Development Studies: Socio-economic Development from an Interdisciplinary Perspective Saleha Erdmann |
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| Annotated Bibliography
Chua, Amy. (2003). World on Fire. New York: Anchor Books. Amy Chua is a professor at Yale Law School and specializes in globalization. Chua’s thesis is that the spread of democracy and free markets throughout the non-Western world has exacerbated ethnic tension and been the main cause of increasing ethnic violence in the past century. She explains that in many developing countries wealth has been concentrated in the hands of an elite that often belong to one ethnic minority group in that country. She calls these groups “market dominant minorities,” using the experience of her own ethnically Chinese family in the Philippines as her first example. These market dominant minorities may or may not be in control of the politics of a country, but have powerful presences in the economy. Chua argues that when free markets are introduced to these societies they reinforce the power of the ethnic minority. But when democratic government is introduced simultaneously the ethnic majority is suddenly empowered to respond to their low societal status and their anger is often directed at the market dominant minority. Action includes confiscation of property, hateful political rhetoric and violence. Chua is careful to point out that behavior is not rooted in the physical traits of ethnicity but in the social conditions that shape the conflict. It should be stressed that there are some market-dominant minorities who are victimized solely because of their ethnic difference and their disproportionate wealth. It should also be stressed that even where objectionable practices by these minorities can be identified, they in now ay justify or excuse the kinds of violence and human rights abuses often inflicted on them. On the other hand, it is often unfortunately often the case outside the West that some members of the market-dominant minorities engage in practices…that not only are illegal or otherwise objectionable in themselves, but also reinforce invidious ethnic stereotypes (179). The book is divided into three parts: The Economic Impact of Globalization, The Political Consequences of Globalization, and Ethnonationalism and the West. Several case studies illustrate the complexity of ethnic conflict while highlighting Chua’s overarching argument. They include: Chinese in southeast Asia, “whites” in Latin America and South Africa, Jews in Russia, and several groups in Africa including the Ibo. Chua also moves beyond using nations as a unit of analysis and examines entire countries as market dominant minorities in a region (i.e. Israel in the Middle East) and argues the United States is the market dominant minority of the world. This edition includes an afterword on the war in Iraq, which further illustrates her point about the United States as a world market dominant minority. The final section of the book explores what can be done in response to the increase in ethnic violence and conflict. Chua claims that the market-dominant minorities themselves are in the best position to effectively address ethnic conflict. Unfortunately it is rather sparse in concrete suggestions. She proposes that market dominant minorities use symbolic and visible acts to help improve relations between ethnic groups and that perhaps things like sports can be used a common bond. These are valuable recommendations, but also superficial ones that do not address the deeper issues. World on Fire is presented in a comprehensive format, it is well written and Chua’s use of personal experience and first person make it easier to absorb. Despite its popularity among non-academic circles it is a book of high academic caliber. All of Chua’s points are well researched, thought out and documented. In addition, she addresses this emotionally charged topic with calm, empathy and pragmatism. It should be noted that despite her criticism of globalization Chua actually supports the process, but thinks it need reforming. Escobar, Arturo. (1995). Encountering Development: the making and the unmaking of the third world. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Arturo Escobar is a Colombian anthropologist and professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina. He specializes in development anthropology. This book is a controversial challenge to mainstream perceptions of the Third World. Escobar argues that the “Third World” and concept of “development” did not exist until they were created by the Western nations’ political and intellectual discourse after World War II. “One of the many changes that occurred in the early post-World War II period was the “discovery” of mass poverty in Asia, Africa and Latin America (21).” According to Escobar, what is now considered the Third World was once sustainable and stable until Western forces “underdeveloped” it. He argues that development discourse, like colonialism, was originally set up as a mechanism to maintain control over the Third World. The theories and values that perpetuated development discourse were a “colonization of reality” that caused Third World countries to see themselves as inferior and helpless. The book is divided into six chapters that cover the anthropology of modernity, social construction of the three worlds, economics and development, food and hunger, the invisibility of peasants, women and the environment, and imagining a postdevelopment era. At times Escobar’s criticism of the West seems slightly harsh, and ironically, he has worked successfully in many American universities and colleges. However, his radical analysis holds a lot of truth and is need to balance out the mainstream rhetoric that counters his argument. Glasmeier, Amy K. and Farrigan, Tracy L. (2003) “Poverty, Sustainability, and the Culture of Despair: Can Sustainable Development Strategies Support Poverty Alleviation in America’s Most Environmentally Challenged Communities?” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: rethinking sustainable development. 590 (November 2003). (pp. 131-149) Amy K. Glasmeier is a professor of geography and regional planning at Pennsylvania State University and continues to work on sustainable development especially in the Appalachian Mountains. Tracy Farrigan is a Ph.D. student at the university and specializes in rural community development. This article is extremely valuable in my research for many reasons: It uses an case study, it addresses the intersection of development, culture and the environment, and their concept of a “culture of despair” provides a framework for explaining the outcomes of development in poor communities. The authors challenge the definition of sustainable development originally proposed by the Brundtland Report and question the socioeconomic aspects of sustainable development. Glasmeier and Farrigan use an extremely poor region of the Appalachian Mountains to illustrate the relationship between environmental, economic, social and historical factors in development. They write, “Long-standing feelings of powerlessness over one’s life and livelihood and the use of the surrounding natural environment have led over time to a culture of despair (134).” In Appalachia much of the land has been owned by outside actors, sometimes dating back to the Revolutionary War. External ownership of mining and timber companies and a history of resource exploitation have caused residents to feel apathetic toward the treatment of the land. Corrupt politics and intense poverty have also contributed to a general sense of powerlessness in the region. Despite persistent federal funding since the Kennedy administration to relieve local poverty, little progress has been made. The authors claim that progress is difficult when residents do not feel empowered to change their lives and the rare individual who does attempt change is often threatened (literally) by the existing elite. They argue, “such basic factors as civil rights, democratic institutions, and an effective public sector are in this case necessary prerequisites for the construction of sustainable development (148).” The case of Appalachia shows how important it is to tailor development efforts to the specific context of a targeted area. Handelman, Howard. (2003) Challenges of Third World Development. Upper Saddle River: NJ. Pearson Education Inc. Howard Handelman is the chairman of the political science department at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. This book is a comprehensive review of the main issues affecting development in the Third World. Handelman divides the book into ten chapters: understanding development, democratic change and the change to democracy, religion and politics, politics of cultural pluralism and ethnic conflict, women and development, agrarian reform and the politics of rural change, rapid urbanization and the politics of the urban poor, revolutionary change, soldiers and politics, and the political economy of Third World development. Unfortunately he does not address environmental issues except for a small section in chapter ten—another example of the marginalization of environmental issues in mainstream development discourse. For the most part, Handelman includes multiple perspectives, but he is clearly a supporter of the universal spread of Western democracy, that at times seems naïve. Democratic institutions are not a quick fix for development issues. And while he acknowledges the role of Western actors in Third World development, he rarely speaks to the effects of Third World development on the West. Overall, though, this is a well-written and informative book that serves as a good reference on Third World development. Marglin, Stephen. (2003) “Development as Poison: Rethinking the Western Model of Modernity.” Harvard international Review, Spring 2003. In Robert J. Griffiths, Ed. (2004) Developing World 04/05, 14th Ed. Guilfrod, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. Stephen Marglin is a professor of economics at Harvard University. This is a scathing analysis of Western culture and the types of development it advocates to the rest of the world. He writes, “Political imperialism died in the wake of World War II, but cultural imperialism is still alive and well.” Marglin attacks Western society for its emphasis on individualism, the market economy, and “scientific, proven knowledge over the experiential.” Prior to Western intervention, culture outside of the West was sustained by community and kinship ties. But cultural imperialism has gradually eroded the value of community in other cultures. Marglin suggests that we not only stop exporting our destructive culture to other countries, but that we take a cue from these community-oriented societies and reshape our own. Community based cultures may be less economically “efficient,” but they are more meaningful and sustainable. He writes that we have two lessons to learn: First, when we export Western technology to other places the receiving people should have the right to choose how to organize and use that technology within their own cultural framework. Second, in the West we should not be so arrogant as to think that Western development is liberating people from backwards ways of life and be sensitive to other cultures as well as reevaluating our own. This is thought-provoking article, and Marglin’s emphasis on community is a valuable observation as I study culture and development. The article is mostly theoretical, with few concrete examples. It is a useful springboard for discussion, but would need to be complemented by other sources or research. Unless I am writing a similarly opinionated piece, this essay will not stand alone as a reference due to its abstract and inflammatory nature. McMichael, Philip. (2000). Development and Social Change: a global perspective, 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press. Philip McMichael is currently a professor and chair of Rural and Development Sociology at Cornell University. He specializes in agrarian issues and development. This book is an excellent source on development, particularly it provides thorough historical background on the emergence of the development paradigm (what he terms the “development project”). Few sources go into such depth on the historical roots of development, especially before World War II. McMichael’s focus on agricultural issues may not be fully representative of the broad spectrum of development issues, but it is very informative. McMichael emphasizes that development is no longer a national process but a global one and thus often be used synonymously with globalization. The book is divided into three parts following an introduction: The Development Project (Late 1940s to Early 1970s), The Development Project Unravels, and the Globalization Project (1980s—). As the book progresses McMichael uses more and more case studies and less general analysis. These case studies are generally brief and cover a wide spectrum of countries and conditions, they are valuable, although the frequency of case studies near the end tends to fragment the last few chapters. This is a well-written and fascinating book. The historical background is especially well done and useful. A similar in-depth analysis of current conditions would have also been useful, but the final sections of the book are still very valuable. Nederveen Pieterse, Jan. (2001). Development Theory: deconstructions/reconstructions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Jan Nederveen Pieterse is a Dutch scholar who teaches sociology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He specializes in development theory, globalization and race relations. Hands down, this is the best book I have read on development. Nederveen provides historical background on development studies and theory, power structures within development by drawing from a variety of fields. I appreciate that in his discussion of theory he goes beyond the two most recognized ones--modernization and dependency theories and also addresses more current theories of alternative development. In addition, he deals with the question of whether or not globalization discourse should replace development discourse, which he argues against. Instead, he proposes what he terms as "critical globalism." Nederveemn recognizes the complexities and nuances of development studies. "Development thinking, if considered carefully, is a series of improvizations and borrowings, zigzagging through time, itself a hybrid project intellectually and politically, and not quite..." The only area that Nederveen could have given more attention to is environmental issue in development. This is an extremely well written, comprehensive and informative book. At the same time it is not oversimplfied--Nederveen addresses areas of development that are often overlookd by other mainstream scholars, discusses development in the present (unlike many works on development theory), and challenges many of the assumptions that development is so often based on. An excellent work, I highly reccomend it. Schech, Susanne & Haggis, Janes. (2000). Culture and Development: a critical introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, Ltd. Susanne Schech is a professor at the School of Geography, Population and Environmental Management at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. She specializes in theory, culture, gender, racial construction and information technology within the field of development. Jane Haggis is an associate professor of sociology also at Flinders University. Schech and Haggis’ book is especially useful for me because it is an introduction specifically to culture and development, which few sources focus on directly. The book is in textbook format, but it is not as dense as most textbooks. Schech and Haggin begin by defining culture and development separately and then explain how the two concepts intersect. They then cover several important topics within development: Globalization and the Politics of Representation; Feminism, Development and Culture; Inventing Traditions, Constructing Nations, Human Rights, Cultural Difference and Globalization; and Culture, Development and the Information Revolution. It seems that many authors who address culture and development end up only addressing development, but Schech and Haggis are careful to continue to explicitly include culture in their discussion. This book is comprehensive and well-done. It includes multiple perspectives on culture and development and is a good source on the topic. Scott, Catherine V. (1995). Gender and Development: rethinking modernization and dependency theory. Boulder, CO: Lynne Riener Publishing. Catherine V. Scott is an associate professor of political science at Agnes Scott College. Unlike many books on gender and development that examine the state of women within development, this book focuses on implications of the theoretical aspects of development discourse. Specifically, she addresses the application of feminist theory to modernization and dependency theory. She argues that the well-known concepts relating to development within modernization and dependency theory are rooted in social constructions of gender that reinforce “masculine privilege.” Scott applies her arguments about theory to the case of development in Africa and World Bank policies. Scott argues that both modernization and dependency theory perceive development as a struggle to move away from the “feminine” aspects of society, which is associated with tradition. Development approaches are characterized by aggressive behaviors that seek to reject tradition and the private sector and embrace autonomous, individualistic behavior in the private sector. She identifies three “common themes of masculinity and development: public/private and related dichotomies, object relations theory, and metaphorical language that characterizes development as a battle, struggle, or war (7).” Scott’s critique of the World Bank is particularly interesting to me. She claims that while the World Bank has begun to recognize the important and often invisible role women play in development, its approach to women in development (WID) is not a liberating one. The bank’s policies do not benefit women in the long run because they seek to liberate women from the private sphere instead of recognizing the destructive nature of the division of labor between genders. In this division of labor men do the “productive” work and women do the “unpaid reproductive work (77)” and the valuable work women do remains unrecognized. The criticism of the underlying values and concepts in development in this book are similar to Escobar’s critiques, but Scott focuses specifically on gender constructs. Scott’s analysis is extremely valuable in my study of development and is an excellent reminder of the constructed nature of development discourse. So, Alvin. (1990). Social Change and Development: modernization, dependency, and world-systems theories. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. Alvin So is a sociologist who grew up and studied in Hong Kong and is now an associate professor at the University of Hawaii at Monoa. He specializes in social change. This book is a comprehensive and in depth survey of the three main development theories—modernization, development and world-systems theory. So dedicates a section of a book to each theory in which he explains its historical roots and basic theoretical assumptions, assesses its successes and failures, and compares the classical school of thought to the newer schools that emerged in response. He includes the different contributions of several prominent theorists within each school of thought. This book is an excellent source on development theory. So’s use of several different theorists within each theory can be confusing since he associates certain ideas with a person rather than a general statement about the theory itself. However, it is helpful that So acknowledges the different ideas within each theory instead of making generalizations. Wiarda, Howard, Ed. 2000. Non-Western Theories of Development: regional norms versus global trends. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. This is a compilation of essays edited by Howard Wiarda about development theories that have come out of the developing world that are significantly different from the mainstream Western model. The region’s covered are East Asia, India, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Islamic countries, and Russia and Central Asia. Despite the books title, though, the essays present few actual theories. Instead they describe the specific experience each region has had with Western development and any historical background necessary to understanding it. The authors describe the unique reactions of the region to development, but not according to any theories. In addition, the conclusions of each easy often make general statements implying that the region has adapted Western development to its own context, or that it should, but don’t go into greater detail. This book is useful as a basic reference on development in different parts of the world and the cultural context in which that development takes place, but as for offering non-Western theories of development, it is not very helpful. |
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