Wat is Development?
Politics is about how public decisions are made. “Who gets what, when, how?”
What is development?
“Bringing to the dark places of the earth, the abode of barbarism and surely, the torch of culture
and progress” (Lugard, 1926) -> Civilational, colonial, racist de nition
“The modi cation of the biosphere…to improve the quality of human life” -> technical
… -> humanist, philosophical
Others say that development is nothing more than the reality of day to day practice to create
development. What they do becomes the reality. Let’s not be to philosophical.
Kanbur says : you can’t de ne development. It dependents on the values. No single correct
de nition.
What group of people are we looking at/are we referring to? To who applies development?
- By IMF: low and middle income
- More broadly: underdeveloped
- Not negative but process: developing
- During Cold War era: the third world
- Today: the global south
- Or does it apply everyone?
Are these ones accurate and helpful?
What are we developing?
- Economic: GDP per capita
- Social: improving healthcare, education
- Political: democracy
- Psychological: personal well-being, happiness
But we focus on what the relationship is between this di erent aspects. Not on which one is
correct.
Modernization Theory
A linear transition from the same ‘traditional’ start to the same ‘modern’ end.
- Increasing GDP per capita
- Increasing Urbanization
- Increasing Education
- ‘All good things (di erent dimensions) go together (are highly combined/correlated)’
But this one isn’t perfect: some wealthier countries have less education.
Subjective development
'Voices of the Poor’. Di erent groups have di erent ideas, so all dimensions are separated.
Some quotes that illustrate this:
- “The rich are those who are able to save and sell part of their harvest when prices rise.” (Niger)
- “What one shouldn’t lach is the sheep, what one cannot live without is food grain.” (China)
- “The most important asset is an extended and well-placed family network form which one can
derive jobs, credit, and nancial assistance.” (Senegal)
- “Poverty is humiliation, the sense of being dependent on them, and of being forced to accept
rudeness, insults, and indi erence when we seek help.” (Latvia)
Core point of this: the dimensions are very context- and culture-speci c.
But:
- If all dimensions of ‘modernization’ are tightly connected, top-down and homogeneous - there
is nothing to debate.
- If the important dimensions of development are entirely ‘subjective’ - there is nothing to debate.
We need a middle ground and more ‘useful’ relationship between the dimensions of development
-> Development as Freedom (Sen, 1999)
Why does freedom matter for development:
fi fi ff fffi fffi ff ff fi fi
, 1. Intrinsic/constitutive reason: freedom matters in itself
2. Instrumentaal relations: freedoms promote other freedoms
E.g. democracy prevents famine…but also matters for political freedom in itself.
This approach recognizes that development contains complementarities between dimensions (=
modernization theory). But freedoms let people choose what they value (= subjective
development). (Wij hebben opties om uit te kiezen, wat erg geprivilegieerd is. We kunnen worden
wat we willen! Dat is wat Sen gebruikt om freedom te de niëren. Dus niet het Amerikaanse idee
van freedom (negative freedom, zoals tegen regering in kunnen gaan/niet over je laten heersen),
maar positive freedom (opportunities)).
Three clari cations:
1. Not just ‘freedom from’ interference (libertarianism; negative freedom).
- Freedom = capabilities (opportunities; positive freedom)
- E.g. the capability to live a long life; to become a teacher
2. Not just income
- Not all ends can be bought
- Needs vary: resources are converted into capabilities
3. Not about what people do with their freedoms/capabilities
- People choose speci c functionings
Freedom to do what?
- Participate in politics
- Engage in economic transactions
- Social opportunities through education and healthcare
- Transparency during interactions
- Security of life
What limits freedom?
- Violence/repression
- State restrictions
- Poverty
- Poort public services
- Lack of opportunities
UN used Sen’s approach. The points in the UN development report correspond to Sen’s ve
ideas. The next years, they added good environment, freedom of action and expression, etc.
Sen’s ve proposals are the starting points. But it exploded in a long list. This is a problem for the
practical implementation (sustainable development goals).
How do we decide which capabilities/freedoms matter? For Sen, this is what democracy is for
(deciding together/collectively which freedoms we value), but he still proposes his ve freedoms.
How do we ‘decide’ for countries under authoritarianism? Not just a normative question: politics
is the con ict between people who value di erent dimensions of development. The
complementarities quickly disappear. Think about the con ict between people who live in rural
and urban areas. People who work in agricultural rms prioritize clean air, etc. Women working in
textile factories in the big city need childcare, healthcare, etc. They want di erent investments,
because di erent circumstances. Similarly, think of Brazil, where was a huge con ict between
people maximizing life through covid-policy and people who value economic values.
Development includes con ict between people with di erent ideas, which makes it much more
negative. Also think of intergenerational con ict. Young people have di erent interests. Climate
change, for example, won’t a ect older people as much as younger people.
Sustainable development
Development that meets the needs (freedoms, etc.) of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Most obvious example is climate change,
but there are many more. For this, we look at the discount rate.
How do we approach this problem?
1. The ‘Development First’ route
- Wealth and education reduce fertility and support cleaner technologies, reducing
environmental pressures.
fi flfiff fi fl ff fffl fi ff fi fl ff ff fl fi fi
, - Rapid technological innovation will help us solve problems like climate change and become
more resilient.
- The Kuznets curve
2. The ‘Sustainability First’ route
- Tackling environmental challenges will stimulate new innovations and investments.
- Conserving assets improves their productivity, eg. new medical cures in the rainforest.
- Avoiding climate stresses prevents con ict and boosts yields.
Case of Norway and Mozambique to illustrate the question, whether this is sustainable
development. Mozambique is seen as most e ected country in the world by climate change.
Norway isn’t really a ected, but has a massive gas industry. The question: is Norway doing the
correct thing to promote development, or not? Is this sustainable development? So, should
Norway nance a natural gas terminal in Mozambique? To answer this question, it is important to
look at whose and what freedoms are at stake in this policy decision! Mozambiques freedoms are
at stake, but it’s Norway’s political freedom to nance this project. Very complicated, it’s messy,
it’s hard…it’s about politics.
Post-development critiques
1. The discourse of development makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped.
“Poverty is a myth, a construct and the invention of a particular civilization.”
Rejecting modernization theory: we’re not all traveling in the same direction. More is not
always better.
2. Development is an imposition of power and hierarchy
A weapon of the cold war and post-colonialism
Development as ‘planned poverty’
A top down, ethnocentric, and technocratic approach
Westernization and eradicating (ethnic) diversity (cultural)
Norway’s hypocritical gas policy creates dependency and neocolonialism
3. Development has failed on its own terms
Rising inequality
“Delusions and disappointment, failures and crimes have been steady companions of
development and they tell a common story: it did not work.”
4. Development is an industry
$152.8bn industry
Governments, NGOs, BINGOs, for-pro t companies, foundations
Reliant on the continuation of poverty (and not its solution)
Lobbying governments for new contracts
Governments seeking markets for their companies
A career for you? You are not neutral and your advise is not simply to promote
development.
Is it time to replace this concept of development? (Is it now colonial language? Or is development
still a useful concept and idea?)
Measuring development
Challenges:
- Lack of data collection capacity in the countries that matter most
- Frequent, representative data on the most vulnerable is challenging
- Hard to attribute progress to speci c policies when many things change at the same time
- Multi-dimensionality
Long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living are the dimensions of measure
for HDI. But does this re ect Sen’s notions about development? No, it’s limited. Freedom isn’t
included, because the UN includes also very much authoritarian regimes.
The HDI is highly correlated with income/GDP per capita. But how do we value the di erent
measures? Even the maths of how we add up these three components is complex. They changed
it in 2010, because it didn’t re ect what development is. Actually they were saying that you allow
countries like Qatar to get higher income, while the other dimensions weren’t great. Income
doesn’t compensate you to have low education and health. Instead of 1/3 x (I+I+I), they created
(I+I+I)^1/3. DRC for example has a high income (natural resources), but Ivory Coast has more
fi ff fl fl fi fifl fffi ff
, balanced dimensions so scores higher on the new HDI. It’s about how we combine and balance
the three measurements. Up till 2010 we thought that these countries were equally developed.
Multidimensional Poverty Index -> but are the people who lack also the people who lack
healthcare? MPI = % of people who are poor in at least a third of the indicators -> the intensity/
concentration of poverty.
We also talked about sustainable development. MDI en HDI reward more income/more resources.
Developed countries look developed, but is that sustainable? None of these measures explain
this.
Ecological Footprint (Global Footprint Network) -> “How much biologically productive area [land/
water] it takes to provide for all the competing demands of people" (in Hectares). 1.75 earths
would be required to support current activities 5 earths if everyone lived like the USA.
Are we making progress in development?
See table -> isn’t the best picture. But teacher would place it between moderate/fast. Table
shows the challenges, but the decline of poverty is a great decrease! If we continue making this
progress, we seem to do incredibly well. East Asia and South Asia eliminates (EA) or rapidly
declines (SA) poverty. But poverty is increasingly being concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Number of people in poverty here is going really quick (negative growth). When we look to health
indicators and schooling/education, we are also doing pretty well. Even on sustainability
(especially Europe. But rest of the world gets more developed and less sustainable).
At the moment, we are going backwards on development, because of Covid. (5 years ago we
were more optimistic in class). Number of poverty went up for the rst time in a long time. We
went down on HDI for the rst time in 60 years! And we haven’t recovered from that yet.
Conclusions
1. What is Development?
- Contested: Development as competing interests over many possible ‘Freedoms'
- Including freedoms of future generations: Sustainability
- 'Development' actors are not neutral
2. How do we Measure Development?
- Many imperfect measures; all are simpli cations and value judgments
3. Are we making Progress in Development?
- Quickly, but very unevenly and with recent reversals
- Poverty is increasingly concentrated in Africa
Geography
What explains di erences in development over the world? 5 explanations: rst one is geography.
Where in the world is least developed?
Chad most underdeveloped, next to Niger. Indonesia does pretty good (based on the pictures/
stereotypes we know).
How does Geography a ect development?
Hausmann (2001): some countries are doomed to not develop -> tropical or landlocked. What is
the problem with being tropical or landlocked?
1. Transportation and coordination costs limit trade and globalization
2. Climate limits agricultural and labour productivity
3. Burden of tropical disease reduces growth by 1% point (627.000 people died of malaria in
2020)
4. Eurasian crops, animals and technologies cannot be transferred to tropical contexts (Diamond
(1997) says that Europe was lucky throughout history. We could use a lot of powerful and
productive animals. North America only had turkeys als origin. In West and Northeast Africa
none. The isolation of Europe, explain why other places developed more slowly. Eurasia also
got lucky because of the ecological zones (temperate vs tropical), when it came to similar
climate. Agricultural techniques you have can easily be transferred to other places (see
pictures in slides!).
ff ff fi fi fi fi
Politics is about how public decisions are made. “Who gets what, when, how?”
What is development?
“Bringing to the dark places of the earth, the abode of barbarism and surely, the torch of culture
and progress” (Lugard, 1926) -> Civilational, colonial, racist de nition
“The modi cation of the biosphere…to improve the quality of human life” -> technical
… -> humanist, philosophical
Others say that development is nothing more than the reality of day to day practice to create
development. What they do becomes the reality. Let’s not be to philosophical.
Kanbur says : you can’t de ne development. It dependents on the values. No single correct
de nition.
What group of people are we looking at/are we referring to? To who applies development?
- By IMF: low and middle income
- More broadly: underdeveloped
- Not negative but process: developing
- During Cold War era: the third world
- Today: the global south
- Or does it apply everyone?
Are these ones accurate and helpful?
What are we developing?
- Economic: GDP per capita
- Social: improving healthcare, education
- Political: democracy
- Psychological: personal well-being, happiness
But we focus on what the relationship is between this di erent aspects. Not on which one is
correct.
Modernization Theory
A linear transition from the same ‘traditional’ start to the same ‘modern’ end.
- Increasing GDP per capita
- Increasing Urbanization
- Increasing Education
- ‘All good things (di erent dimensions) go together (are highly combined/correlated)’
But this one isn’t perfect: some wealthier countries have less education.
Subjective development
'Voices of the Poor’. Di erent groups have di erent ideas, so all dimensions are separated.
Some quotes that illustrate this:
- “The rich are those who are able to save and sell part of their harvest when prices rise.” (Niger)
- “What one shouldn’t lach is the sheep, what one cannot live without is food grain.” (China)
- “The most important asset is an extended and well-placed family network form which one can
derive jobs, credit, and nancial assistance.” (Senegal)
- “Poverty is humiliation, the sense of being dependent on them, and of being forced to accept
rudeness, insults, and indi erence when we seek help.” (Latvia)
Core point of this: the dimensions are very context- and culture-speci c.
But:
- If all dimensions of ‘modernization’ are tightly connected, top-down and homogeneous - there
is nothing to debate.
- If the important dimensions of development are entirely ‘subjective’ - there is nothing to debate.
We need a middle ground and more ‘useful’ relationship between the dimensions of development
-> Development as Freedom (Sen, 1999)
Why does freedom matter for development:
fi fi ff fffi fffi ff ff fi fi
, 1. Intrinsic/constitutive reason: freedom matters in itself
2. Instrumentaal relations: freedoms promote other freedoms
E.g. democracy prevents famine…but also matters for political freedom in itself.
This approach recognizes that development contains complementarities between dimensions (=
modernization theory). But freedoms let people choose what they value (= subjective
development). (Wij hebben opties om uit te kiezen, wat erg geprivilegieerd is. We kunnen worden
wat we willen! Dat is wat Sen gebruikt om freedom te de niëren. Dus niet het Amerikaanse idee
van freedom (negative freedom, zoals tegen regering in kunnen gaan/niet over je laten heersen),
maar positive freedom (opportunities)).
Three clari cations:
1. Not just ‘freedom from’ interference (libertarianism; negative freedom).
- Freedom = capabilities (opportunities; positive freedom)
- E.g. the capability to live a long life; to become a teacher
2. Not just income
- Not all ends can be bought
- Needs vary: resources are converted into capabilities
3. Not about what people do with their freedoms/capabilities
- People choose speci c functionings
Freedom to do what?
- Participate in politics
- Engage in economic transactions
- Social opportunities through education and healthcare
- Transparency during interactions
- Security of life
What limits freedom?
- Violence/repression
- State restrictions
- Poverty
- Poort public services
- Lack of opportunities
UN used Sen’s approach. The points in the UN development report correspond to Sen’s ve
ideas. The next years, they added good environment, freedom of action and expression, etc.
Sen’s ve proposals are the starting points. But it exploded in a long list. This is a problem for the
practical implementation (sustainable development goals).
How do we decide which capabilities/freedoms matter? For Sen, this is what democracy is for
(deciding together/collectively which freedoms we value), but he still proposes his ve freedoms.
How do we ‘decide’ for countries under authoritarianism? Not just a normative question: politics
is the con ict between people who value di erent dimensions of development. The
complementarities quickly disappear. Think about the con ict between people who live in rural
and urban areas. People who work in agricultural rms prioritize clean air, etc. Women working in
textile factories in the big city need childcare, healthcare, etc. They want di erent investments,
because di erent circumstances. Similarly, think of Brazil, where was a huge con ict between
people maximizing life through covid-policy and people who value economic values.
Development includes con ict between people with di erent ideas, which makes it much more
negative. Also think of intergenerational con ict. Young people have di erent interests. Climate
change, for example, won’t a ect older people as much as younger people.
Sustainable development
Development that meets the needs (freedoms, etc.) of the present without compromising the
ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Most obvious example is climate change,
but there are many more. For this, we look at the discount rate.
How do we approach this problem?
1. The ‘Development First’ route
- Wealth and education reduce fertility and support cleaner technologies, reducing
environmental pressures.
fi flfiff fi fl ff fffl fi ff fi fl ff ff fl fi fi
, - Rapid technological innovation will help us solve problems like climate change and become
more resilient.
- The Kuznets curve
2. The ‘Sustainability First’ route
- Tackling environmental challenges will stimulate new innovations and investments.
- Conserving assets improves their productivity, eg. new medical cures in the rainforest.
- Avoiding climate stresses prevents con ict and boosts yields.
Case of Norway and Mozambique to illustrate the question, whether this is sustainable
development. Mozambique is seen as most e ected country in the world by climate change.
Norway isn’t really a ected, but has a massive gas industry. The question: is Norway doing the
correct thing to promote development, or not? Is this sustainable development? So, should
Norway nance a natural gas terminal in Mozambique? To answer this question, it is important to
look at whose and what freedoms are at stake in this policy decision! Mozambiques freedoms are
at stake, but it’s Norway’s political freedom to nance this project. Very complicated, it’s messy,
it’s hard…it’s about politics.
Post-development critiques
1. The discourse of development makes people think of themselves as underdeveloped.
“Poverty is a myth, a construct and the invention of a particular civilization.”
Rejecting modernization theory: we’re not all traveling in the same direction. More is not
always better.
2. Development is an imposition of power and hierarchy
A weapon of the cold war and post-colonialism
Development as ‘planned poverty’
A top down, ethnocentric, and technocratic approach
Westernization and eradicating (ethnic) diversity (cultural)
Norway’s hypocritical gas policy creates dependency and neocolonialism
3. Development has failed on its own terms
Rising inequality
“Delusions and disappointment, failures and crimes have been steady companions of
development and they tell a common story: it did not work.”
4. Development is an industry
$152.8bn industry
Governments, NGOs, BINGOs, for-pro t companies, foundations
Reliant on the continuation of poverty (and not its solution)
Lobbying governments for new contracts
Governments seeking markets for their companies
A career for you? You are not neutral and your advise is not simply to promote
development.
Is it time to replace this concept of development? (Is it now colonial language? Or is development
still a useful concept and idea?)
Measuring development
Challenges:
- Lack of data collection capacity in the countries that matter most
- Frequent, representative data on the most vulnerable is challenging
- Hard to attribute progress to speci c policies when many things change at the same time
- Multi-dimensionality
Long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living are the dimensions of measure
for HDI. But does this re ect Sen’s notions about development? No, it’s limited. Freedom isn’t
included, because the UN includes also very much authoritarian regimes.
The HDI is highly correlated with income/GDP per capita. But how do we value the di erent
measures? Even the maths of how we add up these three components is complex. They changed
it in 2010, because it didn’t re ect what development is. Actually they were saying that you allow
countries like Qatar to get higher income, while the other dimensions weren’t great. Income
doesn’t compensate you to have low education and health. Instead of 1/3 x (I+I+I), they created
(I+I+I)^1/3. DRC for example has a high income (natural resources), but Ivory Coast has more
fi ff fl fl fi fifl fffi ff
, balanced dimensions so scores higher on the new HDI. It’s about how we combine and balance
the three measurements. Up till 2010 we thought that these countries were equally developed.
Multidimensional Poverty Index -> but are the people who lack also the people who lack
healthcare? MPI = % of people who are poor in at least a third of the indicators -> the intensity/
concentration of poverty.
We also talked about sustainable development. MDI en HDI reward more income/more resources.
Developed countries look developed, but is that sustainable? None of these measures explain
this.
Ecological Footprint (Global Footprint Network) -> “How much biologically productive area [land/
water] it takes to provide for all the competing demands of people" (in Hectares). 1.75 earths
would be required to support current activities 5 earths if everyone lived like the USA.
Are we making progress in development?
See table -> isn’t the best picture. But teacher would place it between moderate/fast. Table
shows the challenges, but the decline of poverty is a great decrease! If we continue making this
progress, we seem to do incredibly well. East Asia and South Asia eliminates (EA) or rapidly
declines (SA) poverty. But poverty is increasingly being concentrated in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Number of people in poverty here is going really quick (negative growth). When we look to health
indicators and schooling/education, we are also doing pretty well. Even on sustainability
(especially Europe. But rest of the world gets more developed and less sustainable).
At the moment, we are going backwards on development, because of Covid. (5 years ago we
were more optimistic in class). Number of poverty went up for the rst time in a long time. We
went down on HDI for the rst time in 60 years! And we haven’t recovered from that yet.
Conclusions
1. What is Development?
- Contested: Development as competing interests over many possible ‘Freedoms'
- Including freedoms of future generations: Sustainability
- 'Development' actors are not neutral
2. How do we Measure Development?
- Many imperfect measures; all are simpli cations and value judgments
3. Are we making Progress in Development?
- Quickly, but very unevenly and with recent reversals
- Poverty is increasingly concentrated in Africa
Geography
What explains di erences in development over the world? 5 explanations: rst one is geography.
Where in the world is least developed?
Chad most underdeveloped, next to Niger. Indonesia does pretty good (based on the pictures/
stereotypes we know).
How does Geography a ect development?
Hausmann (2001): some countries are doomed to not develop -> tropical or landlocked. What is
the problem with being tropical or landlocked?
1. Transportation and coordination costs limit trade and globalization
2. Climate limits agricultural and labour productivity
3. Burden of tropical disease reduces growth by 1% point (627.000 people died of malaria in
2020)
4. Eurasian crops, animals and technologies cannot be transferred to tropical contexts (Diamond
(1997) says that Europe was lucky throughout history. We could use a lot of powerful and
productive animals. North America only had turkeys als origin. In West and Northeast Africa
none. The isolation of Europe, explain why other places developed more slowly. Eurasia also
got lucky because of the ecological zones (temperate vs tropical), when it came to similar
climate. Agricultural techniques you have can easily be transferred to other places (see
pictures in slides!).
ff ff fi fi fi fi
