DEVELOPMENT NOTES2. Edited
DEVELOPMENT NOTES2. Edited
What is development?
Development is a process of change and growth which takes place in societies and countries.
ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL ASPECTS:
This is when people have better standard of living and their basic needs are fully met.
ECONOMIC ASPECTS:
This is when a country produces more for each person and the society gets richer.
POLITICAL ASPECTS:
This is when there is more freedom and justice and people have more control over their lives.
BENEFITS OF DEVELOPMENT
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WHY DEVELOPMENT IS SLOW IN THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Lack of funds
Poor technology
Lack of skilled labour
Cultural rigidity/unhelpful traditional beliefs
High population
Neo colonialism
High rate of corruption
Huge debts
Shortage of land
INDICATORS OF DEVELOPMENT
SOCIAL INDICATORS
Health
Education
HEALTH
Infant mortality rate: The number of babies in every 1000 live births that die before
their first birthday.
Life expectancy: The average age a person is likely to reach or live
Doctor patient ratio: The number of sick people attended by each medical practitioner.
Death rate: The number of lives lost per thousand people in a year.
Birth rate: The number of babies born per thousand people in a year
Calorie intake: The amount of energy contained in the food eaten
EDUCATION
If infant mortality rate is high, it shows that the country is developing and if is low, it shows that
the country is developed.
If life expectancy is high, it shows that the country is developed and if it is low, it shows that the
country is developing.
If doctor patient ratio is high it shows that the country is developing and if it is low, it shows that
the country is developed.
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If death rate is high, it shows that the country is developing and if it is low, it shows that the
country is developed
If birth rate is high, it shows that the country is developing and if it is low, it shows that the
country is developed.
If school enrolment is high, it shows that the country is developed and if it is low, it shows that
the country is developing.
If literacy rate is high, it shows that the country is developed and if it is low, it shows that the
country is developing.
If adult literacy rate is high, it shows that the country is developed and if is low it shows that the
country is developing.
The higher the calorie intake the more developed a country is and the low the calorie intake the
less developed a country is
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WHY LIFE EXPECTANCY IS HIGH IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
High employment rates/high income levels which enables them to afford variety of food
Improved technology leading to high food production
Provision of supplementary feeding
Wide variety of food to choose from
More knowledge on nutrition
They can build more medical facilities to improve access to health services to the people
They can train more doctors to reduce shortage in the hospitals
They should develop preventive measures to control the spread of diseases
They can also recruit more doctors from other countries and increase their salaries
GNP(Gross National Product): This is the total monetary value of goods and services of a
country in one year including earnings from investments abroad
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GNP per Capita: This is the total monetary value of goods and services of a country in
one year including earnings from investments abroad, divided by the population of the
country.
GDP(Gross Domestic product): This is the total monetary value of goods and services of
a country in one year excluding earnings from abroad.
Energy use per capita: This is the total amount of oil, gas, coal and electricity consumed
by each person in a country in a year.
Employment: This is the number of people in regular waged jobs.
Percentage of people engaged in agriculture
HOW ECONOMIC INDICATORS CAN BE USED TO MEASURE DEVELOPMENT
If GNP is high, it shows that the country is developed and if it is low, it shows that the
country is developing.
If GNP per capita is high, it shows that the country is developed and if it is low, it shows
that the country is developing.
If GDP is low, it shows that the country is developed, and if it is low, It shows that the
country is developing
If energy per capita is high, it shows that the country is developed and if it is low it
shows that the country is developing
If there is high employment, it shows that the country is developed, and if there is low
employment it shows that the country is developing.
If the percentage of people engaged in agriculture is high, it shows that the country is
developing and if it is low, it shows that the country is developed
REASONS FOR HIGH ENERGY USE IN DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
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ADVANTAGES OF USING GNP PER CAPITA TO MEASURE DEVELOPMENT
POLITICAL INDICATORS
Voter turnout-if the percentage of adults who participate in elections is high it shows
that the country is developed and if it is low, it shows that the country is developing.
Adherence to human rights-if there is high respect to human rights, it shows that the
country is developed and if it is low, it shows that the country is developing.
Peace-peace or absence of wars shows that the country is developed while presence of
wars shows that the country is developing
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Security-if the sense of safety is high, it shows that the country is developed and if is
low, it shows that the country is developing.
Equality-if there are many incidents of discrimination it shows that the country is
developing, and if they are lo, it shows that the country is developed.
Freedom of opinion-if people are free to express themselves even if it opposes the
government, it shows that the country is developed and if people are denied freedom of
speech it shows that the country is developing
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Low death rate
High school enrolment
High calorie intake
High literacy rate
High life expectancy
Low infant mortality rate
High adult literacy
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WHY COUNTRIES OF THE NORTH ARE HIGHLY DEVELOPED
They use of advanced technology
Long history of industrialization
They import cheap raw materials
They export expensive finished goods
They have many skilled manpower
They control world trade
During colonialism they took away raw materials from the developing countries to
enrich themselves
Neo colonialism-MNC’s invest in developing countries
ECONOMIC CHARACTERISTICS
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Slave trade which took away skilled labour in the developing countries
Use of simple technology
Use foreign debts
They have few skilled manpower
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They export cheap raw materials
They import expensive finished goods
Unfair international trade terms
These are states which have recently experienced fast growing economies. They used to be Less
Developed.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NIC’S
Economic characteristics
Fast growing industrial sector
They export more manufactured goods
Rapid commercializing of agricultural sector
Increasing levels of employment
Rising income levels
Emergence of Trans National Companies
SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS
Rapid urbanization
Rising life expectancy
Falling birth rate
Increasing literacy rate
Rising school enrolment
Decreasing death rate
Decreasing infant mortality rate
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THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT
What is a theory?
Theory of development is an explanation offered about change and growth in the world.
MODERNISATION THEORY
Modernization theory is a set of ideas that explains that for the developing countries to
develop, they should follow the stages followed by countries of the North
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STAGE 4: DRIVE TO MATURITY
In this stage a country has achieved high economic growth hence the term maturity.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
WHAT DOES THE THEORY SUGGESTS THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES SHOULD DO IN ORDER
FOR THEM TO DEVELOP:
The richest countries like USA, UK have followed the modernization theory
The NIC’s have successfully followed this pattern
The theory shows that it is important to invest in capital goods, industry and
infrastructure which increases production and make more profits and boost the
economy
It stresses the need to change our culture and work hard for the little money if people
want their country to develop
Emphasise the need for people to change their attitude to accommodate
industrialization
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Some aspects of modernization are evident all over the world e.g. people are moving to
cities, formal schooling is spreading and people’s attitudes and traditional life styles are
changing
In some countries commercial farming has successfully replaced subsistence farming
It puts more emphasis on economic growth and ignores other aspects of development
It ignores environmental impact of industrialization such as pollution
It ignores the fact that the North developed by exploiting/using resources from the
South, hence the South lack resources
It ignores that countries want to preserve their culture
It assumes that the economic growth will trickle down to everyone but many countries
have been divided into rich and poor people
Some countries like former USSR (socialist) have developed without being capitalist
It ignores the negative impacts of urbanization
Technological development
Creation of more wealth
Infrastructural development
Human resource development/high literacy rate
Improved standard of living
Improved services delivery through research and development
Availability of affordable goods and services
DEPENDENCY THEORY
Dependency theory is a set of ideas that states that for the developing countries to develop,
they shout cut links with the developed countries and develop on their own.
This theory was developed by socialists to explain why countries of the South lack behind in
development compared to countries of the North.
This theory argue that developed countries used resources from the South to develop
themselves thereby kept countries of the South poor. The developed countries exploited
developing countries by:
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Dependency theorists believe that Europeans interrupted the development of Africa, Asia, and
Latin America and this is still happening today; the economies of developing countries are
controlled by countries of the North (Neo-Colonialism).
The developing countries should cut links with the North and develop on their own
They should stop borrowing money from the developed countries
They should save and invest within the country
They should be self-reliant
They should spend more money on capital goods and less on consumer goods
They should use appropriate technology
Encourage people to be patient and work hard
STRENGTHS OF THE DEPENDENCY THEORY
The theory wants the South to cut links with the North and ignores the fact that small,
poor countries are unable to raise enough money for investment
If developing countries manufacture their own goods there will be less efficient use of
resources
The world is linked together, so it will be difficult to cut all communication links
People from the South prefer western culture and goods, so it is difficult to stop people
from importing from the North
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SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT THEORY
Sustainable development is the improvement in the standard of living of people through wise
use of resources so that the future generations could also use them.
Sustainable development theory is a set of ideas that explains that the resources should be
used wisely by the present generation to meet their needs so that the future generations could
also meet their needs.
OR
Ii is a set of ideas that advocate for the wise use of resources by the present generation to meet
its needs without jeopardizing the ability of the future generations to meet their needs.
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
WHAT THE THEORY SUGGESTS THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES SHOULD DO INORDER FOR
THEM TO DEVELOP
WEAKNESSES
It ignores the fact that technology is capable of developing new resources to increase
food supply
It ignore the fact that new sources of minerals or energy will be discovered
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ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES FOR DEVELOPMENT
There has been a realization that women despite being the majority population have been
excluded from most areas of development such as:
Under-utilisation of resources
Results in large families because most women are ignorant of birth control methods due
to illiteracy
Poor family health resulting in unhealthy and unproductive nation
Less skilled manpower since women are not included in training
Less enterprises since women have no access to credit schemes
POPULISM
It emphasizes on people being the agents of their own development i.e. they should
solve their own problems with the help of NGO’s.
Populism theorists believe that in today’s societies human development is obstructed
by:
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Concentration of power in government and private companies
Rigid government rules and regulations that prevent people from solving problems
immediately
Laws, decisions and actions that ignores the plight of the majority of the poor people
Emphasizes on large scale projects that benefit the locals less
Populism believes in small scale and community oriented development projects in
industries and agriculture
GLOBALISATION
This is the integration of the world’s economic, social and political systems into one entity.
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