Showing papers on "Underdevelopment published in 1985"

Transnational corporations and underdevelopment

Abstract: Do investments by multinational corporations in less developed countries enhance or hinder economic development in those countries? This volume presents a re-evaulation of twenty-seven of the most important studies which were carried out to answer this question. The authors attempt to resolve the disparate findings which show that investment promotes short-run growth but in the long run retards growth. They also present a careful empirical analysis of the intervening political, social, and economic mechanisms through which the effects of investment are transmitted. The volume will clarify much speculation which has taken place about the world-systems perspective and will point the way toward more research which can resolve disputed areas of this theory.

Underdevelopment Is a State of Mind: The Latin American Case

Abstract: An examination of Latin America's rocky development as a cultural, rather than colonial byproduct. In a new introduction Harrison explores the political and economic shifts that have occurred over the past 15 years.

Political Change and Underdevelopment: A Critical Introduction to Third World Politics

Abstract: In this completely revised second edition, Vicky Randall and Robin Theobald review the principal theoretical approaches to the postwar study of Third World politics. Instead of undergoing Western-model modernization as predicted, developing countries have seen the proliferation of one-party states, military coups, communal violence, corruption, and economic dependence. Randall and Theobald survey and analyze the varied theories born of these developments, with examples from such nations as Chile, Indonesia, Pakistan, Syria, Ghana, Nigeria, and Tanzania.This second edition has been expanded to include discussions of the international debt crisis, the impact of globalization on the postcolonial world, the rise of newly industrialized countries, and the upsurge in religion-based conflict in the post-Cold War era. Describing the strengths and weaknesses of the existing interpretive approaches to these issues, the authors explore the often difficult relationship between political change and economic development. At the same time they provide a comprehensive view into the turbulent politics of the Third World and suggest how future analysis can build on present approaches to reflect political reality more fully.An essential text for students of political science and Third World societies, this volume will also interest anyone seeking a clearer understanding of the current issues underlying the politics of these countries.

The struggle for health: Medicine and the politics of underdevelopment

Abstract: This book is dedicated to the proposition that problems of health development and underdevelopment are intimately linked. In recent years there has been increasing debate about the sociology of health--this book is in part a contribution to that debate. It may also be of value to health workers in underdeveloped countries who are starting to explore the roots of ill health in their societies and to question their roles. Many aspects of the work of aid agencies have been given an unsparing critique in recent years. Not only has this confirmed the suspicion that such agencies were not tackling the root causes of poverty; on occasions they can also do clear harm. This book offers a far more radical approach than simply the need for more preventive medicine. It argues that medicine of any sort plays a very minor role in improving the health of peoples--that their health is inextricably linked to underdevelopment and the struggle against it. This book asks whether our conventional ideas of tropical health hazards are correct whether the problem is simply one of hot countries where disease breeds more easily. It also looks at how the health services of developed countries evolved and asks how appropriate they are and it examines possible alternatives to this Western medical model. Finally this book outlines the difficulties faced by the health worker who wishes to adopt a different approach to that of the foreign expert.

Policing Nigeria: Control and Autonomy in the Exercise of Coercion

Abstract: Claude Ake (1982: 8, 3), in his Presidential Address to the 1982 Convention of the Nigerian Political Science Association, criticized Nigerian society, politics, and state behavior in damning terms: A predatory capitalism has bred misery, turned politics into warfare and all but arrested the development of productive forces. The Nigerian ruling class has assaulted the masses with physical and psychological violence and thwarted their aspirations, particularly their escape from underdevelopment and poverty. Legitimacy has receded to the background, making way for relations of raw power and the perception of right as being coextensive with might. Ake's views reflect a common perception that the Nigerian state survives by coercion as other means of gaining the compliance of the populace-the capacity to create a legitimating consciousness or utilitarian pay-offs-have proven ineffective, or have been wasted by a rapacious ruling class and its clients. Coercion, of course, means the police and the military. This paper focuses on the control and autonomy of coercion, concretely examined as the actions of the police, in the political economy of Nigeria. Who controls the police and how autonomous are they as an organization and as individuals? The paper argues that the state and the police are relatively autonomous from class control; that the police have interests of their own which will influence both what they do or refuse to do; and that the police are a very weak reed for the ruling class to relay upon.

Requiem or New Agenda for Third World Studies

Abstract: Thanks to the vigor of the dependency school's attack on the established “developmentalist” framework for studying change in the Third World, debates going on today in development studies are perhaps the most interesting and important in the field of comparative politics The debates are interesting because, both methodologically and substantively, a wide range of new issues has been raised in a field that by around 1970 had become relatively moribund They are important because, in the Third World especially, the mainstream developmentalist models earlier formulated in the United States—such as those sponsored by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC)—have been angrily discarded by many in favor of politically explosive explanations of underdevelopment that lay the manifold problems of these areas squarely at the feet of Western imperialism (and, in the case of the Latin Americanists heading this school, at the doorstep of Washington in particular) Thus, there are acutely perceived moral and political dimensions to this clash of paradigms for the study of Third World development, beyond the intellectual, or academic, interest that such controversy is sure to excite

Southeast Asia: Essays in the political economy of structural change

Abstract: The articles in this edited collection, first published in 1985, consider the competing theories of the nature of development and underdevelopment in Southeast Asia. Each chapter challenges the academic orthodoxies and dominant traditions of Southeast Asian studies, particularly in relation to orientalist history, behaviourist political science and development economics. Overall, the contributions offer an alternative framework for analysis, which considers the structural changes to the political economy of Southeast Asia, as well as the relationship between the state, economy and class at a domestic level. This is a fascinating collection, of value to students and academics with an interest in Southeast Asian politics, economics and history.

Health care for some: a Nigerian study of who gets what, where and why?

Abstract: The persistent underdevelopment of health in the Third World belies the optimism of the "Health care for all by the year 2000" campaign. In order to understand the underdevelopment of health, it is essential to examine the historical evolution of specific health systems. These ideas are developed in a case study of health care in Kano State, Nigeria. The nature and contemporary development of the health care system, which includes state voluntary agency and private sector outlets for Western scientific medicine and a large and varied traditional medicine sector, are examined. Although the deepening health care crisis may potentially spur a reconsideration of priorities and strategies, past experience suggests that a stubborn retention of a pared-down and increasingly unjust version of the present system is more likely.

Capitalism's economic impact in colonial Fiji. 1874–1939: Development or underdevelopment? ∗

Abstract: (1985). Capitalism's economic impact in colonial Fiji. 1874–1939: Development or underdevelopment?. The Journal of Pacific History: Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 66-83.

The geography of underdevelopment : a critical survey

Abstract: Part I: Geography and Development 1. World Development in a Historical Context 2. Geography and Imperialism 1870-1930 3. Geography, Area Studies, and Development Studies Part II: The Political Economy of Underdevelopment 4. Theories of Imperialism and Underdevelopment 5. Post-Dependency Theories of Underdevelopment Part III: Regionalism, Urbanisation and Underdevelopment 6. Social Theory and Regional Uneven Development 7. Migration, Circulation and Urbanisation in Indonesia 8. Conflict and Class in the City

Economic Development and Educational Status in Appalachian Kentucky.

Abstract: The literature on formal education and its relationships to economic development has grown steadily during the past several decades. As might be expected, most of this literature deals with economy and education among less developed countries in Africa, Asia, and Central America. At the same time, however, competing models of the relationship between education and political economy have become more visible within "underdeveloped" areas of the United States.' The Appalachian region in particular has been the focus of a continuing debate concerning causes and consequences of underdevelopment within a nation that has attained an exceedingly high level of economic productivity and standard of living. This region covers approximately 200,000 square miles, following the spine of the Appalachian Mountains from New York in the north to Mississippi in the south. It includes all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states. Appalachia has three major subregions, each with distinctive income, population, and employment characteristics. The central subregion includes eastern Kentucky, northeast Tennessee, western Virginia, and southern West Virginia. This area differs from the western and southern subregions due to its traditional reliance on an extractive economy, its isolation from population and transportation centers in surrounding areas, and its historically distinct relationship with state and federal governments (particularly during and immediately following the American Civil War). Here immense wealth resides side by side with abject poverty, and successes and failures are brought into full relief. Economically dependent on slow-growth or declining industry and characterized by a scarcity of tertiary enterprise, central Appalachia chronically has been plagued by high unemployment and underemployment. In 1983, for example, the state of West Virginia led the nation both in unemployment and in decreased percentages of federal "safety net" programs. The subregion has also traditionally exported

The dependency paradigm applied to the fijian periphery

Abstract: The dependency paradigm, employed as an explanatory model for the lack of development in less developed areas, was conceived and applied largely at the international level (Frank, 1969; Galtung, 1971; Amin, 1974; Wallerstein, 1974). Its central idea is of a global system of development and underdevelopment creating polarization both between and within countries. At the global level the paradigm is concerned with two main interlinked concepts: that of national subordination and that of structural dependency. Thus firstly, dependency can be generally defined as ‘a situation in which the economy of certain countries (or parts thereof) is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected’ (Santos, 1970:231). Secondly, dependency is regarded as a form of structural articulation of socio-economic formations of developed and less-developed countries. The subordination is not only to external influences, but also a mode of internal domination exercised between socio-economic structures at a different level of economic development.

Tunisian Peasants in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract: An historian of the Annales school, Lucette Valensi blends the methods of history and anthropology to portray the Tunisian countryside in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which has been previously little-studied. She analyses the nomadic tribes and the sedentary peasants, discussing their social organisation, their economic activity, and their cultural practices. She also explores the changes which affected both the peasantry and the Tunisian state in the nineteenth century, showing how the country's incorporation into the capitalist world economy led to social unrest, and eventually to the general rebellion of 1864 that precipitated the establishment of a French protectorate, thus placing Tunisia in a role of dependence and heralding underdevelopment.

Urban Politics and the Local State

Abstract: The last decade or so has been marked by the belated emergence of a Marxist theory of the urban. This is a remarkable development, for until recently, use of "the urban" as an analytic category was widely regarded as a sign of intellectual or political underdevelopment.

The Social Consequences of the World Economic System The Economic Status of Women and Fertility

Abstract: In the last ten years empirical research examining the processes of the world economic system has focused primarily on the economic consequences of the global interrelationships among nations (see, for example, the articles in Meyer & Hannan, 1979). By assuming such a perspective, researchers have found that incorporation within the world-system has resulted in the processes of underdevelopment within developing or peripheral nations, including reduced rates of relative economic growth, heightened income inequality, and structural disruption of indigenous economies compared to the development experiences of core nations (Chase-Dunn, 1975; Rubinson, 1976; Bornschier, et al., 1978; Bornschier & Ballmer-Cao,

French Merchant Capital and Slavery in Saint-Domingue:

Abstract: This article argues three points: First, during the eighteenth century French merchant capital transformed Saint-Domingue into an exportoriented economy and played an important role in the accumulation of capital in France. Second, it is asserted slavery was not the inevitable outcome of the establishment of colonies, colonial production and trade; it resulted from the contradictions and class conflicts generated by the colonization process dominated by merchant capital. And third, it will be shown that the combined effects of French merchant capital's monopoly control over the colonial economy and of the slave social relations of production caused the underdevelopment and dependence of SaintDomingue. The argument is presented in three parts. The first part consists of a brief discussion of current approaches to capitalism and slavery in the New World, followed by an outline of my own perspective. The second section analyzes the transformation of Saint-Domingue by French merchant capital and the processes that led to the establishment of slavery. And the third part looks at the effects of the slave social relations on the underdevelopment of Saint-Domingue's economy.

Is Scotland Different? Industrial and Occupational Change in Scotland and Britain

Abstract: An influential strand of argument concerning Scotland’s economic, social and political development has in recent years been shaped by a set of framing assumptions centred on such terms as ‘core’ or ‘centre’ and ‘periphery’, and ‘dependence’ or even ‘underdevelopment’.

Underdevelopment and the health care crisis in Nigeria.

Abstract: It has been said that in all societies but especially in the developing countries health care is inextricably linked to a nations political and economic system. Medical underdevelopment is a necessary feature of economic underdevelopment. Health care in Nigeria has traditionally been conceptualized as an autonomous self-determining phenomenon without links to the wider society; and morbidity and mortality problems explained as internal factors i.e. inadequate hospitals clinics equipment and materials and a lack of the necessary personnel. The structural underpinnings of these internal problems are assumed inconsequential and not addressed and so is the international dimension. This essay goes beyond the modernization paradigm by locating Nigerias health and sickness problems in the context of underdevelopment demonstrating how health care is located in the context of Nigerias political economy. 1st Nigerias position within the capitalist world economy is examined along with the structure of power and privileges. Against this background prevalent morbidity and mortality patterns and the policies to combat these are discussed. The current health care crisis it is argued must be located within the framework of underdevelopment and solutions are inseparable from overcoming present structural arrangements.

Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?: the Case of Nkrumah's National Security Service

Abstract: From the ancient Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta to twentiethcentury Bolivia and Zaire, from theories of development and underdevelopment to models of civil-military relations, one is struck by the enormous literature on armed intervention in the domestic political arena. In recent years, a veritable rash of material on the subject of military politics has appeared – as much from newspaper correspondents reporting pre-dawn coups from third-world capitals as from the more rarefied towers of academe. Yet looking at the subject from the perspective of how regimes mobilise resources and mechanisms to protect themselves from their own security forces, one is struck by the paucity of empirically-based evidence on the subject.1

Theories of development and underdevelopment: implications for the study of Southeast Asia

Abstract: Discusses increasing corporatism in S.E. Asian politics; integrates the analysis of circulation and production in the study of the state and class formation in the region where penetration of capitalism is having most influence on pre-capitalist modes of production; criticizes modernization theories and adaptations of dependency theory; and uses the analytical framework of the New International Division of Labour

Environmental Information in Developing Nations: Politics and Policies

Abstract: Vieira focuses on the relationship between environmental pollution and socioeconomic underdevelopment and emphasizes the role information can play in the protection of the Third World environment. She identifies the main governmental and nongovernmental institutions related to important aspects of the Third World environment--pollution control, sanitation, public health, and development and alternative technologies. The Brazilian institutional panorama is analyzed and then compared with Mexican, Indian, and Egyptian systems in an effort to identify common points that might be applied to the Third World as a whole. Finally, she recommends the establishment of an informal international network of both nongovernmental institutions and individuals for the exchange of information considered important to the developing countries or pertinent to the environmental realities of the Third World. Providing the core for such a network is an appendix listing organizations interested in the environment and development of the Third World.