism, flexibility and context; not extent of state intervention but comparative advantages of public and private sectors and their complementarity.

Sustainable Development - Defined as development that is likely to achieve lasting satisfaction of human needs and improvement of the quality of life and encompasses:
Help for the very poorest who are left with no option but to destroy their environment to survive; Idea of self-reliant development with natural resource constraints; Cost effective development using different economic criteria to the traditional –i.e. development should not degrade environment; Important issues of health control, appropriate technologies, food self-reliance, clean water and shelter for all; People centered activities are necessary- human beings are the resources in the concept.

Trickle down theory of development - the notion that development is purely an "economic" phenomenon in which rapid gains from the overall growth of GNP and per capita income would automatically bring benefits (i.e., "trickle down") to the masses in the form of jobs and other economic opportunities. The main preoccupation is therefore to get the growth job done while problems of poverty, unemployment, and income distribution are perceived to be of secondary importance.

Trickle down - the idea that making the North, the cities and the elites in the South, and the rich generally, richer will ultimately produce trickle-down benefits for the world's less advantaged. See Figure 3.9, page 100 of text.