The Politics of Development

Résumé du document

"What are the diverse meanings of ?development'? How do they reflect the different interests that are involved? The idea of development was first evoked by former US President Truman in 1949, in the context of dawning cold war opposing western economies to communism, in order to justify the economical and technical assistance that the "developed? countries had to provide to the then considered as "under-developed? countries to help them in catching up with the western societies. In this document I will introduce the habitual theories of development and their consequences before accounting for the new forms of evaluating and reaching development.

Extraits

[...] Bibliography Patrick Martellet, Contemporary History of the USA, course notes, (Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Lyon, 2006) Greig Charnock and Rosaleen Duffy, The Politics of Development, course notes, (University of Manchester, 2007) Paul Burkett and Martin Hart-Landsberg, Critique of ‘Catch-up' Theories of Development”, Journal Of Contemporary Asia, (Proquest, 2003) Lahouari Addi, Les Mutations de la Société Algérienne, (La Découverte, 2002) José Cuesta, “From Economicist to Culturalist Development Theories : How Strong is the Relation between Cultural Aspects and Economic development The European Journal of Development Research, (Taylor and Francis, 2004) Charles Jaigu, “Sarkozy justifie l'Immigration choisie”, Le Figaro, 28/06/2006, online version, www.figaro.fr United nations Millennium Declaration Patrick Martellet, Contemporary History of the USA, course notes, (Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Lyon, 2006) Greig Charnock and Rosaleen Duffy, The Politics of Development, course notes, (University of Manchester, 2007) [3]Paul Burkett and Martin Hart-Landsberg, Critique of ‘Catch-up' Theories of Development”, Journal Of Contemporary Asia, (Proquest, 2003), p1. Greig Charnock and Rosaleen Duffy Lahouari Addi, Les Mutations de la Société Algérienne, (La Découverte, 2002) J.C. Fritz, La Politique de Coopération en matière de Développement et ses Conséquences sur la Formation, (CERPO, Université de Bourgogne), p4 Greig Charnock and Rosaleen Duffy. Paul Burkett and Martin Hart-Landsberg José Cuesta, “From Economicist to Culturalist Development Theories : How Strong is the Relation between Cultural Aspects and Economic development The European Journal of Development Research, (Taylor and Francis, 2004), p1. [...]

[...] The birth of the Neo-liberal theory of development could be linked to the politic changes in Britain and in the USA with respectively Thatcher and Reagan elections in the beginning of the 1980's. This theory is based upon three major pillars: privatization, globalization and deregulation with a challenge to the role of the state as producer of goods and services and as the sovereign of the national common interest[6]. This view assumes that free-market and free trade are the keys to rapid growth and industrial transformation. [...]

[...] These negative outcomes lead us to find alternative ways of development, more respectful of fairness and justice ideals. II) The new ways to consider and promote development worldwide The development shouldn't be seen only in economical perspective but also include “social, political and cultural variables to account for economic growth”[9]. The neo-liberal view of development considerably weakens the role and the means of the state to favour development. However, this role is absolutely necessary in key sectors such as education. [...]

[...] On the other side, developing countries would have to improve their ability to retain their elites by offering them prospects of achievements in their countries. This idea should bring the opposite result to the neo-liberal idea of a selected immigration in developed countries[10], which tends to elites from their countries, and avoid the possibility that these elites could favour the process of development. The fairness of trade between these developing countries and our western countries has also to be improved. [...]

[...] Last but not least, different indicators of development should be taken into account. The already existing IHD provides a better knowledge of one country's situation by grouping variables such as GDP/capita, teaching of literacy and life expectancy. Others indicators that take into account the principles of sustainable development and the environment should be implemented in order to relativize rich countries level of development regarding issues such as pollution, disappearance of natural resources, criminality The issue of development has for a long time been linked with the notion of economical growth. [...]