Development: Readings

Question 1

Explain Hodge 2007

Answer 1

Colonialism as development - ideas of improvement accompanied and legitimated colonial rule from at least 18th century.
Argues push for humanitarian development ‘helped reinvigorate and morally rearm imperial mission…’ providing continued legitimacy.

Question 2

Explain Craggs 2014

Colonialism as development

Answer 2

colonialism as development: improvement - development of infrastructure, linked to European trade or settlement, increase in econ output (benefitting metropolitan interests and markets) and augmentation of pop with european settlers. Improvements were oriented towards metropolitan life rather than improving life of local communities.

Question 3

Explain Craggs 2014

19th C new model imperialism

Answer 3

more emphasis on development of humanitarian grounds for native colonial communities. Trusteeship - mission to civilise others (could link to orientalist) strengthen the weak, experience to “childlike” colonial people who required supervision. Gave mandate for European powers to help develop and follow path to modernity (theirs).
Development was central to the colonial project, many postcolonial development priorities can trace genealogies to colonial era.

Question 4

Explain Temple (2014)

Answer 4

Sometimes there are conditions to aid (conditionality) some think this represents aid at its worst - allows powerful donors to impose will on poorer countries - often for self interest. Others think aid is undermined as conditionality rarely goes far enough.

Question 5

Temple (2014) case for conditionality

Answer 5

recipient governments usually have multiple objectives - not all aligned with those of donors - should not be controversial. Seeks to make aid more effective - the donor ‘buys’ certain policy actions or reforms - if donor is altruistic it should benefit the poor.

Question 6

Temple (2014) argument against conditionality

Answer 6

morally wrong to use economic strength to determine how a sovereign state chooses to spend its money. Are they altruistic? or does trade liberalisation (e.g.) just benefit themselves. new form of economic imperialism? generally agreed it has sometimes gone too far. sometimes recipient governments are aware donor wants to give money so they won’t make any effort to implement the changes.

Question 7

Bourguignan and Subdberg (2007) Explain three-track model for aid

Answer 7

Countries with good governance and policies receive largely unconditional budget support; intermediate countries face more like traditional conditionality’s with greater emphasis on governance and performance and fragile states get a combination of humanitarian assistance and aid that bypasses the state e.g. allocation to NGOs

Question 8

Explain Seers (1969) meaning of development

Answer 8

still setting targets mainly for national income - belief if national income keeps rising faster than population it will eventually lead to the solution of social and political problems - past experience disproves this. problems and upheavals have occurred at all stages of development. development treated almost as synonym for improvement.

Question 9

Explain Seers (1969) outside economic development

Answer 9

Food, shelter clothing, footwear are all necessities. other necessity is a job or school - chronic unemployment and dependency lead to a lack of self respect. If poverty, unemployment and inequality all decline then it has to be a period of development for the country. fulfilment of human potential requires much that cannot be specified in purely economic terms.

Question 10

Explain Potter (2014)

Answer 10

1950s to 80s generally measured through economic development. late 80s -90s changes in how development was envisioned - promotion of wider indices of human development and change. Economic growth - GDP/GNP suggests higher income = greater development. As human development: HDI as wider measure. GDP/GNP takes no account for distribution of wealth. 1989 UNDP promote HDI. Life expectancy, mean years of schooling, expected years of schooling and GNI/capita. wider dimensions include freedom and human rights, self esteem

Question 11

Explain White (2014)

Answer 11

poverty synonymous with shortage of income but deprivation of any aspect of life should be classed as poverty. high correlation between income and other measures of well being. Absolute poverty: benchmark Relative: against social standards. Income poverty measure: headcount % of pop below poverty line (no account how far below). Poverty gap, product of headcount and average distance below. Poverty severity index 0 greater weight on those further down. (Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty measures) had to collect data etc. also many groups misrepresented e.g. women.

Question 12

Jodha (1988)

Answer 12

Found in India. having shoes and a separate housing for them and livestock so they felt an improvement in their life but their income had actually decreased. - poor people value different things

Question 13

Ferguson (1999)

Zambia - good times

Answer 13

mid 1960s Africa was “emerging” Zambia fastest and most hope. Large scale copper mining 1920s set off burst of industrial development that transformed country. by independence (1964)industrial growth seemed to properly nation towards “modernisation” by 1969 economy made it on the richest and most promising african states. Mining towns along copperbelt symbolised newness in a way older cities couldn’t. 1960s/70s recognised as ‘middle income’

Question 14

Ferguson (1999)

Zambia - bad times

Answer 14

slipped off track - 1974-1994 per capita income fell over 50%. 1991 68% households living with expenditures below basic needs. historically copper accounted for 90% of exports. Oil shock in 70s terms of trade for copper decreased sharply, exports became worth less as imports rose in price. average production decreased: 65-74 672000 tons 1995 327000 tons. burden of external debt continued growing as economy contracted. had to adhere to structural adjustment. urban poverty increased from 4% 75 to 50% in 94. Food prices rose with Structural adjustment and people couldn’t afford basic food. lost hope and self respect and optimism backwards modernity is object of nostalgic reverie.

Question 15

Rostows (1960)

Answer 15

all societies and economies lie in one of five categories. Traditional society: limited production functions - fatalism Preconditions for take off - w.europe late 17th early 18th C.
Take off - growth, new industries expand rapidly
Drive to maturity - economy finds its place in international economy.
Age of high mass consumption - can afford more than basic necessities.

Question 16

Wilson (2010)

Answer 16

Nicaragua - Hurrican Mitch and coffee crisis (1998, 99) vital - prices dropped to 30yr lows in 2001, coffee dependent communities arguably most acute effects. 2000-2003 contracts for fair trade from European and N. American coffee importers generated revenues more than double conventional market price helped protect over 6000 farmers from exposure. Fair trade did help in tough times but with rising costs and demand for better quality it is getting harder to stay afloat.

Question 17

Bacon (2005)

Answer 17

Fair trade coffee contracts played decisive role in decreasing the economic vulnerability of peasant farmers in North Nicaragua.

Question 18

Chang (2007)

Answer 18

South Korea transformed itself in 40 years the same as took Britain 200 years. General Park won 3 successive elections after turning ‘civilian’ propelled by success of 5 year plans for economic development (plus election rigging/dirty tricks) ‘delusional’ goal $1000 per capita by 1981 - achieved 4 yrs ahead of schedule. spending foreign exchange on anything not essential for industrial development was prohibited/ strongly discouraged (tariffs, excise taxes) there were sweat shops to begin with workers worked 53/4 hrs a week. Protected all their industries. virtually all developed countries today got to where they are by strategic integration with world economy rather than unconditional integration. Life was hard when he was growing up and people dont remember that much now.

Question 19

Friedrich (1841)

Answer 19

accused Britain of kicking away the ladder that they had climbed to reach world’s top economic position

Question 20

Brooks (2015)

Answer 20

annual trade between China and Africa is > $160bn. Chinese reforms nurtured and protected domestic economy unlike the shock therapies imposed on Africa through SAPs. China provided perfect spatial fix for capital in clothing sector. 1980-94 chinas exports of clothing and textiles increased eightfold. Labour system in China was cruel and depended on mass labour exploitation but also led to industrial growth, remittances from urban areas helped support rural development. limited degree of social and political change. China today, S.Korea 1970s and 19th C England have all exploited labour in clothing sector to establish mass clothing production, which contributed to economic growth.

Question 21

Harvey (2005)

Answer 21

‘neoliberalism has, in short, become hegemonic as a mode of discourse’

Question 22

Conway (2014)

Answer 22

poor and “new poor” of peripheral global south are being forced same bitter medicine they were forced under colonialism. About making trade easier for the most powerful - cheaper resources can be accessed to maximise profits and efficiency. requires remove of barriers to trade.

Question 23

Greenway and Milner (2014)

Answer 23

liberalisation: changes in policy that reduce anti-export bias and substitutions of more efficient for less efficient forms of intervention. more popular for developing countries in 1980s ‘gang of four’ HK, Taiwan, Korea and Singapore, bit disingenuous as only HK followed a free trade policy.

Question 24

Riddell (1992)

Answer 24

Conditions to SAPs differ but all have 4 key components: devaluation of currency, removal/reduction of state from workings of economy, elimination of subsidies in attempt to decrease expenditures and trade liberalisation. In Africa was as sense of hope after independence as the formula was known, now a sense of failure. Debt crisis dominates national life.

Question 25

Susan George

Answer 25

Financial low intensity conflict is taking place. debt crisis is too serious to be left to economists and finances ‘economic policies are not neutral. Contrary to received opinion, they can even kill’
underline significance of continental alteration suggests both nature and attempted management of debt crisis are causing profound, like threatening changes. Development is human not just economic.

Question 26

Riddell (1992) currency devaluation

Answer 26

experience dramatic decrease in standard of living as essential items become too expensive.

Question 27

Riddell (1992) removal of government involvement

Answer 27

to ‘free up’ capitalism and allow market mechanism to operate through supply and demand. African regimes felt the need to become involved in promotion, management and manipulation of economy so they operate in interest of local people (this was taken away)

Question 28

Ridell (1992) Elimination of subsidies

Answer 28

African regimes interfere with prices, expensive subsidies for food and petroleum to lower the increasing cost of living. helped destroy and distort market mechanism. IMF therefore insists on removal - decreases living standards, food prices out of reach for poor.

Question 29

Riddell (1992) liberalisation of trade

Answer 29

trying to create economy of old, most governments trying to reconstruct since independence - production of cheap raw materials for developed parts in exchange for more expensive processed goods.

Question 30

Riddell (1992) impacts

Answer 30

mostly not in interest of most Africans, outcomes are often greatly resented. States without citizens: people withdrawing from political system, the poor work within markets and go outside of the government system/economy to trade so state is becoming increasingly irrelevant to an increasing number of ‘former’ citizens. Paradox of IMF requiring strong state to implement SAPs but in doing so weaken their strength.

Question 31

Potter et al. (2004)

Answer 31

Urban bias -
dry season bias - only visit rural during dry season, wet season crops grown, work longer, disease and malnutrition more common.
tarmac bias - only stay on easier roads - don’t get to remote places
person bias - only speak to influential leaders invariably men, women and ‘ordinary’ people not heard
sustainable livelihoods framework.

Question 32

Brooks (2015)

Answer 32

cotton production in Africa, receive very little, also undercut in prices as US subsidises their production.

Question 33

Satterthwaite (2014)

Answer 33

urbanisation in developing countries - urban centres contain most of the jobs and economic activity. the wealthiest nations are predominantly urban - larger cities occur in larger economies. some places more people move out of mega cities eg. Rio, Buenos Aires, Mexico city - many mega cities with smaller cities for new investment. improved transport and communication amy have lessened the advantages for concentrating business in one place.

Question 34

Rakodi (2014)

Answer 34

‘engines of economic growth’ cities produce a disproportionate amount of GDP. good prospects are thought to encourage rural-urban migration despite rising unemployment led to perception of urban areas as favoured environments. by 70s clear basic needs were not being met especially in African and South Asia, trickle down not working.

Question 35

Michael Lipton’s urban bias

Answer 35

failure to recognise necessity of increasing productivity in peasant agriculture for sustained growth and prosperity (questionable validity if this is sufficient explanation)

Question 36

Rigg (2014)

Answer 36

> 190 countries signed up. Progress was made in some parts of world with some of the goals, have been massive shortfalls elsewhere. in 2014 only 40% of cases are targets likely to be met. 2011 report concluded that they were failing to meet the poorest in society. They represent the first collective and integrated attempt to highlight the life conditions and life chances of the world’s poor. Do the MDGs represent a set of appropriate measures of the achievement of development?

Question 37

Cassilato (2014)

Answer 37

International Herald Tribune dismissed BRICs as an artificial bloc built on a catchphrase (2012)

Question 38

Mawdsley (2014)

Answer 38

poor countries rising up and becoming donors e.g. 2003 Thailand announced it was ready to become donor instead of recipient. Sri Lanka sent money to New Orleans in response to Hurricane Katrina, 2005. More sporadic basis. Like Western counterparts states are motivated by altruism, pursuit of diplomatic alliances, encouraging trade and investment, projecting soft power and in support of security and geopolitical agendas. most non western donors tend to remain under reported.

Question 39

Mawdsley (2014) terminological change

Answer 39

most don’t use term donor, due to associations with N/S power relations prefer ‘development partners’
Southern and Gulf states go further and call it ‘development cooperation’ this can encompass diplomatic events, cultural exchanges and variety of official development financing instruments that OECD-DAC currently seeks to exclude from its definition of ‘foreign aid’ such as export credits. development cooperation clearly blurs with commercial interests.

Question 40

Aleksashenko (2015)

Answer 40

BRICS will remain transitional union as long as group continues to provide marginal economic gains for China.