Nepal Administrative Staff College
Public Service Training Department
Professional Course on Management and Development
for Class III Officers of the Government of Nepal
Module V: Approaches to Development
Session on
Development Perspectives
Yuba Raj Bhusal
August 06, 2015
Table of Contents
1. The Concept
2. Societal Growth and General Theories of
Development
3. Problems of Underdevelopment
4. Need and Practices of Planned
Development
5. Rio+20 (2012) and 4 Pillars of SD
6. Recent Trends in Development with
reference to Nepal
1. The Concept
a) Development:
Almost every writer
(economist, educationist, political
defines ‘development’
differently depending upon one’s own orientation.
Generally, ‘development’ can be defined:
scientist,
bureaucrat
etc.)
• as a state or condition-static;
• as a process/course of change- dynamic;
It is a multi-dimensional process involving
reorganization and reorientation of entire socioeconomic system.
As a process, it improves the quality of all human lives
with three equally important aspects as under.
•
•
•
Raising peoples’standard of living through
enhanced income, consumption, medical services,
education;
Creating conditions conducive to the growth of
peoples’ self-esteem through the establishment
of social, political and economic systems and
institutions which promote human dignity and
respect; and
Increasing peoples’freedom to choose by
enlarging the range of their choice variables, e.g.
varieties of goods and services.
Development thinking often derives from the
specific long- term practices, self-reflection,
action inquiry, and dialogue as well as living in the
company of others.
b) Perspective:
• It is a particular way of thinking about
something especially one that is influenced by
one’s own beliefs or experience.
• People may use several perspectives
throughout the day, they tend to prefer to
respond spontaneously with the most complex
meaning-making system, perspective, or mental
model. The preferred perspective is called a
person’s center of gravity.
• Perspective helps to judge it’s real importance
by considering it in relation to everything else.
c) Development perspective:
It explores three big questions
– Is nature or nurture more important in the
developmental process? That is, is our development
shaped more by our genetics or our environment?
– Do we develop in stages or continually?
– How do we change throughout our lifespan? What
elements remain stable?
In the 21st century developmental thinking
responds to a need for rapid change and solve
problems from a more developmentallyinformed perspective.
d) Interpretations of Development
• Development as Economic Growth- too often
commodity output as opposed to people is
emphasized-measures of growth in GNP.
• Development as Modernization- emphasizes process
of social change which is required to produce
economic advancement;
• Development as Westernization- examines changes in
social, psychological and political processes;
• Development
as
Distributive
Justiceview
development as improving basic needs particularly
for the target groups include small farmers, landless,
urban under-employed and unemployed people.
e) Neo-colonial Dependence:
– Existence of underdevelopment due to historical
evolution of an unequal international capitalist
system of rich country-poor country relations;
– Sets up center (developed countries) versus
periphery (developing countries) contrast;
– Attempts to become self-reliant and progressive
are suppressed by this relationship;
– Elites (e.g landlords, entrepreneurs, merchants) in
the developing world enjoy high incomes, social
status and political power and thus perpetuate
inequality and conformity and are rewarded;
– Elites serve international power groups such as
multi-national firms, assistance agencies (World
Bank) and other agents.
2. Societal growth and General Theories of Development
Source: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Economic_History#mediaviewer/File:Societal_development.png
2.1 Industrial growth and K. Marx/F. Engel's proposition 1848;
2.2 Rise of Soviet Union 1917 and the Socialist Planning System
1928;
2.3 Great Depression of 1930s and the 'New Deal' and Keynesian
Economics:
• New Deal: Among others some initiatives were: creation of the Works
Progress Administration (WPA) to provide jobs to unemployed people; focus on
building post offices, bridges, schools, highways and parks; works to artists,
writers, theater directors and musicians; signing in the Social Security Act,
1935 guarantying pensions to millions of Americans; setting up a system of
unemployment insurance and that the federal government would help care for
dependent children and the disabled.
• Keynes (1936) viewed that the process of capital
formation is determined by savings and investment;
– Domestic savings are channeled to productive investments
such as manufacturing which result –usually-in high
productivity;
– Growth is market driven as income levels rise, savings rises
and frees capital for alternative investment;
– A government could stimulate a great deal of new production
with a modest outlay.;
– The people who receive the money, spend most on
consumption goods and save the rest.
– The extra spending allows businesses to hire more people and
pay them, which in turn allows a further increase in consumer
spending.
Keynesian theory explains the determinants of saving,
consumption, investment and production. The
interaction of aggregate demand and aggregate supply
determines the level of output and employment in the
economy.
(John M. Keynes: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1936).
2.4 Welfare Economics (Post-war period): Role of the
state redefined, from 'Police State' to 'Welfare State'.
2.5 W.W. Rostow’s Economic Growth model (1960):
• Rostow asserts that countries go through each of
these stages fairly linearly, and set out a number of
conditions that were likely to occur in investment,
consumption and social trends at each state.
• The stages of economic growth constituted five
milestones: traditional society; pre-take off; the
take off; the drive to maturity; and maturity.
2.6 Modernization Theory (1950s-60s) –
– Suggests economic dimension alone is insufficient
and adds theories on institutional and social
change;
– Incorporates non-economic elements such as social
practices, beliefs, values and customs;
– Diffusion and speed of change is critical as is
removal of various cultural and social barriers;
– Backward internal structures-rather than external
factors-cause underdevelopment.
2.7 Neo-liberal Development Theory (1970s):
– Designed to counteract impact of Keynesian theory;
– New emphasis on supply side factors in
development- private initiatives and market led
growth;
– Move away from demand stimulation (interest rate
manipulation), import substitution, state
intervention and centralized planning;
– Gradual industrialization with ‘trickle down’ of
benefits to all social classes;
2.8 Popular Development (1980s):
– Avoids grand theories and emphasizes solutions
viewed in context of development which is part of
historical process;
– Context of development is constantly changing in
scale and time;
– Accommodates geographical and historical
diversity;
– Theory of little use to practitioners of development;
– Stresses local diversity, human creativity, process of
social change through pragmatism, flexibility and
context;
– Not extent of state intervention but comparative
advantages of public and private sectors and their
complementarities.
2.9 The World Bank Model:
–WB has adopted several new policies and programs
geared to promoting a more holistic, participatory, and
results-based approach to development and poverty
reduction.
–This approach incorporates the notion that
development must be
• inclusive,
• comprehensive, and
• country-owned
in order to be effective and sustainable over
the long term.
3. Problems of Underdevelopment
3.1 Characteristics of underdevelopment:
– low per capita incomes,
– low literacy and educational attainment,
– lack of basic services- water and power,
– Other characteristics: political instability, conflict etc.
• Absence of development caused by certain physical
environments, particular cultural traditions and value
systems-environmental and cultural determinism;
• Lack of natural resources certainly impediment to
development but not impossible- example of Japan.
3.2 Reasons for Japanese Success:
• Strong cooperation between government and
business;
• Able to adapt to spatial-physical situation and acquire
a maritime prowess;
• Early development during the Meiji restoration with
renovation, revolution, reform/ renewal that restored
under Emperor Meiji (1868-1912);
• The restoration facilitated for the emergence of Japan
as a modernized nation in the early twentieth century,
with the provision of transport and banking systems;
• Highly literate population;
• Niche development- technology driven.
3.3 Other Common Explanations of Underdevelopment
• Instability and other adverse internal situationspolitical factors;
• Some truth to this as extended periods of
turbulence are not conducive to developmentcentral African nations with tribal rivalries and
ethnic cleansing;
• Poor physical environment- lack of rainfall, poor
soils also may pose barriers to development;
• Prevalence of extractive institutions and lack of
inclusive institutions both in political and
economic sectors.
3.4 Vicious Circles- Gunnar Myrdal
• Complex web of interlocking vicious circles each
of which constitutes a chain of cause and effect
relationships where one unfavorable
circumstance leads to another and produces
downward spiral;
• High Birth Rate> Large Families>Low PCI>
Poverty> Low Output Per Worker>;
• Low PCI> Low Productivity> Poor
Health>Inadequate Housing;
• Remedy > Downward spiral not reversible
without massive aid.
3.5 Remedy for Vicious Circle
• Aid would stimulate growth in modern sector
and reduce size of ‘informal’ or traditional
sector;
• Eliminate dualism and the major causes of
unequal distribution of wealth;
• Foreign aid would allow countries to increase
low levels of productivity;
• Needs to develop a Virtuous Circle of
Prosperity against the Vicious Circle of Poverty.
4. Need and Practices of Planned Development
4.1 Growth Pole approach (F. Perroux 1955)
• Development of a core region or growth pole.
• Leading to spread effects benefiting the country as a whole.
• Development of a specific location through agglomeration
(Special Economic Zones, Economic Processing Zones).
• Economies of scale of the largest urban centers would
provide higher rates of return on investment, support the
commercial services needed by the industries to operate
efficiently and bring about the diversification of the growth
pole’s economy.
• Spread and backwash effects (complementarities of
agricultural production and manufacturing through
backward and forward linkages-hinterland/urban centers).
4.2 Trickle down approach:
• Richer individuals and larger companies are
the thriving force behind economic growth.
• The wealth created by the more successful
parts of the economy and more successful
people will naturally tricle down and benefit
everyone.
• Low taxation and lack of regulation is
expected.
4.3 Decentralization:
• Bottom up or grass roots development.
• Local involvement in the DM process, where local
people identify their needs for effective solution.
• Use apt technology.
• Long term aim is sustainability.
4.4 Regional Development/ Balanced Development:
• focus on developing the peripheral regions.
• Reduce regional disparities which develop from an
uneven development of the core periphery.
• Attempts to reduce rural to urban migration.
• Investments in infrastructures-transportation,
communication and electricity to link the region more
with the core.
4.5 Agro-politan Development (J. Friedman 1975)
• Any larger urban centers in rural area tend to
exploit the rural people. The urban elites, traders,
local industries, and the investment in the urban
centers will drain resources away from the rural
population.
• To overcome this process, investment should be
concentrated in the rural areas where the masses
have access to facilities and services.
• Three essential conditions for successful agropolitan development: selective territorial closure,
the communalization of productive wealth, the
equalization of access to the bases for the
accumulation of social power against the
dominance of elites’ power.
4.6 Self-reliant territorial development(SRTD):
J. Friedman, 1979 devised five principles of SRTD:
– aims to diversify the territorial economy;
– maximum development of physical resources
consistent with principles of conservation;
– encourage the expansion of regional and interregional markets;
– base as much as possible on principles of selfreliance; and
– promote social learning.
4.7 IRDP 1970s
• Poverty alleviation and meeting basic needs of the rural
people become the core objective of IRDP.
• Economic growth (increased agricultural and off farm
production, increased productivity, higher rural incomes,
improved infrastructures and technological modernization in
the countryside) and poverty alleviation (transfer of assets to
and creation of jobs for the poor and the satisfaction of their
basic minimum needs) were the two major thrusts of IRDP.
Its elements are:
• multi-sectoral nature of projects;
• limitation of the area of intervention (area planning, district
planning);
• emphasis on local participation and mobilization; and
• explicit reference to poverty alleviation and to the basic
minimum needs of the poor.
4.8 Basic Needs Approach (ILO 1972)
• Shifting from growth oriented development
strategy the basic needs approach was
proposed as a new focal point for
development.
• ILO (1977) defines it as under:
– minimum requirements of a family for
consumption are adequate food, shelter and
clothing including household equipment and
furniture.
– Essential services provided by for the community
at large, i.e., safe drinking water, sanitation, public
transport, health and education facilities.
4.9 Functional-spatial Integration (D. Rondinelli, 1983)
• It is about the integrated spatial development.
• Development encompasses rural and urban areas.
• Without an articulated and integrated system of growth
centers- as opposed to one or few growth poles- the
impulses of concentrated investment couldn’t spread and the
economic incentives for widespread productivity could not
be created.
• A decentralized concentration is needed.
• A crucial element in providing the basic preconditions for the
commercialization of agriculture is a well articulated and
integrated system of settlements in which services and
facilities can be efficiently located and to which rural people
have easy access.
4.10 WID, WAD, GAD (1980s):
Women in Development, Women & Development, Gender &
Development.
4.11 Right to Development (RTD) 1970s/80s:
• Advocated since 1972 (Int'l Institute of HR);
• Popularly known as the third generation human rights (first
generation: civil and political rights; second generation:
economic, social and cultural rights);
• Consists: solidarity rights, and issues of global concerns
(development, environment, humanitarian assistance, peace,
communication, and common heritage);
• Development policies to meet the human centered and
participatory elements of the definition contained in the
Declaration;
• Fair distribution of benefits of development and nondiscrimination in development;
• Empowerment of civil society.
Three Dimensions of RTD:
• Political: contending perspectives and interests
seeking to influence the formulation of the
general principles at the HR Commissions;
• Economic: focusing on equity and poverty
reduction in the policies and practices in the
financing of development;
• Social: willingness of several development
agencies to integrate in HR concepts with
respects to RTD.
In essence, food, education, health and voice of
the vulnerable groups including the women.
4.12 Sustainable Development
Development is likely to achieve lasting satisfaction of
human needs and improvement of the quality of human
life. More specifically, SD is the development that fulfills
the needs of the present without limiting the potential
for meeting the needs of future generations (the World
Commission on Environment and Development, 1987). SD:
 Helps for the very poorest who are left with no option but to
destroy their environment to survive;
 Floats idea of self-reliant development with natural resource
constraints;
 Provides cost effective development using different economic
criteria to the traditional –i.e. development should not
degrade environment;
 Brings important issues forward such as of health control,
appropriate technologies, food self-reliance, clean water and
shelter for all;
 Relies on people centered activities - human beings are the
resources in the concept.
UNDP (HDR, 1992) devised some minimum
requirements for Sustainable Development:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Elimination of poverty;
Reduction in population growth;
Equitable distribution of resources;
Healthier, better educated and trained people;
Decentralized and more participatory government;
Equitable and liberal trading system within/ among the
countries;
– Increased production for local consumption;
– Better understanding of diversity of eco-systems, locally
adapted solutions to environmental problems and better
monitoring of the environmental impact of development
activities.
• RIO + 20 and 3 Pillars (social, economic, environmental+
institutional) of sustainable Development.
4.13 Inclusive development 2010s
• Building capacity within organizations and
institutions to offer persons with disabilities
better access to their services.
• And hence to better health, education and
employment possibilities.
– Geographical
– Social
– Other
5. Rio+20 (2012) and 4 Pillars of SD:
5.1 The Rio+20 Outcome Document emphasized
in the three pillars of SD- social, economic and
environmental- and added the fourth one
institutional, which addresses key institutional
policy and capacity issues.
It highlighted in the practice and meanings
associated with the production, use and
management of resources eventually leading to
reduce poverty; the relationship between
humans and their natural, social and built
environments such as air, water, food, shelter &
the type of energy.
The fourth pillar 'Institutional' focuses on the
capacity building and thus calls for:
• strengthening technical and scientific
cooperation, including North-South, SouthSouth and triangular cooperation;
• developing human resources including training,
exchange of experiences and expertise,
knowledge transfer and technical assistance,
which involves strengthening institutional
capacity, including planning, management and
monitoring capacities.
• implementing the Bali Strategic Plan for
Technology Support and Capacity-building,
adopted by the UNEP.
• participation and representation of wo/men scientists and
researchers from developing/developed countries in
processes related to global environmental and sustainable
development assessment and monitoring, with the
purpose of enhancing national capabilities and the quality
of research for policy- and decision-making processes.
• inviting all the UN Agencies and other relevant
international organizations to support developing
countries and, in particular, the least developed countries
in capacity-building for developing resource-efficient and
inclusive economies, including through:
– sharing sustainable practices in various economic sectors;
– enhancing knowledge and capacity to integrate disaster risk
reduction and resilience into development plans;
– supporting North-South, South-South & triangular cooperation
for the transition to a resource-efficient economy; and
– promoting public-private partnerships.
5.2 Sustainable Development Goals
Rio+20 Conference built a consensus to launch a process to
develop a set of SDGs, based upon the MDGs and converge
with the Post-2015 development agenda.
It was also decided to establish an "inclusive and transparent
intergovernmental process open to all stakeholders, with a
view to developing global SDGs.
In the Rio+20 outcome document, member States agreed that
sustainable development goals (SDGs) must:
a) be based on Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan
of Implementation.
b) fully respect all the Rio Principles.
c) be consistent with international law.
d) build upon commitments already made.
e) contribute to the full implementation of the
outcomes of all major summits in the economic,
social and environmental fields.
f) focus on priority areas for the achievement of
sustainable development, being guided by the
outcome document.
g) address and incorporate in a balanced way all three
dimensions of sustainable development and their
inter-linkages.
h) be coherent with and integrated into the United
Nations development agenda beyond 2015.
i) not divert focus or effort from the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals.
j) include active involvement of all relevant
stakeholders, as appropriate, in the process.
The outcome document mandated the creation of an intergovernmental Open Working Group, that will submit a report to the
68th Session of the UNGA containing a proposal for SDGs for
consideration and appropriate action. Debates, discussions were
held at the local, national, sub-regional, & regional level to come
up with a concrete Post-2015 Development Agenda / the SDGs.
The proposed sustainable development goals are:
1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition,
and promote sustainable agriculture;
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all
ages;
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and
promote life-long learning opportunities for all;
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women & girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water
and sanitation for all;
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and
modern energy for all;
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic
growth, full and productive employment and decent work
for all;
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and
sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries;
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient
and sustainable;
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts;
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine
resources for sustainable development;
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial
ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat
desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and
halt biodiversity loss;
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable
development, provide access to justice for all and build
effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels;
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the
global partnership for sustainable development.
6. Recent Trends in Development with reference to Nepal
• Post-2015/MDGs/SDGs 2015-30;
• LDC Graduation 2020/2032 and Nepal's Graduation
from LDC to DC 2022;
• Access to Energy: SE4All by 2030;
• Open Defecation Free (ODF) world 2030;
• Poverty eradication by 2030;
• Conflict/ peace sensitive development;
• Issues of climate change, REDD+ etc.;
• Post-disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction;
• Federalization for accelerated development; and
• New Constitution as panacea for overall development;
THANK YOU