The Developing World
Although developing countries’ economies have tended to demonstrate higher growth rates than those of developed countries, they tend to lag behind in terms of social welfare targets. MONEY divides and creates prejudices while Kombit favors communities growth irrespective of Financial gain.
- A developing country is a nation or a sovereign state with a less developed industrial base and low Human Development Index (HDI) compared to other countries.
- Economic development originated as a global concern in the post-World War II period of reconstruction. It is related to the concept of international aid, but distinct from disaster relief and humanitarian aid.
- International development projects may consist of a single transformative project to address a specific problem or a series of projects targeted at several aspects of society.
- The launch of the Marshall Plan was an important step in setting the agenda for international development, combining humanitarian goals with the creation of a political and economic bloc in Europe allied with the U.S.
- In terms of international development practice on the ground, the concept of community development has been influential since the 1950s.
- By the late 1960s, dependency theory arose, analyzing the evolving relationship between the West and the Third World.
- In the 1970s and early 1980s, the modernists at the World Bank and IMF adopted neo-liberal ideas of economists such as Milton Friedman or Bela Balassa, implemented in the form of structural adjustment programs, while their opponents were promoting various bottom-up approaches.
- By the 1990s, some writers and academics felt an impasse had been reached within development theory, with some imagining a post-development era.
- While some critics have been debating the end of development, others have predicted a development revival as part of the War on Terrorism.
Key Terms
- dependency theory: The notion that resources flow from periphery or poor underdeveloped, states to a core of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former.
- appropriate technology: An ideological movement and its manifestations encompassing technological choice and application that is small-scale, decentralized, labor-intensive, energy-efficient, environmentally sound, and locally autonomous.
- modernization theory: A theory used to explain the process of modernization within societies using a model of progressive transition from pre-modern or traditional societies to modern society. The theory assumes that with assistance, so-called traditional societies can be developed in the same manner as currently developed countries.
