Development studies is characterised by a strong normative foundation (Berma and Sulehan, 2004) that makes it difficult to overlook varying perspectives of its key issues.[i] Politically active minds and lovers of African history, for instance, may be quick to point at colonialism and bad leadership as the twin problems that have stifled the growth of the African continent (Africa Leadership Forum, 1988).[ii] On the other hand, it was opined that countries that lag behind in development could be bedevilled by a lack of improvement in the productive power of their labour (Smith, 1976). As explained, this could probably be due to an improper application of the countries’ fund of skills, dexterity and judgements, or because a good number of their citizens are not engaged in useful labour.[iii] Hence, from a political point of view, colonialism and bad leadership may be the cause of Africa’s under-development, while from an economical point of view, the lack of productive skills may be the cause. However, it is most likely that both are potential causes and that combining them will give a better understanding of the causes of Africa’s under-development. In this light, I have carefully examined why and how development studies has benefited from sociology, politics, economics, history, and even anthropology. In addition, I have attempted to show how interrelated these disciplines can be when they are applied to development discuss.
Since development studies examine the processes by which peoples’ lives throughout the world have been and are being transformed (with a greater focus on the poorer countries of the world) and with the ways the social sciences might explain the complex nature of the economic, political and social forces at work[iv], many other points of view come into play. Thus, the sociological anthropologist considers it pertinent to redirect attention towards understanding how people of the developing world seek help. Pescosolido (1992) explained that it is important to understand the social networks in a given society. In his opinion, the interaction generated by these networks would help people learn about, come to understand, and attempt to handle the difficulties that confronts them.[v] To succeed in achieving economic empowerment for less privileged societies, we must understand their context – their values, culture, politics, and passions.
According to Epstein (1975) many have come to appreciate that to properly tackle the economic problems of the third world countries, one must set out on an inter-disciplinary path. The development transformation that is desired for third world nations cannot be limited to mere changes in the economic structures. It would have to include a holistic positive transformation in political, cultural and social structures of such countries. Therefore, writers like Shobo (2009) had radically broadened their explanation of third world poverty to even capture structural, material and spiritual poverty.[vi][1]These experts made attempt to view the problem of poverty with broader lenses.
Scarlet opined that such an approach would, eventually, mean the shift of attention to the realisation of a more pro-poor economic growth that is equitable (which is related to ethics and sociology), and the development of appropriate public policies (economics and politics). In all, the over-riding objective will be the empowerment of the citizenry of the indigent countries.
Emphasis on a more equitable distribution and allocation of the fruits of growth and social performances to reach impoverished persons is in the realm of development sociology and, in some measure, ethics. As Myrdal (Asian Drama, 1968) puts it, poverty in most developing nations had widened the gap between the rich and the poor countries. According to Lankester (2004), Myrdal was pessimistic and believed that a democratic style of government was unsuitable for development-seeking third world Asian nations. This “soft government” – democracy, according to him, lacked the discipline that was needed to achieve positive transformation in these countries.[vii] Myrdal’s work portrayed a socio-political approach to the issue of development.
At the macro level in recent times, different views have been expressed about the growing social inequality in developing nations. Some development economists have argued in favour of regressive tax systems and the institution of allowances for the unemployed as a way of arresting the alarming economic inequality. But there are other forms of inequality that can pose troubles for nations. There are gender inequality issues that had often had devastating effects on economies. Clearly, a complete solution to the menace of inequality (of all kinds) will have to be addressed using both economic and non-economic approaches.
Indeed, tackling poverty at the aggregate and international level requires a great deal of economic and political reasoning. In particular, the questions: “to whom should foreign aid be given and how should the aids be disbursed?” have serious political undertone (Woods, 2005). There have been conflicting views on the subject of how much over-reliance on foreign aid contributes to the impoverishment of third world countries, a number of which often fail to develop domestic institutions and structures to support and sustain the assistance obtained from developed countries and international organisations.
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the United States of America (U.S.A), developed nations began to channel an increasing amount of resources to the fight against terrorism. Clearly, the war on terror is an expensive one. It had forced many foreign aid donor countries into mounting debt obligations which may soon erode all available aids budget. In fact, of the entire US$1,356 million earmarked for foreign aid between March 2003 and March 2004, only 39.64% (US$536) was actually disbursed (Woods, 2005:395).[viii]
Apart from the above problem, a few donor countries were alleged to be leveraging on the use of scarce foreign aid to pursue their own geostrategic interests rather than those of the poor nations (Woods, 2005:396). Hence, several donor countries have opted to create their own aid-coordinating mechanisms that will better represent their interest rather than use existing multinational institutions that may fail to drive their own agenda. As a result, there are often clashes of objectives and duplication of efforts that have resulted in a lot of waste in the past. This has often led to aggregate economic inefficiencies, and overwhelming red tape, reporting requirements and even loan negotiations for recipient countries who are overburdened with so much at the same time.
Hence, one cannot ignore how much the actual disbursement of foreign aid is influenced by a combination of national and commercial interest of countries. But there is another aspect that calls for greater economic scrutiny. This is the need to ensure that foreign aid is directed to productive projects as opposed to deadweight projects. Aid should be made very effective. It should be able to drive development and growth that will trickle down to poor individuals at the bottom of the economic pyramids. Woods explained that because of the growing need to ensure that aid is put to best use, countries have agreed that in order to arrest poverty and human insecurity in poor countries, there is the need to ensure that foreign aid will be used to promote good governance. This is because only an effective and responsible government can ensure effective use of aid. Sadly, many African countries are plagued with these structural deformities.
According to the Canadian political scientist, David Easton, Politics is the authoritative allocation of values for the society by the political system.[ix] It involves decisions that determine who gets what, when and how. Whatever the value allocation is, be it budgetary allocation within a given country or foreign aid disbursement across countries, politics and economics are disciplines that are key to this distribution.
According to (Hoagland, 2008), historical and political perspectives cannot be overlooked when studying the development processes in the third world. Knowledge of history is important.[x] With it, several development experts have attempted to compare the experiences of the current developed countries during their many years of underdevelopment to those of the current third world countries of today – a comparison which has revealed the challenges in trying to replicate the development processes and experiences of the current first world countries in the third world. (To Be Continued in Part 2)
Philip Anegbe is a Research Assistant at Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University (formerly Pan-African University), who has devoted the last few months researching issues surrounding income and non-income poverty. This article was originally submitted to the Birkbeck College of the University of London.
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