Week 1: Development in an Era of Crisis Flashcards
What does “Big D” development refer to?
planned, structured initiatives by governments, international agencies, and NGOs aimed at fostering social and economic progress, particularly in developing countries
What does “little D” development describe?
organic socio-economic changes that result from capitalist processes, is not planned but instead emerges through market expansion, often creating both winners and losers due to unequal economic impacts
Why does “Big D/little d” distinction face challenges when applied to real-world scenarios?
lines between planned interventions and organic development are often blurred
When did quest for economic development in Africa start and what has driven it?
with its encounter with the West (pursuit of development is not a result of external impositions but rather a response to the challenges it has and does face (e.g. colonialism, slavery)), driven by desire to “catch up” with more advanced economies
What does the phrase “Running While Others Walk” underscore?
underscores the urgency for Africa to accelerate its development efforts, as it is lagging behind in economic growth, technological advancement, social progress (cannot afford to follow the slow and steady pace of others, and must innovate and implement radical changes to catch up)
What does “catching up” entail?
learning ideas from abroad but also about one’s capacities and weaknesses (sets the “initial conditions” for any future progress)
What is the issue of “catching up”?
Not that of simply taking on every wretched instrument used by their pioneers to get what they have (wars, slave labour, child labour, Gulags), but of finding more efficacious and morally acceptable ways of improving the life chances of millions of people
What is the anti-education bias in Africa?
devaluation of tertiary education in Africa, particularly during structural adjustment programs of the 1980s and 1990s, when the World Bank promoted policies that deprioritised higher education in favour of primary education (due to higher social returns)
What impact does the anti-education bias in Africa have?
has hampered Africa’s ability to generate the knowledge necessary for development and left Africa dependent on external expertise
What is a major critique of international aid?
Much of aid-driven development discourse has been shaped by foreign experts who impose standardised solutions without regard for local contexts (frequently promote models that have little relevance), criticism is the idea that the North was entrusted with the task of developing the South in its image
How can human capabilities be built?
through education and technological advancement
What is the role of the African Intellectual Community?
African scholars and researchers must play a leading role in formulating strategies and policies that reflect local realities, rather than relying on imported solutions
What happened due to the anti-elitist bias?
resulted in a neglect of the important role that intellectual elites, including academics and technocrats, play in shaping national development agendas (development discourse in 1980s and 1990s, exhibited a strong disdain for local elites)
What was the Truman doctrine after WW2?
foreign policy established in 1947 that pledged American support for democratic nations facing authoritarian threats intended to foster a climate to recreate the conditions of more developed economies (industrialisation, urbanisation, technology in agriculture etc.)
What were both Polanyi and Hayek responding to?
the crises of the early 20th century, e.g. the Great Depression and fascism
What is Polanyi’s definition of freedom?
is collective because it is a social matter that involves bearing responsibility for one’s choices (responsibility is an important component, strongly relating to the roles of social, moral, and ethical values in the marketplace)
Is positive, involving the active role of the state in providing the right conditions
Material conditions like poverty and lack of access to basic resources limit true freedom
What is positive freedom?
the ability to pursue personal development and self-realisation
Who is Hayek?
one of the most important promoters of the modern market economy, often regarded as “the father of neoliberalism”
What is Hayek’s definition of freedom?
Has two components (negative freedom and economic freedom)
Focused on individual freedom, primarily as the absence of coercion and the ability to make economic choices in a free market without interference
Believed that any attempt to realise common goals and ends through state intervention was a form of coercion that would eventually jeopardise freedom
Regarded positive freedom as the “most dangerous” concept to the achievement of freedom, because it can eventually engender totalitarian regimes
What is negative freedom?
“The absence of coercion” on the part of other people, organisations, or agents (coercion occurs whenever the decisions that individuals made within their private spheres were not determined by their own will, but through the imposition of the will of an external authority)
What is economic freedom?
Freedom that allows individuals to voluntarily choose how to earn, spend, save, and invest their incomes based on their own values, skills, and knowledge, without external interference in the marketplace
Necessitates that individuals are able to freely enter into all occupations and willingly engage in any business enterprise
Requires the existence of a competitive free market, where voluntary cooperation and free choices on the part of individuals are necessary
What is development?
a complex, multi-dimensional and contentious set of ideas and processes
What did Adam Smith and Karl Marx development focus on and what has changed?
longstanding focus on economic transformation but today there is increased recognition of social, environmental and political dimensions of development
What does Amartya Sen focus on regarding development?
capabilities, improvement of the human condition through expanding people’s freedoms to do what they want to do, or be
What does immanent development mean?
development as a process
What does intentional development mean?
development as an activity
When did ‘Big D’ development emerge?
a post-second world war project of intervention in the ‘third world’ that emerged in the context of decolonisation and the Cold War (deliberate ‘projects of intervention’)
