Developmentalism
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Developmentalism is an
Developmentalism is a cross-disciplinary school of thought
The theory is based on the assumption that not only are there similar stages to development for all countries but also that there is a linear movement from one stage to another that goes from traditional or primitive to modern or industrialized.[3]
Though initially the preserve of
Ideology and basic tenets
There are four main ideas that are integrated behind the theory of developmentalism:
- First, there is the notion that the performance of a nation's economy is the central source of legitimacy that a regime may claim. Rather than subscribing to the notion, for example, that the ability to make and enforce laws gives a state power, developmentalists argue that the sustenance of economic growth and the subsequent promotion of citizens' welfare gives the general population incentive to support the regime in power, granting it both de facto and de jure legitimacy.
- The second tenet of developmentalism asserts that it is the role of regimes to use their governmental authority to spread out the risks associated with capitalist development, as well as to combine governmental and entrepreneurial wills in order to maximize the advancement of national interest.[5]
- Thirdly, developmentalism asserts that state bureaucrats become separated from politicians, which allows for the independent and successful redevelopments of leadership structures and administrative and bureaucratic procedures (when such changes become necessary). This separation is key to balancing the needs of the state and the importance of forming and maintaining strong international economic ties. The government, then, has the autonomy to deal with certain issues on a national level, while helping state bureaucrats maintain the internationalism necessary to develop the nation's economy.
- The final aspect of developmentalism's ideology deals with the idea that it is necessary for nations to utilize the capitalist system as a means of advancement in the international economy. Privileged positions in capitalist systems arise from active responses to external affairs in order to obtain the external resources with which to gain larger amounts of economic autonomy. The resources gained from active participation in international economic affairs help propel countries out of being exploited by capitalism to positions from which they can exploit the international economy for its own national gain.[6]
History
The ensuing 'Golden Age' of the developmentalist school began after 1945 and extended into the late 1960s. During the 1970s, however, the popularity and prevalence of developmentalism flickered and decreased.
During the 1950s and 1960s, developmentalism in practice did much to promote prosperity in the Southern Cone (comprising parts of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay) and the Andean country of Chile. As noted by Naomi Klein, “[d]uring this dizzying period of expansion, the Southern Cone began to look more like Europe and North America than the rest of Latin America or other parts of the Third World.” Workers in new factories formed strong unions that negotiated middle-class salaries, and their children were sent off to study at newly constructed public universities. By the Fifties, Argentina had the largest middle class in South America, while Uruguay had a literacy rate of 95% and provided free health care to all its citizens.[8]
Goals
Developmentalism attempts to codify the ways in which development is discussed on an international level. Through developmentalism, it is thought by its advocates that discussions about the economic development of the 'Third World' can be redesigned in such a way that everyone will use the same vocabulary to discuss the various phenomena of development. This way, societies can be discussed comparatively without the impediments associated with placing developmental disparities across nations in completely different categories of speech and thought. This increased uniformity of language would increase understanding and appreciation for the studies about development from different fields in the
Decline
The model of developmentalism proved to have two major reasons for decline within the school:
- The model created a system that was too formal and structured, providing an ethnocentricand unilateral method for changing the third world.
- In this, developmentalists created plans for development that were mostly inflexible, owing to the fact that they relied heavily on the Western model of development as their primus modus. Western development, supposedly, held the keys to unlocking the door to the Global South’s development, and as such, could shed light on the changes that were occurring there. In doing so, however, the histories of the South were reduced into terms that could be applied to a model of development. This resulted in extremely rigid models in which labeled deviations from the conventional "traditional" (undeveloped) or "modern" (developed) society as dysfunctional, and to draw clear empirical distinctions between traditional and modern societies[10]
- A lack of cohesion within the models and the academic community itself.
- Developmentalist models attempted to create a universal system of development, and as such, resulted in methods that were too loose and incoherent to provide an accurate picture of the circumstances under which development could work in the Third World. Because of the vast amounts of difference in the cultures of the Global South, creating generalizations in which one theory of development was applicable to all settings became extremely difficult. Additionally, disagreement within the academic community itself and the lack of an obvious leader did not allow for internal cooperation. Many developmentalist scholars became disenchanted with the way in which the United States foreign policy was being implemented, especially during the Vietnam War and the Alliance for Progress. Intentions, as well, were not always non-partisan; many scholars had intended their writing to be policy-relevant in the spread of capitalism and an elite brand of democracy in the South, as well as in the struggle to block the spread of communism.[11]
These problems eventually marked the decline of school of developmentalist theory in the late 1970s. Some scholars (such as
Partial revival in the developed world
In the wake of the
This unconventional use of the term is used to justify some degree of protectionism and industrial dirigisme e.g. in the context of Trumponomics in the United States:[13]
"That [ideological] bravado endeared Donald Trump to millions of disenfranchised lower-middle-class voters across the Rust Belt and proved instrumental to his electoral victory in the fall [...] [He promised] to create 'millions of jobs' in America in the coming quarters. Not coincidentally, when it comes to investment destination, the president seems to have a preference for Pennsylvania, Upstate New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and Indiana: a new kind of capital stewardship for the era of self-seeking capitalism..." [14]
Examples
- Bretton-Woods(1944)
- International Development Association (1960)
- Truman’s Point Four (1949)
- Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of OECD (1961)
- SUNFED (1958)
- UNDP(1965)
These policies shifted focus from reconstruction to development to poverty reduction, created a demand for global development intervention and shift from exploitation to development U.S. aid programme, and created norms and statistics for international donors.
Criticism
The implementation of developmentalist ideologies has been critiqued in multiple lights, both by the right and by the left.
Developmentalism is often accused by the left (though not only by the left) of having an ideology of
From the right, critics say that developmentalist strategies deny the free market its autonomy. By creating a state controlled market economy, it takes away the organic nature in which a market is meant to be created. They argue that developmentalist strategies have not generally worked in the past, leaving many countries, in fact, worse off than they were before they began state-controlled development. This is due to a lack of freedom in the free market and its constrictive nature. In turn, it is argued, reactive
Socio-anthropologists criticize the developmentalism as a form of social change implemented by an exogenous party. This creates what is called the developmentalist configuration.[18]
See also
- Beijing Consensus
- Development economics
- Economic intervention
- Arthur Lewis
- Protectionism
- Structuralist economics
- Neomercantilism
References
- ^ a b Smith, Tony "Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies?" World Politics, Vol. 37, No. 4 (July 1985), pp. 533–534
- ^ Yü, Bin, Yu, Bin, and Chung, Tsungting "Dynamics and Dilemma: Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a Changing World", Nova Publishers, Taiwan, 1996, pp. 22–24
- ^ Smith, Tony "Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies?" World Politics, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Jul., 1985), pp.537
- ^ Nicolas J. Firzli, The End of ‘Globalization’? Economic Policy in the Post-Neocon Age, Revue Analyse Financière (July 12, 2016).
- ^ Yü, Bin, Yu, Bin, and Chung, Tsungting "Dynamics and Dilemma: Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a Changing World", Nova Publishers, Taiwan, 1996, pp. 23
- ^ Yü, Bin, Yu, Bin, and Chung, Tsungting "Dynamics and Dilemma: Mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong in a Changing World", Nova Publishers, Taiwan, 1996, pp. 24
- S2CID 153965287.
- ^ a b Klein, Naomi "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism." Metropolitan Books, 2007.
- ^ Smith, Tony "Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies?" World Politics, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Jul., 1985) pp. 538–539
- ^ Smith, Tony "Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies?" World Politics, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Jul., 1985) pp. 540–542
- ^ Smith, Tony "Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies?" World Politics, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Jul., 1985) pp. 542–544
- ^ Smith, Tony "Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies?" World Politics, Vol. 37, No. 4 (Jul., 1985) pp. 545–547
- ^ a b M. Nicolas J. Firzli : 'Understanding Trumponomics', Revue Analyse Financière, 26 January 2017 – Supplement to Issue N°62 Archived 11 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ M. Nicolas J. Firzli : 'Understanding Trumponomics', Revue Analyse Financière, 26 January 2017 – Supplement to Issue N°62 Archived 11 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ M. Haque, Shamsul “Restructuring Development Theories and Policies: A Critical Study” SUNY Press, New York, 1999
- ^ Wolf, Eric “Europe and the People Without History.” University of California Press, San Diego, 1982.
- ^ Easterly, William. “The Ideology of Development.” Foreign Policy July/August 2007 pp. 30–35
- ^ Olivier de Sardan, Jean-Pierre 2005, Anthropology and Development: Understanding Contemporary Social Change, Zed Books Ltd, New York NY, page 25