Essays On Development

ESSAY ON DEVELOPMENT AND THE 4Ds
BY
FATHAZIA LENYATSO
DEPARTMENT OF TEACHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

FRANCISTOWN INSRVICE OFFICE NTSHE HOUSE
CITY OF FRANCISTOWN

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009
CONTENTS
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 1
THE MEANING OF RESEARCH............................................ 1
WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH.............................................. 1
STAGES IN CONDUCTING RESEARCH.............................. 2
PROPOSED STRUCTURE OF A RESEARCH PAPER ........ 5
REFRENCES APPENDIX 1............................................... 10
APPENDIX 2 ............................................................................... 12
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................... 15
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Illustration 1 ............................................................................. n
Illustration 2 ............................................................................. n
Illustration 3 ............................................................................. n
Illustration 4 ............................................................................. n
Illustration 5 ............................................................................. n
LIST OF TABLES
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Table 1 ..................................................................................... n
Table 2 ..................................................................................... n
Table 3 ..................................................................................... n
Table 4 ..................................................................................... n
Table 5 ..................................................................................... n
An assessment of Robert Brenners critique of the neo-Smithian Marxian

The debate between Robert Brenner and the neo-Smithian Marxists, represented by
Gunder Frank and Emmanuel Wallerstein, with a host of his disciples, has its roots in the failure
of the modernization paradigm to effectively address the problems of under-development in the
third world. It became evident in the late 1960s that the developing countries of Africa, Asia
and Latin America were not following on the development path taken by western Europe and the
United States of America as predicted. Both the modernization theorists and Classical Marxists
were caught off-guard by the unexpected historical developments. Some shadow of doubt began
to be caste on both the modernization and Marxist conception of history and development. The
modernization paradigm was perceived by Tipps as . a celebration of western civilization, a
proclamation of the self-confidence of the ethno-centric achievements (Tipps quoted in Hulme
and Turner 1990:35). Marx viewed pre-capitalist societies with contempt. He predicted that the
expansion of capitalism through trade and investment would signal the demise of all precapitalist modes of production giving rise to capitalist relations of production. Capitalism
according to Karl Marx creates a world out of its own image.
It is against this background that the neo-Smithian Marxians were born. There are
Smithians in as far as they base their analysis of history on trade relations as the basis for human
relationships in the world economy. According to Adam Smith in his famous book The Wealthy
of Nations, division of labor is limited to the extent of the market. The neo-Smithian-Marxians
turned Smiths ideas upside down singling free trade as a source of inequalities, exploitation and
underdevelopment on what they termed the periphery or satellite economies in the world
capitalist system. They are Marxist in as far as they articulate and attempt to utilize Marxist tools
of analysis. They however, do not wholly embrace the Marxist fundamental philosophy on
historical development of capitalism. They dismiss with contempt any evolutionary stage theory
which seeks to explain the historical development of society. They are not keen on discussing
questions on the mode of production and the development of the bourgeoisie as a pre-condition
to the transition from capitalism to socialism. The bourgeoisie, therefore, is just as necessary a
pre-condition of the socialist revolution as the proletariat itself(Engels 1948 :46-47).
According to Marx, the availability of free unbonded labor is a necessary prerequisite for
the development of capitalism. Direct producers must be deprived of the means of production
and subsistence, leaving them with no other alternative but to sell their labor power. These ideas
are contrary to the views of the neo-Smithian Marxian scholars whose contention is that
capitalism started to function as a world system in the late 15th and early 16th centuries. The
implication is that free wage labor is not a pre-condition for capitalist development. Wage labor,
share-cropping and serfdom according to the neo-Smithian Marxians are different modes of labor
control which have existed and continue to exist side by side in the world capitalist system.
The main thrust of the neo-Smithian Marxians, particularly Andre Gunder Frank and
Emmanuel Wallerstein is that the expansion of capitalism through trade has produced centers of
development(metropolis or core) on one extreme end and underdevelopment(satellites or
periphery) on the other. This situation is achieved through the expropriation and appropriation of
economic and trade surplus from the periphery (developing economies) to the core(developed
economies). They conclude that underdevelopment in the periphery is a necessary condition for
development in the core or metropolis.
Since the Brenner critique is focused on the writings of Frank and Wallerstein, with out
any prejudice to Sweezy, it is perhaps in the interest of this essay to discuss the ideas of the two
in more details. This is particularly important before any sensible attempt is made to assess the
critique.
Frank and the World Capitalist System
Frank,s ideas are a response to historical developments of the 1960,s in Latin America in
general and Chile in particular. The increased poverty, indebtedness, political repression and
economic stagnation which characterized the third world precipitated a revisit of all hitherto
existing conceptions and theories of development. The failure of inward-looking import
substitution industrialization strategy, advocated in Latin America to breakdown the dependency
syndrome, convinced Frank that a new analytical framework to explain development was indeed
in the agenda.
In this regard Frank finds explanation of underdevelopment and dependency in free
international trade. Although Frank does not make a serious effort to define the world capitalist
system he ostensibly locate the dynamics of capitalist development in the rise of the world
commercial networks. He contends that the roots of both growth and backwardness are found in
what he calls surplus appropriation chain which emerged in the process of capitalist expansion.
Economic development and underdevelopment are not just relative and quantitative, in that one
represents more economic development than the other; economic development and
underdevelopment are relational and qualitative, in that each is structural different from, yet
caused by its relation with the other(Frank 1969 :9). In Franks view, Europe was in the past
undeveloped as opposed to Latin America and other countries in similar circumstances, which
are underdeveloped.
Frank divides his capitalist world into two, the developed and the underdeveloped, which
in his terms is the metropolis vis--vis the satellite. The trade relations between the metropolis
and the satellites give rise to underdevelopment in the satellites states. This is in Franks system,
achieved by expropriation and appropriation of trade surplus by the metropolis from the satellite.
According to Frank the nature of capitalist trade relations precludes any possibilities of
development in the satellite. The answer to development in his view can only be found in
disengagement from the world capitalist system. Therefore short of liberation from capitalist
structures or the dissolution of the world capitalist system as a whole, the capitalist satellite
countries, regions, localities and sectors are condemned to underdevelopment(Frank 1969 :11).
Wallerstein and the Capitalist World Economy

The Capitalist World Economy, according to Emmanuel Wallerstein is the only world
system in existence since the ninetieth century. Wallerstein identifies three types of historical
social systems. In his view a social system is characterized by the existence within it of a
division of labor and dependency upon economic exchange with others for the smooth and
continuous provision of the needs of the area. The following are the three social systems which
emerge in Wallersteins theory of development:
(1) the Mini-System, which is a homogeneous entity with a complete division of labor.
Examples of such a system are simple agricultural or hunting and gathering communities;
(2) the World Empire, which is characterized by the extraction of tribute by a central
authority(e.g. pre-modern times world empires such as Chinese, Egyptian and Roman);
(3) the World Economy, described as a system connected by market exchange. The
capitalist world system owes its origin to the European World Economy which according to
Wallerstein Started to take root in the early fifteenth and late sixteenth century.
Wallersteins thesis which is congenial to Franks is that, the development of the capitalist
system is inequitable, producing a hierarchy of states with unequal trade relations. This is an
obvious challenge to Ricardos theory on international trade. The theory of comparative
advantage and benefit for all is found wanting. Wallersteins contention is that unequal
international exchange relations have given rise to the development of what he calls Core
zones on one extreme and Peripheral areas on the other extreme end. In between the Core
and the Periphery another category exist which Wallerstein calls the Semi-Periphery The
Semi-Periphery is suppose to simultaneously play both the role of the core and that of
Periphery. In the context of Wallersteins World system the Core is currently located in the
most developed and industrialised capitalist countries of Western Europe, Japan and the United
States. The Periphery finds its existence in developing countries of Africa, Latin America and
Asia. Wallerstein argues that, due to unequal exchange relations between the Core and the
Periphery, surplus value created in the peripheral zones is transferred to the core areas,
resulting in the accumulation of wealth in the core and increasing poverty in the periphery. The
appropriation and expropriation of surplus value from the periphery to the core Wallerstein
observes, is enhanced and facilitated by the existence of a strong and a weak state in the core and
periphery respectively. The strengthening of the state machineries in the core areas has as its
direct counterpart the decline of the state machineries in peripheral areas (Wallerstein 1996 :41)
In so far as his European World Economy is concerned Wallerstein was able to map out
the core, periphery and the semi-periphery zones. This is what he says obtained in Europe
between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries. Northwest Europe emerged as the core,
producing agricultural products of higher skill levels, using tenancy and wage labor as modes of
labor control. Eastern Europe became the periphery specializing in exportation of raw
agricultural products e.g. wood, cotton etc. Eastern Europe is said to have been using slavery and
Coerced cash-crop labor as modes of labor control methods. Mediterranean Europe emerged as
the semi-peripheral area producing high-cost industrial products, exported very little and
maintaining share cropping in agriculture as the mode of labor control. It therefore, follows that
the production techniques, skills and modes of labor control are equally important in determining
if an area is core or peripheral. Wallerstein rejects the concept of modes of production in the
historical development of society and the significance of free labor as a pre-condition for
capitalist development. He dismisses any suggestion of an evolutionary stage based theory and
whether a stage can be skipped or not as nonsensical and irrelevant.
The Brenner Critique
In his criticism of the neo-Smithian Marxian, Brenner from the onset concedes that, The
appearance of systematic barriers to economic advancement in the course of capitalist expansion,
the development of underdevelopment has posed problems to the Marxist theory (Brenner
1997 :25). Brenner agrees with the neo-Smithian Marxists that capitalism in the developing
world has not brought with it expected economic development, but has on the other hand created
barriers to such development. The point of departure between Brenner and the neo-Smithian
Marxian is the location of the root of analysis to explain economic development and
underdevelopment. Brenner accuses the neo-Smithian Marxian for displacing class relations
from the centre of economic development analysis. He condemns the tendency on their part to
assume that class relations are themselves determined by the market, underestimating the extent
at which class structures once established can determine or distort economic development.
According to Brenner this line of thinking has led the neo-Smithian Marxian into an unfortunate
conclusion that the rise of underdevelopment is inherent in the extension of international division
of labor through capitalist expansion and also that development of underdevelopment is an
indispensable condition for capitalist development itself.
Brenners objection to Wallerstein
According to Brenner, Wallerstein views economic development as:
(a) a quantitative function which is reflected in the growth in size through expansion;
(b) arrangement and rearrangement of the factors of production through regional
specialization to achieve greater efficiency and;
(c) the transfer of surplus from the periphery to the core.
The three fundamental conditions for the development of the capitalist world economy,
according to Wallerstein are: an expansion of the geographical size of the world economy
through incorporation; the development of variegated methods of labor control for different
products and different zones of the world economy, resulting in greater specialization and
efficiency and; the creation of a relatively strong state machinery in what would become core
states of the capitalist world economy. This is necessary to ensure transfer of surplus to the core.
Brenners objection is that neither expansion of trade resulting in greater incorporation nor
transfer of surplus and build up of wealth in the core or the specialization of labor control
systems leading to more effective ruling class surplus extraction can determine a process of
economic development. He accuses Wallerstein for ignoring the development of the forces of
production through accumulation by means of innovation. Brenner says, Wallerstein does not
account for the systematic production of relative surplus value.
Brenner, loyal to the Marxist tradition declares that, only where labor has been separated
from possession of the means of production, and where labor has been emancipated from any
direct relation of domination(such as slavery or serfdom), are both capital and labor power free
to make possible their combination at the highest level of technology. Only where they are free,
will such combination appear feasible and desirable (Brenner 1997:32). Brenner argues that the
commoditization of both capital and labor are a necessary pre-condition for capitalist
development.
In Brenners view, Sweezy, Frank and Wallersteins analysis of economic development
has its theoretical underpinnings in the model put forward by Adam Smith in his book The
wealthy of Nations. Smiths proposition which according to Brenner is shared by Wallerstein
and his colleagues is that, the rise of trade based division of labor will determine economic
development through the growth of specialization and thereby productivity of labor. Brenner
criticize Smith for failing to take into account the class structure and its impact on responses by
both exploiters and producers to the market forces. In the interest of this essay I will resist the
temptation to discuss the ideas of Adam Smith in more details. I will however continue to make
references to his ideas where they directly relate to the neo-Smithian Marxian position. The focus
of Brenners critique of the neo-Smithian Marxian has for obvious reasons concentrated more
specifically, on the Ideas of Emmanuel Wallerstein. Precisely because Wallerstein provided the
details and justification needed to back up Sweezy and Franks ideas.
On Wallersteins assertion that the desire for profit maximization and competition on the
market will lead to accumulation of surplus and innovation, Brenner argues that they will operate
to bring about a tendency to accumulate by way of innovation only under a system of free wage
labor, where labor power is a commodity. On Wallersteins modes of labor control and reward of
labor, Brenner observed that if systems of labor control or reward to labor are chosen in each
region and by particular types of production on the basis of their efficiency, the result will be
maximal output everywhere signaling maximal growth for the whole system as opposed to
Wallersteins conclusion which finds growth in the core and decline in the periphery. Brenner
therefore rejects Wallersteins suggestion that market based division of labor can determine
optimum development of the productive forces through eliciting the most suitable methods of
labor control for each region. He also rejects Wallersteins conclusion that development and
underdevelopment are opposite sides of the same coin. To Brenner, this is not consistent with
capitalist development as a function of the tendency towards surplus creation via innovation,
built into a historically developed structure of class relations of wage labor.
On transfer of surplus Wallerstein says, there exist in the world economy a hierarchy of
occupational tasks in which functions or tasks requiring higher skills and greater specialization
are reserved for high ranking areas. Brenner questions what determines Wallersteins hierarchy
of tasks since developed countries use highly capital-skill intensive in the production of basic
food. Brenner maintains that it is not the regions position in the world market which determines
the level of its productive forces; but the level of development of its productive forces which
determines its position in the world market. On the question of systems of labor control and
rewards to labor, giving rise to strong states in the core and weak ones in the periphery, Brenner
accuses Wallerstein of lack of clarity and wonders at the simplistic way in which states are
designated weak or strong.
The assessment of the Brenner critique
In assessing Brenners critique of the neo-Smithian Marxian we should not be understood
or interpreted to be partisan nor do we wish to appoint ourselves as judges. It is precisely for this
reasons that we do not wish to come up with a pre-determined assessment criteria. We will
instead let the facts speak for themselves. It should however be noted from the onset that any
credit to Brenner is not necessarily a debt to the neo-Smithian Marxian scholars and vice-versa.
We have already stated the circumstances under which the neo-Smithian Marxian were
born and therefore their analytical perspective should be understood in that context. In this
regard the neo-Smithian Marxian are successful in bringing to light the inequalities in trade and
exchange relations, rooted in unfavorable terms of trade for developing countries resulting in the
transfer of economic surplus to the developed countries of the north. They however made a
fundamental mistake by convincing themselves that economic development and
underdevelopment can be explained only in terms of trade relations. The result is to root analysis
and explanation of historical development on trade and exchange relations between the core and
the periphery. The tendency on their part to incorporate both Adam Smith and Karl Marxs ideas
where it suited their cause landed them in a serious analytical cul-de-sac. Booth observed that,
The influence of Castro and the Cuban revolution comes through strongly in Franks works. In
some ways his theory of dependency is a vindication of the Cuban revolution, a critique of the
Stalinist orthodoxy and a theoretical justification of immediate socialist revolution (Booth
refereed to in Hulme and Turner 1990).
Brenners critique of the neo-Smithian Marxian is in our opinion consistent and
comprehensive. His task is made easy by his adherence to the basic principle of Marxism,
tactfully avoiding coming up with a new theoretical position or explanation. He succeeds in
demonstrating his immerse knowledge and understanding of Marxist theoretical explanation of
historical development of society on one hand and exposing the inadequacies of the neoSmithian Marxian analytical frame work on the other. Credit should go to Brenner for the
manner in which he conducted his critique. His approach is absolutely scholarly, devoid of
intellectual arrogance and adventurism. Brenner exposes the armory of the neo-Smithian
Marxian and immobilize their missiles without falling into the trap of indulging in name calling
and unnecessary labeling.
It is not possible to discuss every criticism by Brenner of the neo-Smithian Marxian in

this short essay. We hope a few highlights will adequately assist us in assessing his critique of the
neo-Smithian Marxian interpretation of the historical development process. Brenner agrees with
the neo-Smithian Marxian in so far as they correctly observe the existence of inequalities in
international trade and exchange relations, but strongly objects to the rooting of economic
development analysis on trade and exchange relations. His position is that, the capitalist mode of
production is the only economic system which allows the development of the forces of
production to the optimum. It is therefore logical that the development of the forces of
production and the social relations of production, in the final analysis determine trade and
exchange relations not vice-versa. In other words it is inconceivable to suggest that trade
relations cause social relations of production not the opposite. If Brenner is correct, the neoSmithian Marxian system crumbles. We have no reason to believe otherwise, therefore it will be
a futile exercise to continue with the assessment of the critique of a theoretical system whose
basis has been shot down.
Brenner, nevertheless might have won the battle, but certainly not the development war.
There are questions which remain unanswered, e.g.
(i) The nature and character of transition desirable in the third world to eliminate
poverty.
(ii) Whether they can ever be equal exchange relations between the core and the
periphery - what to do with the barriers which Brenner admits exist.
(iii) Whether stages can be skipped or not.
(iv) Whether socialism is still a viable option after the fall of the Soviet Empire - what are
the lessons?
(v) In the communist manifesto Karl Marx states categorically that The bourgeoisie
draw all, even the most barbarian nations into civilization How far is this statement true
in the light of what we know?
These few questions brings us to the conclusion of our assessment of the Brenner critique
and indeed our essay.
Why does the Eradication of World Poverty involve far more than raising Poor Peoples
Incomes.
Poverty is a universal concept, which does not have a universal acceptable definition. The
controversy becomes even more complicated in attempting to identify and analyze the causes of
poverty. The concept of world poverty only succeeds in creating a mystery around poverty and
making it more difficult to formulate effective and target specific poverty elimination policies.
The globalization ideology assumes a global village homogeneity to the extent that poverty
eradication policy prescriptions are thought to be automatically amenable to all poor
communities. Poverty is indeed a relative concept and its perception by different communities
and development theorists is variegated and embedded in peoples attitudes and social structures.
This should not be interpreted to mean that poverty is an attitude of mind, but rather a result of a
systematic denial of access by the poor to the resources. This essay will argue that poverty is
largely historical specific and its eradication should take into consideration those structural
arrangements, which by their nature promotes inequalities.
Perhaps it is pertinent in the interest of this essay to examine the historical definition and
interpretation of poverty as reflected by various scholars. We should however, right from the
onset agree that the dominate paradigm in poverty analysis and assessment, until recently was
invariably rooted in classical and neo-classical economic interpretation of the development
process, notwithstanding the Biblical moralistic and Marxist revolutionary positions. Therefore
what follows below is without prejudice, historical definitions and perceptions of poverty and the
poor by influential theorists and political economists of the capitalist system:
Perceptions of poverty and the poor
The moral tone for the treatment of the poor was set by the Bible and preached by the
church. The bible says, for the poor shall never cease out of the land; therefore I command thee,
saying, thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy in thy
land (Deut. 15:11). The teachings of the Old Testament are sentimental and paternalistic to the
poor and view poverty as a natural phenomenon, pre-determined by super natural powers. The
poor believed and accepted statements such as, blessed are the poor for they will inherent the
kingdom of heaven. According to Richard Perlman the choice quotes on poverty of the
nineteenth-century English vintage were as follows:
Penury and want do make a people wise and industrious.
Everyone but an idiot knows that the lower classes must be kept poor or they will never
be industrious.
In years of scarcity ...... the poor labor more and really live better than in years of great
plenty when they indulge in idleness and riot (quoted in Richard Perlman 1976:5).
Poverty here is seen as an instrument for labor inducement, efficiency and conformity.
The obvious implication here is that the poor are to blame for their poverty. Malthus, who is
credited for his theory on population and development, had this to say about the poor, They are
themselves the cause of their poverty, quoted in (Ginsburg 1972:5). No person has any claim
of right on society for subsistence if his labor will not purchase it (Malthus quoted in Ginsburg
1972:34). In as far as Malthus was concerned, a view which he shared with his friend Ricardo
who is credited for the theory of comparative advantage in international trade, the poor are guilty
of over breeding. Poverty was therefore seen by Malthus as a natural punishment which did not
call for any kind of relief. The ideas of both Malthus and Ricardo were based on the principles of
Adam Smith who is the father of classical economics.
Herbert Spencer, a proclaimed social Darwinist was quoted as having said this about the
poor: Spencer argued that the week and the inferior are weeded out in the evolutionary process.
Natures rule is the survival of the fittest. The poor are unfit, so mankind benefits when they are
eliminated.
(Ginsburg 1972:90). The attitude of Robert Spencer towards the poor was clear
enough not to warrant further explanation.
The message from Karl Marx was clear and unequivocal. For poverty to end capitalism
must come to an end. According to Marx poverty was a necessary evil of the capitalist system.
The struggle between the poor and the rich would inevitably lead to socialism and abolition of
private property and poverty. At least socialism promised some hope for the poor.
Robert Owen a Welsh-Born British who opposed Malthus s views about the poor used
his economic power (he owned a mill in Scotland at New Lanark) to establish villages of
cooperation for the poor, with impressive results. To Owen poverty was seen and understood as
a product and a responsibility of the whole society. Owen therefore did not blame the poor for
their poverty, but believed that changing the environment would change the position of the poor.
Was this not an attempt at participatory poverty eradication?
Emancipation spelled the end of legal bondage for the black people of America. But
freedom without land was a cruel joke that doomed the ex-slave to unrelenting poverty. (Dubois
quoted in Ginsburg 1972:80)
Definitions of poverty
Like we have observed earlier in this essay, poverty is an elusive and controversial
concept which is very difficult to define. To economists poverty is seen as a condition of having
insufficient funds to maintain an acceptable standard of living. The world bank defines poverty
as the inability to attain a minimal standard of living. According to Amartya Sen, famine which is
an extreme form of poverty is what he calls entitlements failure or the failure to secure the means
of existence. Absolute poverty is a condition in which a number of people are unable to
command sufficient resources to satisfy basic needs. A group of development workers in Uganda
observed the following distinction between absolute and relative poverty: They defined absolute
poverty as inability of an individual, community or nation to satisfactorily meet basic needs and
relative poverty as a condition in which basic needs are met, but where there is an inability to
meet perceived needs and desires.

Whatever the definition, the common characteristic of poor people is that they are people
who are vulnerable and have limited access to life chances. The poor suffer from hunger and
malnutrition, poor health, less access to education and employment, less participation in
decision-making and generally lack of confidence in their ability to effect desirable changes in
their interest.
Self depreciation is a characteristic of the oppressed, which derives from their
internalization of the opinion of the oppressors hold of them. So often do they hear that they are
good for nothing and are incapable of learning anything, that they are sick, lazy and
unproductive - that in the end they become convinced of their own unfitness (Freire, 1972 in
Burkey, 1993:51)
Causes and measurement of poverty
In my view poverty is caused by a multiplicity of factors (i.e. socio-economic, political
and environmental) which reinforce each other, producing conditions of insecurity,
powerlessness and vulnerability. Therefore poverty is inextricably linked with inequality,
unemployment, powerlessness and low self-esteem. In order to understand the causes of poverty
it is important to understand the social structure and relationships which reinforce the it. It should
however, be noted that arguments on the causes of poverty are more often than not clouded by
ideological convictions and class prejudice.
According to Stan Burkey, reasons that have been given for the existence of poverty in
the third world can be categorized under five headings. These are:
1. Lack of modernization tendencies - the poor are accused of being resistance to change
and blamed for their stubborn in continuing to use primitive technology.
2. Physical Limitations - these include droughts, floods and other climatic and
environmental constraints.
3. Bureaucratic stifling - Developing countries are accused of a tendency to an overcentralized and highly bureaucratized decision-making machinery which does not take into
consideration the interests and views of the poor. The top-bottom approach to development
policy usually used by many third world governments is seen as irrelevant to poverty eradication.
The tendency to advocate modern technology as is sometimes opposed to appropriate
technology.
4. Dependency of third world countries - the dependency on the exportation of cheap raw
materials and importation of highly priced finished goods from developed countries and the role
of foreign aid in influencing development policy and creating a dependency culture.
5. Exploitation by local elites - political domination, land dispossession and economic
exploitation through bonded and unpaid labor. The poor also have no access to credit facilities
and are usually forced to sell their farm produce at very low prices.
The measurement of poverty is the measurement of development on the opposite side of
the same scale. Poverty indicators are therefore negative development indicators. Economists
usually use poverty lines and consumption based assessment to identify the poor. While these are
useful, they however do not adequately account for all aspects of poverty. The GNP/capita is
commonly used as an indicator of national development and poverty. Reliance on the GNP/capita
to compare development of countries can be misleading. It therefore has to be used in
conjunction with other indicators. The physical quality of life indices (PQLI) is currently
preferred to GNP/capita as an improved indicator of poverty and development. This
measurement is focused on social and demographic indicators such as literacy rate, life
expectancy and infant mortality rate. Purchasing power parity is also widely used by economists
to identify the poor. It is not the intention of this essay to open a the debate on the weaknesses
and strengths of each type of indicator, but, it is pertinent to acknowledge the difficulties in
finding a reliable and objective measure of world poverty.
Since the measurement of development is directly linked with the measurement of
poverty, Seers observed that, The questions to ask about a countrys development are: What has
been happening to poverty? What has been happening to unemployment? What has been
happening to inequality? If one or two of these central problems have been growing worse,
especially if all three have, it would be strange to call the result development (Seer, 1979:12 &
in Allen & Thomas, 1990:121) While these questions may apply to all countries of the world, it
is difficult to measure certain aspects of inequality, e.g. justice or political freedom.
Eradication of Poverty as Social development
We have noted in this essay, historical changes which have taken place in peoples
attitudes and perceptions of poverty and the poor. We also noted the contribution by scholars and
development theorists of different persuasion, in their attempt to reinforce and justify particular
attitudes towards the poor. Perhaps the issue is not whether peoples attitude have changed or
not, but whether their attitudes have changed sufficiently to facilitate the eradication of poverty.
What is the attitude of the poor towards poverty and its causes? In order to begin to address the
problems of poverty, it is necessary to understand the nature and character of poverty, as
reflected not only by ourselves but by the poor people themselves.
The problems of the rural poor in the final instance cannot be solved by anyone but by
themselves, and all solidarity efforts must be aimed at strengthening their own capacity
for independent action. (Sethi, 1983 in Burkey, 1993:40).
According to Sethi, eradication of poverty can be archived through capacity building. In
1994 a program of action at the Cairo conference on population and development asserted that:
Despite decades of development efforts, both the gap between the rich and poor nations
and inequalities within nations have widened....wide spread poverty remains the major
challenge to development effort (Todaro, 1997:138).
This was echoed by the Copenhagen Conference on Social Development in 1995. A program of
action was drawn at this conference and a commitment to eradicate poverty made. What was not
clear and convincing is how it would be eradicated. Both the Cairo and the Copenhagen
conferences represent a very important step in the eradication of World Poverty.
The first step in assisting poor rural people into the path of development must therefore
be an analysis of the causes of poverty affecting a particular people in their own
particular situation. The analysis should preferably be carried out with the active
participation of the people themselves (Burkey, 1993:12).
This is an obvious call for participatory poverty appraisal and rejection of analysis and
solutions imposed from outside. The current development thinking and poverty eradication was
probably summarized by the F.A.O. director in his forward to The peasants Charter. This is
what he wrote:
The rural poor must be given access to land and water resources, agricultural inputs and
services, extension and facilities; they must be permitted to participate in the design,
implementation and evaluation of rural programs; the structure and pattern of international trade
and external investment must be adjusted to facilitate the implementation of poverty oriented
rural development strategies. Growth is necessary but not sufficient; it must be buttressed by
equity and, above all by peoples participation in designing, implementation and evaluating rural
development policies (quoted in Burkey, 1993:32). The significance of this statement is that it
comes from an executive of an international organization, which is a United Nations agency
whose main functions are directly related to the eradication of world poverty.
According to Paulo Friere:
In order to determine whether a society is developing, one must go beyond criteria based
on indices of per capita income (which, expressed in statistical form are misleading) as
well as those of gross income. The basic elementary criterion is whether or not a society
is a being for itself i.e. its political, economic and cultural and decision making power
is located within (Burkey, 1993: 30)
Some unidentified Rural Development workers in Uganda described social development
as follows: Social development is a process of gradual change in which people increase their
awareness of their own capabilities and common interests, and use this knowledge to analyze
their needs; decide on solution; organize themselves for cooperative effort, establish and
maintain their own social services, and institutions within their own culture and their own
political system (in Burkey 1993:39). However inadequate this definition of social development
may appear its important message is the recognition of the poor as central to their own
development effort.
Conclusion
It is quite apparent that the social development paradigm to poverty appraisal and
eradication is indeed on the development agenda. There is a gradual recognition of the fact that
the eradication of poverty will increasingly require a multi-disciplinary approach as opposed to
the hitherto purely economistic approaches. The task is to convince our economists on that,
development is not only a function of economic models but subject to realistic and variegated
aspects of the same. Central to the concept of social development is the distribution and the level
of access to life chances. Inequality is therefore the major cause of world poverty. The social and
power relations in society determines to a larger extent as to who gets what from the national or
global cake.
The collapse of the Russian empire which signaled the end of the cold war has ushered in
a new intellectual climate relegating the politics of ideology to the back seat of the development
theory vehicle. It is now acceptable to incorporate social class analysis and transformation
without inviting mixed feelings and suspicion. There is an acknowledgment by development
theorists as well as practitioners from different theoretical traditions that the understanding of the
class structure, social and power relations as determined by the production relations have a direct
bearing on policies intended for the eradication of rural poverty. The logical step is to find out
what causes inequality and the sensible solution is to remove conditions which give rise to
inequality. If it is correct that poverty is caused by inequality it will therefore cease to exist with
the disappearance of inequality.
Of equal importance is the participation of the poor in transforming their own situation.
Popular participation has become a necessary part of the development agenda (Rew, 1996).
The need for concientization as a logical process of empowerment cannot be over-emphasized.
The development worker should therefore aim at creating an enabling environment in which the
poor can actively utilize their potential to the fullest. This seems to be the only viable alternative
to the eradication of world poverty and a guarantee for sustainable development.
The challenges presented by this new development and poverty appraisal approach are as
great as the opportunities. There is a need to develop a clear inter-disciplinary methodological
approach for development and poverty appraisal and evaluation. The RRA and PRA or PPA are
yet to gain universal acceptance as effective methods of research. Some ethical questions raised
about these methods are that they tend to take peoples productive time. They are also accused of
raising peoples expectation unnecessarily, particularly when the research is not intended to
culminate in a concrete project which would have a positive bearing on the lives of the poor
participants. The other question is to assume that the role of the researcher as an activist is
necessarily congruent in the final analysis with the aspiration of the poor. The notion of
ownership of the research results by the poor is academic rather than realistic.
Lastly, it appears development theorists, in an attempt to locate the root cause of poverty
spend a lot of time asking and trying to answer rhetorical questions such as: Are they powerless
because they are poor or they are poor because they are powerless? Are they poor because they
are not educated or they are not educated because they are poor? Which causes the other? The
eradication of world poverty requires practical field work with the poor.
Feminism Cannot be Monolithic in its Issues, Goals and Strategies, Since it Constitutes
the Political Expression of the Concerns and Interests of women from Different Regions,
Classes, Nationalities and Ethnic Backgrounds
Perhaps it is important from the outset to define the concept of feminism as a theoretical
as well as an ideological category. Feminism is general viewed as a theoretical framework of the
women international movement. The United Nations Womens decade Conference (1975)
defined Feminism as a political Movement which embodies women aspirations for gender
equality. This definition has obvious connotations of universality and monolithic. Women are
seen as a homogenous group having the same aspirations, irrespective of regions, classes,
nationalities and ethnic backgrounds.
The idea of a monolithic approach stems from both the modernization and the
dependency theories of development, as well as the global village ideology. The difference in the
character and nature of gender needs by different categories of women is no longer a contentious
issue. The notion of a less monolithic and perhaps more realistic approach to the analysis of
gender issues is becoming more acceptable to both Feminist from the North and South. While
social inequalities based on class and the institution of patriarchy are general accepted as major
causes of women subordination, it is apparent that Feminists do not agree on strategies to address
these problems. Third World Feminism define the problem of women subordination, not only in
terms of patriarchal relations but also in class and advocate for solutions which seek to transform
internal and international capitalist relations of production. On the other hand Feminists in the
North are less enthusiastic of any attempts of empowerment of women which threatens existing
international capitalist relations.
At a conference in Mexico City Third World women observed that, feminism interpreted
as a struggle against men was unbecoming and western (Jains, Singh and Chand 1979).
The history of feminism as a distinct analytical category can be traced back to the 1970s
with the emergency of a theoretical and policy framework which advocated the integration of
women into Development. This theoretical approach was reflected by efforts to increase
womans overall contribution to economic development in addition to their reproductive roles in
the form of domestic work. The ideology and theoretical perspectives which sought to bring
women into productive work is referred to as Women in Development (WID). Its impetus and
origin is associated with two women organizations
a) UN Commission on the status of women and;
b) US women s movement.
Boserups (1970) writings laid groundwork for WID. In her writings she made distinction
between productive and reproductive spheres or domains which characterizes sex roles across
cultures. Inequality between sexes was seen as a function of the dominance of the productive
roles by males. The need to educate women to enhance their competitiveness and productivity
was seen as crucial factor in addressing inequalities between male and female. The assumptions
were that the provision of equal opportunities would enhance the entry of women into the market
place (public domain) eventually end their domination by men.
Defining womans problems in terms of the familys basic needs rather than their
unequal access to resources made WID policy more acceptable within male dominated agencies,
particularly as measures were designed in such a way as to further minimize any potential for
change (Kabeer 1995:7).
The focus on integration of women into development was largely through projects which
allow compatibility with womens reproductive or domestic roles. This was a shift from earlier
emphasis on women and welfare to efficiency. It is particularly instructive to note that this shift
coincided with the global crisis of the 1980s. Largely informed by neo-liberal ideology of
marketization, the integration of women dictated to by economic necessity and exacerbated by
the need for the repayment of debts, rather than any notions of equality. WID can therefore be
described as liberal feminism which also subscribe to a liberal world view and the ideology of
globalization. Given this terrain it cannot be expected to escape the trappings of liberal
philosophical assumption of universalism and the politics of hegemony. Differences in culture;
class; race and ethnicity were not treated as important factors in WID analytical formulations.
However the selective focus on commonalties in the marginalization of women in the
development process served to disguise and deny material differences in power, resources and
interests between women themselves (Kabeer 1995: 30-31).
The modernization paradigm, underpinned by neo-liberal policies based on the market
economy did not only fail to trickle down but also did not necessarily bring equality between
males and females. If economic growth was viewed as a vehicle for womens emancipation from
male domination both at home and in the market place, this did not happen.
The Limitations and the inadequacy of WID Feminism unleashed a number of feminist
critics, particularly from the South. Among these were Marxist feminists who argued that
subordination of women cannot be divorced from internal and international political and
economic structures within which women are located.
While Patriarchal views and structures oppress women all over the world, women are
also members of classes and countries that dominate others and enjoy privileges in terms of
access to resources. Hence contrary to the best intentions of sisterhood not all women share
identical interests (AAword cited in Kabeer 1995: 33).
This theoretical approach is rooted on the dependency theory and indeed suffered from
the same generalization and over simplifications based on structural explanation of gender
inequalities which has bedeviled the dependency paradigm in explaining the development of
capitalism. To these Feminists the entry of women into the market was all that was needed to end
their domination by men. According to Engels(cited in Kabeer1995) on whose ideas Marxist
Feminists base their arguments: the capitalist mode of production has led to cleavage between
production of commodities, which was shifted to the public sphere of the marketplace and the
production of labor which continued in the private sphere. The reality however, is that, women
enter the market at less favorable terms compared to men. This is due to their relatively weak
bargaining position which tend to lower their reservation level.
Marxist Feminists see the problem of women subordination to men as inherent in
capitalist structures and relations of production and the solution, until recently in a revolutionary
transformation of society. This neo-Marxist approach emphasizes social relations of production,
structural power relations and class inequalities. The basis of this analytical framework is Class
and Social relations of production which tend to group men and women together as victims of
capitalist development. Its prescriptive and deterministic approach is its main weakness in
providing a comprehensive approach to Feminism. The notion that the disappearance of classes
will remove inequalities between men and women is a particular Constraining characteristic of
this approach. In feminist literature this approach is referred to as WAD, which means women
and development.
The 1980s saw the emergency of another alternative to WID, in GAD. Gender &
Development (GAD) or gender mainstreaming adopted a holistic approach in its attempt to
address all aspects of womens problems. It attempts to link the relations of production to the
relation of reproduction in explaining the subordination of women to men. The division of labor
between men and women is not explained in terms of biological prescription but as deliberate
social constructs to maintain male domination. GAD makes a distinction between sex as a
biological reality and gender as a social construct which defines relations between men and
women.
GAD places importance on the State to promote women emancipation. It also place
more emphasis on the need for women to organize themselves for political power. GAD, unlike
WID recognizes the diversity of women interests and differences in the nature and character of
the problems faced by women throughout the world. According to Sen and Grown (1987), there
is a need for a diversity of feminist agenda to respond to different needs, concerns of different
women as defined by women for themselves.
The notion of the generic women allowed no space for race - ethnicity, social class,
national location, or any other social demarcation and curtailed the analysis of the significance of
womens heterogeneity (Spelman 1988, Haraway 1985, 1990 cited in Young and Dickerson
1994:4).
Tinker (1976) attacked the downgrading of economic functions associated with child care
and the household as part of a planning process which fails to recognize womens productive
roles by definitions of the labor force only in terms of work performed for money and
disregarding subsistence work which is mostly performed in the household.
In one of the most vicious attack against male domination and the institution of
patriarchy, (Mies 1986) traces global patriarchy from man the hunter and possessors of tools of
destruction which were also used to subjugate women. In her view women are victims of the
predatory nature of males who have also systematically maintained their domination through
want she calls housewifization. Mies defines patriarchy as a system of domination of which
capitalism is its most recent manifestation.
On their part Geta and Grown (1987:16) observed that: The limited success of the
integrationist approach is due in part to the difficulties of overcoming traditional cultural
attitudes and prejudices regarding women participation in economic and social life. However,
equally an important but mostly overlooked factor is the nature of the development process into
which women were to be integrated.
While WID feminist literature was dominated by writers from the North GAD seems to
have a fair representation of writers from the South who tend to reject WID Feminism and
approaches based on monolithic and universalistic assumptions. Samarasighe Speaks of a
reverse flow in which the north might learn from the experiences and realities as seen by
Feminist in the South.
In an attempt to define the problems of women subordination (Molyneux 1985) (Moser
1993) divided gender interests and needs into two categories. These are: i. Practical gender
interests/needs and; ii. Strategic gender interests/needs. The former is concerned with the
improvement of living conditions for women such as the provision of water; health care and
creation of employment opportunities. Strategic gender needs are defined as those needs women
identify due to their subordinate position to men in society. These relate to gender division of
labor, power relations control and access to resources. Other issues given prominence in this
category relate to legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages and women control over their
bodies. There is obviously no question of the importance of these interests/needs to women, but
the same interests and needs may equally be applicable to men as well. It is also inappropriate to
suggest that all women irrespective of location of country, class and perhaps ethnicity have
exactly the same priorities and needs. The categorization ignore the biological and emotional
needs of individual women and men which might have an impact in shaping and defining needs
and priorities for both females and males. The needs and interests of men is also an important
analytical category to the understanding of gender relations. Too generalized policy options
intended to transform existing unequal gender relations might proof unhelpful and in some cases
counter productive.
Naila Kabeer (1992), observes two major gender policy typology as Gender-blind
policies and Gender-aware policies. The distinction between the two policy options is that
Gender-blind policies do not recognize any distinction between sexes and Gender-aware policies
does not only recognize the distinction but also view women as development actors in their own
right. While Gender-blind policies may completely exclude women from the development
process, Gender-aware policies may fail to address womens different needs and priorities which
in some cases may conflict with those of men.

Within the broad category of Gender-aware policies, Kabeer makes distinction between
gender-neutral, gender-specific and gender-redistributive policies. According to him, gender
neutral policies use the knowledge of gender difference in a given society to tackle biases in a
development intervention with the intention of ensuring benefits for both males and females.
Gender-specific policies use the knowledge of gender differences to respond to practical gender
needs of both women and men. Both gender-neutral and gender-specific policies operate within
the existing gender divisions therefore do not challenge in any significant way existing
patriarchal and socio-economic and political relations. Unlike the other two, genderredistributive policies are transformational in nature and demand fundamental changes not only
in gender relations but also in the distribution of political as well as economic resources within
and between societies. How this is achievable without undermining the basis of capitalist
development is a question which serious Feminist must answer. The obvious constraint to this
policy option, albeit its attractiveness is the extent to which it can be operationalized within the
confines of Feminism alone.
In conclusion I would like to reiterate that feminism is inextricably linked with the
dominant development ideologies which have invariably influenced its theoretical framework.
Feminist theories can not therefore be expected to escape the trappings and weaknesses of
theories which have in the first instance provided a basis for their formulation. While the
heterogeneity of womens needs and interests necessitate a variegated approach to address
specific needs of women in different regions from different classes, this should not be interpreted
by any means to be contradictory to the notion of a common Feminist agenda and the existence
of an international womens movement. On the contrary the diversities have the potential to
provide a mutual learning environment which could enhance understanding of womens issues,
creating space for effective cooperation and improvement in gender relations.
Two institutions which in my view embodies the ideology of patriarchy and perhaps
influenced gender relation in other spheres, but have not received sufficient attention from
feminist are the marriage and religious institutions. The interaction of marriage and religious
institutions in perpetrating the subordination of women to men need to be brought into the centre
of Feminist and gender relations To what extent can women use their numerical majority in
religious organizations to transform gender relations?
The other important issue in gender relations is the role women play in the exploitation
and in some cases abuse of other women. The relationship between women domestic workers
and their women employers does not lend itself to any notions of sisterhood. Women in some
third world countries are responsible for ritual mutilation of young girls. To suggest that these
women are innocent victims of a male dominated culture is an oversimplification of a complex
situation.
Gender relations should also be seen within the context of a changing world in which
both women and men acquire new values and attitudes towards each other. Perhaps it is not
premature to ask about the extent to which homosexuality, lesbianism and tran-sexuality can
promote or hinder the development of positive gender relations. Since human relations including
gender are a form of some social construct, in the quest for freedom from each other, possibilities
exist for other social constructs which may include intimate relationships with pets or other
similar creatures. The question for Feminist ideologists is how would this affect gender relations
and society in general.
Finally, the issue of a monolithic approach to gender relations can only find substance at
macro level of analysis where macro solutions are desirable. A combination of a diversified
policy approach at micro level and a common agenda at macro level may be the most sensible
strategy, but not sufficient for equality between women and men as long as the existing structures
of patriarchy and social relations of production remain in place. There is however a need to
bridge the gap between theory and practice
The only way to ensure that individuals have power to attack the root causes of
underdevelopment is to enable them to influence all decision at all levels, that affect their
lives (Lane 1997). How one might go about ensuring that individuals can influence
decisions.
The concepts of participation and empowerment have become fashionable among both
anthropologists and development studies specialists. The understanding and perhaps the
definition of these two key concepts is critical to attempt to answer the above question. The
definition of participation draws a lot from the United Nations resolution, adopted in the early
1970s, concerned with the poor, deprived and disadvantaged. It may be defined as the
involvement of ordinary people in their own affairs. The Human Development Report (1993)
defines participation as a situation where people have constant access to decision-making and
power, as well as participation in economic activities. The philosophy of empowerment can be
found in Paulo Freires (1973) writings in which empowerment is defined as capacity building
and political consciousness. This definition challenges existing power relations and inequalities
within communities and between individuals and different communities. Paulo Freire advocates
for what he calls a process of conscientization which he defines as a deliberate action to
empower individuals or communities to participate and make decisions about their own lives.
Empowerment therefore has notions of equal access to both economic resources and distribution
of political power. The definition of participatory and empowerment are a contested terrain and
subject to ideological controversies. It should be noted therefore that these definitions are by no
means exhaustive. According to Midgley etal, (1986:3) Participation is not only one of the goals
of social development but an integral part of the social development process.
The origin of participation and empowerment is rooted in the failures of the major
development theories to address the problems of poverty and inequality. It was conspicuous by
the late 1970s that the free market and the modernization paradigm were bound to fail in
promoting development for all in Third World countries. The assumptions that economic growth
would necessarily trickle down were found wanting. IMF and World Bank Programs instead
were hurting the poor more than the rich. The dependency theory also failed to provide practical
solutions to the problems faced by the poor in the developing world. In 1995, the World Summit
on Social Development recognized the need to integrate economic and social development
objectives. The development of participatory approaches is also linked with populism and to a
lesser extent anarchism. The argument on which ideas had more influence on participation may
not be helpful within the scope of this essay. Perhaps what is important is the examination of the
socio-economic and political implications of both individual and community participation and
empowerment. On one hand participatory advocates, claim that it strengthens the capacity of
individuals and communities to mobilize and help themselves, reducing dependency on
outsiders. On the other hand critics view it as a form of incitement calculated at fomenting
rebellion against the State.
While participation and empowerment are not synonymous and interchangeable they are
intricately linked together in a complex way. In some respect it can be argued that they cause
each other. The issue may not be which causes the other, but the extent to which their dialectical
relationship determine each other. This essay will ague that power without participation is of no
purpose and effect and participation without power is meaningless. The problem however, is not
in the definition of concepts per se, but in the practical realities of the process of both
participation and empowerment. In the past decade the term empowerment has become
associated with a variety of community development, family support and various types of
intervention at both individual and group level. Its romantic focus on power has seen its
recognition as a powerful approach in combating the roots of rural poverty and inequalities. It is
precisely, its combative and revolutionary aspects which engenders criticisms. Participation is
the most favored for empowerment and capacity building.
The transformative potential of a participatory empowerment approach is constrained

by the fact that the nature and character of participation and the process of empowerment are
usually initiated by external agents, who may have other agendas. Empowerment and
participatory development may also be trapped in the development paradigm advocated by the
development agent. In other words empowerment may be tolerated only if it does not
significantly challenge existing power structures and the development perspective of the
financial provider. Lane (1985) observes that, the risk of participation is due to its tendency to
challenge power structures. Therefore it is not the principle of empowerment which present a
problem to development but the risks and magnitude of challenges confronted in any attempts
aimed at transforming power relations in society. The existence of challenges do not in anywhere
discredit the principle of empowerment. Chambers calls for a paradigm shift in which those
who have in the past claimed to have knowledge (professionals) learn from those who are
marginalized and in whose name development is pursued. Reality as seen by the poor and
deprived is accorded centre stage. He draws an analogy in which those who have power are
holding the stick of honor and urges them to hand over the stick. This represent a new
epistemological paradigm shift which has also given birth to new research approaches in the
form of Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRA).
Despite inherent constraints imposed by internal and external structural relationships

which tend to limit the success of empowerment programs significant achievements have been
recorded in various parts of the developing world. The Aga Khan Rural Support Program
(AKRSP) in Gujarat state in western India is an illustration of a success story of how a
participatory approach can empower farmers to analyze their situation and make informed
decisions. While a detailed description of the whole exercise is not possible given the scope of
this essay, it is certainly instructive to highlight the major activities involved in this project
carried out by farmers themselves. The AKRSPs main aim was to facilitate development of
appraisal and planning skills among the village extension volunteers selected by the community
in several villages. To that end AKRSP participated in the project through institution building;
the provision of training inputs; management; technical and financial support. PRA was a major
training and planning methodology.
Participatory mapping, using local materials formed an important part of the project at
various levels. In the farmer project in Surendranagar district, which I will focus on, Parmesh
Shah recorded five types of maps as follows:
a) Resource maps - these include an inventory of the villages natural resources and the
characteristics of village resources which also included utilization of resources, characteristic of
land and the different uses of resources.
b) Watershed maps and models which captured major run offs, all land resources and
tried out soil and water conservation techniques and an inventory of all existing soil and water
conservation practices and treatments carried out by farmers and their evaluation.
C) Thematic maps which depicts crops, weeds or pest incidence, input usage, soil
moisture, credit sources, the command area, aquifers and livelihoods.
d) Social mapping - Show the distribution of households by caste or social group,
ownership of resources and wealth and identification of social stratification of the community
both in terms of access to resources and distribution.
e) Monitoring/impact analysis maps at various stages of the project - these provides
baseline data from the start of the project, show existing productivity of resources and utilization
of natural resources, access to resources by marginalized groups, productivity of marginal land
areas and maps used for appraisal, implementation, management, monitoring and evaluation.
While it can be argued that AKRSP provided initial training in participatory methods it should be
noted that the maps were drawn and interpreted by the farmers themselves with very little
outside assistance. Farmers demonstrated a high level of analytical capability which they used in
making decisions about their individual as well as common lives. This was a an example of a
bottom-up empowerment approach in which after acquiring knowledge derived from practical
experience during PRA exercises farmers were able to make informed decision for the
management of their resources. This is true to the extent that farmers in the Surendranagar
district were able to successfully present a long term management programs of their resources to
a team of district government officials. Shah observes that:
Participatory mapping has been effective in breaking communication barriers. Use of visual
communication methods has enabled inarticulate and illiterate sections of the community
including women and other marginalized groups to participate in the development process
(cited in Nelson and Wright 1995: 91).
The diagram below in figure: 1 helps to demonstrate the level and extent to which farmers can
independently analyze and assess possible impact of an intervention.
Figure 1: This is an adapted Impact diagram of an irrigation tank in Gadeechi Village,
Drawn
by
Savn
Regular Bathing
More Money +
Household
income
Production increase
Irrigation
Tank
Fields
Two
Children
Going to
School
More
More Food
Consumption
Investment in
Agricultural Implements
and Fertilisers
More Trees
in the Field
More work on Own

Farm (Safety)
House Renovation
si
Bhura (farmer) in Surendranagar District.
The simplicity of the diagram above and the way in which community action is linked with
economic implications is a testimony of the potential empowering nature of grassroots decision
making processes. The fact that the impact diagram was constructed by a farmer is a significant
indicator of the existence of latent knowledge and technical know-how, acquired through several
years of experience in the course of their interaction with the environment, among rural
communities and individuals which any development intervention can only ignore at its peril.
This also explains the resistance of rural people, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa to top-down
development interventions which do not incorporate local knowledge. It is however, not easy to
decipher what impact would the Water Tank have on accessibility and both internal and external
power relations. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of empowerment is how far it should go.
Two theoretical scenarios which informs the process of empowerment are discernible:
1. changes occurring within a participatory formula which do not go as far as to challenge
existing internal and international economic and political power structures;
2 revolutionary change, which has the capacity to transform the basis of existing social
relations of production by advocating for the creation of new structures.
The above scenarios are not by any means contradictory but differ in the extent to which
the process of empowerment is desirable. The former advocates for limited changes in social
relations and decisions by communities and individuals can only be effective within that context.
This school of thought tends to divorce unequal access to economic and political resources by
both individual and communities from national and international social relations of production.
Western NGOs which provide support to empowerment programs in most of the Third World
countries operate within this scenario.
The latter scenario engenders confrontation in that it challenges capitalist relations of
production. which rise to existing internal and external power relations. This school of thought,
with its obvious inclination towards Marxism, explain the existence of poverty and deprivation in
structural terms.
The empowerment of individuals or communities to make decisions is
viewed as limited to the requirements and dictates of national and international capital.
Empowerment which do not alter existing structures is seen as a futile exercise and of no effect.
In conclusion, the historical context in which the concept of empowerment was born
was dominated by ideological controversies which has in turn characterized participatory and
empowerment initiatives from both the North and the South. The 1990s however have
witnessed a decline in ideological competition for hegemony between the West and the East with
the collapse of the Soviet Union. This has allowed the West some space to experiment with
empowerment projects in developing countries without fears of fermenting a revolution. The
AKRSP in Gujarat is an example of such initiatives. The successes and achievements of this
project can not be judged by the quality of maps the farmers are capable of producing alone but
by the extent to which all the farmers are able to take command and utilize their resources in
their own interest.
In my view the issue may not be whether an empowerment intervention has an

immediate effect of altering structural power relations or not, but the fact that through
participation people become conscious of possible development possibilities and develop
confidence in their ability to initiate change is in itself an important development. There is no
doubt that participation in decision making by individuals and communities has a positive
influence in fostering ownership and sustainability. Perhaps the difficult part is how it is possible
to address issues of inequalities within rural areas themselves and between rural and urban areas
without redistribution of resources and a significant transformation of social relations of
production which in the first instance gave rise to existing power relations. Otherwise the catch
phrases of power over vis a vis power to may become simple rhetoric which could contribute
to further marginalization of the poor and deprived.
Induced technological and institutional

innovation in agriculture are complementary aspects of rural
development.
The factors needed for inducing agricultural transformation, to get agriculture moving
involves a complex mix of appropriate new technology, flexible rural institutions, and a market
orientation that offers farmers material rewards for the physical effort they expend in their fields
and households and for the risks they face from both nature and the markets (Meier 1995: 433).
The division of labor among producers can not proceed without the development of
institutions to coordinate their activities (Tomich 1995: 49).
The complementarily of induced technological and institutional innovation in agricultural
development is not a contentious terrain. What is in question is perhaps the type of institution
most suited for each type of technology envisaged in an attempt to increase agricultural
productivity. The other issue is whether a certain type of technology determine in the first
instance the development of particular types of institutions or whether the type of existing
institutions, themselves, determine the type of induced technological possibilities or not. In an
attempt to address this question Ruttan observed that, there is a dialectical interaction between
technological and institutional innovation. The implication is that either can cause the other. In
Boyces analysis institutional change can open the way for technological change and at a later
stage become its fetters. This is consistent with Marxist position on the relationship between the
forces and the relations of production (Boyce 1987: 26)
Perhaps it is pertinent and appropriate to begin with the definition of the key concepts in
the question. These are induced technological and institutional innovation. In other words what is
meant by (i) induced technological innovation? (ii) induced institutional innovation? We shall
start our definitional discussion with technology and then institutions.
Induced Technological innovation
According to (Bannock et al), technology can be defined as the sum of knowledge of the
means and methods of producing goods and services (Boyce 1987: 19). Boyce draws a
distinction between technology and technique. Technique in his terms refers to the specific
method of production while technology refers to the spectrum of techniques in the economy. The
spectrum of techniques mostly in use at a given time and place is what is usually called
technological frontier. Induced technological change can be narrowed to shifts in technological
frontier. Shifts in techniques can take place for two basic reasons according to Boyce: (a)
Improvements in production efficiency; and (b) factor substitution prompted by changes in
relative prices.
Induced technological innovation was introduced by Hicks to explain why technological
change is biased in a particular direction, e.g. capital saving or labor saving. Hicks observed that:
Changes in relative factor prices cause substitution and takes three forms:
1. Change in the composition of output towards production of items requiring more of the
relatively cheapened factor;
2. use of known production methods which were not previously economical (the
convention notion of factor substitution); and
3. the search for new methods of production which will use more of the now cheaper
factor and less of the expensive one.
Hicks calls the last in which change come about as a result of new methods of
production, induced technological innovation. This definition was however found wanting by
Salters among others. In his critique of Hicks, Salters agrees with Hayani and Ruttan in pointing
out that the advent of high-yielding varieties of wheat and rice in the mid-1960s is an example
of not technological change but merely factor substitution and an application of existing
scientific knowledge in plant breeding. According to Boyce Salterss critique, boils down to the
argument that shifts in this particular frontier are not responsive to changes in relative factor
availability and price. There seem to be a general consensus among induced technological
theorists on that technological change can be both endogenous as well as exogenous. The
exogenous component is often identified with the physical, chemical and biological properties
of the world and the state of basic science at any given moment in time (Boyce 1987: 22).
Endogenous technological change is based on changes in factor endowment and product demand
operating through the price system. The theory of induced technological change is based on the
assumption of the existence of perfect markets free from any form of State intervention.
Induced institutional innovation
According to Boyce, an institution is defined as: The behavioral rules and
organizational structures by which cooperation among individuals is achieved, and conflicts
among them resolved, in the production and distribution of goods and services (Boyce 1987:
25). Institution can be either formal or informal. They can be in the form of organizations or
written or unwritten contracts of the market place etc. Bharden defines institutions as social
rules, conventions, and other elements of the structural framework of social interaction (Bardhan
1987: 3) Examples of institutions are Sharecropping, bonded labour, wage labour, tenancy as
well as banks, schools and patents rights.
According to Karl Marx: In the social production of their life men enter into definite
relations that are indispensable and independent of their will, relations of production that
correspond to a definite stage of development of their material productive forces. ...... Changes in
the forces of production, particularly technological change, produce over time, tension between
existing structure of property rights and productive potential of the economy, and it is through
class struggle that this tension is resolved in history, with the emergence of new institutions
(Bardhan 1989: 4).
Neo-classical institutional economists focus more attention on efficiency improving

institutions whereas neo-Marxists often put more emphasis on how institutions change in
response to surplus appropriation by a dominant class. In other words neo-classical economists
are more concerned with improvement of productivity and the Marxists more with issues of
distribution. The neo-classical economists and the neo-Marxists come from opposite analytical
positions.
The theory of induced institutional innovation is based as its underlying determinants on
changes in factor endowments and product demand operating through the price system. Here
again the assumption is that of perfect competition and the absence of any price distortions and
other market imperfections. Induced institutional innovations are analyzed and explained as a
function of the market forces. Huyani and Ruttans hypothesis of induced innovation is that
relative factor scarcities (as reflected in the factor prices) cause changes in factor use which tend
to save (increase productivity) the scarcer factors. This view is consistent with the proposition
that technological and institutional innovations are largely influenced by the market forces.
Institutions can not operate indefinitely without providing benefits - economic, social,
political ethical that justify their continued existence. (Uphoff 1986: 10). If we agree that
institutions can not out-live their usefulness then it might be useful to adopt a multi-disciplinary
approach in studying rural institution in order to understand their operational value to rural
communities before the introduction of new ones. An institution like Sharecropping which is
probably considered archaic and inefficient in resource allocation has had many authors
acknowledging that it is based on sound economic rational which justifies its existence.
Sharecropping provides a unique opportunity for risk sharing between the land-lord and the
tenant which also eliminate any costs which might be incurred in supervision. Research therefore
becomes crucial not only in the development of new technology but also in institutional
innovation to determine relevance, operational advantage and cost effectiveness.
Induced Technological Innovation vis--vis Induced
Institutional Innovation
Technological innovations may be desirable to either raise land productivity (i.e. in
situation of land scarcity like in the case of Japan) or labor productivity (in situation where there
is abundant land and shortage of labor, like in the case of the United States). Land-saving capital,
refer to biological, chemical and water control investments. The inputs of the green revolution
(improved seeds, fertilizers, insecticides and irrigation) were intended to increase land
productivity or an increase in yields per hector. Labor saving capital is the investment made on
machinery and equipments, e.g. tractor, combined harvester etc. The adoption of new technology
whether land or labor saving requires institutional innovation or modification of existing
institution to match technological innovations. In a situation of perfect competition, new
institution would automatically respond to opportunities created by the development or the need
for development of new technology. In the first instance the development of technology may be
dependent on appropriate institutional arrangements. It should be noted that different

technologies may require variegated institutional arrangements. The notion that adoption of
technology that requires collective action in its implementation, and use may be hindered by a
lack of institutional mechanisms to resolve the attendant public good problem can not be more
correct.
The existence of both private and public research institution is a necessary requirement
for the development of new technology. While private research initiatives are expected to
respond entirely to the dictates of market forces in terms of change in factor prices, public
research institutions are thought to be less purely market induced. Market forces also induce
institutional innovation, so that new institutions are created and old ones modified to increase the
responsiveness of research and technology supply to market opportunities (Binswanger and
Ruttan 1978 in Colman and Nixson 1994: 212)
The operation of public research institutions would substantial not conform with the
theory of induced technological change. However, Hayani and Ruttan in their analysis of
agricultural development in Japan and the United States extended it to public research institution
as well. According to Hayani and Ruttan the theory of induced technological change can be
applied to public institutions via an effective incentive mechanism to reward scientists or
administrators, materially or by prestige for the contribution to the solution of significant
problems in society (Boyce 1987: 22). Inspite of the Hayani and Ruttans conclusions, public
research institution, particularly in developing countries are sometimes under pressure to initiate
research which may not be directly linked with changes in factor prices. This is sometimes
necessitated by the fact that in many developing countries, the land tenure systems and market
structures are such that landlords and peasants face very different factor prices due to
imperfections in the factor market. Therefore public funded research is an essential element in
agricultural development policy to address the imbalances. The State has a capacity not only to
mobilize resources for technological research but also it is well disposed to influence the market
through price fixing and tax instruments.
Technological innovations arising from public research institution should take on board
institutional policy frame work which seeks to address the above mentioned disparity if the
desired technology is to benefit the peasants as well as the land-lords. It is now common
knowledge that the peasants are rational and do respond to the market. They will only do so if
they have adequate information about the market and desirable technological innovations. The
development of institutions to provide this important information are perhaps not only necessary
but a prerequisite to both meaningful participation in the market and adoption of technology by
peasants and land lords alike.
One problem which has received less attention, particularly from neo-classical
institutional economists in analyzing the adoption of technology or not by peasants, is the issue
of transaction costs in the economy. Transaction costs include inter-alia costs on information,
negotiation, monitoring, coordination, enforcement of contracts and supervision. The adoption of
technology of the green revolution in Latin America, as observed by Griffin (1974) was affected
by transaction costs. The implication is that the introduction of new technology should go hand
in hand with institution building in situation where institution fail to respond to market forces or
the market forces are not strong enough to induce institutional innovation. The technology of the
green revolution was observed to benefit more, large than small farmers because of a decreasing
cost of credit with an increase in farm size. Therefore the technological bias, whether in its
adoption or utilization can not be divorced from institutional biases and constraints. The reason
why small farmers are not likely to adopt new technology can not only be explained in terms of
risk aversion, but of equally importance is lack of education, imperfections in credit markets and
poor access to information.
Conclusion
The adoption of induced technological innovation can not proceed without the
development of institutions to: develop the desired technology (case of research institutions);
demand (market); necessary education and information (schools and extension services);
Financial support (credit facilities); and regulatory mechanisms defining access, use and
relationships (policy frame-work). While the market remains at least in theory an important
influence in inducing both technological and institutional innovation, it is by no means the only
cause. The problem of over reliance on the market has been adequately documented in literature
on the development of agriculture in developing countries. Factor prices may be distorted by
monopsony and monopoly power. Lack of adequate information may result in peasants not
responding positively to the opportunities offered by induced technological and institutional
innovation. Induced technological innovations will largely be influenced by the technological
frontier and in the same token induced institutional innovation will be heavily tainted and
influenced to a greater degree by ideological orientation which informs government agricultural
and rural development policy. Rural institutions which impact on agriculture and rural
development will tend to have a bias in the direction of government policy thrust. The out-come
of such state policies, even if we were to accept temporarily, the notion of the autonomy of the
State, is likely to hurt others more than it does to others. The problem is compounded by unequal
access to technical knowledge and water resources, prevalent in rural areas in developing
countries. In addition the economical and political powerful groups are likely to promote fiscal
and institutional policies which cause technological changes that are consistent with their own
self interests. This is a recipe for massive inequalities, poverty and social polarization. It is
against this background that farming system research (FSR) was born. While it is not a subject
for discussion in this essay it is important to note that its multi-disciplinary approach to analysis
of existing farm systems has greatly improved the frame work for identification of potential
innovations and research priorities.
According to hunt distinctive features claimed for FSR which also explain its rational are as
follows:
i) a concern with helping the small farmer;
ii) an attempt to understand the farmers existing resource allocation behavior;
iii) recognition of the soundness of many traditional farming practices;

iv) emphasis on farmer involvement in identifying research needs and testing results;
v) collaboration of technical and social scientists, together with farmers, in an effort to
raise output; and
vi) recognition of the need for a holistic approach to the analysis of the complete farm
system.
There is no doubt that there are knowledge gaps in agricultural development, particularly
pertaining to developing countries. This further strengthen our position that market forces by
themselves can not explain agricultural development or the adoption of induced technological
and institutional innovations. The fact that there are other variables which are important and
which in interacting with others produce conditions of development or stagnation does not
undermine in any significant way our earlier position that induced technological and
institutional innovation are complementary and indeed influence and reinforce each other. In his
reviewing of the issues in Bengal pertaining to failure of induced innovation process in
agriculture Boyce, proposed the following hypotheses, that:
a) population growth has a positive effect upon agricultural growth as predicted by the
theory of induced innovation, rather than a negative one as predicted by the
neo-Malthusian theories;
b) the leading input and key technological constraint is water control - irrigation,
drainage and flood control;
c) Incentive problems rooted in the dichotomy between labor and the control of the land
lead to static inefficiencies, notably an underutilization of labor;
d) public good problems inhibit water control, in the absence of institutional mechanisms
for cooperation above the level of individual farm;
e) Intra-group inequalities may make it more difficult to resolve these problems through
collective action.
He concluded that as a consequence of hypotheses B-E above, agricultural performance
in Bangladesh and West Bengal has been below its potential, and the effect of hypothesis A has
been too weak to lead to sustained growth in per capita agricultural output.
To what extent does Export Oriented Industrialization (EOI) represent a successful route
to economic development in South East Asia.
Industrialization and economic development can not be reducible to a single factor or
strategy but to variegated set of circumstances which interact at all levels of the economy and
society. In other words industrialization and economic development are not a function of any
single variable. This is not to suggest that all the different factors, equally contribute to economic
development at any given time. Export Oriented Industrialization, which is the subject of our
discussion, is invariably in some significant way linked to and in some cases can be a natural
development of an inward looking industrialization program. The essay will therefore argue that
Export Oriented Industrialization and Import Substitution Industrialization are complimentary
rather than contradictory. Promoting one should not necessarily in the long run be a disadvantage
to the other. Rodik argues that social conflicts and how they interact with external shocks and
domestic institution of conflict management are a key to the understanding of sustainable growth
rates and busts alike.
These interactions play a central role in determining the persistence of a countrys
economic growth, its response to volatility in the external environment and the magnitude of the
growth collapse following a negative shock. (Rodrik 1998:1).
Perhaps it is important from the onset to attempt to define the key concepts in this essay.
These are Export oriented Industrialization (EOI) and Economic Development: export oriented
industrialization can be defined as an industrial strategy based on production bias for the external
market while economic development can be broadly defined as the improvement of the peoples
standard of living. This definition of economic development is inclusive of economic growth
which is the increase in GNP per capita. Before we answer the question, to what extent does EOI
represent a successful route to economic development in South East Asia it is necessary to
examine the general assumption for the promotion of an export oriented industrialization.
According to Spetter(1970) countries adopt this industrialization strategy on the assumption that,
through the expansion of manufacturing industries for exports a country can increase its import
capacity which will enable it to purchase the necessary capital goods, which it is not able to
produce internally. Therefore export oriented industries are usually promoted for these reasons
among others: to enlarge the market to enable a country to reap the benefits of modern
technology and to obtain economies of scale; manufacturing industries for export can contribute
to changes in the structure of an industry as well as the whole economic structure of a developing
country, leading to reduced production costs, improved quality and over all increased
competitiveness in the world market.
There is a close interdependence between foreign trade and the process of
industrialization of developing countries - on the one hand, industrialization is a prerequisite for
the solution of the problem of foreign trade (Spetter 1970: 26).
The implication here is that foreign trade is an inseparable part of the process of
reproduction and growth of the national economy. Although exports do not on their own cause
economic development there however play a significant role in economic growth. A successful
export industrialization can have the following effects on the economy: increasing national
income and foreign exchange; utilization of unemployed resources and technological progress;
favorable balance of payments and the accumulation of foreign capital for the importation of
capital goods. It may also contribute to the diversification of the domestic economy. It should be
noted that export oriented industries may be dictated by the availability of resources and the
costs of inputs. Export producers may also have to contend with trends in world demand for their
products. The competitive edge which is an essential condition for success in the external market
is also important in so far as it impact on productivity, acquisition of technology and innovation.
Economic growth in South East Asia
South East Asia has experienced an unprecedented economic growth since the 1980s.
South East Asia which followed on the foot steps of the other East Asian success stories of Japan
and South Korea, include on its ranks the following countries: Thailand; Indonesia; Philippines;
Malaysia; Loas; Mynamar; Brunei; Singapore; Vietnam; Burma and Cambodia. This region falls
along the major world trading routes which explains the emergency of Singapore as an important
trading and international financial centre. About 40% of the world trade passes through the
Malaka Straight. South East Asia is also endowed with a variety of natural resources. Despite
rapid economic growth and liberalization, the region has not particularly experienced growth in
democratization of political institutions.
The high performing Asian economies of East Asia including South East Asia witnessed
sustainable growth over long periods characterized by a low gini co efficiency; rapid export
growth; high rates of investment including private investment; high endowments of human
capital and improved productivity. The World Bank Report(1993:5) observed that private
domestic investment and rapidly growing human capital were principal engines of growth.
According to The World Bank Report the ability of governments in South East Asia to provide a
stable macroeconomic environment and a legal framework to promote domestic and international
competition was an important factor to the success of industrialization in South East Asian
economies. The other equally important factor explaining the so called Asian miracle by the
World Bank Report is the orientation of the HPAES towards international trade; the absence of
price control; investment in human capital and the creation of a business friendly environment.
Goldberg and Klein place at the centre of their analysis of economic growth in South East
Asia to foreign direct investment (FDI) and exchange rates. They make a distinction between
FDI from Japan and that from the USA in terms of their different influence in the South East
Asian economies. They observe that the depreciation of the dollar leads to an increased
investment in South East Asia from Japan and that direct investment from Japan promotes trade
between South East Asia and both Japan and the United States. In other words Japanese direct
investment expands both exports and imports linkages of South East Asian economies. On the
other hand the USA FDI only substitutes for South East Asia imports from the United States.
Countries in this regions are highly negatively exposed when the yen Weakens vis--vis
the United States dollar (Goldberg and Klein1997:2)

They conclude that real depreciation of currencies of the South East Asian countries with
respect to the yen both increases FDI to these countries from Japan and decreases FDI from the
US. By pegging to the dollar, South East Asian countries became extremely attractive targets for
investment and trade when the yen is appreciated, but with the depreciation of the yen against the
dollar in a dollar dominated exchange rate regime of South East Asian countries, leaves them
adversely exposed as targets for FDI and also less attractive as trade partners.
Economic growth and export Industrialization in South East Asia
Before the 1980s South East Asian countries pursued economic policies which were
geared towards the promotion of import substitution industrialization. The inward looking
strategy for industrialization was intend to achieve the creation of a local class of entrepreneurs
and also facilitate the development of a skill base within South East Asian countries. It is
therefore the successes and failures of import substitution industrialization (ISI) in terms of
lessons learnt, which gave birth to export oriented industrialization (EOI) strategy in South East
Asia. This is consistent with the position that ISI and EOI are complimentary. The export push
however in South East Asia did not come about only as a natural development from the failures
of import substitution industrialization but also involved government deliberate policy
framework targeted specifically for the promotion of export oriented industrialization. It should
be noted that while South East Asia first opted for ISI and than switched to EOI, Latin America
started with EOI and later on switched to ISI.
According to Rhee, the success of export oriented industrialization is dependent on what
he calls neutral status and extended neutral status. He (1983:8) defines neutral status as a set of
arrangements that will enable exporters to compete with foreign competitors in the world
markets on equal footing in regard to undistorted markets and policies. This is basically
achieved by putting in place an export incentive system which in Rhees view should have the
following attributes:
(a) flexible and realistic exchange rate;
(b) free trade in inputs and outputs;
(c) competitive financial and money markets;
(d) competitive primary input markets;
(e) automatic excess to export financing and
(f) nondiscriminatory domestic taxes.
The extended neutral status is the stage at which the level of export incentives is as high as the
level of incentives for import substitution activities. There is no doubt that both the neutral status
and the extended status requires active government participation in formulating policies and
promoting appropriate institution building.
The rapid growth in South East Asia is attributed inter alia to the ability of countries in
this region to maintain macroeconomic stability by keeping inflation under control. They also
kept internal and external debts under manageable levels. The policies adopted by South East
Asian newly industrializing economies (NIE) in the 1980s which provided the export push were:
the liberalization of exchange policies and currency devaluation to support export growth;
reduction in import protection; provision of export credit facilities as well as market incentives
and attraction of direct foreign investment. Export production also benefited from flexible labor
markets and a culture which promoted positive work ethics and a high degree of tolerance to
relatively low wages. It appears that South East Asian countries enjoyed, although to different
degrees, the neutral status as outlined by Rhee.
Table 1a below shows the production structure of selected NIE in comparison to other
selected countries of Asia. The table compares the GDP distribution of each country in 1965 and
1990. The percentage growth in both industry and manufacturing for the four South East Asian
countries with the exception of Philippines is phenomenal and perhaps unprecedented in the
history of capitalist development. The three countries of South East Asia namely: Thailand;
Indonesia and Malaysia have each, between 1965 and 1990 recorded not less than 16% industrial
growth and at least 12% in Manufacturing. This is almost more than double the growth rates of
China and India for the same period.
Table 1a
The structure of production: Distribution of GDP of selected Asian Countries, 1965 to
1990 (percentages)
Production Structure: GDP Disribution 1965 - 90 (%)

A g ric u lt u re
A g ric u lt u re
In d u s t r y
M a n u fa c t u r i n g
S e r vic e s
1965
1990
1965
1990
1965
1990
1965
1990
T h a il a n d
32
12
23
39
14
26
45
48
C h in a
44
27
39
42
31
38
17
31
In d o n e s i a
56
22
13
40
20
31
38
P h ilip p in e s
26
22
28
35
20
25
46
43
M a la y s ia
28
19
25
42
32
47
39
S . K o re a
38
25
45
18
31
37
46
In d i a
44
31
22
29
16
19
34
40
Source: Adapted from World Bank Development Report, 1992
Table 1b, below depicts a comparison of the same countries as in table 1a above in terms
of percentage share of merchandise export, 1965 and 1990. The HPAE of Thailand and Indonesia
recorded an annual growth rate of exports 8.6 and 9.6 respectively between 1965 and 1980. The
relatively low performing economies of the Philippines and Malaysia recorded annual growth
rates of 4.6 each, which was above that of India at 3. Thailand and Malaysia increased their
exports rates between 1980-90 to 13.2 and 10.3 respectively. This represent more than 100%
export growth rate on the part of Malaysia within a short period of ten years. With respect to
machinery, transport, equipment and other manufacturing products the South East Asia Countries
maintained a highly impressive export growth rate which could only be matched by that of South
Korea. The same upward trend in export growth is maintained in textiles and clothing. These set
of statistics convincingly attest to the notion that export industrialization indeed played a
significant if not a decisive role in South East Asias Industrialization
Table 1b
Growth Structure of merchandise trade, 1965 to 1990
Percentage share of merchandise export
Annual
groth rate
of exports
Other
primary
commoditi
es
Fuels
minerals
metals
Machinery
transport
equipment
Other
manufac
turing
Textiles
clothing
1965-80
1980-90
1965
1990
1965
1990
1965
1990
1965
1990 1965
1990
Th a ila n d
8.6
13.2
11
86
43
20
44
16
C h in a
..
11
15
10
20
16
17
56
56
29
27
In d o n e s ia
9.6
2.8
43
48
53
16
34
11
P h ilip p in e s
4.6
2.5
11
12
84
26
10
52
M a la y s ia
4.6
10.3
34
19
60
37
27
17
S . K o re a
27.2
12.8
15
25
37
56
57
27
22
In d ia
6.5
10
41
19
47
66
36
23
Source: Adapted from w orld Bank Report, 1992
Export Industrialization and Economic Development in South East Asia

The question of the extent at which export industrialization represent a successful route
to economic development in South Asia, is in my view controversial and open to debate. In order
to do justice to this question it is necessary to examine not only economic indicators but human
development indicators as well. While we acknowledge the importance of economic growth to
the overall process of development we should at the same avoid the mistake that economic
growth necessarily lead to economic development. In this case we need to answer the question
who has benefited from the rapid economic growth experienced in South East Asia over the last
decade. How was income distributed amongst the various population groups and social classes?
To what extent have all the people achieved an overall improvement in quality of life? We also
have to answer questions like to what extent is the development sustainable. These are not simple
questions to answer and the scope of this essay may not allow a fair treatment of each question
raised.
Many countries of the world had to choose between rapid economic growth on one hand
and equity on the other. Countries have not found it easy to achieve both high levels of economic
growth and a highly equal distribution of income. High economic growth was associated with
high levels of social inequalities. In the context of South East Asia, it appears that instead of the
income gap between the rich and the poor widening there was on the contrary relative declining
levels of income inequalities. South East Asia Capitalist industrial growth has been able to come
up with a unique income distribution mechanism which ensured that income disparity remain
relatively low. Several development scholars on South East Asia have stated that there was a
significant reduction in absolute poverty in South East Asia during the growth period. Real
wages and employment creation are said to have increased dramatically.
The governments of this region who were somewhat autocratic except in the Philippines,
were under pressure to justify their rule by sharing the benefits of economic growth. They
invested heavily on social infrastructural development in both urban and rural areas. The result
was improvement in clean water supply; improved sanitation facilities and accessible and better
health facilities. Universal education in primary and secondary schools was introduced by most
countries in South East Asia. The life expectancy and the literacy rate improved drastically.
Conclusion
The celebrated Asian miracle is not found in the rapid economic growth rate but in the
growth-equity nexus. We can therefore conclude that Export Oriented Industrialization represent
a successful economic development model in South East Asia to the extent that most people
benefited as long as the growth momentum lasted. On the other side of the spectrum if economic
growth in South East Asia is matched against environmental degradation due to over exploitation
of natural resources, characterized by massive deforestation and air pollution, a different picture
emerges. This brings us back to the question of sustainability of the development model. The
financial crises, followed by the collapse of the Banking system leading to untold misery and
overnight poverty is not consistent with the bright picture we have painted above. While the
current crisis may not be directly linked to EOI it however casts some serious doubts on
advisability of replicating the Asia model elsewhere. The suggestion that the crisis was wholly
caused by speculators is not telling us the whole truth. One wonders if the crisis would have
occurred with the same magnitude if ISI in South East Asia had succeeded in achieving its
objective of creating a indigenous capitalist class. The relationship between international capital
and the comprador Bourgeoisie ought to receive more attention on the role it plays in
precipitating economic crisis situations particularly in developing countries. Perhaps an analysis
of the trade relations between the core and the periphery may offer a plausible explanation to the
growth-bust nexus in South East Asia.
What is meant by the State and in what ways does the nature of the State in LDCs
affect not just health care but health itself?

The concept of the State, its origin and autonomy and purpose in society is important in
understanding both the meaning and nature of the State in Less Developed Countries . The
question on whether it affects health care or health itself is somewhat related to the extent at
which the State in a developing country is free to do so. This raises questions on the autonomy of
the State in LDCs. The theoretical definition of the State remains a contested terrain among
development academics, sociologists and political scientists alike. The definition of the State
ranges from Webers ( the notion of monopoly of legitimate use of Violence) to that of Marxs
executive committee of the bourgeoisie. Vincent (1993:222) has identified five normative
theories of the state. These are the absolutist theory; the constitutional theory; the ethical theory;
the class theory and the pluralist theory. The scope of this essay allows us to discuss the
definition of only two of the listed State theories. These are constitutional and class theories.
constitutional theory is defined as public power characterized by complex institutional
structures which through historical, legal, moral and philosophical claims embodies selflimitation and diversification of authority, power and a complex hierarchy of rules and norms,
which act to institutionalize power and regulate the relations between citizens, laws and political
institutions. This definition clearly subscribe to the notion of the autonomy of the State and finds
support among liberal scholars. In class theory the public power is the institutional form of
condensation of the dominant class interests which is ultimately directed at the accumulation of
capital and the defense of private property. The class definition and analysis of the State is
favored by Marxists and dependency theorists. In their view the State exist to serve defined
interests, usually those of the dominant groups or classes. The origin of the State is explained by
Engels thus: It is (the State) a product of society at a certain stage of development; it is an
admission that society has become entangled in the insoluble contradiction with itself, that it has
split into irreconcilable antagonisms which it is powerless to dispel. But in order that these
antagonisms and classes with conflicting economic interests might not consume themselves and
society in a fruitless struggle, it became necessary to have a power seemingly standing above
society that would alleviate the conflict, and keep it within bounds of order; and this power,
arisen out of society but placing itself above it the State(Poulantzas 1973:48).
Since the autonomy or not of the State is critical in understanding the role it plays or fail
to play vis--vis the health care system, it is necessary to examine some of the recent
contribution to the debate on the definition and autonomy of the state. Hall and Ikenberry define
the State as a set of institutions with the most important, as the means of violence and coercion.
These institutions are said to be at the centre of a geographical bounded territory(society) and
that the state monopolizes rule making within its territory.
According to Poulantzas, the State has a particular function of constituting the factors of
cohesion between levels of a social formation. He argues that this is in spite of the fact that the
State ideological functions corresponds to the political interests of the dominant classes. The
state can be in no way be reducible to a mere apparatus or instrument of force in the hands of the
dominant classes (Poulantzas 1973:225). In his view to accept the definition that the State is a
mere Instrument of force in the hands of the dominant classes would effectively reduce the State
to the police; military; prisons and mental hospitals (institution of organized violence and
repression). In short Poulantzas rejects the instrumentality of the Capitalist State and proposes
the notion of the relative autonomy of the capitalist State. He acknowledges however, that the
capitalist State can not go as far as the State acting against the interests of the dominant classes
as a whole without undermining its continued existence and legitimacy. Anglade and Fortin
criticizes Poulantzas for failing to incorporate or attach any significance to the position of the
nation state in the capitalist system. What they call the relations of domination and dependency
among nations. They Call for the examination of international factors and in particular
international capital and how these link up or influence the behavior and interests of the
dominant classes.
From the autonomy school,
reference will be made to Skocpol. Her main contention is that the State is autonomous
and acts independent of any classes in society. She defines autonomy as the ability of the State to
formulate and pursue goals that are not simple a reflection of the demands and interests of social
groups, classes or society. Skocpol argues that the State has the capacity to implement official
goals in spite of actual or potential opposition from the powerful groups.
The World Report (1997) has reinstated firmly on the international agenda the role of the
State in development. The notion that appeals to the World Bank is not that of the State as a chief
engine of growth but as a set of institutions required to provide a framework for private sector
development and the proper functioning of the markets.
The State, Health Care and Health in LDCs
Development in LDCs is informed by the Modernization paradigm. The structural
relationships, rooted in colonialism are themselves an inherent problem of development in
LDCs. The control over health care brings with it power. Those who are most influential decide
who will get the largest share of health care. The distribution of health care during the colonial
era was intended for the benefit of the colonists. Apartheid health care system in South Africa
was consistent with the racist policies which characterized the regime. It is against the legacy of
colonialism that health care in developing countries should be understood. Health care is not
limited to the health sector but inextricably linked with the whole political economy of a country.
The modernization theory with regard to health advocates for the construction of high
technology centers for medical treatment and spending more money on training doctors even
when they are no clinics and nurses in rural areas.
The State in LDC,s is faced with pressure not only from the dominant classes but also
from donor agencies and foreign governments from which it receives grants and loans. Aid is
usually used for the promotion of the donor countries commercial interests in the host country.
Until last year aid in the U.K. was tied to trade. It also has to contend with conditionalities from
multilateral financial organization like the World Bank and the International monetary fund
(IMF). Therefore in the context of developing countries the policy making process is heavily
influenced by development aid and other external factors some beyond the immediate control of
the State. In other words the State in the periphery is also accountable to the donor community
and international financial institutions (IFI) from the North. Structural adjustment creates
demands which shape the whole way in which governments act and the way in which they see
the provision of health as a public responsibility. Adjustment programs and the rolling back of
the State has effectively removed government subsidies on social services including health and
education.
The conclusion is that, the capitalist State in the periphery can be said to be autonomous
in so far as it does not respond in any meaningful way to internal pressures from any class or
section of the society but exist to serve the interests of international capital in the form of aid,
loans and structural adjustment packages. This essay will argue that foreign aid and external
borrowing significantly reduce the autonomy of the State in developing economies hence
influence health care options. This, invariably affects and indeed influence the allocation of
resources to different sectors of the economy.
The manner in which the State in developing countries affect health care or health itself
may be dictated by forces outside the country. This is not to suggest that governments in
developing countries are not to blame for the problems faced by health care systems in their
respective countries. Most regimes lack the political will to institute redistribution policies which
would go a long way improving the health situation in their countries. Poor sanitation facilities
and waste management disposal including acceptance of disposal of toxic waste from developed
countries in exchange for aid are some of things which contribute to poor health in developing
countries. The restriction of information by the State on health matters is also one of the
problems faced in LDCs.
There is a great deal of evidence to show that social policies in the third world do not
serve a first line function, redistribute resources on the basis of need or cater for the whole
population. Access to social welfare is highly unequal and because social policies have been
copied from industrialized countries they are largely inappropriate to local conditions
(Macpherson and Midgley in Barker 1996:119).
The major causes of morbidity and death in most developing countries are infectious
diseases both acute and chronic. Tackling this problem requires the concentration of health care
resources in preventative measure rather than curative. Unfortunately in many developing
countries, particularly in Africa priority is given to the latter through the building of expensive
hospitals mostly concentrated in urban areas. The reality of the situation is that a large hospital
project provides a market for medical equipment producers as well as for pharmaceutical
companies to make profit for themselves at the expense of primary health care.
It is common knowledge that ill health is linked to deprivation and under nutrition. It
therefore follows that the problems of ill health can be best addressed by attacking the causes of
poverty, inequality and deprivation. This would mean channeling more resources including
foreign aid to the needy so that they can have access to good food; clean water; education and the
provision of health care facilities. This can only happen if health is seen as an investment rather
than a consumer activity. Government in developing countries seem not willing to attach a high
premium to investment in social infrastructure in rural areas. The long term returns, which is the
development of human resources as the basis of economic growth is still not clear to political
decision makers in developing economies. Finding external funding for health projects which
have no immediate returns to the donor may also be a problem.
The concept of primary health care (PHC) which is more cost effective and affordable to
many developing countries was only implemented by some countries, while in others only
Only a few countries in Africa have satisfied the eight key components to PHC, proposed by the
World Health organization. These key components are:
1. Health education- this involves the education of people on health problems and
methods to control them;
2. maternal and child health - this include family welfare education and family planning;
3. immunization against the major infectious diseases;
4. prevention and control of local endemic diseases and injuries
5. appropriate treatment of common diseases and injuries,
6. provision of essential drugs;
7. provision of food supply and proper nutrition and
8. adequate supply of safe water and provision of basic sanitation.
These eight point proposal by WHO form the basis of its campaign for health for all by
the year 2000. Nawarro (1984) however Challenges the World Body to recognize the political
constraints to achieving health for all. He proposes that WHO should embrace the systematic
view of health that explicitly sees health in the developing world today as primarily an outcome
of politically determined structural economic and social changes (in Bryar 1990:45)
The globalization ideology and pressure on privatizations of the health care system has
shifted responsibility from the State as a provider of health services in developing countries. This
marketization of health care has effectively eliminated subsidies on health care for those who can
not afford to pay for health services at market rates. Health care and indeed health itself in
developing countries is only available to those who have access to the resources. It should be
understood that privatization of health care systems in developing countries forms an integral
part of the conditionalities of the IMF structural adjustment program packages. The influence of
pharmaceuticals on IMF is discernible here.
Health care system in Mozambique
Pre-colonial Mozambique did not have a clear health care policy for ensuring the
availability of medicines for those of limited means. There was no policy for State procurement
of medicine. Health care was largely dominated by private concerns. Privately owned
pharmacies and clinics determined where to buy any drugs without restrictions from the State. At
independence in 1975, the Mozambican government initiated the formulation of a health policy
by establishing a health technical committee. The technical committee together with
representatives from the therapeutics and pharmacies were charged with the responsibility of
formulating a policy for the whole nationalized health care system.
As a result of the new health policy, drug importation was centralized and the restrictions
were imposed on procurement. The procurement of drugs was for the first time in the history of
Mozambique restricted to an international tendering system to ensure that the most appropriate
products were obtained at the cheapest possible prices. The policy made provisions that
prescription of drugs should be by generic name only as opposed to brand name. A list of
permitted drugs was also drawn.
Mozambique success according to Barker is attributed to:
a) political will on the part of the government of Mozambique;
b) a tiny medical establishment due to the fact that many doctors left the country for
Portugal at independence;
c) there was a large influx of expatriate doctors from different countries and
d) the fact that no pharmaceuticals production existed in the country.
The success which Barker refers to is only with regard to the formulation of a national
health policy. If the policy is impressive on paper its implementation did not produce the same
impressive results. The first constraint was that Mozambique did not have the resources to
purchase drugs probably due to the pressure of apartheid destabilization. The other problem was
that the policy failed to adequately address the issue of traditional health providers in the form of
traditional doctors and spiritual healers. The health policy did not articulate the nexus between
health and nutrition. The health and health care concepts were based on western experiences and
ethics which left out the majority of Mozambicans. The payment of doctors and procurement of
drugs and equipment largely is depended on foreign aid. Table 1, on the next page shows the
extent at which not only Mozambique but other African countries depend on aid for their health
care expenditure.
Foreign Aid and the National Health Service (NHS) in Mozambique
Aid has been necessary to sustain the NHS in Mozambique as table 1 clearly testifies.
This has unfortunately allowed the big donors to use their power to influence policy for their
own commercial and political interests.
......Ironically, donors are advising the Ministry of Health (MoH) about good planning
and management, although simultaneously making both tasks more difficult (Barker 1996:144)
Since few donors are willing to transfer funds and give management responsibility to the
MoH, it is almost impossible to make financial planning because the MoH does not know the
true extent of donor contribution. The tying of aid to imports has seriously weakened the policy
of standardized equipment because each donor insists on equipment being purchased from the
country of its origin. Frequently the ministry of Health in Mozambique has to pay custom duties,
storage and transport for unwanted goods which were sent by donors without warning. Donor
fashions are constantly changing as they seek quick technical fixes. These problems have helped
to undermine institutional and capacity building not only in the NHS but indeed in the whole
Mozambican economy.
The other problems facing the NHS in Mozambique includes the unwillingness of some
doctors to use Mozambican treatment norms or adhere to drug lists. This is compounded by the
fact that doctors come from different schools and have different perception of health care
services. They are also conflicts between local and expatriates doctors due to salary differentials
which also has resulted in brain drain from the MoH.
Table1:Aid flows to selected countries as a percentage of the total health
E x t e rn a l a s s is te n c e a s a
p ro p o rt io n o f t o t a l h e a lt h
R e g io n
C o u n try
A fr ic a
B u rk in a F a s o
7 2 .3
S o a T o m e a n d P rin c ip e
5 4 .2
M o z a m b iq u e
5 3 .2
C a p e V e rd e
5 3 .7
G a m b ia
O t h e r A s ia
L a t in A m e ric a
51
S am oa
3 9 .7
B h u ta n
2 8 .5
N epal
2 5 .4
V a n u a tu
2 2 .8
Lao
2 1 .8
G uyana
4 4 .2
N ic a ra g u a
2 0 .6
B o livia
2 0 .5
H a it i
E l S a lva d o r
expenditure:1990
e x p e n d it u re
S o u r c e : a d a p t e d fr o m M i c h a u d a n d M u r r a y ( 1 9 9 4 )
19
1 4 .7
The table above clearly shows the extent at which foreign aid contributes to health
service in selected developing countries. African countries represented in the sample are
particularly dependent on aid for their NHS expenditure compared to others in the sample. It can
be assumed that the higher the aid percentage the more influence on NHS policy by donors as
demonstrated by the case of Mozambique.
We would like to conclude by saying that LDCs influence on health care and health itself
is limited. This is true because of the demands of globalization and liberalization which has
tended to internationalize the policy making process, allowing international financial institutions
and aid organization to dictate policy options to developing countries. This is achieved through
the tying of aid to trade and structural adjustment packages orchestrated by the IMF. The
subjection of health care to market forces has destroyed any hope for health for all in developing
countries by the year 2000. Health care and indeed health is increasingly becoming a privilege of
the rich and powerful. The health sector has become a big business in which the overriding
concern is to make profit by whatever means possible. The rolling back of the State and less
resources under its control, increases the chances of a legitimacy crises and instability in LDCs.
It is ostensibly international economic relations which to large extent determine the way in which
the State in LDCs influence both the NHS and healthcare itself
What went wrong with the models of African development ?

There are several views on models of African development. These range from those who
reject the concept of an African model of development to those who believe that African
development was modeled or at least influenced (whether capitalist or socialist oriented) to a
significant extent, by indigenous structures and institutions which survived colonization or were
revived at independence. While it is obviously helpful to answer the question whether in fact an
African model of development exist or not, it is our hope that in the process of examining what
went wrong, that this question will also be answered. We should however note from the onset
that if we accept the view that there is indeed a typical African development model, such a model
would not have possibly developed or evolved in isolation. Its evolution can be found in
examining the relationship and interactions between internal structures and institutions and those
external forces which Africa had to deal with in its history. If we take the view that there is no
African development model, our analysis would shift significantly, since we would need to
locate the existing models in terms of their nature and origin. The question that we would have to
answer will be: What went wrong with European, American and possibly Japanese investments
in Africa.
The history of Africa and the outside world is well documented. Perhaps it is noteworthy
to state that Africa is not a homogeneous entity given its vastness and history of colonization.
The partition of Africa into more than fifty states carried out without the involvement of the
Africans, did not concern itself with questions of economic viability of individual colonies but
the convenience of the colonizing powers. It should be understood that it was precisely during
the colonial era that African countries were integrated into the world capitalist economy as raw
material producers. This was achieved through the use of force and systematic imposition of
taxes, calculated to coerce Africans to produce those raw materials which were needed by the
metropolitan economy. It goes without saying that the structures and institution which evolved
during this period were essentially geared towards the promotion of development in the
metropolis and underdevelopment in the satellite. Therefore these structures and institutions
which evolved as a result of colonial contact were largely dictated by compromises and struggles
against colonialism. According to Frank: Economic development and underdevelopment are not
just relative and quantitative, in that one represents more economic development than the other;
economic development and underdevelopment are relational and qualitative, in that each is
structural different from, yet caused by its relation with the other. The structures created in Africa
during the colonial era were essentially structures of underdevelopment. These structures did not
change at independence. The fact that Africa was colonized by several European countries makes
economic and political cooperation difficult to attain. Frank observed: Therefore short of
liberation from capitalist structures or the dissolution of the world capitalist system as a whole,
the capitalist satellite countries, regions, localities and sectors are condemned to
underdevelopment (Frank 1969: 11). Wallerstein arrived at the same conclusion in his
assessment of the trade relations between developed and developing countries. He argues that
due to unequal exchange relations between the core (developed countries) and the Periphery
(developing countries), surplus value created in the peripheral zone is transferred to the core
areas, resulting in the accumulation of wealth in the core and increasing poverty in the periphery.
Africa together with Latin America and Asia is underdeveloped as opposed to Europe which was
undeveloped. The colonial legacy was summed up by Himmelstrand When he said: A country is
therefore not developing, or may even be defined as hindered in its development process, if it
turns out to be a colony, or a country whose economy and politics is overwhelmingly determined
by donor countries, or by outside agencies such as the World bank (WB) or International
Monetary Fund (IMF) which in many instances may impose structural conditionalities on that
country to make it eligible for further loans (Himmelstrand 1994: 18)
African development
According to Chambua: The post independence development in Africa was informed
either by the modernization paradigm which advocated integration into the capitalist world
economy resulting in the adoption of integrating models of development or the neo-Marxist
dependency theoretical tradition. The dependency school emphasized the need for
disengagement from the world capitalist system. The African development trajectories were
influenced by these two diametrical opposed ideological perspectives. In Hydens view The
peasant mode of production which he observed prevailed in much of Africa South of the Sahara
was a stumbling block to modernization and development. He noted that the PMP was resistant
to the penetration of capitalism. The roots of underdevelopment found their existence in the
persistence of pre-modern and pre-capitalist structures of Africas rural areas. The peasant was
un-captured and the market economy was seen as most suited to capture the peasantry.
To liberal economists of the 1960s when most African countries regained independence,
the road to economic development was through the accumulation of capital and modernization of
the economy through industrialization. The eradication of poverty was seen as a function of the
accumulation of capital. It was against this background that many African countries at
independence tried to accumulate capital at all costs under the false impression that it was all
they needed to do in order to achieve economic development. Since enough capital could not be
generated from within, many African states were forced to look outside by adopting liberal
economic policies which encouraged foreign investment. Import substituting industrialization
strategy was seen as a viable economic development option.
In the 1950s dependency theorists criticized direct foreign investment for being
concentrated in the economic enclaves and insulated from the rest of the host economy. They
claimed that foreign firms paid low wages to indigenous workers, employed few local managers
or technicians, bought very little from the host economy and export most of their products,
providing few upstream stimuli. A combination of the above factors, as far as the dependency
theorists, has the effect of causing a Drain of real resources. the development of the
industrialized countries continue to imply the stagnation - now, even, the regression of the nonindustrialized (Davidson 1974: 29).
Economic policy changes in sub-Saharan Africa since 1960

Post independence African States adopted one or a combination of the following
development approaches:
1. the capital formation centered approach;
2. the economic nationalism centered approach;
3. the socialist development approach; and
4. the basic human needs approach.
It is not possible within the scope of this essay to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses
of these variegated approaches. One common feature among these approaches is that they all
culminated into one form of crisis or another. Another common characteristic of these
approaches is that they were imposed on the people by the elite who in many cases were
implementing policy prescriptions from development economists from outside the continent. In
particular the capital formation approach which appears to have been adopted by most states
suffered from the following weaknesses: It placed too much hope on capital formation as a basis
for economic growth; overlooked the role of grassroots participation and overestimated the flow
of foreign based resources, private investment and foreign aid.
Some Weaknesses of the African States
When it became clear that development was not likely to come through capital
accumulation, African States were criticized of being unable or unwilling or both to carryout
policy prescription from development economists and their own plans. The left explain the crisis
in terms of self-seeking bourgeois and petty bourgeois regimes representing a small elites who
use political power to extract surplus from the masses in collaboration with international capital
for the benefit of the latter. The World Bank rejects the class analysis of the left but agree that
African governments lack both economic and political wisdom.
Rimmer observed that the African development scenario has witnessed a sectoral shift of
resources to industry, on the assumptions that this can provide higher productivity and create
urban employment. This was coupled by the strong belief on high levels of investment on the
assumption that all investment is good. According to Rimmer these policies and how they were
executed are responsible for the crisis in Africa. The crisis has manifested itself in heavy
indebtedness as a result of heavy dependency on overseas sources of credit. Rimmer Charged
that: African governments have never, despite their protestations, been primarily concerned
with economic growth but rather with maintenance of political power and the distribution of
wealth to their supporters (Fieldhouse 1996:94)
They are also suggestion of non-state factors like alleged African negative attitudes
towards economic development. The African communitarianistic attitudes and the extended
family welfare system are particularly attacked by liberal scholars as anti-developmental.
Reasons advanced for economic decline by the liberals and African Governments
(failure of the prescriptions from development economists).
The poor economic performance on the part of African States, particularly Sub-Saharan
African crisis is usually explained in terms of the following factors:
a)Sub-Saharan Africas poor price structure (which arose from extensive State
intervention) provided inadequate incentives to agriculture and exports; b) bad trade and
exchange rate policies which also affect the incentive to export; c) over-extended bureaucratic
machinery which both absorb huge resources and responsible for time wasting and red tapeism;
d) extravagant use of scarce domestic and borrowed resources; e) asymmetrical and unfavorable
economic and political relationships with the outside world especially the countries of the north;
f) unfavorable weather and climate conditions; g) civil wars and inter-country wars. This list by
itself is not particularly helpful because it fails to establish the relationship between the factors to
provide an analysis of how they interact to produce the crisis in African development. The usual
omission of the direction of Africas trade and its dependency on export of raw materials is
surprising if not deliberate. The World Bank is comfortable with the first four while African
regimes are more likely to hide behind the last three.
The economic crisis in Africa was precipitated by the oil crisis of 1974. The rise in oil
prices led to a temporary upward movement of prices of primary products resulting in a boom,
reaching a peak in 1977. During the boom African countries incurred heavy expenditure on
imported machinery and other necessities in an attempt to industrialize. The fall in prices meant
that African countries could not pay for the machinery and other imports contracted during the
boom period forcing them to borrow more. Their failure to service the loans exposed them to the
IMF and the World Bank with its conditionalities which undermined the legitimacy of the
African States hence the crisis of the State. The unequal trade relations between Africa and the
developed world has often produced disastrous results for Africa. The seriousness of this
problem can be illustrated by the following figures showing African growers share in the 1980s
of the value of the final product of selected agricultural commodities:
Commodity
Percentage share
Coffee, cocoa and Cotton

Tobacco
Bananas
Tea
Ranges from 3 to 4%
6%
15%
20%
The processing and manufacturing for the above commodities is done outside Africa with
the exception of tea. The lucrative world markets are happy to allow free entry of raw materials
in their usually protected markets but to do not extend the same treatment to finished goods from
developing countries.
To highlight the different paths taken by post independence African States we shall focus
our attention briefly on two former British colonies which have at least on the surface taken
different paths of development. These are Kenya which adopted capitalist integration strategy
and Tanzania which introduced an experiment on African socialism.
Tanzania
Tanzania became independent in 1961 with 90% of the population living in rural areas
and dependent on subsistence agriculture. Tanganyika African National Union was the only
party to win parliamentary seats making Tanzania a de facto one party State. In 1962 Tanzania
became a de jure one party state through a new constitutional provision. Swahili which is widely
spoken in Tanzania provided a positive unitary influence and enhanced Tanzanias capacity for
nation building. The post independence plan which was drawn with the assistance of the World
Bank had the following objectives: (i) Rapid industrialization; (ii) Promotion of foreign
investment and the replacement of peasant land holdings with large scale farms. The economy
was largely dependent on export of sisal which contributed nearly one third of export earnings in
1964. Sisal prices fell in 1965 from Shs 2,167 in 1964 to Shs1394 in 1965. In 1967 Sisal
contributed less than one-eighth of Tanzanias export earnings. Although Tanzania recorded
economic growth between 1961 and 1967, President Nyerere observed that development in
Tanzania up to 1967 had resulted in an increase in the amount of economic inequalities between
citizens and this was leading towards attitudes of social inequalities....... ,the country was
beginning to develop an economic and social elite whose prime concern was profit for
themselves and their families, and not the needs of the majority for better living standards
(Brown 1995:40).
Through the Arusha declaration a unique socialist development path was imposed. The
declaration articulated the policy of African Socialism and self-reliance. The declaration was
followed by a massive program of nationalization and proposal for partnership agreements
giving government majority shareholding in some private sector enterprises. In agriculture the
development of large scale farms was abandoned in favor of Ujamaa villages and the
introduction of the ox for drought power, rather than the tractor. It was expected that food
production would improve through self-reliance. In 1972, 4,400 Ujamaa villages were in
existence accounting for 11% of the population in the mainland. Contrary to expectation food
production only improved for a short period followed by shortages due to several factors. These
included mismanagement, corruption, lack of equipments and the absence of incentives to
improve production.
Kenya
Kenya economy can not be viewed in isolation either from its own past or from the
world economy (Stewart in Damachi 1976: 80).
Kenya regained its independence in 1963. In 1962, at least 92% of the people of Kenya
lived in rural areas. The subsistence sector accounted for more than a quarter of the GDP. The
manufacturing sector was negligible at 8.5% of total modern sector employment and 1.5% of the
total workforce. Modern Sector agriculture accounted for 46% employment, commerce and
services stood at 18% and Public sector was 30%. At independence the civil service and industry
and commercial agriculture remained predominantly under European control. According to
Stewart: The economic strategy adopted since independence has a number of threads, not
always consistent, and has developed over time. However it is possible to pick out some
significant aspects: very broadly the strategy may be summarized as Kenyanisation and
modernization (in particular industrialization) in a capitalist frame work (Damachi 1976:84).
The immediate aims of post independence policy has been to take over the position of power and
privilege from the Europeans and Asians. By 1967 about 90% of the civil service was
kenyanised. but elsewhere the pyramid of privilege still looked much the same as at
independence ten years later. Some progress was made in land distribution when settlers on the
white highlands were bought off and land redistributed to Kenyan small holders. In 1968, of the
fifty top directors in industry forty-four were non-Africans (and Forty-one were non-Kenyan)
(Stewart in Damachi 1976: 84)
The political economic strategy adopted by the Kenyan government since independence
was self-described as African socialism (STewart in Damachi 1976: 85).
In reality the Kenyan economy resembles that of many other economies in being one of a
managed capitalism or mixed economy. Multi-national were offered favorable terms to attract
foreign engagement.
The comparison between Kenya and Tanzania offers an interesting case of two different
approaches to development. The similarity between the two States is that at independence they
both adopted a one party State political system. The Kenyan development strategy succeeded in
creating pockets of affluence and massive poverty and inequalities resulting in the crisis of the
State. The legitimacy of the Kenyan State was seriously undermined, forcing the Kenyan
government to rely on repression and divisive tactics through playing one ethnic group against
another to prolong its stay in power. A combination of international pressure and internal dissent
forced the Kenyan government to reluctantly introduce multi-party democracy. However, party
pluralism did not solve Kenyas economic problems but is expected to create a more favorable
environment for foreign business to make more profits at the expense of the majority of the
Kenyans.
In the case of Tanzania the ideology of African Socialism as concretized in Ujamaa
villages was characterized by miss-management, bureaucratic corruption, massive poverty and
technological backwardness. Like in Kenya the one party system faced serious challenges and
the legitimacy of the state was questionable. It exposed as a myth Nyereres assumption that
Africans are naturally inclined towards socialism as well as his naivety in interpreting history
and socio-economic development. Nyereres African Socialism as an attitude of mind failed to
provide an ideological basis on which sound modern economic and political institution could be
modeled. The crisis of the State in Tanzania was similar in all respects to that of Kenya and other
African States. This lead to the inevitably retirement of Julius Nyerere from the presidency. The
introduction of party pluralism, orchestrated by the IMF and the World Bank against the
background of increasing internal opposition to government economic policies, has succeeded in
weakening the State capacity to perform its development and redistributive functions leaving it
more exposed to the crisis of legitimacy.
Conclussion
A close examination of economic structural and institutional relationships which obtain
between Africa and the world leads to one conclusion, that African development models are in
reality capitalist development in the periphery. This is consistence with Frank and Wallersteins
analysis of the world economy. The ideology of African Socialism was a political rhetoric
calculated to win popular support. It should be noted that in the 1960s socialism was a very
attractive ideology in the continent. It is therefore not surprising that the majority of African
leaders in 1960s found it political expedient to call themselves Socialists without any serious
commitment to socialist principles. This flirtation with Socialism is decipherable in Kwame
Nkrumah,s Consciencism which was his own variant of African Socialism; Kenneth Kaundas
Humanism with its populist rhetoric and Nyereres villagisation African Socialist experiment.
Faced with inequalities and structural constraints created during the colonial era, postindependence African leaders masqueraded as Socialist saviors, but in reality they pursued
capitalist friendly policies which exacerbated poverty and inequalities. The first generation of the
majority of African leaders were opportunists who regarded themselves as philosopher-kings and
failed to appreciate the complexity of the development process.
External dependency in the past and at present, is a necessary but not a sufficient factor
to reckon with, in explaining lack of development (Himmelstrand 1994: 71).
This essay concludes that the development crisis in Africa is structural and institutional
Constrained as reflected in unequal trade relations which produces cultural and political
dominancy as well as systematic economic exploitation and expropriation of surplus to the
benefit of the developed world. Unfortunately this is a situation which the World Bank/IMF and
AID/NGOs from the North are systematically and Vigorously Spearheading in Africa.
In which Ways can Dictatorship or Democracy Promote or Hinder Development ? Is

the Capitalist State a mere instrument of the bourgeoisie or has a relative autonomy vis-vis the classes in civil society?
The relationship between democracy, dictatorship on one hand and development on the
other is clouded by the controversy around the definition and interpretation of these related
concepts. It is therefore important from the onset, in an attempt to answer this question to
highlight the theoretical perspectives with regard to these three concepts. They seem however to
be less disagreements on the definition of dictatorship as opposed to the other two. The debates
on the conceptualization of democracy and development are rooted in various theoretical
traditions and ideological perceptions, dominated on one hand by the modernization paradigm
and the dependency/ Marxist theory on the other. The lack of consensus on these concepts makes
it difficult if not impossible to objectively evaluate the relationship between democracy,
dictatorship and development. Given this terrain we find it logical to begin our essay by
acquainting ourselves with the existing problems of definition.
Dictatorship, Democracy and Development

A dictatorship is defined as an autocratic regime which acts arbitrarily without any form
of constitutional restraints. It relies on the use of force and repression to maintain its hold on
power. It therefore enjoys no legitimacy. These types of regimes exist in a variety of shades
ranging from one person or one party to military dictatorships. The Marxists claim that the
dictatorship of the proletariat is a necessary condition to the attainment of Socialist democracy.
According to the liberal theoretical tradition, Democracy is interpreted as party pluralism
and the existence of a free market economy. Democracy and a free market economy are treated
as synonymous. The implication is that there can be no democracy without a free market
economy.
the democratic method is that institutional arrangement for arriving at a political
decision in which individuals acquire the power to decide by means of a competitive
struggle for the peoples vote(Schumpeter 1962 in Sklair 1994:21)
Central to the Marxist conception of democracy is the social relations of production and
the question of ownership of the means of production as well as the distribution of income.
According to Karl Marx what matters more than the universal right to vote is the inequality
established between those who owned the means of production and those who, without such
means are forced to labor for them. This is contrary to liberal democracy and the modernization
paradigm.
Origin of dictatorship and democracy
In his analysis of the history of dictatorship and democracy Moore identifies three
political trajectory. His analysis is rooted on the agrarian social structure in Europe vis--vis the
relative power of the urban bourgeois. The comparative historical analysis focused specifically
on agrarian structures in France, Germany and Russia. According to Moore, in situations where
aristocrats remained powerful the conditions or prospects for democracy remained poor and vice
versa. Moore concludes that Democracy emerges where the urban bourgeoisie is strong and
political organized and capable of financing agrarian transformation. Countries which fall into
this trajectory, according to Moore are France, England and the United States. Fascism, emerges
where the urban bourgeoisie is comparatively weak and rely on the dominant upper classes to
sponsor commercialization of agriculture through their domination of the State which in turn
enforce labor discipline among the peasantry. Germany Italy and Japan are given as having
followed this trajectory. While Socialism or Communism in Moores analysis emerges in
situations where the urban bourgeoisie are weak and dominated by the State. It is also where the
link between the peasants and landlords is weak. The cohesion among the peasantry and the
landlords inability to commercialize agriculture creates conducive conditions for a peasantry
revolution leading to Socialism or Communism. Russia and China are given as examples of
countries which followed this path of political development.
The concept of development has also generated several definitions. In the judgment of
Wolfang Sachs: development was a misconceived enterprise from the beginning and
that this catch-all concept, hailed alike by revolutionaries carrying their guns as well as
field experts carrying their samsonites, is virtualy meaningless (in Sklair 1994:23).
The human development report of the United Nations defines development as a process
of the enlargement of relevant human choices(UNDP1991: in Sklair: 23).
To liberal economists development is economic growth as measured by the GNP/Capita.
Whatever the definitions advanced development ostensibly involves socio-economic and
political transformation of society invariably to improve their standards of living. In other words
development means increased access to life chances and elimination of inequalities, poverty
powerlessness and insecurity. Development should therefore concretize itself in the reduction of
hunger and malnutrition; improvement of health; increased access to quality education; increased
control and access to economic resources; increase participation in decision making processes
and a general increase in confidence of peoples ability to effect desirable changes in their own
interest. We do not wish to pretend that it is easy to relate a political system to direct realization
of these development objectives.
Democracy, Dictatorship and Development
The relationship between democracy, dictatorship and development cannot be explained
in teleological terms. Deterministic theoretical perceptions about the relationship between
democracy or dictatorship and development are usually heavily influenced by ideological
considerations. Development is for people and therefore it should be reflected in overall
improvement in peoples lives. To measure development we examine a host of human indices in
addition to the GNP per capita. The difficult which we immediately encounter is the fact that
these measurements or development indicators are themselves a subject of controversy. It
therefore makes it more complicated to answer the question, which political system is best suited
for the performance of the development task. How do we measure and determine objectively the
extent at which a political system promotes or hinder development?
Several development theorists and political scientists from diverse theoretical traditions
have postulated theoretical justification for a positive relationship between either dictatorship or
democracy and development. We shall, in this essay look at some of the dominant views about
both democracy and dictatorship vis--vis the development process. According to Lowenthal:
Every increase in freedom takes place at the cost of a slowdown of development; every
acceleration of development involves less freedom
(Lowenthal 1963 in Sorensen 1991:1)
Ruland and Werz hold a contradictory view to that of Lowenthal. In their view:
In the majority of cases the long term effect of dictatorship.......is increasing regional
Disparities, increasing mass poverty, and neglect of basic human rights (Sorensen
1991:1).
Leading liberal scholars and theorists informed by the modernization paradigm share the
conviction that economic development go hand in hand with development towards democracy in
the political sphere in a mutually supportive process. This approach postulate a positive
relationship between the level of economic development and democracy. This has been termed
the good things go together approach (Schwartzmann 1977, Hunington 1987). The third school
of thought argues that democracy is unattainable in the third world.
It is impossible to construct meaningful democratic societies (whether Socialist or not)
in materially poor societies (Kitching 1983 In Sorensen 1991:1) This view is shared by
Lipset and ODonnell who obseved respectively that, the well to do a nation, the greater
the chances that it will sustain democracy and that more socio-economic development
= likelihood of political democracy (Sklair 1994:26).
For his part Lenin is quoted as having remarked that a democratic republic is the best
possible political shell for capitalism.
In his examination of African regimes on the basis of a typology with four forms of
States: Polyarchic (democratic), Socialist, Civilian authoritarian and Praetorian (Military rule)
and their economic performance since independence, Dirk Berg-Schlosser concluded that:
A differetiated pattern that contradicts many commonly held assumptions concerning
developmental advantages of a (civil or military) authoritarian rule in third world countries. Thus
Polyarchic systems fare quiet well both in terms of GNP growth and improvement of the basic
quality of life. they also have the best record concerning normative standards (protection of civil
liberties and freedom from political repression) (Sorensen 1991:5). Consistent with the above
views about the relationship between democracy and development is the implied notion of
elective affinity between democracy and development. Totalitarian States which control rather
than cooperate. preferring to rule over a socially atomized populace rather than to work with
plural groups of an autonomous civil society are not likely in the final analysis to be highly
efficient generators of social change (Hall and Ikenberry 1989:14)
On the other hand Robert Marsh argues that: Political competition/democracy does have
a significant effect on later rates of economic development; its influence is to retard the
development rate, rather than facilitate it . In short among the poor nations, an
authoritarian political system increases the rate of economic development while a
democratic political system does appear to be a luxury which hinders development
(Sorensen 1991:10).
Samudavanija criticizes any attempt to explain development in the third world in terms
of its relationship with either democracy or dictatorship as mere generalization and noted that
this preoccupation with a two-dimensional view of political development (i.e. democracy or nondemocracy) reflect a certain poverty of ideas in western Political Science, and fails to grasp that:
third world states encompass with themselves contradictory characteristics and structures, for
example those of development and underdevelopment, democracy and authoritarianism, civilian
and military, at the same time (Sklair 1994:27). In the case of the relationship between
democracy, dictatorship and development in Latin America in particular Scot Mainwaring
observed and lamented that the tragic paradox for Latin America in the 1990s is the period of
most dismal economic results the region has experienced this century, has also been the most
democratic decade ever (Sklair 1994:34)
From the existing literature it is conspicuous that the relationship between democracy,
dictatorship on one hand and development can not be explained in teleological terms. Democracy
or Dictatorship does not determine development or underdevelopment and vice versa. Political
systems are not by themselves generators of development. The extent at which a political system
can promote or hinder development is influenced by several other factors which have in the first
instance given rise to it. To route the analysis on the political system in order to explain
economic development can only result in misleading conclusions. It does appear that other
factors like physical resource endowment, technology, human resource development as well as
institutional and structural relationships within the world system play a more direct if not
determinant role in the rate of accumulation. Issues of distribution are also important in terms of
the overall appraisal of a systems development performance. The fact that no two countries are
identical in terms of resource endowment and income distribution mechanisms makes the
comparison a difficult task indeed.
The relative autonomy of the capitalist State
The concept of the State, its origin, autonomy and purpose in society is a theoretical
battlefield among development academics and political scientists. It is therefore pertinent that we
begin our discussion with the different theoretical perspectives vis--vis the State before we
address the question of the relative autonomy of the capitalist State. The question which logical
follows is, what is the State? According to Vincent, the state is a public power above both ruler
and the ruled which provides order and continuity to the polity. It holds a monopoly on the use
of legitimate violence within a defined territorial boundary. This definition has notions of the
absolute autonomy of the state.
In his analysis Vincent identified and summarizes five normative theories of the State:
1. The absolutist theory - In this theoretical perspective public power is the absolute
sovereign person (whether fictional or real) embodying divine right and owning the
realm, the sovereigns interests are the state interest.
2. In constitutional theory , the public power is the complex institutional structures which
through historical, legal, moral and philosophical claims embodies self-limitation and
diversification of authority, power and a complex hierarchy of rules and norms, which act
to institutionalize power and regulate the relations between citizens, laws and political
institutions.
3. In ethical theory the public power is the modus operandi of citizens, groups and
institutions of a constitutional monarchy, directed to the maximal ethical

self-development and freedoms of the citizens body. It is the unity of the cognitive
disposition of the individual with the purpose of institutional structure and rules.
4. In class theory the public power is the institutional form of the condensation of
dominant
class interests which is ultimately directed at the accumulation of capital and the defense
of private property.
5. In pluralist theory the public power is in general terms the synthesis of living
semi-independent groups (understood as real legal persons). Groups are integrated not
absorbed. Narrowly focused public power implies a government acting for the common
good of groups(Vincent 1993:222).
Hall and Ikenberry define the State as composed of three elements as follows: the State as
a set of institution with the most important as the means to use violence and coercion. These
institution are at the center of a geographical bounded territory (society) and that the state
monopolizes rule making within its territory.
Engels on the State and its origin, had this to say: It is (the State) a product of society at
a certain stage of development; it is an admission that society has become entangled in the
insoluble contradiction with itself, that it has split into irreconcilable antagonisms which it is
powerless to dispel. But in order that these antagonisms and classes with conflicting economic
interests might not consume themselves and society in a fruitless struggle, it became necessary to
have a power seemingly standing above society that would alleviate the conflict, and keep it
within bounds of order; and this power, arisen out of society but placing itself above it is the
State (Poulantzas 1973:48). According to Poulantzas the State has the particular function of
constituting the factors of cohesion between levels of a social formation. This is in spite of the
fact that the State ideological functions corresponds to the political interests of the dominant
classes.
Poulantzas on the relative autonomy of the capitalist State
The State can be in no way be reduced to a mere apparatus or instrument of force in the
hands of the dominant classes (Poulantzas 1973:225) Poulantzas argues that to accept the
definition that the State is a mere instrument of force in the hands of the dominant classes would
effectively reduce the state to the police, military, prisons and mental hospitals (institution of
organized violence and repression). In the course of fulfilling its political functions, in
Poulantzas theoretical formulations the capitalist State comes to rely on dominated classes and
sometimes to play them against the dominant classes. Poulantzas Agrees with Marx on
Bonapartism as a classical example of a relatively autonomous capitalist State. In Poulantzas
formulations the relative autonomy of the capitalist state can vary according to (a) the modalities
taken on by its functions vis--vis the dominated class, and (b) the concrete relation between
forces present.
Hence this relative autonomy of the capitalist state follows from its strictly political
function vis--vis the various classes of a formation dominated by the capitalist mode of
production. ..................Its function as a factor of political organization of the dominant
classes; for because of the isolation of the socio-economic relations, and because of the
breakup of the bourgeois class into fractions etc, the dominant classes are more often
than not unable to raise themselves by their own efforts to hegemonic level vis--vis the
dominated classes. (Poulantzas 1973:287). The position of Poulantzas is that the relative
autonomy of the capitalist State can not go as far as the state acting against the interests of the
dominant classes as a whole without undermining its continued existence and legitimacy.
According to Karl Marx the State may gain relative autonomy by being able to balance
between competing fragments of the ruling class. On the other hand Nordlinger categorically
asserts that:
The democratic(capitalist) State is not only frequently autonomous in so far as it
regularly acts upon its preferences but also markedly autonomous in doing so even when its
preferences diverge from demands of the most powerful groups in civil society (Nordlinger
1981:1)
A critique of Poulantzas formulations
In their critique of the Poulantzas theoretical formulations Anglade and Fortin noted that
Poulantzas (a) concentrate on the ability of the capitalist State to adopt policies which might
contradict the interests of fractions of the dominant class. (b) Implies the effects of these policies
on the interests of the dominant class and on the reproduction of the system of domination. They
also observed that his formulation does not include specific reference to the ability of the State to
implement these policies. They hold the view that the adoption of State policy is inextricably
linked to its implementation and therefore the need to include the notion of the capacity of the
State to implement policy as an important component of the relative autonomy of the State. They
accused Poulantzas of conflating stated preference and objective interests of the ruling class,
effects of State policy and the intentions of the State managers. They find the rooting of
poulantzas formulations on class determinants to the total exclusion of the other social groups
e.g. the bureaucrats, political representatives etc. wanting.
On their part Anglade Fortin propose that the notion of relative autonomy of the capitalist
State should include both non-State and State factors. The explanation put forward in this regard
is that powerful non-class forces can put forward policies which are not intended and do not
further the interests of any combination or fractions of the economically dominant class. On the
relation between the dominant classes and the State and poulantzas emphasis the extent to which
the class struggle may give the state a measure of autonomy vis--vis the dominant classes, they
replied that in the context of contemporary peripheral capitalist countries some State are
dependent on popular support which sometimes constrains policy options and implementation.
Poulantzas formulation according to Anglade and Fortin, fails to incorporate or attach

any significance to the position of the nation State in the international capitalist system. the
relations of domination and dependency among nations. They in turn call for the examination of
international factors and in particular international capital and how these link up or influence the
behavior and interests of the internal dominant classes. In their view the incorporation of external
constraints in the relative autonomy of the State in the peripheral capitalist states is in the
agenda. Hamilton in the context of the Mexican state in the 1930s observed a decipherable
distinction between instrumental and structural autonomy.
The capitalist state suggests Hamilton, operates in the interests of the dominant classes,
but it is not necessarily an instrument of those classes; in this sense it can be said to be
Autonomous, on the other hand the structural position of the state within a social
formation, in which the means of production are controlled by the dominant classes and
which is itself located in the world capitalist system introduces a form of structural
constraint, which is extremely difficult for the State to escape (Anglade and Fortin
1990:221).
The State according to Hamilton is faced with the pressure to legitimize itself vis--vis
the dominated classes. This is particularly true in countries where the State is subject to
democratic processes.
Perhaps it is necessary to make reference to the arguments presented by what has become
the autonomy school in order to give a complete picture of the dominant theoretical conceptions
of the autonomy of the State. While there is a host of writers in this School of thought, reference
for the purpose of this essay will only be made to Skocpol. Skocpol and her colleagues main
contention is that the State is autonomous and acts independent of any classes in society. Skocpol
defines autonomy as the ability of the State to formulate and pursue goals that are not simple a
reflection of the demands and interests of any social groups, classes or society. She defines
capacity as the ability of the State to implement official goals in spite of actual or potential
opposition from powerful groups.
Skocpols theoretical standpoint vis--vis the State , according to Anglade and Fortin is
that the State is a separate entity from society and social classes; it can be influenced by
them - as well as influence them in turn - but it is not linked to them in any systematic
fashion which is broadly characteristic of the capitalist State (Anglade and Fortin
1990:225).
The question is: Are institutions and individuals within the state in some significant sense
separate from society and capable of acting on behalf of State goals which have no traceable
societal origin ?
Anglade and Fortin Conclude that: In a capitalist society the accumulation process and
the class structure associated with it have the potential to determine the behavior of the State in
the direction of supporting private accumulation and reproducing domination (Anglade and
Fortin 1990:228). Anglade and Fortin argue that this is not only true but necessary because the
capitalist State depends for its revenue on private accumulation. They distance themselves from
teleological or deterministic assumptions because in their view it is not possible to predict
whether or not the State will intervene to guarantee private accumulation and class domination
and if it does whether it will succeed in doing so or not. They acknowledge the importance of
administrative resources, well structured institutions and qualified personnel as critical to the
effectiveness of the State. The control of adequate resources therefore increases the autonomy of
the State while borrowing and the concomitant conditionality reduces the autonomy of the state.
Conclusion
We have already noted that the controversy which has clouded the concepts of
democracy, dictatorship and development complicates and obscures the relationship between the
two (democracy and dictatorship on one hand and development). It does however appear that
political institution by themselves do not cause development. Since development is a multidimensional processes, it is necessary to examine other factors in order to arrive at a reasonable
conclusion. Since all other things are never equal conclusion about the relationship between
democracy, dictatorship on one hand and development on the other will remain essential
speculative and loaded with ideological bias. There is empirical evidence suggesting economic
growth in dictatorships and democratic regimes in both developed and developing countries. The
question is to what extent is economic growth translated into economic development. Who gets
what from the national and international cake. This leads us to the need to examine the
distribution of income and the analysis of trade relations and social relations of production. The
high GNP/capita in Brazil and its extreme poverty for the majority of the people and massive
inequalities between the rich and the poor, can be contrasted with a relatively low GNP/capita in
Cuba and relative equitable distribution of income resulting in a very small gap between the rich
and the poor and a general average standard of living for the majority of the people. Which of the
two is better than the other? At what human cost was development in both countries achieved?
The question of the relative autonomy of the capitalist States is equally elusive. There seems to
be however, an acknowledgement of the notion that the State is not a mere instrument of the
bourgeoisie, particularly among scholars from a Marxist theoretical tradition. Nevertheless there
are those like Skocpol who in articulating liberal views contend that the State is autonomous. It
seems inconceivable for the State in a developing country to claim any meaningful measure of
autonomy. The State in a developing country is not only subject to influence by social groups and
classes in the processes of policy formulation but has to respond to external conditionalities
orchestrated by institutions like the World Bank/IMF and donor agencies. The relative autonomy
of the capitalist state vis--vis the dominant or hegemonic classes has been adequately analyzed
and explained by Poulantzas, albiet falling short of appreciating the influence of international
capital and how in interacting with domestic capital influences the interests of the dominant
classes and in some cases determine policy options and implementation. The question of the
State capacity to implement policy is valid and important because what may appear good policy
on paper may go very wrong at implementation. The problem of lack of implementation capacity
is very common in developing countries. It should however be noted that the capitalist State exist
in the final analysis, to defend and promote the interests of private property and can not divorce
itself from the interests of the propertied classes without undermining its very existence as a
capitalist State.
The 4Ds
When President Lieutnant General Ian Khama seretse khama took over office on the first of April
2008, he said in his inaugural speech that, his administration would be underpinned by four
principles. He articulated these principles as follows: Development, Democracy, Discipline and
Dignity (the Four Ds). It is therefore logical to suggest that the success of the presidents
administration will be judged on the successful, practical implementation of the these theoretical
postulations.
The Four Ds of President Ian Khama Seretse Khama were not adequately subjected to serious
critical analysis to determine the kind of society which they intend to achieve. These concepts
can certainly not be taken for granted since their meanings and interpretations are always a
contentious terrain. It is also not clear as to which ideological and theoretical traditions and
postulations inform these presidential principles.
The meaning and conceptual frame work has not been defined by the president himself and those
who subscribe to these principles. The details on how these principles would be implemented
have to date not been articulated. Also absent is a systematic analysis on how the four Ds will
interact with other national principles, policies and international conventions. It is also not clear,
on how the four Ds will relate with one another to produce the desired goal. It is reasonable to
expect the four Ds to present a logical framework showing how they relate to one another or
produce and reinforce each other.
This essay will attempt to examine the four Ds universal definitions, interpretations, theoretical
postulations and paradigm within the context of a developing state. It will also look at how these
concepts relate to one another and cause each other. Can we discern any teleological relationship
between them? e.g. Democracy and Development. In other words what causes the other. Lastly
the essay will attempt to suggest how these concepts can be applied to Botswana and their
possible implications to its development.
In the previous essay we discussed about the relationship between democracy, dictatorship and
development. We concluded that democracy and dictatorship as political concepts are
diametrically opposed approaches to socio-economic development. We therefore may not place
the two concepts on an equal footing with development. The two concepts are political systems
or ideological formulations used to achieve development objectives. It is therefore within this
context that we propose that socio-economic development is in deeded the ultimate goal for all
human endeavors, which would suggest that the 3 presidential Ds should logical add up to the
attainment of development goals It should however be noted that dictatorship is not one of
President Khamas four Ds.
The positive relationship between democracy and economic development is celebrated by liberal
scholars who articulate a liberal world view informed by the modernization paradigm. Other
scholars, particularly dependency theorists argue that dictatorship is the best political approach to
development. (refer to essay on democracy, dictatorship and development). The challenge we
face is where to place discipline and dignity within the frame work of socio-economic and
political development spheres. The definition and contextual interpretation of these concepts will
assist a great deal in understanding their relationship to development or lack of it. The absence of
any operational definition associated with the four Ds presents its own challenges as well as
opportunities alike.
Since we have discussed at length the concepts of democracy and development in another essay,
we will now focus more on Discipline and Dignity:
Discipline
What is discipline? There are several related meanings and definitions of the word discipline.
The following definitions emerges from the web: system of rules of conduct or method of
practice. Develop behavior by instruction and practice. Training to improve strength or self
control.
Punish
in
order
to
gain
control
or
enforce
obedience.
wordnet.priceton.edu/perl/webwn
In its general sense discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a disciple. This meaning
is consistent with the origin of the latin word disciplina which means instruction or diciplinare
which means to teach derived from the root discere which means to learn and from which
discipulus disciple, pupil also derives. En.wikipedia.org/wiki/discipline.
controlled behavior; self control; enforced compliance or control; a systematic method of
obtaining obedience . En.wikitionary.org/wiki/discipline
Discipline may mean academic departments or field of study such as psychology, education,
chemistry etc www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/ollcglossary.phtml
Observations from the above meanings and definitions clearly shows that discipline has varied
interpretations. It also reveals that discipline can take place at various levels such as the self in
the case of self-discipline, which can be achieved through education and training and enforced
discipline achievable through some form of punishment. It also follows that the methods of
instilling discipline are also varied ranging from those based on education and training to forced
compliance or a combination of the two. Discipline is mostly concerned with behavioral change
and if properly applied uses multifaceted approaches. A comprehensive disciplinary system is
usually based on age and stage of development and uses both punishment and reward to achieve
desired behavioral or attitudinal practices. The desired behavior is mainly determined by that
societys needs, values and norms. It can therefore be argued that discipline is a systematic way
through which society reproduces itself and achieve its goals.
It can also be strongly argued that the difference between social imposed discipline in the form
of adherence to societys norms and values and self-discipline is essentially academic because
self-discipline is a process which might result from the acquisition of societal values irrespective
of whether these were acquired through education, training or punitive measures.
Notwithstanding the fact that self-discipline is a life skill which can be acquired by adults,
particularly with regard to improvement in productivity and emotional intelligence.
It is rightly assumed that the state, which seemingly enjoys relative autonomy articulates the
values of the society in which it is founded and sought to achieve discipline through legislation
and its enforcement agents. It means that we can discuss state sponsored discipline as an
analytical category. The question that immediately arises is what are the other categories or types
of discipline?
Categories of Discipline
It is possible to disaggregate discipline into analytical categories. We have already alluded to the
fact that disciplinary system takes into account age, level of development and specific goals
intended. On this basis we can identify the following categories of discipline in terms of those
involved:
Child discipline
Military discipline
Organizational/Religious discipline
Self-discipline
Child discipline
It is a fact that many people equate discipline to punishment, which obviously fall short of the
meaning of discipline. Discipline includes models, rewards and punishment that teach and
reinforces desired behavior and attitudes. The American academy of pediatrics suggests that an
effective disciplinary system must contain three elements to improve child behavior.
a learning environment characterized by positive, supportive
parent-child relationships
a proactive strategy for systematic teaching and strengthening
of desired behaviors
A reactive strategy for decreasing or eliminating undesired

behaviors
I dont think there is any argument on the necessity of discipline for children of different ages.
Disagreements may probably arise on ways of discipline and guidelines for proper disciplinary
measures. There is no doubt that discipline teaches children social values and moral standards. It
also inculcates a sense of responsibility and acceptance of the consequences of their actions. It is
therefore necessary to teach children about these realities rather than leave them to the world out
there to sort them out. Discipline teach children to be able to learn self-control, self-direction
other life skills important for a positive life. Discipline in children leads to habit formation and
translates into self-discipline in their adult lives. There are several disciplinary measures which
parents and schools use to discipline children. Some common ones follow below without
prejudice:
Positive reinforcement rewarding good behavior
Extinction prevent inadvertent positive reinforcement for negative
behavior
Verbal punishment disapproval of behavior by scolding
Corporal punishment infliction of physical pain in response to a
childs undesirable behavior
It is not in the interest of this essay to present an argument on the merits and demerits of each
disciplinary procedure and its impact on the psychological development of a child. We can
however categorically state that with a certain degree of certainty that, child discipline has an
important bearing on adult self-discipline. It is precisely the values which young people acquire
in their youth which provides important life skills in their adulthood. This is what sociologist call
the process of socialization.
Military Discipline
Military discipline involves training and indoctrination instilled through a combination of
repetitive physical drills, mental challenges and punishment for failing to meet required
standards. In other words failure to abide by the training and rules laid down by the authorities
always result in some form of military punishment. There is no doubt that discipline in the
military is crucial to the effectiveness of the army. Discipline continue to play a key role even
after the training period individual soldiers are to their responsibilities by the concept of
camaraderie, self-discipline that the training period has instilled and fear of the consequences of
not abiding by the rules. The threat of punishment is therefore an integral part of the military
system. Nevertheless modern armies tend to rely more on formal sanctions ranging from
summary proceedings to court martial as opposed to informal ones which sometimes involve
brutality and coercion. The rigid unthinking discipline no longer viewed as militarily appropriate
nor is it social and political feasible. The emphasis is now on discipline based on shared values,
personal honor, moral obligation or professional pride. In the final analysis the army by its nature
has to maintain a high level of discipline at all times.
Organizational or Religious Discipline
What I will call organizational discipline in this essay refers to rules and regulation governing the
conduct of individuals or groups belonging to different formal and informal organizations. These
organizations include non-governmental bodies ranging from community based to national and
international organization engaged in different socio-economic development activities. Religious
groups also fall within this category. Most organization have established rules and regulations
controlling the behavior of their members. The rules provide for a disciplinary procedure to
ensure compliance and conformity to the values and aspirations of the organization. It is not
possible to discuss all the kinds of organization s and their disciplinary systems. The disciplinary
codes differ from one organization to the other in terms of strictness and methods of rewards or
sanctions for compliance or breaking the rules respectively.
A good example associated with religion is sharia law which characterizes Islamic discipline. In
Christianity there is what is called Christianity Domestic Discipline, which gives a married
Christian man the right to spank his wife as a form of punishment for wrong doing. The bible in
this context is presumed to give the husband authority to use spanking as a tool in enforcing his
authority in the home with or without his wifes permission. However the modern legal system
makes it mandatory that all CDD must be consensual. Outside the church and religion there and
many organization with clearly articulated rules and regulations to control the behavior of their
members. These includes football clubs, community based organizations of various kinds and
NGOs.
Self-discipline
Self-discipline is the culmination of internalization of life values acquired from childhood to
adulthood through the process of socialization, education, training, rewards and punishment. In
other words self-discipline is learned behavior which develops into a useful habit or skill to
control individual or group behavior. It is a learned skill which can be reinforced at age. These
include life skills such as emotional intelligence, moral and spiritual intelligence, social
intelligence etc. These are life skills which can be acquired at any age through training and
practical experience.
Self-discipline is therefore the key to success in virtually all aspects of life. It is important for
achieving career goals, improvement of personal health, changing habits or better ways to
manage family and relationships.
The Role of the State
The role of the state in discipline is to provide a legal frame work under which disciplinary
measures can take place within the limits of the law, to guard against any possible abuse. In
formulating disciplinary policies a democratic state has the responsibility to ensure that civil
rights are not violated and constitutional obligations are protected. On the other hand it is the
sole responsibility of the state, through its machinery to ensure that laws of the country and
government policies are implemented and observed without failure. The state therefore has a
legitimate right to participate directly or indirectly in instilling discipline on its citizens through a
variety of legal instruments and policies.
Dignity
The definition of dignity is contentious terrain which makes it difficult to confine it to a specific
meaning. The term dignity is in most cases used in relation to human beings and indeed currently
the word human and dignity are often used in conjunction (e.g. human dignity). These two
concepts are intertwined to the extent that it is not possible to use the term dignity without
reference to humanity or human. Dignity as a political concept is usually synonymous with

human dignity.
Dignity comes from latin in decus which means ornament, distinction, honor or glory. These are
concepts related in one way or the other to humanity. According to Emanuel Kant dignity is
being human and alive. Which means every living person has dignity irrespective of what he
does or not. In other words dignity is inherent to human nature and all human beings have equal
dignity as members of the human race.
Research has identified four stages of the development of the idea of human dignity as follows:
1. Ceceros cosmo-centric framework of antiquity, which explains human
dignity on the basis of nature.
2. Thomas Aquinas who explains human dignity in terms of Jesus Christ
(chrito-ecentric framework)
3. Immanuel Kant of the modernity framework which explains human
dignity as a tribute to reason.
4. Mary Wollsonecraft who represents the polis-centred framework which
explains human dignity in relation to social acceptability
The above frameworks highlights the development of the idea of human dignity and how it was
construed by different scholars on the subject. This clearly demonstrates the existence of various
contextual meaning of the concept of human dignity. It is instructive to note that dignity as a
philosophical concept has a long history but is rarely defined in any specific terms in politics,
legal and scientific discourses. In modern politics dignity is used to signify that human beings
possess intrinsic worthiness and deserve minimum level of respect, regardless of age, gender,
health social or ethnic origin, social status, political ideology, religious ideas and practices or any
other elements of personal history. These are reflected clearly articulated in the US antidiscrimination and hate crimes statutes, the Germany constitution and several international pacts
such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenanton Civil and
Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The universal declaration of human rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948: states that:
Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act
towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood
Article 2 Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in
this declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color,
sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, social origin,
property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be
made on the basis of the political jurisdictional or international status
of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be
independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any limitation of
sovereignty.
The American Convention on Human Rights of 1969, proclaims that Everyone has the right
to have his honor respected and his dignity recognized. The African Charter on human rights
state that: Every individual shall have the right to the respect of the dignity inherent in a
human being. The Germany Constitution Article 1:paragraph 1 reads: human dignity shall
be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority.
Given the scenario above, it is quite clear that the world attaches significant attention to
human dignity albeit undefined.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Dickerson, B. T. & Young, G. G.(1994) Color, Class and Country: Experience of
Gender. ZED Books LTD. London.
2. Kabeer, N. (1995). Reversed Realities, Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought.
Verso. London.
3. Sen, G. & Grown, C. (1987). Development Crisis and alternative Visions: Third World
Womens Perspectives. Monthly Review Press. New York.
4. Tinker, I. (ED) (1990) Persistent inequalities, Women and World Development. Oxford
University Press New York
5.Visvanathan, N. etal. (eds) (1997) The Women and Gender Development Reader. ZED
Books LTD. London.
1. Cary, L.J. (Ed) (1970) Community Development as a Process. University of Missouri
Press. Columbia
2. Graig, G. and Mayo, M. (1995). Community Empowerment. Zed Books LTD. London
3. Midgley, J. etal.(1986) Community Participation, Social Development and the State.
Methuen and Co. New York.
4. Nelson, N. & Wright, S. (1995). Power and Participatory Development: Theory and
Practice. Intermediate Technology. London.
1. Allen, T. & Thomas, A., (1992) Poverty and Development in the 1990s
Poverty and Development, Oxford UK : Oxford University Press.
2. Ayres, R. (1995) (Ed) Development Studies: An introduction through selected readings,
Greenwich UK : Greenwich University Press.
3. Burkey, S. (1993) People First: A guide to self-reliant Participatory Rural
Development, London: Zed Books Ltd.
4. Ginsburg, H. (1972) (Ed.), Poverty, Economics and Society, Boston: Little Brown and
Company.
5. Griffin, K. (1979) International Inequality and National Poverty, New York: Holmes
and Meir Publishers, Inc.
6. Katz, M.B. (1989) The Understanding of the poor: From the war on poverty to the war
on Welfare, New York: Parthean Books.
7. Perlman, R. (1976) The Economics of Poverty, New York: Mcgraw-hill Book
Company.
8. Todaro, M.P. (1997) Economic Development, Essex: Longman
1.Bardhan, P. (ed.) (1989) The Economic Theory of agrarian institutions, New York:
Oxford University Press.
2. Bernstein, H. et al., (1992) Rural Livelihoods: Crisis and Response, U.K.: Oxford
University Press and The Open University.
3. Boyce, J.K. (1987) Agrarian impasse in the bengal: institutional constraints to
technological change, New York: Oxford University Press.
4. Colman, D. & Nixson, F. (1994) Economic change in less developed countries,
London: Harvester/Wheatsheaf.
5. Haswell, M. & Hunt, D. (ed) (1991) Rural household in emerging societies:
Technology and change in Sub-Saharan Africa, Oxford: Bergs Publishers limited.
6. Meier, G.M. (1995) Leading issues in economic development New York: Oxford
University Press.
7. Tomich, T.P. et al., (1995) Transforming agrarian economies: opportunities seized,
opportunities missed, New York: Cornell University Press.
. Anglade, c. & Fortin, C. (1990) The State and Capital Accumulation in Latin America
Vol: 2, London: Macmillan.
2. Hall, J. & Ikenberry, J. (1996) Buckingham: Open University Press.
3. Nordlinger, E. (1981) On the autonomy of the Democratic State, Newyork: havard
University Press.
4. Poulantzas, N. (trans Ohagan, T.) (1973) Political Power and Social Classes, London:
NCB and Sheed & Ward.
5. Sklair, L. (ed.) (1994) Capitalism and Development, London: Routledge.
6. Sorensen, G. (1991) Democracy, Dictatorship and Development: Economic
Development in selected regimes of the third world, London: Macmillan.
7. Vincent, A. (1993) Theories Of the State, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
1. Anglade, C. & Fortin, C. (1990) The State and Capital Accumulation In Latin America
Vol: 2, London: Macmillan.
2. Barker, C. (1996) The Health Policy Process, London: Sage Publications LTD.
3. Bryar, R. (1990) Aspects of Primary Health Care in Malawi, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe
Occasional paper No. 22.
3. Nordlinger, E. (1981) On the autonomy of the democratic State, Newyork: Havard
University Press.
4.Poulantzas, N. (trans Ohagan, T.) (1973) The Political Power and Social Classes,
London: NCB and Sheed & Ward.
5. Vincent, A. (1993) Theories of the State, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

1. Campos, J.E. & Root, H.L. (1996) The key to the Asian Miracle, Washington D.C. :
The Brooking
Institution.
2. Goldberg, L.S. & Klein M.W. (1997) Foreign Direct Investment, Trade and Real
Exchange Rates Linkages in South East Asia and Latin America, Massachusetts: NBER
Working papers series.
3. Rhee, Y.W. (1985) Instruments for export policy and administration: Lessons from the
East Asian Experience, World Bank Staff working papers number 725, Washington D.C. : World
Bank.
4. Rodrik, D. (1998) Where did the growth go? External shocks, Social Conflict and
Growth Collapses, Working Papers Series, Cambridge: National Bureau of economic Research.
5. Spetter, H. (1970) Inward and Export Oriented Industrialisation in Developing
Countries, Budapest: Centre for Afro-Asian Research.
6. World Bank report (1993) The East Asian Miracle - Economic Growth and public
policy: Oxford University Press.
1. Brenner, R. (1977). The Origins of Capitalist Development: A Critique of the
Neo-Smithian Marxian Journal no. 104 Harvester press.
2. Frank, A.G. (1969) Capitalism and Underdevelopment in Latin America: Historical
Studies of Chile and Brazil London: Monthly Review Press.
3. Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1888). The Communist Manifesto. (S. Moore trans.) London:
Penguin Books.
4. Hopkins, T.K. , Wallerstein, I. etal. (1982) World-Systems Analysis. California: Sage
Publications LTD.
5.Rhea, B. (Ed.) (1981). The Future of the Sociological Classics. London: George Allen
& Unwin (publishers) Ltd.
6. Turner, M. & Hulme, D. (1990) Sociology & Development: Theories, Policies &
Practice London: Heavestersheaf.
7. Wallerstein, I. (1996) Historical Capitalism: Capitalist Civilisation. London: Biddles
Ltd.
1. Brown, M.B. (1995) African Choices: After Thirty Years of the World Bank, LOndon
Penguin.
2 . Damachi, G. etal, (1976) Development Paths in Africa and China, London: Macmillan
Press LTD.
3. Davidson, B. (1974) Can Africa Survive; Arguements against growth without
development, Lusaka: Heinemann.
4. Fieldhouse, D.K. (1986) Black Africa 1945 - 1980: Economic Development and
Arrested Development, London: Unwin Hyman LTD.
5. Himmelstrand, U. etal., (1994) African Perspectives on Development: Controversies,
Dillemas and Openings, London: James Currey LTD.
6. Hippler, J. (1995) The problem of Democracy in the third World, Armsterdam: Pluto
Press.


Essays On Development

Caricato da

Informazioni sul documento

Descrizione originale:

Titolo originale

Copyright

Formati disponibili

Condividi questo documento

Condividi o incorpora il documento

Opzioni di condivisione

Hai trovato utile questo documento?

Questo contenuto è inappropriato?

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

Essays On Development

Caricato da

Copyright:

Formati disponibili

ESSAY ON DEVELOPMENT AND THE 4Ds

DEPARTMENT OF TEACHER TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

An assessment of Robert Brenners critique of the neo-Smithian Marxian

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Wallerstein and the Capitalist World Economy

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

It is not possible to discuss every criticism by Brenner of the neo-Smithian Marxian in

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

meet perceived needs and desires.

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

in some cases may conflict with those of men.

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

The transformative potential of a participatory empowerment approach is constrained

Despite inherent constraints imposed by internal and external structural relationships

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

More work on Own

Bhura (farmer) in Surendranagar District.

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

The empowerment of individuals or communities to make decisions is

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

In my view the issue may not be whether an empowerment intervention has an

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Induced technological and institutional

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Neo-classical institutional economists focus more attention on efficiency improving

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

dependent on appropriate institutional arrangements. It should be noted that different

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

iii) recognition of the soundness of many traditional farming practices;

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

the United States dollar (Goldberg and Klein1997:2)

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009

Production Structure: GDP Disribution 1965 - 90 (%)

Source: Adapted from World Bank Development Report, 1992

Fathazia Mmani Lenyatso Mmani 2009