For many, development has become such a mainstream word that
sometimes people forget about the meaning behind it as well as the discourses
that shaped it. For others, it is difficult to use the word without giving
their own opinion about it. This is because the critiques have been so many,
that they cannot simply use development as if it had one solely definition. In
this sense, I believe that the complexity of defining it relies on being able
to actually measure it and compare it with other countries, so that the ones
that are “developed” can “help” the ones that are “underdeveloped or developing”.
Furthermore, another factor that makes
it difficult to define development is related to the determination of an
identity, through what Gustavo Esteva called: an “inverted mirror of other’s
reality” (Esteva, 2009, p. 2). Thus, after more than four decades of
development policies and studies, I think that the concept of development can
be considered as still in construction or maybe as something that will never be
able to have a global definition due to cultural differences.
When looking up for the definition of development in Real
Academia Española (RAE), I was surprised to read that it involved a progress in
economic, social or cultural scopes (Real Academia Española, 2018). I was surprised
because I immediately linked the concept with Growth Theory. I mention this
because it focuses on economic growth as the first factor for progress and then
on changes in social and cultural factors to achieve development (Brohman,
1996, p. 11). Additionally, when looking up for synonyms of development in
Thesaurus, evolution came up as an option, making me think about Rostow’s stages of growth model (Brohman, 1996, p. 11; Dictionary.com, LLC, 2018). I made this connection because evolution is usually
associated with living beings that pass through several stages to achieve
genetic potential as in Rostow’s model, just that at the end you achieve
economic growth (Brohman, 1996, p. 11; Esteva, 2009, p. 3). Consequently, by
doing this analysis exercise, I confirmed my thoughts about how the traditional
concept of development, which means achieving economic growth, is still deeply
embedded in our society. In other words, it is still considered as a universal
truth by many, even by people who write dictionaries and who have influence on
thousands of readers around the world.
Later, when I looked up for the definition of development in
the Cambridge dictionary, I read that a person develops only when she or he
grows or changes and becomes more advanced (Cambridge University Press, 2018). This
reminded me of Gustavo Esteva’s article about development because he stated
that when President Truman used for the first time the term “underdevelopment”
in one of his speeches, he defined who is developed and who is not (Esteva, 2009,
p. 1). In fact, on January 20, 1949, Harry Truman indicated that two billion people
were underdeveloped (Esteva, 2009, p. 2). And by saying so, the perception that
billions of people had about themselves and about others changed drastically on
that day (Esteva, 2009, p. 2). According to Esteva (2009), Truman’s speech
downsized diversity and made those two billion people feel inferior in
comparison to North American people (p. 2). Furthermore, his speech represented
what the ideal model of development should be and how people can become more “advanced”
by following it. Hence, Gustavo Esteva (2009) says in his article that all of
this is what made two thirds of the world look at development just through the
eyes of the United States.
Last but not least, as a response to the narrow definitions
of development explained in the second paragraph and third paragraph, I also
wanted to mention that there have been many good attempts to improve the
concept and make it more diverse. One example is the concept of development by
Amartya Sen. His definition focuses on development as an expansion of freedoms through
which people can live the life they think they enjoy most (Sen, 1999, p. 1).
This definition can be seen as one that is focusing more on the social aspects
of people. Nonetheless, Sen’s theory has been criticized because it still emphasizes
on economic growth as a mean to expand a person’s freedom.
In conclusion, I believe that the traditional concept of
development has determined one solely model of life and that it should continue
to be modified, so that it applies to a broader number of people. There has
already been progress in the field towards a more inclusive concept, but I
think there is still a lot more to do. I even consider the possibility of
having to reconstruct the concept of development from zero and this time ask
the opinion of people from different backgrounds to define the concept. In
contrast with this, I also think that achieving a global consensus about the definition
of development may be too difficult and that it is sometimes a utopia due to
the many differences between countries. Thus, as many other in the world, my
mind is still struggling about what the solution for this problem should be or
if there is simply no solution.
You can read more about Gustavo Esteva, a post development
theorist, as well as about Amartya Sen, contributor to the creation of the
Human Development Index, by looking at the following reference list:
References
Brohman, J. (1996). The Postwar Tradition in Theory, Popular Development: Rethinking the Theory
and Practice of Development. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell.
Cambridge University Press. (2018). Development. Retrieved
from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/development
Dictionary.com, LLC. (2018). Development.
Retrieved from https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/development?s=t
Esteva, G. (2009). Development. The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power.
Retrieved from http://shifter-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/wolfgang-sachs-the-development-dictionary-n-a-guide-to-knowledge-as-power-2nd-ed-2010-1.pdf
Real
Academia Española. (2018). Desarrollar. Retrieved from http://dle.rae.es/?id=CTvYRBI
Sen, A. (1999). Introduction: Development as Freedom. Retrieved
from http://www.c3l.uni-oldenburg.de/cde/OMDE625/Sen/Sen-intro.pdf
Explanation of Amartya Sen’s theory in video format:
Thank you and I hope you enjoy reading this blog entry.
Best,
Andrea Padilla
Oh Andrea! Thank you because you made my brain work efficiently again. What you are talking about is a big question to me that I have never had the chance to think about. We're always discussing the practices and what should be done on the ground to follow the theory, but there has been no real discussion about the term "development" itself. Your post is an eye-opener, especially as yesterday we discussed in class the power of discourse within development. It is sadly becoming clear to me that no matter how many critiques of development there are or how many new theories emerge to fix what the original development has caused so far, development remains primarily the mirror of economic growth. This is true because countries with weak economies have weak political system, fragile education and health systems and can’t win the universal competition happening between stronger countries, especially as the world is becoming materialistic.
ReplyDeleteIt is sad further because when you mentioned how that President defined two billion people as underdeveloped, this stigma of underdevelopment goes beyond the geographical frontiers of that country. It is not only about that other nations will recognize that place’s underdevelopment, but also about the people in that place being stigmatized as underdeveloped even if they leave that place. It is ironic because we tend to believe that development is quite about economic growth, but then the people themselves are the ones left with the stigma of underdevelopment as if it was their fault that their county is economically not doing well. People are willing to develop but their corrupted governments like to maintain the status quo. What supports my point here is that the majority, if not all, big economies in the world have been strongly established by the hard and genius work of immigrants not natives.
Thank you for contributing with your great opinion about my post, Summer.
DeleteHugs,
Andrea