Today, we live in a world where many societies are extremely poor, while few others are exceedingly rich. In many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, millions of people are living in abject poverty. Lack of development has been said to be responsible for this appalling situation.
What then is development?
While
some people see development as industrialization and Modernity or even Westernization
and its artifacts such as cars, trains, refrigerators, television, computers, phone-sets,
radio, electricity, textiles, schools, tarred roads, et cetera, for others,
development has come to mean the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In other
words, to them, development is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger,
illiteracy, maternal and child mortality, malaria and HIV/AIDS, gender
inequality, and so on.
Development
is often used in an exclusive economic sense – the justification being that the
economy has a pervasive influence in all societies and also, the economy is
itself an indicator of other sociopolitical features of a society. But,
development is a multi-dimensional concept, thus it could be economic,
political, social, cultural or even human.
Based
on this fact, it has attracted a variety of definitions from various scholars
of different orientations. Here are some of their views: Development is the
progressive movement from traditional society to the stage of high mass
consumption of goods and services. For any human society that wishes to
develop, it must go through five stages of development as epitomized by the
West, particularly the USA, and these include:
(a)
Traditional Stage
(b)
Transitional Stage
(c)
Take-off Stage
(d)
Drive to Maturity
(e)
Stage of High Mass Consumption.
Political
development connotes the evolution of a political system to a desired state of
being characterized by advanced political culture and political structure which
entail “cultural secularization” (the process whereby members of the society
become increasingly rational, analytical and participant oriented in their
political actions) and “structural or role differentiation” (the process
whereby old roles are transformed and new types of roles emerged coupled with
an expanded capacity of the political system to perform conversion function,
system maintenance function and adaptation function). All these are necessary
for state building, nation-building, political participation, economic
production, and authoritative distribution of resources.
Development
is an overall social process which is dependent upon increased capacity of
members of a society to master the laws of nature (that is science) and apply
such laws in the production of tools (that is technology) with which they can
control their environment to meet their immediate and future needs. It cannot
be seen purely as an economic affair because other segments of the society are
also involved.
Social
development is the bundle of technological, subsistence, organizational, and
cultural accomplishment through which people feed, clothe, house, and reproduce
themselves, and explain the world around them, and resolve disputes within
their communities, and extend their powers at the expense of other communities
as well as defend themselves against others’ attempt to extend power.
From
the foregoing submissions, it is clear that development scholars are divided
over what constitute development. While some of them see it from economic
perspective, others view it from the political angle, yet still, some others
think it is a socio-cultural phenomenon. Despite their differences, they all
agree that development entails progressive change.
Generally,
development could be defined as a holistic process through which a society
experiences economic and socio-political transformation which improves the
living conditions of its inhabitants. It entails both quantitative and
qualitative improvement in all spheres of a given society. It is the attainment
of the desired state of being.
Characteristics
of Development
In
spite of the ambiguous nature of the concept of development, it has some
identifiable features. Some countries have been able to achieve development and
as a result, their values and institutions have become the yardsticks for
determining and measuring development around the world.
A
country is said to be developed if it has the following characteristics:
•
Adequate social infrastructures such
as constant electricity, good network
of roads, potable water, well equipped
and functional schools and
hospitals and sound communication networks
•
Adequate Security to protect lives
and property
•
Good governance and political
stability
•
Industrialization
•
High savings and investments
•
Strong economy creating jobs and
wealth
•
Self sufficiency in food production
•
Adequate human capital and technological
know-how
•
High standard of living for the
majority of the people
•
Low level of unemployment
•
Low level of poverty
•
Low level of crimes
Moreover,
according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), societal
development can be measured using the Human Development Index (HDI) and this
includes:
-
High life expectancy
-
High literacy level
-
High income level
In
other words, for any society to be regarded as developed, it must be able to
provide those basic amenities that would prolong the life of its inhabitants,
provide education for the majority of its citizens as well as good jobs that
can fetch them enough income to live a quality life.
However,
the above UNDP indices of development have been criticized on the ground that they
do not take into cognizance societal inequalities and the quality of education
that is being given to the people as well as some other vital indicators of
development. Majority of the citizens of a society for instance may have access
to education, but that education may not be qualitative. The HDI on education
is calculated based on number of people who have access to education; it fails
to take into account the quality of that education. It is quality education
that is needed for development.
Also,
the income level in a society may rise as a result of increase in the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP), but the bulk of the income may be concentrated in the
hands of the privileged few – the political and the economic elites. The UNDP’s
HDI on income is based on the rise of national income, and not on national
income distribution.
It
has been discovered that if the income rise is not fairly distributed, societal
inequality will increase. The gap between the few elites and the rest of the
society who are in the majority will continue to widen even as the GDP and
national income increase. Despite these few reservations, Human Development
Index (HDI) is still a yardstick for measuring development.
Scope
of Development
We
have said earlier that development is a multi-dimensional process, thus its
scope is very broad. It ranges from economic, political to socio-cultural.
It
also includes factors like national infrastructure, technology, transportation
systems, information communications and technology, and military preparedness.
Economic
Development: This is a dimension that readily comes to mind
whenever development is mentioned. This is because of the primacy of the
economy in shaping other sectors of human society. The economy is the
foundation of a society, and if it is strong, it will have positive impact on
the political system which is the super-structure.
However,
if the economy is weak, it will have inimical effects on the political system.
In fact, it is the economic system that produces the resources to be allocated.
And if the resources are not produced in the first place, there will be nothing
to allocate.
Economic development entails increase in the wealth of a nation through expanded production of goods and services. It includes the rise in agricultural production, manufacturing and construction as a result of the introduction of better skills, techniques and technology.
Also,
it includes, but not limited to increase in GDP, rise in exports, job and wealth
creation, high per capital income cum high standard of living. Suffice to state
here that economic growth is different from economic development though; some
western scholars would want us to believe that the two are the same. Economic
growth entails increase in GDP, but that increase may not translate to
development. The GDP and the economy may sometimes grow as a result of
improvement in just few areas of the economy such as crude oil production and,
or the price of oil in the International Oil Market.
It
may also be induced by increase in the production of goods and services by a
few Multinational Corporations (MNCs) whose subsidiaries are domiciled in the
country, or due to bountiful agricultural harvests which may increase export of
cash crops. This will in turn increase external revenues for the government (economic
growth). But such revenues may not be utilized to improve the well-being of
majority of the people which economic development demands.
In
this case, there is economic growth without corresponding economic development.
This shows that increase in GDP may only bring about increase in revenues or
incomes of both the government and the privileged few in the society.
Political
Development: This aspect of development is also very important.
Politics is not only central to the making of development, but also vital to
its sustenance. Political development is attained when a political system is
able to enjoy popular legitimacy, articulate and aggregate public interests,
authoritatively allocate resources as well as maintain law and order through
strong and functional institutions. In the opinion of Lucian Pye, equality,
capacity and differentiation are the three important features of political
development. Gabriel Almond described political development as the capacity of
the political system to effectively perform rule-making, rule adjudication and
rule application functions.
A
society is said to have political development if there is accountability and
transparency in political leadership, respect of the rule of law, constitutionalism,
and periodic free, fair and credible elections or selection process as well as
political stability. Most importantly, political development entails strong
institutions that have legitimate authority to guarantee equilibrium in the
system through proper management of identity crisis, political participation
crisis, distribution of resources crisis and national integration.
It
involves optimum performance of the institutions of state such as the
legislature, the executive, the judiciary, the police, the military, etc.
In
contemporary times, political development is equated with liberal democracy.
Thus,
countries with matured democratization processes are regarded as having
political development. However, experiences have shown that there are countries
that do not practice liberal democracy, yet, they have political development.
For example, Russia and China have their own peculiar styles of leadership
which the West often
Socio-Cultural
Development: This is another essential dimension of development.
It entails improvement in social infrastructure. Regular supply of power,
potable water, good road networks, functional and quality schools, sound
communication network, good health care system and adequate security, are some
of the characteristics of social development.
Also,
human capital falls under socio-cultural development. This entails optimal
harnessing of human potentials which translate to increased human knowledge and
skills. Human capital is very vital because without it neither economic nor
political development is possible.
Lack
of development in the Third world has been largely attributed to the dearth of
human capital. In a knowledge economy where ideas and skills are necessary
catalysts, human capital is inevitable. It is the fulcrum of societal development.
Moreover, socio-cultural development involves the evolution of national norms, values and identity. All these are pre-requisite for nation building and national integration which are in turn necessary for total societal development.
Development
means different things to different people. To some people, it is the
improvement of the economy, while to others, it is a political transformation.
Yet to some others, it is a social change or movement towards a desired state
of being. At the Epi-centre of development is man. Hence, the ultimate goal of
development is to improve the people’s welfare and quality of life by
harnessing the available resources, and creating resources where they are not
available, to meet their immediate and future needs. No society fully embodies
all the development ideals, but there are some societies that have approximated
or achieved these ideals to a reasonable degree. Such societies are regarded as
developed.
Conclusion
Development
means different things to different people. To some people, it is the
improvement of the economy, while to others, it is a political transformation.
Yet to some others, it is a social change or movement towards a desired state
of being. At the epi-centre of development is man. Hence, the ultimate goal of
development is to improve the people’s welfare and quality of life by
harnessing the available resources, and creating resources where they are not
available, to meet their immediate and future needs. No society fully embodies
all the development ideals, but there are some societies that have approximated
or achieved these ideals to a reasonable degree. Such societies are regarded as
developed.
Also read on << Definition of underdevelopment>>
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