Theories of Development

Classical Liberal Theories

 Classical liberalism

 Centered upon individual

 Assumed to be rational and would make rational decision

 Based upon the need to give freedom to every individual to pursue his/her own needs.

 Famous Liberalists

 John Locke

 Thomas Hobbes

 Thomas Malthus

 Adam Smith

 John Stuart Mill

 Jeremy Bentham

 John Locke

 Individual has given consent to government and therefore authority is derived from the people
rather than from above.

 Serving the interest of the people is expected. The rule is to follow the laws enacted by the
legislature.

 The power of the sovereign is ultimately justified by the consent of the governed given in a
hypothetical social contract rather than by divine right.

 Social contract theory explains that the state was formed by means of a social compact.

 Thomas Hobbes

 Individuals should be free to pursue their self interest without control and restraint by the
society.

 Thomas Malthus

 Poor urban condition is inevitable.

 Population growth needs also additional food production.

 Adam Smith

 3 functions of government

 A. Protection against foreign invaders

 B. Protection of citizens from wrongs committed against them by other citizens

 C Build and maintain public institutions and public works that the private sector could
not profitable provide.

 Case sample: Defense and Education

 John Stuart Mill

 “Harm Principle” . Each individual has the right to act as he wants, so long as these actions do
not harm others. If the action is self regarding, that is, if it only directly affects the person
undertaking the action, then society has no right to interfere, even if the actor is harming
himself. While other regarding acts can be intervened.

 Case sample: Suicide and smoking

 “Social liberty”. Means putting limits on the rulers power so that he would not be able to use his
power on his own wishes and make decisions which could harm society; people should have the
right to have a say in governmental decisions.

 Liberties/rights

 Constitutional checks

 Jeremy Bentham

 Principle of utility

 Happiness maximization and pain minimization is the role of the government.

 Community interest is the sum total of all the interests of the members who compose it.

 Happy society is a happy polity.

 Social Theories

 Assumptions:

 Qualitative changes in the structure and framework of the society help the society realize its
aims and objectives.
  Development is a process of social change not merely a set of policies and programs instituted
for some specific roles.

 Human beings are the driving force of development. Their aspirations become the powerful
motive that overcomes obstructions that impede change from occuring.

Human development is a human process. It is human beings not material factors that are the driving
force for development. The energy and aspiration of people who seek development forms the motive
force that drives the development process. People’s awareness may decide the direction in which
development will take place. Their efficiency, productivity, creativity and organizational capacities
determine the level of people’s accomplishment and enjoyment.

 Development is the outer realization of latent inner potentials. The level of people’s education ,
the intensity of their aspirations and energies, the quality of their attitudes and values, skills and
information, all decide the extent and pace of development. All these factors come into play
whether it is the development of the individual, community or nation or even the whole world.

 Karl Marx

 Conflict theory

 Individuals/groups in a society struggle to maximize their share of the limited resources

available and desirable.

 Conflict was necessarily part of the society.

 Principle of dialectic idealism and dialectic materialism

 Modernization theory

 Process of transformation from traditional to modern societies.

 Underdevelopment of the third world countries/regions of the world in terms of

colonization, imperialist interferences and neocolonial exploitation of developing
countries since their gaining of independence. Both development and
underdevelopment are viewed as part of the same process by which certain “center”
countries or regions become economically advance at the expense of other periphery
areas.

 Societies develop through a series of evolutionary stages.

 Dependency theory

 Resources flow from a periphery of poor and states to a core o, cheap labor, wealthy states,
enriching the latter at the expense of the former.
  Poor nations provide natural resources, cheap labor, a destination for obsolete technology and
markets for developed nations, without which the latter could not have the standard of living
they enjoy.

 Wealthy nations actively perpetuate a state of dependence by various means.

 Wealthy nations actively counter attempts by dependent nations to resist their influence by
means of economic sanctions and/or the use of military force.

 Structural Theory

Structural Functionalism

 Interprets society as a structure with interrelated parts that work together toward the proper
functioning of the body.

 Emile Durkheim

 Most stateless, “primitive” societies, lacking strong centralized institutions, are based on an
association of corporate-descent groups.

 Societies which are segmented, with equivalent parts held together by shared values, common
symbols or system of exchanges maintain internal stability or survive over time.

 Herbert Spencer

 The society is constantly facing selection pressures (internal and external) that force it to adapt
its internal structures through differentiation.

 Every solution to every problem leads to a new set of selection pressures that threaten society’s
viability.

 The degree of a centralized authority can make or break its availability to adapt.

 Talcott Parsons

 The individual is expected to conform to the norms governing the nature of the role they fulfill.

 The key process to attain equilibrium:

 Socialization

 Social Control

 Robert Merton

 Not all structures are functional for society as a whole.

 Just as the same item may have multiple function, so may the same function be diversely
fulfilled by alternative items.

 Gabriel Almond & Bingham Powell

 Understanding the political system is a way to understand the whole society.

 Socialization, in political terms, describes the process by which a society inculcates civic virtues,
or the habits of effective citizenship.

 Recruitment is a process by which political system generates interest, engagement and

participation from citizens.

 Communication is the way the system promulgates its values and information.

 Other theories of development

 Theory of charismatic leadership

 Theory of cultural contradiction – competition not cooperation

 Social evolutionary theory – specialization

 Economic and Technological determinism theory – science and technology

 Theory of need achievement

 Cultural poverty theory – idea of poverty

 Dependency theory - idea of underdevelopment

 World systems theory

 Core states –developed

 Semi-peripheral states – semi developed

 Peripheral - depressed