Lecture 1: What is development?

Question 1

What is politics?

Answer 1

How public decisions are made - who gets what, when how

Question 2

4 types of development

Answer 2

Economic (GDP), political (democracy), social (healthcare, education), subjective (wellbeing, happiness)

Question 3

Definition: Modernization theory

Answer 3

Progress is a linear transition from the same ‘traditional’ start to the same ‘modern’ end

Question 4

What 3 things does Modernization theory focus on increasing?

Answer 4

GDP per capita, urbanization, education

Question 5

Sen’s development as freedom - freedom to do these 5 things:

Answer 5

1. Participate in politics
2. Engage in economic transactions
3. Social opportunites through healthcare and education
4. Transparency during interacitons
5. Security of life

Question 6

According to development as freedom, what 5 things limit freedom?

Answer 6

1. Poverty
2. Violence/repression
3. Poor public services
4. State restrictions on activities
5. Lack of opportunities

Question 7

According to development as freedom, why does freedom matter intrinsically and instrumentally?

Answer 7

Intrinsically: freedom in itself matters
Instrumentally: freedom promotes other freedoms

Question 8

According to modernization theory, development is not about trade-offs but about

Answer 8

Complementarities

Question 9

How does resources turn into functionings?

Answer 9

Resources/commodities are converted into freedoms and capabilities which are converted into functionings (what to do with capabilities)

Question 10

Freedom =

Answer 10

Capabilities (e.g. positive notion of freedom), freedom is your ability and opportunity to do/be things

Question 11

Definition: Sustainable Development

Answer 11

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs - Bruntland Commission 1987

Question 12

Strong vs. weak sustainability

Answer 12

Strong: natural capital does not fall

Weak: the sum of natural and physical capital does not fall, meaning we long as we produce enough stuff to replace the natural capital we use, it’s sustainable

Question 13

The Kuznets curve

Answer 13

Shows a turning point in development and technology where first the environment worsens and then it improves

Question 14

4 post-development critiques

Answer 14

1. The discourse of ‘development’ makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped - rejecting modernization theory, maybe we are not meant to all end up in the same place
2. ‘Development’ is an imposition of power and hierarchy from the West, being used as a weapon of the cold war and post-colonialism and “planned poverty” that the West benefits from
3. Development has failed on its own terms because of rising inequality
4. Development industry is reliant on the continuation of poverty and thus have no real incentive to eradicate poverty

Question 15

For Sen, how do we in a society/country choose which freedoms matter?

Answer 15

Democracy, but this is difficult for authoritarian states

Question 16

How is freedom and development a conflict?

Answer 16

It’s the conflict between people who value different dimensions of development - everyone values things differently and needs different things to develop

Question 17

The ‘development’ route to sustainability

Answer 17

Rapid technological innovation due to economic growth will help us solve problems like climate change. Wealth and educated makes us better able to tackle problems
E.g. Kuznets curve

Question 18

The ‘sustainability’ route to development

Answer 18

Tackling environmental challenges will stimulate new innovations and investments, so we should promote green investments

Question 19

4 reasons it’s hard to measure development?

Answer 19

1. Measuring development means frequently measuring many factors and freedoms
2. Lack of data collection capacity in the countries that matter the most
3. Challenging to find representative data on vulnerable people
4. Hard to attribute progress to a specific policy when many things change at the same time

Question 20

What does the Human Development Index measure?

Answer 20

Education, health, and income

Question 21

What does the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) measure?

Answer 21

The percentage of the population who are poor in at least a third of the 10 indicators

Question 22

What does the ecological footprint measure?

Answer 22

Sustainable development, e.g. how much biologically productive area it takes to provide for all the competing demands of people” (1.75 earths would be required to support current activities)

Question 23

When comparing HDI and ecological footprint

Answer 23

There are no countries with high HDI who are also sustainable

Question 24

What has recent development on poverty achieved?

Answer 24

Decrease in income poverty worldwide, but poverty increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa