Transcript Development Theory: Third World Perspectives

Development Theory:
Third World Perspectives
“A culture cannot survive if it
attempts to be exclusive.”
Mahatma Gandhi
Differing positions of 1st and
3rd world perspectives
First World
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Enlightenment
Positive approach to
development
1st world in
dominant position
Global system of
capitalism
Third World
?
Differing positions of 1st and 3rd
world perspectives (cont.)
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Enlightenment
Positive approach
to development
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1st world in
dominant position
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Global system of
capitalism
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Counter-Enlightenment
Negative encounters
with 1st world, e.g.
colonialism
Underdog – subject to
control by 1st world
Alternative economic
systems, e.g., selfprovisioning
Temporal and geographical context of
3rd world development theory
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Late 19th century
Europe
Colonization of Asia,
Latin America and
Africa
Socialism/Marxism in
Russia
Phases of 3rd World Development
Theory and Practice
Dependency
Theory
Postmodernism
and alternative
paths to
development
Phases of 3rd World Development
Theory and Practice
Dependency theory
 Contrast with
modernization
theorists
 Development has
deteriorated 3rd
world situation
Postmodernism &
alternative paths to
development
 Local cultures
destroyed via
‘development’
 Inappropriate
strategies
 Modernization
invalid
1. Dependency Theory
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Radical/Marxist
approaches to
development of
underdevelopment
Third world
economy linked to
first world
Lenin on imperialism
Role of the Economic Commission for
Latin America (ECLA)
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Raul Prebisch, Director (1948 est.)
International trade exacerbates
underdevelopment
Historical phases of colonization and
trade
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(transparency)
Propose import substitution
Andre Gunder Frank, Capitalism and
Underdevelopment in Latin America
The thesis by Frank was simple:
“the condition of developing countries
is not the outcome of inertia,
misfortune, chance, climatic
conditions or whatever, but rather a
reflection of the manner of their
incorporation into the global
capitalist system”
(Potter et al. Geographies of
Development)
2. World Systems Theory
Immanuel Wallerstein
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Global economic system linked to capitalism
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Core, periphery and semi-periphery
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See map
Account for growth of NICs
What does it mean to be developed?
Postmodernism and alternative approaches to
development
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Different ways of interpreting development
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Australian case
Politics of representation
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local knowledge vs. Western scientific knowledge
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Multiple paths to development
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Grassroots struggles
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The environment (The Chipko movement)
Political autonomy (Chiapas, Mexico)
Conclusion: A Way Forward?
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Development by whom?
For whom?
Dominant ideologies of
development
Exploring the
relationship among
development,
impoverishment, and
environmental crisis