Development Economics SOCSC13 PDF

DEVELOPMENT #gamechangers ECONOMICS SOCSC13 R.LANCE CHUA, MA PPT3 #4 Neocolonial Dependence Model #4 NEOCOLONIAL DEPENDENCE MODEL FR It attributes the existence and continuance of underdevelopment primarily to...

DEVELOPMENT #gamechangers ECONOMICS SOCSC13 R.LANCE CHUA, MA PPT3 #4 Neocolonial Dependence Model #4 NEOCOLONIAL DEPENDENCE MODEL FR It attributes the existence and continuance of underdevelopment primarily to the historical evolution of a highly unequal international capitalist system of rich country–poor country relationships Whether because rich nations are intentionally exploitative or unintentionally neglectful, the coexistence of rich and poor nations in an international system dominated by such unequal power relationships between the developed countries and the developing countries renders attempts by poor nations to be self-reliant and independent difficult and sometimes even impossible #4 NEOCOLONIAL DEPENDENCE MODEL FR Directly and indirectly, they serve and are rewarded by international special interest power groups including: 1. Multinational corporations 2. National bilateral aid agencies 3. Multilateral assistance organizations Example: World Bank and the IMF are tied by allegiance or funding to the wealthy capitalist countries #4 NEOCOLONIAL DEPENDENCE MODEL FR The elites’ activities and viewpoints often serve to inhibit any genuine reform efforts that might benefit the wider population and in some cases actually lead to even lower levels of living and to the perpetuation of underdevelopment It attributes a large part of the developing world’s continuing poverty to the existence and policies of the industrial capitalist countries of the northern hemisphere and their extensions in the form of small but powerful elite or comprador groups in the less developed countries Underdevelopment is thus seen as an externally induced phenomenon such as insufficient savings and investment or lack of education and skills #4 NEOCOLONIAL DEPENDENCE MODEL FR Revolutionary struggles or at least major restructuring of the world capitalist system is therefore required to free dependent developing nations from the direct and indirect economic control of their developed-world and domestic oppressors #5 False Paradigm Model #5 FALSE PARADIGM MODEL FR It attributes underdevelopment to faulty and inappropriate advice provided by well-meaning but often uninformed, biased, and ethnocentric international “expert” advisers from developed- country assistance agencies and multinational donor organizations These experts are said to offer complex but ultimately misleading models of development that often lead to inappropriate or incorrect policies - #5 FALSE PARADIGM MODEL FR - Because of institutional factors such as: 1. the central and remarkably resilient role of traditional social structures (tribe, caste, class, etc.) 2. the highly unequal ownership of land and other property rights 3. the disproportionate control by local elites over domestic and international financial assets 4. the very unequal access to credit These policies in many cases merely serve the vested interests of existing power groups, both domestic and international #5 FALSE PARADIGM MODEL FR Leading university intellectuals, trade unionists, high-level government economists, and other civil servants all get their training in developed-country institutions, Where they are unwittingly served an unhealthy dose of alien concepts and elegant but inapplicable theoretical models Having little or no really useful knowledge to enable them to come to grips in an effective way with real development problems, They often tend to become unknowing or reluctant apologists for the existing system of elitist policies and institutional structures #5 FALSE PARADIGM MODEL FR In university economics courses, for example, this typically entails the perpetuation of the teaching of many “irrelevant” Western concepts and models, While in government policy discussions, too much emphasis is placed on attempts to measure capital output ratios, increase savings and investment ratios, privatize and deregulate the economy, or maximize GDP growth rates As a result, proponents argue that desirable institutional and structural reforms, many of which we have discussed, are neglected or given only cursory attention #6 Dualistic Development Thesis #6 DUALISTIC DEVELOPMENT THESIS FR Implicit in structural-change theories and explicit in international- dependence theories is the notion of a world of dual societies, of rich nations and poor nations and, in the developing countries, pockets of wealth within broad areas of poverty Dualism is the existence and persistence of substantial and even increasing divergences between rich and poor nations and rich and poor peoples on various levels FOUR KEY ARGUEMENTS FR #1 Different sets of conditions, of which some are “superior” and others “inferior,” can coexist in a given space Examples of this element of dualism include: Lewis’s notion of the coexistence of modern and traditional methods of production in urban and rural sectors The coexistence of wealthy, highly educated elites with masses of illiterate poor people The dependence notion of the coexistence of powerful and wealthy industrialized nations with weak, impoverished peasant societies in the international economy FOUR KEY ARGUEMENTS FR #2 This coexistence is chronic and not merely transitional It is not due to a temporary phenomenon, in which case, time could eliminate the discrepancy between superior and inferior elements The international coexistence of wealth and poverty is not simply a historical phenomenon that will be rectified in time Although both the stages of growth theory and the structural- change models implicitly make such an assumption, growing international inequalities seem to refute it FOUR KEY ARGUEMENTS FR #3 Not only do the degrees of superiority or inferiority fail to show any signs of diminishing, but they even have an inherent tendency to increase Example: The productivity gap between workers in developed countries and their counterparts in most developing countries seems to widen FOUR KEY ARGUEMENTS FR #4 The interrelations between the superior and inferior elements are such that the existence of the superior elements does little or nothing to pull up the inferior element, let alone “trickle down” to it In fact, it may actually serve to push it down—to “develop its underdevelopment”