Showing papers on "Underdevelopment published in 1996"

Where are we in the political economy of reform

Abstract: We review the experiences of developing countries with market-oriented reforms, using the tools of modern political economy. We impose intellectual discipline by requiring that actors behave rationally using available information and that basic economic relationships such as budget constraints be accounted for. We attempt to integrate two approaches, one based on dynamic games played by interest groups, with one that focus on limited information and the dynamics of learning. We describe the “starting point” as the set of “old” policies and we attempt to explain the dynamics (political, economic and informational) that lead to reform (section II). We analyze strategies for reformers subject to political constraints (section Ш). We evaluate the aggregate and distributional costs of reforms, emphasizing the importance of looking at the right counterfactuals (section IV). We conclude by pointing to the challenges ahead: the second-stage institutional reforms necessary to take off from underdevelopment.

The rise & fall of development theory

Abstract: The rise and fall of development theory Samuel Huntington and the end of classical modernization theory underdevelopment and dependency conflict and convergence in development theory African economic development in theory and practice the state and the crisis of simple commodity production in Africa the Kenya debate the Kenya debate ten years on from Ghana to Namibia - the meaning of African independence.

Imagineering Atlanta: The Politics of Place in the City of Dreams

Abstract: In the age of decentralization, instant communications, and the subordination of locality to the demands of a globalizing market, contemporary cities have taken on place-less or a-geographic characters. They have become phantasmagorical landscapes. Atlanta, argues Charles Rutheiser, is in many ways paradigmatic of this generic urbanism. As such, it provides a fertile ground for investigating the play of culture, power and place within a "non-place urban realm". Rutheiser uses the mobilization for the 1996 Olympics to talk about the uneven development of Atlanta's landscape. Like other cities lacking any natural advantages, Atlanta's reputation and built form have been regularly reconfigured by generations of entrepreneurs, politicians, journalists and assorted visionaries to create a service-oriented information city of global reach. Borrowing a term from Walt Disney, Rutheiser refers to these successive waves of organized and systematic promotion as linked, but not always well-co-ordinated acts of urban "imagineering". Focusing on the historic core of the metropolitan area, Rutheiser shows how Atlanta has long been both a test bed for federal urban renewal and a playground for private capital. The city provides an object lesson in internal colonization and urban underdevelopment. Yet, however illustrative of general trends, Atlanta also represents a unique conjunction of universals and particulars; it exemplifies a reality quite unlike either New York or Los Angeles - two cities to which it has often been compared. This book thus adds an important case study to the emerging discourse on contemporary urbanism. It goes beyond providing another account of uneven development and the "theme-parking" of a North American city: Rutheiser reflects on how contemporary American society thinks about cities, and argues that, ultimately, despite the ever-increasing virtualization of day-to-day life, the obliteration of locality is never complete. There always remains some "here", if only deep beneath the "urbane disguises", in the interstices of social activity, in the contradictions of experience and in the residues of individual and collective memory.

Crafting the Third World: Theorizing Underdevelopment in Rumania and Brazil

Abstract: This innovative study compares the history of economic ideas and ideologies in Romania and Brazil - and more broadly, those in East Central Europe and Latin America - in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Whereas previous histories of the idea of economic development have focused on 'First World' theorists, this book considers theorists in two 'backward' countries who made important contributions to the field. Latin America is well known to economic historians as the region that gave rise to the Structuralist school and Dependency movement. Less well known is the fact that East Central Europe is important as the early training ground and the empirical concern of the first generation of development economists. This comparative study examines the ways in which economists and other social scientists in Romania and Brazil confronted the issues of economic backwardness.

Corruption and the Transition from Socialism in China

Abstract: Corruption has been a long-standing if intermittent focus of concern in development circles for over three decades. There has been an enormous amount of empirical research and theorizing on the phenomenon which has produced a complex accumulation of alternative explanatory frameworks, typologies of different forms of corruption, and detailed contextual studies using a wide range of different disciplinary approaches ranging from macrosociological analyses of socio-cultural processes to dyadic game-theory modelling. While the results of this tradition are impressive, they have not as yet contributed to a common paradigm of analysis which is useful both for understanding and combating corruption. Indeed, the accumulation of research has tended to make the issue seem more and more complex and immune to comparative analysis while attempts to simplify (as, for example, through the use of rent-seeking and public choice theories) have proven too blunt an instrument to be intellectually cogent or practically useful. As the World Bank admits, the causes of corruption are rooted in the political and economic conditions of each country and 'as such, its causes are as complex as the types of corruption are varied'.' Why then raise the issue yet again as a subject for serious attention? First, contrary to the expectation of some modernization theorists, pervasive political corruption may well be an entrenched element of highly industrialized societies, not an unfortunate but ultimately escapable dimension of underdevelopment. Political and bureaucratic corruption is still stubbornly entrenched in the poor countries of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, remains a consistent aspect of the developmentally successful East Asian NICS (with the exception of Singapore), and has reared its hydra-head in the post-communist 'transitional' societies of central and eastern Europe. Ariel Cohen states that 'a tidal wave of corruption is sweeping Eurasia, threatening to bury the fragile democratic institutions in Russia and other countries in the region', a tide which 'not only threatens Russia but the entire world'.2 In short, from the perspective of the 'donor' countries in the

Financing Decisions: Lessons from the Spanish Experience

Abstract: Firms in Spain care about whether to use private or public market as well as about what type of security to issue. These results are similar to those previously obtained for the American market nonwithstanding the underdevelopment of the Spanish capital market and the leading role banks play heading up large industrial groups.

Mining the Past: Historical Context and the Changing Implications of Natural Resource Extraction

Abstract: Residents and leaders of rural or less-developed regions often believe that the exploitation of natural resources will provide an antidote to regional poverty, but the research literature on the topic is decidedly mixed. While many development economists have predicted regional benefits from resource extraction, other analysts have differed; in particular, many dependency scholars have predicted increasing “underdevelopment,” and a number of natural resource sociologists have predicted a more specific problem of “overadaptation.” Obviously, it is not likely that all of these competing expectations are equally accurate. To clarify the conditions under which extraction leads to prosperity or poverty, it is necessary to devote greater attention to the ways in which the developmental dynamics of resource extraction have changed over time — and if possible, to do so in a way that identifies relatively specific causal factors. As an initial step in that direction, this paper calls attention to four such factors, all of which have changed substantially over the past several centuries — historically contingent levels of resource-extraction capacities, pre-existing competition, linkage specialization, and transportation. For all of these factors, the overall pattern of change has been toward decreasing the likelihood that natural resource extraction will lead to local or regional “development.” The net effect is that expectations for local prosperity appear to have been reasonably accurate in earlier years, up through roughly the first half of the 19th century, but increasingly inaccurate thereafter. This preliminary argument is illustrated with three case studies of some of the most “successful” extraction-based development experiences we have been able to identify from the past four centuries, involving British coal mines of the 17th-18th centuries, upper Midwest lead mines of the 19th century, and offshore oil extraction along the U.S. Gulf Coast in the 20th. We conclude by noting the relevance of the experiences from earlier centuries for resource-related decisions of the 21”.

The Myth of Development, The Progress of Rights: Human Rights to Intellectual Property and Development*

Abstract: Of all the various programs and policies formulated in an attempt to find a quick route to modernization, none has been as detrimental to the development process in Africa as technology transfer from developed countries. The process of technology transfer was facilitated by the international intellectual property system which enabled owners of intellectual goods in developed countries to control access by developing countries to technology while also exacting from these countries huge transaction costs and licensing fees. African countries, as other developing countries, participated in the international intellectual property system in part because indigenous innovation and economic growth were promised fruits of intellectual property protection as evidenced by the experience of the Western Hemisphere. The recognition of intellectual property rights by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights gave legitimacy to the efforts of developed countries and international institutions to encourage developing countries to recognize intellectual property rights and to join the international intellectual property system. However, after more than three decades of experimenting with Western-styled intellectual property laws and an inordinate emphasis on technology from developed countries as an agent of development, African countries remain mired in the trenches of underdevelopment. This article looks at the failed promise of intellectual property systems in developing countries in general, with Africa as its specific concern. The author argues that the human right to intellectual property must be understood in context with the right to development and self-determination. Such an approach would delegitimize the myth of a universally valid intellectual property system and protect the right of developing countries to establish intellectual property regimes that reflect their unique socioeconomic and cultural norms and that are consistent with development objectives. Nevertheless, the author insists that nothing short of a comprehensive economic and social reform package nurtured and implemented in a politically stable environment under the rule of law will release Africa's potential for development.

Modern Written Chinese, Dialects, and Regional Identity.

Abstract: This paper analyzes the major linguistic and sociopolitical factors responsible for the underdevelopment of written languages based on non-Mandarin dialects. It also explores the current language planning efforts in Taiwan to standardize a written language based upon the local dominant dialect. It will point out that the movement is mainly triggered by, and contributes to, the political cause built on the base of an increased assertion of regional identity. In spite of the enthusiasm and devotion on the part of some linguists and writers, such efforts have not yet won general acceptance. Drawing upon findings on the correlation between vernacular literacy and regional identity in Europe, it is argued here that the educational, social and political cost of the success of dialect writings may be too high for them ever to be generally accepted and extensively used in Chinese society.

Economic Development: Theory and Policy Applications

Abstract: Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Definition of Economic Development Economic Growth and Development--Concepts and Measurement A Global Profile of Development and Underdevelopment History of Economic Development and Underdevelopment Theories of Economic Growth and Development The Classical Theories of Economic Growth and Development The Neoclassical Theories of Economic Growth and Development The Structuralist Theories of Economic Development Process of Economic Development--Internal Dimensions Capital Accumulation and the Process of Development Population and Human Resources in Development Industrialization in the Process of Development Environmental Issues in the Process of Economic Development Development Planning and Policy Issues Process of Economic Development--External Dimensions International Trade and Economic Development Role of Free Trade and Regional Integration International Finance and Economic Development Index

A political-ecology approach to wildlife conservation in Kenya

Abstract: Kenya has one of the highest remaining concentrations of tropical savanna wildlife in the world. It has been recognised by the state and international community as a 'unique world heritage' which should be preserved for posterity. However, the wildlife conservation efforts of the Kenya government confront complex and often persistent social and ecological problems, including land-use conflicts between the local people and wildlife, local people's suspicions and hostilities toward state policies of wildlife conservation, and accelerated destruction of wildlife habitats. This essay uses a political-ecological framework in the analysis of the social factors of wildlife conservation in Kenya. It postulates that the overriding socioeconomic issue impacting wildlife conservation in Kenya is underdevelopment. The problem of underdevelopment is manifested in forms of increasing levels of poverty, famine and malnutrition. The long term survival of Kenya's wildlife depends on social and ecological solutions to the problems of underdevelopment.

Decolonizing knowledge : from development to dialogue : a study prepared for the World Institute for Development Economics Research of the United Nations University (UNU/WIDER)

Abstract: Development failures, environmental degradation and social fragmentation can no longer be regarded as side effects of 'externalities' They are the toxic consequences of pretensions that the modern Western view of knowledge is a universal neutral view, applicable to all people at all times The very word 'development' and its cognates 'underdevelopment' and 'developing' confidently mark the 'first' world's as the future of the 'third' This book argues that the linear evolutionary paradigm of development that comes out of modern Western view of knowledge is a contemporary form of colonialism The authors - covering topics as diverse as the theory of knowledge underlying the work of John Maynard Keynes, what the renowned British geneticist JBS Haldane was looking for when he migrated to India, the knowledge of Mexican and Indian peasants - propose a pluralistic vision and decolonization of knowledge: the replacement of one-way transfers of knowledge and technology by dialogue and mutual learning

Persistent Underdevelopment: Change and Economic Modernization in the West Indies

Abstract: First published in 1996, this insightful and informative text examines the post-emancipation and recent economic history of the Commonwealth Caribbean. Jay R. Mandle offers an explanation of the region’s continuing underdevelopment. Through the use of an analytical framework derived from the works of Marx and Kuznets, the book focuses attention on technological change as the driving force behind economic modernization. Persistent Underdevelopment begins by exploring how plantation agriculture had a limiting effect on industrial growth. Ultimately, plantation dominance receded; technological stagnation continued, however, and, under British colonial policy the Caribbean failed to modernise. The post-World War II era brought new efforts at modernisation through the economic policies of the left regimes of Manley, Burnham and Bishop. The concluding chapters point the way to policies that would enable the Caribbean to escape its current poverty and become an effective participant in world markets, finally achieving the goal of modern economic development.

Beyond the rhetoric of a right to development

Abstract: Paul Simon's popular lyric about these being “the days of lasers in the jungle” reflects the stark contrast, contradiction, or even exploitativeness of conventional strategies of development. Once paraded as the ultimate recipe for progress and the solution for poverty, the idea of development itself is now being criticized for its poverty of substance, as well as for its impoverishing and regressive propensities. Apparently, development as we know it has been indicted for the social production of poverty because it can only exist in symbiosis with conditions of underdevelopment. Within its capitalist framework, it is impossible for all to be “developed” and there can be no rational distribution of resources across the board; massive one-sided accumulation and the co-existence of surplus wealth with severe poverty are more consistent with the present process and reality of development. Increasingly, people are questioning the very paradigm of development and its dominant blueprint which is predicated on a presumption of the superiority of the Western system of production and signification. Some critics advocate alternative development and others reject the concept entirely, arguing instead for alternatives to development. My reading of the controversy surrounding development suggests that it is largely a critique of the discrepancy inherent in its unidimensional conceptualization and implementation. Even as oppositions to established discourses and practices of development are gaining ground, the most (dis)affected, the so-called lesser developed countries (LDCs), are agitating for redress through the recognition of a right to development. How do we interpret, and respond to, this initiative or subversive act by those who were never given the option to elect out of (mal) development, but were forced to put up with its effect? Do we continue to disregard it or do we engage it as a forward to a tentative proposal - a point of entry for inclusion, or as an invitation to begin to explore what development should be by revisiting and revising problematic orthodox models and modes? Can we see it as a challenge to idealized conceptions of human rights and a case for harnessing the human rights regime to make it more actualizable and sustainable? At the very least, can we approach claims about the right to development as seeking to secure the dignity and well-being of the human subject? If seen in the light of conquering poverty and protecting the physical environment for the general good of humanity, would the right to development be better appreciated as a prerogative of and a mandate for both the North and South. After all, communities in these places that once “marginalized the economy” and achieved relative equilibrium are now violently compelled to contend with the colossal hunger, scarcity and social disintegration dictated by their place of insertion in the world economic structure? Could the right to development be seen as espousing the entitlement of the dislocated and disempowered to a reciprocation of the benefits of development and/or to compensation for the sins of (mal) development? What are the possibilities for the emergence of a concept, devoid of the baggage traditionally associated with development, that caters to the aspirations of the “LDCs” to equitably compete and exercise their full potentials in the context of the modern world; how do we facilitate the development of an under-developed concept? Several reasons have been proferred to explain why the right to development has failed to attain definitive status and effectiveness as a rule of law. By and large, it appears that the right to development has not been widely embraced because of concerns which, while valid, are not beyond containment. Meaningful implementation of the right to development requires committed clarification and strengthening of its conceptual framework. Primarily, a feasible paradigm of development must go beyond simplistic dichotomizations, polarizations or prioritizations. At the same time, it must celebrate the realities and possibilities of reciprocity and dependence among processes and phenomena. In this article, the resounding argument revolves around the reciprocity of paradigms, relations, rights and responsibilities. It posits the principle of reciprocity as rudimentary for (re) interpretations and (re) appropriations of the idea of development, and as both a norm and a justification for the recognition of development as a human rights ideal. The over-arching thesis is that conceptualizing and analyzing development from the perspective of the metaphor of reciprocity attenuates many of the problems of articulating it in terms of the conventional rhetoric and politics of rights. With particular emphasis on the norm and functioning of reciprocity within the context of gift and return, the article ultimately delineates the ubiquity of varied ranges of reciprocity as an anchor for a claim to development.

Third World urbanization and the creation of a relative surplus population: a history of Accra Ghana to 1980.

Abstract: The World Bank has established Third World urbanization and urban poverty as primary foci for Development studies in the 1990s. Yet little renewed attention has been paid to the theorization of the issue in the context of overall Third World development/underdevelopment. This article uses the case of Accra Ghana to demonstrate the contribution a synthetic World Systems/Dependency approach can have in understanding the historical genesis of urban poverty and the spatial exclusion of the poor in areas such as Nima. In particular Marxs notion of the processes involved in the creation of a relative surplus population provides some conceptual insight. (EXCERPT)

Exchange Rate Parity for Trade and Development

Abstract: This book extends recent theories of incomplete markets to investigate empirically the appropriate balance between the market and the state in the trade relations between developed and developing countries. The conclusion is that in an ideal world government intervention in foreign exchange and trade is necessary in developing countries in the early stages and inevitably decreases as development occurs. Rationing of foreign exchange prevents a 'soft currency distortion' that commonly afflicts developing countries and can turn comparative advantage trade into competitive devaluation trade, with severe losses of income and welfare. Yotopoulos finds that the level of underdevelopment narrowly circumscribes and conditions the extent to which free-market, free-trade, laissez-faire can be beneficial, contrary to the mainstream policy paradigm as currently applied. The analysis and tests draw on empirical research from seventy countries and four extended country studies to confirm the usefulness and validity of the theoretical framework.

Gender and Famine in Central Tanzania: 1916–1961*

Abstract: During the colonial era, women in Ugogo in central Tanzania, like most of Africa, became increasingly marginalized as producers in a rural economy. A colonially imposed sexual division of labor saw men forced into a cash economy while women were officially regulated to subordinate subsistence activities. Women became the victims of a version of the “cult of domesticity” that limited their ability to control resources both within and outside the household. The marginalization of women came about as a result of an alliance between the colonial state and male elders yet it was also part of the marginalization of communities in Ugogo generally in which elders and all males also saw their economic autonomy destroyed. Ironically, by the end of the colonial era this process led to many men scapegoating women as the cause of their loss of autonomy and to many women seeing empowerment only in escaping the confines of the local community. In one of the most thorough works on changing gender relations, Karen Sacks has explained this process in terms of the underdevelopment of African communities during the colonial era (1982). Majorie Mbilinyi has argued that in many parts of Tanzania colonial and post-colonial labor policies regulated women to the informal sector and even then often drove them out of the money economy entirely.

The Underdevelopment of Development Essays in Honour of Andre Gunder Frank

Abstract: Development, to many of us, seems to be imminent and inevitable and deemed as positive and progressive but it is still an enigmatic concept to many others. Western philosophy portrays development as natural, beneficial and inevitable. Gunder Frank and many of his associates however viewed development from a different angle. Gunder Frank is a pioneering personality who popularized the concept of a lternative development. His struggle to offer an alternative concept of development to mainstream is a milestone in the theory building process and paradigm of development studies. He coined the phrase \"the under development of development\" which eventually becomes the slogan of resistance to so many people and political economists and development activists. This book is thus a true homage to the great scholar Gunder Frank, a genuine recognition of his contribution to an alternative framework of development studies. Authors of different articles in this book are basically development activists and researchers who are essentially at the cutting edge of the field. They have covered different aspects of the development debate concerning the world sys tern, art of hegemony, social movements and underdevelopment. They also highlighted the remedies and policy options and interventions. Most authors 'very honestly followed the methodological framework of Gunder Frank and paid due respect to his conceptual and methodological configurations. All of these essays have considered that modern underdevelopment is essentially a product of development rather than of leftover traditionalism. The book therefore is the most striking contribution to recent paradigm of social science. It is not only a tribute to the great scholar but also a solid contribution to the contemporary debate on development. In an era of theoretical uncertainly and increasing demise of revolutionary self-confidence, the essays in this book contribute a significant portion towards reconceptualizing \"development\" within the streams of world development. It takes into account what has occurred and recognized the world -embracing aspects of the system and its historical development. The 18 basic papers in this book, in general, have used Frank's theoretical construct and underlined the sharp lines of underdevelopment and dynamics of the contemporary world system.

Intellectual Property Policy for Non-Industrial Countries

Abstract: The framework of inquiry - general theories of development of non-ICs, policy for economic development of non-ICs, technological developments in non-ICs, law and development the course of intellectual property development in the major industrialized countries - evolutionary landmarks in IP, the rationale of intellectual property a proposal for an intellectual property system in non-industrial countries - the state of IP in non-ICs, an alternative system of IP for non-ICs the intellectual property regime in Africa - evolution of law in Africa, overview of intellectual property law in Africa, the growing importance of IP in African trade features of Ethiopian economic and technological underdevelopment - a brief sketch of the state of the economy, the evolution and problems of technology the evolution and current status of intellectual property laws in Ethiopia - evolution of pre-code laws relating to IP, current IP laws and practices the state of innovative activity in Ethiopia and the case for intoducing legislation - industrial innovations and legal problems, the state of innovation in agriculture, a case study of innovation in stove technology laws and practices in the acquisition of foreign technology in Ethiopia - legal regulation of import of technology, analysis of contracts for acquisition of technology, draft laws for the acquisition of foreign technology.

Problems of economic and political transformation in the Balkans

Abstract: Romania - transition to underdevelopment the emergence of a multi-party system in Romania civil society in Romania economic change in Bulgaria since the fall of communism the political economy of the transition in Bulgaria the postponed demise of functional politics problems and issues for the post-communist transition in Albania the regional effects of economic transformation in Albania problems of the transition to a market economy in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania the economic divergence of Yugoslavia's successor states from reform to crisis - economic impacts of secession, war and sanctions in former Yugoslavia nationalism and the post-1989 transition and market economies in the Balkans - an historical perspective.

The Sociology of Post-Colonial Societies

Abstract: This is the completely revised and updated version of the immensely successful Sociology of the Third World. The book is about the division of the world into rich and poor countries, and the disparities between rich and poor people, especially in poor countries. Chapters on world population trends, colonialism and questions of race set the historical scene for a detailed analysis of economic conditions and living standards in poor countries. New material on droughts, famines, family change and environmental concerns are fully discussed, along with questions about limits to growth and sustainable development. Theoretical perspectives on development and underdevelopment are reviewed. Later chapters summarize the findings of the different social sciences on fundamental issues of modernisation, including expansion, cultural diversity, religious movements, post-colonial politics, and issues involving aid. This new edition contains updated statistics, and discusses the general shift of emphasis away from industrial policies towards basic needs reflected by the United Nations Development Programme.

Political economy in Nigeria: The military, ethnic politics and development

Abstract: Ethnicity as a concept is not necessarily deleterious to the process of political and economic development of a country. However, applied to a multiethnic state such as Nigeria, the notions of cultural separatism and internal colonialism tend to become apparent in the government's decisions on when and where to locate industries, schools and other socio-economic infrastructures in society. Very often, scholars find it useful to locate the origin of ethnic politics in the colonialists' divide-and-conquer policies in the process of imperial expansion. To be sure, in the case of Nigeria, Britain in its indirect rule strategy encouraged ethnic sentiments among Nigerians by nurturing our differences rather than our similarities. But, the central question that scholars of Nigerian political economy need to systematically explore is: to what extent is ethnic sentiment as a legacy from the colonial state a compelling variable for explaining Nigeria's underdevelopment at the end of the 20th century? What are the dimensions of ethnic politics in Nigerian political economy? Given what seems to be the leaders' general lack of regard for legacies, to what extent is ethnicity a central explanation for the hanging of the Ogoni Nine by the Abacha regime in November, 1995? This work will systematically explore the foregoing questions and make suggestions for further research on ethnicity in Nigeria.