GLOBAL ISSUES
POLITICS OF DEVELOPMENT & DEPENDENCY
Modernization & Dependency Theories Overview
III.
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES.
* Classification of
countries> first, second, & third world. Less developed countries (LDCs).
Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs).
190 countries in the
world - 115 are LDCs. * What gave rise to the increase of the number of
nation-states since WWII? > end of
colonialism, & break up of Soviet union.
* define
colonialism: A policy by which imperial powers govern foreign people.
European powers colonized Asia,
Americas, & Africa for the purpose
of exploiting these areas for their economic gain.
IV.
MODERNIZATION THEORY.
* Stems from two
19th century theories. From the evolutionary theory & from the functionalist
theory of Talcott Parsons. * Assumptions: modernization is unidirectional,
progressive and good, it is irreversible -moves societies from the traditional
stage to modern stage. * it is a phased process. * It is a homogenizing process.
* it is Americanization or Europeanization process. * it is gradual, piecemeal,
& lengthy process that takes centuries to complete.
* Each society must
perform 4 things to survive: goal attainment, adaptation, integration, &
latency.
* Parson's pattern
variables help to distinguish traditional society from modern society. They are
key social relations that are embedded in cultural system They are: 1) affective
vs. affective neutral relationships, 2) particularism vs. universal
relationships, 3) collective orientation vs. self-orientation, 4) ascription vs.
achievement, 5) functionally diffused vs. functionally specific.
Modernization
defined as a systemic process in which societies change fundamentally across the
board from the approximations of the traditional model to the approximations of
the modern model.
* Goals of
development: wealth, equity, stability,
democracy & autonomy. It is assumed that all these are good and they go
together.
**MAIN APPROACHES:
> economic approach.
W.W. Rostow - 5 stages of economic growth.
> sociological
approach. Levy(1967) & Smelser
(1964). non-modernized societies have low degree of specialization,
self-sufficiency, cultural norms of tradition, little emphasis on money, one way
flow of goods from rural to cities. etc. modern societies are exactly opposite.
>Cultural approach.
Alex Inkelles & Smith study of relatively modern people. OM scale - modern man
has the syndrome of modernity: openness to new experiences,
belief in the efficacy of science & medicine, independence from authority
figures, achievement motivation, use of long-term planning, and activity in
civil politics.
* Almond & Verba,
the Civic Culture .
3 cultures:
parochial, subject, and participant culture. The civic culture give rise to
democratic institutions and processes & sustain them.
> political
approach. James Coleman. Political modernization refers to the process of:
* differentiation of
political structure. * secularization of political culture & legal equality. *
enhancement of political system's capacity.
**CHALLENGES TO
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT.
>Nation - building.
* State - building. * Political participation. * Distribution.
> Agents of
modernization: elites educated in the west, Multinational corporation, exposure
to international trade, penetration of western culture, & economic
interdependence.
V.
DEPENDENCY THEORY.
>Definition:
the relationship between two or more countries assumes the
form of dependence when some
countries (dominant ones) can expand
and be self-starting, while others
(dependent ones) can do this only
as a reflection of that expansion. Here the relationship between dominant and
dependent countries is "unequal".
> Criticize
development theory because: ambiguous use of the concept of tradition, blaming
domestic factors for lack of development in third world, and ignoring the
international context of the developing country. Ignores colonial history of
exploitation.
> same process that
produces development in the core, produces underdevelopment in the periphery.
The culprit is the international capitalist system. Underdevelopment condition
is not natural, it is caused by a long history of colonialism and dependency.
> dominant
capitalist countries engage in unfair and "unequal" exchange in international
trade, due to the international division of labor in which third world is
confined to producing primary products for export and to importing expensive
technologically intensive products from the core countries.
>dependency is an
external condition resulting from colonial heritage, & unequal international
division of labor. It is an obstacle to national development in LDCs.
>dependency is
economic condition stemming from the flow of economic surplus from LDCs to the
industrialized countries of the west.
>dependency is a
component of the regional polarization of the global economy which results in
development in the core and underdevelopment in the periphery. Both are aspects
of the same "single process of capitalist accumulation leading to polarization
in global economy.
>dependency
condition is incompatible with development.