Development 1.1 - What is development and what is the development gap?

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What is development?

Reaching an acceptable standard of living for all people.

The way in which a country seeks to improve economically and raise the standard of living for its inhabitants.

Perception of developments differ between countries.

Roscow - stages of growth

1960 - American Economic Historian, WW Roscow suggested that countries passed through 5 stages of economic development.

STAGES:

Traditional society - subsistent agriculture based economy, intensive labour and low levels of trading, population doesn't have scientific perspective on the world and technology.

Transitional stage - develop manufacturing, more national/international opposed to regional outlook.

Take off - short period of intensive growth, industrialisation occurs, workers and instituitions begin to occur, concentration around industry.

Drive to maturity - takes place over a long period of time, standards of living rise, use of technology increases, national economy grows and diversifies.

High mass consumption - economy flourishes in a capitalist system, characterised by mass production and consumerism.

Criticisms of Roscow model

Biased towards 'western' model as the only path towards development.

Not all countries develop in such a linear fashion - skip steps or different paths.

Assumes all countries have a desire to develop the same way - high mass consumption.

Assumes all countries have an equal chance to develop, without considering population, natural resources or location.

What is the development gap?

Refers to the widening difference in levels of development between the worlds richest and poorest countries. This development gap can occur in countries and cities.

Classifications of countries

In the late 1960s countries were classified under first, second and third worlds.

First world - included the developed capitalist countries, e.g. USA and western European countries.

Second world - included communist countries, e.g. former USSR and eastern European countries.

Third world - included every other country.

In the 1980s countries were classified into 2 categories

MEDCs - rich countries, found in the north, except New Zealand and Australia

LEDCs - poor countries, found in the south

This is the Brandt line. But this classification doesn't say which countries are developing quickly and those that aren't. Now countries are put under more categories and are shown on the development continuum.

These categories include:

Rich industrial countries - most developed countries. UK, Norway, Canada, France.

Former communist countries - neither rich or poor. They're developing quickly BUT not as quick as RICs/NICs. Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Poland.

Newly/recently industrialising countries (RICs/NICs) - rapidly getting richer as their economy is moving from the primary industry to secondary industry. China, India, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa.

Oil exporting countries - has high GNI, however, wealth isn't distributed fairly and concentrated upon few people = most people are poorer. Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia.

Least developed countries (LDCs) - poorest, least developed. Ethiopia, Chad, Angola.

Brandt line

Brandt line separates the LEDCs from the MEDCs. Also referred to as the north-south divide. It is now considered outdated as many countries in the 'poor south' are developing - RICs/NICs such as China and India.

RICs/NICs have experienced rapid growth of development in recent years e.g. China, Brazil and Mexico. These countries have developed strong manufacturing and terry industries. Are they following the Roscow model? Yes.

Development Continuum

Some believe this a better reflection of reality than the Brandt line. There is distinct graduation between countries at different levels, rather than a cluster in distinct groups.

POSITIVES:

Perceiving it as a continual process and recognising that development occurs in different ways.

Ranks countries by HCI, shows a scale from most to least developed with intermediates - RICs/NICs - opposed to two or three categories.

Highlights changing roles e.g. originally LEDCs who attracted TNCs + accelerated development.

NICs/RICs roles in the global economy and changes show their shifts in development.

More reflective of reality.