L1 - intro Flashcards
course intro
use tools of polsci to:
- explain why some places are more dev than others
- diagnose why development initiatives frequently fail (they are systematically failing, development despite development efforts)
- propose solutions that have proven evidence of success in boosting development
definition politics + development
politics = how PUBLIC decisions are made
who gets what, when, how (Lasswell)
- distributive question
development = diff focus, diff concepts, no single agreed definition, but vague wide idea
- Lugard 1926: bringing to the dark places of the earth, the abode of barbarism and cruelty, the torch of culture an progress (idea guided dev. for centuries)
- IUCN 1980: modification of the biosphere to improve the quality of human life
- Dasgupta 1993: manner in which people are able to live and die
- Chambers 2004: good change
- Thomas 2004: practice of development agencies (can be very diff from what we think development should be)
- Kanbur 2006: no uniform or unique answer bc development depends on values and alternative conceptions of the good life
who are we developing?
- low and middle income (IMF)
- underdeveloped (suggests colonialism, superiority)
- developing (implies progress)
- the third world (colonial concept that accurately described cold war period situation)(not really political correct now)
- the global south (is it accurate?)
- everyone?
no consensus
what are we developing?
- eco development: GDP per capita
- social development: healthcare, education, human capital
- political dev: democracy
- psychology: personal well-being, happiness
development is more than just money
all matter to some degree, it is not just that one is wrong/right
different dimensions of development -> how are they related?
two perspectives:
- modernization theory
- subjective development
what is development? - definition modernization theory
definition: modernization theory
a linear transition from the same ‘traditional’ start to the same ‘modern’ end
= idea that there is linear progress being made in human history (hunter gathering -> urbanized/educated/democracy)
- all changes go together, they correlate (e.g. cities tend to be richer, cities tend to be higher educated, have better healthcare)
- move away from the traditional
- increase GDP per capita
- increase urbanization
- increase education
- “all good things go together”
what is development? - definition modernization theory - alternative approach: subjective development
voices of the poor: what do people think it is?
- Niger: rich are those able to sell parts of harvest when prices rise
- China: what one shouldn’t lack is the sheep, what one cannot live without is food grain
- Senegal: important asset is family network to derive jobs, credit, financial assitance
- Latvia: poverty is humiliation, sense of being dependent, being forced to accept rudeness, insults when seeking for help (soviet history)
conceptualization depends on where you are: culturally specific
development - modernization vs subjective development
both have problem: close debate about what it is
- if all dimensions of modernization are tightly connected, top-down and homogeneous, there is nothing to debate (we don’t have to worry about it, don’t need to debate about what it is, it goes automatically)
- if the important dimensions of development are entirely subjective there is nothing to debate (bc it is subjective you can’t really conceptualize it, so why bother)
-> need for middle ground: development as freedom
development as freedom (Sen 1999) - core
being developed is having more freedom
why does freedom matter for development?
- intrinsic/constitutive reason: freedom matters in itself (we value it, it is important to us)
- instrumental reason: freedoms can help us achieve other freedoms
e.g. democracy prevents famine (instrumental), but also matters for political freedom in itself (intrinsic)
allows for heterogeneity, it captures the complexity (it is diff for everyone) + that diff dimensions correlate
recognizes development contains COMPLEMENTARITIES between dimensions (=modernization theory)
+ freedoms let people choose what they value (=subjective development)
3 clarifications development as freedom (Sen)
not just freedom from interference (libertarianism: negative freedom):
- freedom = CAPABILITIES (opportunities, positive freedom)
- e.g. capabilities to live a long life, to become a teacher
not just income
- not all ends can be bought
- needs vary: resources are CONVERTED into capabilities
not about what people do with their freedoms/capabilities
- people choose specific FUNCTIONINGS
- he doesn’t care what option you chose, he cares that you have the freedom to choose
HE CARES NOT ABOUT THE RESOURCES, THE FUNCTIONINGS PEOPLE PICK, HE CARES ABOUT PEOPLE HAVING THE FREEDOMS/CAPABILITIES
(core: freedoms is what he focuses on + know he means positive freedom)
development as freedom (Sen) - freedom to do what? 5 freedoms
- participate in politics
- engage in economic transactions
- social opportunities through education and healthcare
- transparency during interactions (not cheating, befaulting people)
- security of life
what limits freedom?
- forced labor, bonded labor, slavery (Mauritania 4% forced labor)
- violence/repression
- state restrictions
- poverty
- poor public services
- lack of opportunities (eco recession -> no jobs available)
UN adopted this definition -> Human Development Record (with diff/more freedom dimensions each report: e.g. empowerment, creativity, participation, sustainability, security)
eventually we got the Sustainable Development Goals (really long list of 17 with many development dimensions)
PROBLEM of Sen analysis: what are the freedoms and who decides who they are
development as freedom (Sen) how do we decide which capabilities/freedoms matter?
- Sen: that’s what democracy is for
- but Sen still proposes his 5 freedoms
- how do we decide for countries under authoritarianism?
not just a normative question:
POLITICS IS THE CONFLICT BETWEEN PEOPLE BETWEEN PEOPLE WHO VALUE DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF DEVELOPMENT
development is the conflict over what development means, diff people in diff circumstances have diff priorities
- e.g. covid: demonstration that diff people have diff priorities + when they clash there are policy problems
what is development? - sustainable development definition (not just development, we want it to be sustainable)
= development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (Bruntland Commission (UN))
- do we prioritize freedoms today or freedoms for future generations? older people care less about climate change (younger/older people have diff situations and thus diff priorities, low taxes vs pensions and climate action)
- future generations are going to be more wealthy than us (probs) -> why should we sacrifice today?
- trade-off todays freedoms and those of the future
- we have to suffer today to deliver huge profits for later generations
intergenerational conflict is huge
sustainable development - how do we achieve sustainable development?
development first vs sustainability first
development first route
- Kuznets curve: as we get richer we use resources, but once we get to certain income level and people are educated/tech innovative enough they can pay the price to reduce the emissions and the environment improves (e.g. how we fixed the ozone layer)
*for greenhouse gas emissions the turning point is rather high, doubtful if it will be in time - wealth and edu reduce fertility and support cleaner tech, reducing env pressures
- rapid tech innovation helps solve problems like climate change and become more resilient
- get rich quick to have the resources (tech and edu) to fix environmental problems we are creating
sustainability first route
- tackling environmental challenges will stimulate new innovations and investments
- conserving assets improves their productivity (e.g. new medical cures in the rainforest)
- avoiding climate stresses prevents conflict and boosts yields
- preserve resources, think about things first, don’t consume and hope we will figure it out later
IN PRACTICE: having to choose between those? in reality it is more complex
e.g. Sardar Sarovar Dam that produces hydropower -> is it sustainable development? implications are messy, it creates freedoms (renewable energy, irrigation, relieves drought, drinking water) but also losses (CO2, displacing people, destroying habitats, loss biodiversity) -> policy decisions are messy: people win and people lose
Norway - Mozambique gas plant example
- e.g. (reading): Norway and gas plant Mozambique: same aggregate impact climate, Norway has one, Mozambique wanted one, article discusses challenge if we should go ahead with fossil fuel projects in developing countries, Norway lobbied to prevent Mozambique gas plant (bc it causes climate change) but doesn’t close its own
- FREEDOMS AT STAKE = Mozambique should have political freedom to decide how to spend money, freedom to follow the same development path, gas is lucrative, leading reason death is cooking on wood, harming longs (respiritory issues) (natural gas will fix this -> healthcare) + Norway maybe has freedom how to spend money (can we attach conditions on how the aid is used?)
sustainable development is not obvious, there is a conflict of interests
post-development critique 1
the discourse of development makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped
basicially says that development is a construct of the post-war period, development as discourse of international society, a discourse that is problematic (it makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped through contact with developed/urbanized world)
- Rahnema: poverty is a myth, a construct and the invention of a particular civilization
- rejects modernization theory: wer’e not all traveling in the same direction, more is not always better
post-development critique 2
development is an imposition of power and hierarchy
- a weapon of the cold war and post-colonialism
- development as planned poverty
- a top down, ethnocentric and technocratic approach (Escobar)
- Westernization and eradicating diversity
- Norway’s hypocritical gas policy creates dependency and neocolonialism (again against modernization theory that dev. path is equal)
post-development critique 3
development has failed on its own terms
- rising inequality
- delusions, disappointment, failures and crimes: it did not work
still: weird to say development didn’t work: parts of the world did get richer 1975-2015
post-development critique 4
development is an industry, not an idealistic concept/objective
development is about the people engaged in providing it: govs, NGOs, BINGOs, for-profit companies, foundations
- industry relies on continuation of poverty
- lobbying governments for new contracts
- gov seeking markets for their companies
- $150 billion
how can we avoid development being an industry? the actors are not neutral….
- how do we measure development?
- challenges to measurement
- lack of data collection capacity in the countries that matter the most (poorest countries, hard to reach areas)
- frequent, representative data on the most vulnerable is challenging (people who don’t want or are not allowed to (women) participate)
- hard to attribute progress to specific policies when many things change at the same time
- multi-dimensionality
it is really hard, really expensive and people don’t prioritize it
e.g. unadjusted gender gap in average hourly wages - no data on all of Africa
what framework of development do we use?
it means diff things to diff people
we see development as freedom
measuring development - HDI
human development index
is really basic:
- long and healthy life (life expectancy)
- doesn’t measure quality: violence, health problems - knowledge (expected years of schooling an mean years of schooling)
- what about the quality of knowledge and education? - decent standard of living (GNI)
- probs the most adequate measure
-> is this a good capture?
- no attention to political rights and freedoms, political participation (democracy)
it is not included bc there are more non-democratic countries -> scores would go down, China would not like it (it is a UN score) - environmental measures
- doesn’t reflect opportunities/freedoms: be all you can be, career options, flexibility, the range of options you have
- it works with national averages, doesn’t look at if poor conditions cluster in the same groups
= not really faithful to Sen’s freedom idea of development
it is the lowest common denominator: thing that we can agree to politically
nevertheless we use it
- HDI and GDP per capita correlate (oil states are outliers: high GDP, lower HDI)
how do we create a single nr? how do we weigh them? HDI gives an equal weight
also problem with taking average: they can compensate each other to still get a high score (e.g. low education and health but high standard of life (GNI) -> now we use vermigvuldig ze met elkaar en dan tot de macht van 1/3 so that they can’t compensate each other
- makes a diff: DRC does a lot poorer with the new HDI: huge nr resources, so average income is not that bad -> compensates lack of other categories
statistical diff, diff rankings, but reality did not change -> there is no correct answer
multidimensional poverty index
looks at concentration of poverty: % of people who are poor in at least 1/3 HDI indicators
solves that HDI only looks at national level
e.g. Lesotho much lower poverty than Ethiopia while on HDI almost equal
- Lesotho: problems dispersed around groups: some have lack of A, some of B
- Ethiopia: multidimensional poverty, the problems are concentrated in the same group
measuring development - sustainability
HDI and multidimensional poverty index
- reward resource use (rather than conservation)
- ignore consequences for future generations
-> how to capture sustainable development?
ecological footprint (how much productive area it takes to provide for all the demand)
- 1.75 earths would be required with world demand (if everyone lived like the US you would need more)
- no countries with okay HDI scores less than 1 earth
- rich countries are sustainable
are we making progress in development?
fast-moderate progress last 30y
MDG (millenium development goals): we failed on most, some suc6 (Malaria, gender equality, education, reducing extreme poverty etc.) + went backwards on some
sustainable development goals: moderate progress, some works, some doesn’t
absolute poverty score (important): rapid decline extreme poverty , going down faster and faster = fastest progress ever in human history = story of success
- driven by China +east Asia: become much richer 1990-2015
- South Asia also declining + expecting to decline further
- BUT: IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA the absolute nr keeps rising
- extreme poverty is declining percentage wise, but not absolute nrs wise + is concentrating in Africa
health: ????
education increasing over the world
!!!!with covid we went backwards: nr people in poverty went up + HDI as well (dropped for the first time, not even with great financial crisis)
conclusion
what is development?
- contested: dev as competing interests over many possible freedoms
- including fredoms of future generations: sustainability
