Definition, Characteristics and Scope of Development

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Concept of Development

 

Definition,  Characteristics and Scope  of Development

Today, we live in a world where many societies are extremely poor, while few others are exceedingly rich. In many countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, millions of people are living in abject poverty. Lack of development has been said to be responsible for this appalling situation.

What then is development?

While some people see development as industrialization and Modernity or even Westernization and its artifacts such as cars, trains, refrigerators, television, computers, phone-sets, radio, electricity, textiles, schools, tarred roads, et cetera, for others, development has come to mean the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In other words, to them, development is the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, illiteracy, maternal and child mortality, malaria and HIV/AIDS, gender inequality, and so on.

Development is often used in an exclusive economic sense – the justification being that the economy has a pervasive influence in all societies and also, the economy is itself an indicator of other sociopolitical features of a society. But, development is a multi-dimensional concept, thus it could be economic, political, social, cultural or even human.

Based on this fact, it has attracted a variety of definitions from various scholars of different orientations. Here are some of their views: Development is the progressive movement from traditional society to the stage of high mass consumption of goods and services. For any human society that wishes to develop, it must go through five stages of development as epitomized by the West, particularly the USA, and these include:

(a) Traditional Stage

(b) Transitional Stage

(c) Take-off Stage

(d) Drive to Maturity

(e) Stage of High Mass Consumption.

Political development connotes the evolution of a political system to a desired state of being characterized by advanced political culture and political structure which entail “cultural secularization” (the process whereby members of the society become increasingly rational, analytical and participant oriented in their political actions) and “structural or role differentiation” (the process whereby old roles are transformed and new types of roles emerged coupled with an expanded capacity of the political system to perform conversion function, system maintenance function and adaptation function). All these are necessary for state building, nation-building, political participation, economic production, and authoritative distribution of resources.

Development is an overall social process which is dependent upon increased capacity of members of a society to master the laws of nature (that is science) and apply such laws in the production of tools (that is technology) with which they can control their environment to meet their immediate and future needs. It cannot be seen purely as an economic affair because other segments of the society are also involved.

Social development is the bundle of technological, subsistence, organizational, and cultural accomplishment through which people feed, clothe, house, and reproduce themselves, and explain the world around them, and resolve disputes within their communities, and extend their powers at the expense of other communities as well as defend themselves against others’ attempt to extend power.

From the foregoing submissions, it is clear that development scholars are divided over what constitute development. While some of them see it from economic perspective, others view it from the political angle, yet still, some others think it is a socio-cultural phenomenon. Despite their differences, they all agree that development entails progressive change.

Generally, development could be defined as a holistic process through which a society experiences economic and socio-political transformation which improves the living conditions of its inhabitants. It entails both quantitative and qualitative improvement in all spheres of a given society. It is the attainment of the desired state of being.

 Characteristics of Development

In spite of the ambiguous nature of the concept of development, it has some identifiable features. Some countries have been able to achieve development and as a result, their values and institutions have become the yardsticks for determining and measuring development around the world.

A country is said to be developed if it has the following characteristics:

 

      Adequate social infrastructures such as constant electricity, good          network     of roads, potable water, well equipped and functional          schools and hospitals and sound communication networks

      Adequate Security to protect lives and property

      Good governance and political stability

      Industrialization

      High savings and investments

      Strong economy creating jobs and wealth

      Self sufficiency in food production

      Adequate human capital and technological know-how

      High standard of living for the majority of the people

      Low level of unemployment

      Low level of poverty

      Low level of crimes

Moreover, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), societal development can be measured using the Human Development Index (HDI) and this includes:

– High life expectancy

– High literacy level

– High income level

In other words, for any society to be regarded as developed, it must be able to provide those basic amenities that would prolong the life of its inhabitants, provide education for the majority of its citizens as well as good jobs that can fetch them enough income to live a quality life.

However, the above UNDP indices of development have been criticized on the ground that they do not take into cognizance societal inequalities and the quality of education that is being given to the people as well as some other vital indicators of development. Majority of the citizens of a society for instance may have access to education, but that education may not be qualitative. The HDI on education is calculated based on number of people who have access to education; it fails to take into account the quality of that education. It is quality education that is needed for development.

Also, the income level in a society may rise as a result of increase in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but the bulk of the income may be concentrated in the hands of the privileged few – the political and the economic elites. The UNDP’s HDI on income is based on the rise of national income, and not on national income distribution.

It has been discovered that if the income rise is not fairly distributed, societal inequality will increase. The gap between the few elites and the rest of the society who are in the majority will continue to widen even as the GDP and national income increase. Despite these few reservations, Human Development Index (HDI) is still a yardstick for measuring development.

 Scope of Development

We have said earlier that development is a multi-dimensional process, thus its scope is very broad. It ranges from economic, political to socio-cultural.

It also includes factors like national infrastructure, technology, transportation systems, information communications and technology, and military preparedness.

Economic Development: This is a dimension that readily comes to mind whenever development is mentioned. This is because of the primacy of the economy in shaping other sectors of human society. The economy is the foundation of a society, and if it is strong, it will have positive impact on the political system which is the super-structure.

However, if the economy is weak, it will have inimical effects on the political system. In fact, it is the economic system that produces the resources to be allocated. And if the resources are not produced in the first place, there will be nothing to allocate.

Economic development entails increase in the wealth of a nation through expanded production of goods and services. It includes the rise in agricultural production, manufacturing and construction as a result of the introduction of better skills, techniques and technology.

Also, it includes, but not limited to increase in GDP, rise in exports, job and wealth creation, high per capital income cum high standard of living. Suffice to state here that economic growth is different from economic development though; some western scholars would want us to believe that the two are the same. Economic growth entails increase in GDP, but that increase may not translate to development. The GDP and the economy may sometimes grow as a result of improvement in just few areas of the economy such as crude oil production and, or the price of oil in the International Oil Market.

It may also be induced by increase in the production of goods and services by a few Multinational Corporations (MNCs) whose subsidiaries are domiciled in the country, or due to bountiful agricultural harvests which may increase export of cash crops. This will in turn increase external revenues for the government (economic growth). But such revenues may not be utilized to improve the well-being of majority of the people which economic development demands.

In this case, there is economic growth without corresponding economic development. This shows that increase in GDP may only bring about increase in revenues or incomes of both the government and the privileged few in the society.

Political Development: This aspect of development is also very important. Politics is not only central to the making of development, but also vital to its sustenance. Political development is attained when a political system is able to enjoy popular legitimacy, articulate and aggregate public interests, authoritatively allocate resources as well as maintain law and order through strong and functional institutions. In the opinion of Lucian Pye, equality, capacity and differentiation are the three important features of political development. Gabriel Almond described political development as the capacity of the political system to effectively perform rule-making, rule adjudication and rule application functions.

A society is said to have political development if there is accountability and transparency in political leadership, respect of the rule of law, constitutionalism, and periodic free, fair and credible elections or selection process as well as political stability. Most importantly, political development entails strong institutions that have legitimate authority to guarantee equilibrium in the system through proper management of identity crisis, political participation crisis, distribution of resources crisis and national integration.

It involves optimum performance of the institutions of state such as the legislature, the executive, the judiciary, the police, the military, etc.

In contemporary times, political development is equated with liberal democracy.

Thus, countries with matured democratization processes are regarded as having political development. However, experiences have shown that there are countries that do not practice liberal democracy, yet, they have political development. For example, Russia and China have their own peculiar styles of leadership which the West often

Socio-Cultural Development: This is another essential dimension of development. It entails improvement in social infrastructure. Regular supply of power, potable water, good road networks, functional and quality schools, sound communication network, good health care system and adequate security, are some of the characteristics of social development.

Also, human capital falls under socio-cultural development. This entails optimal harnessing of human potentials which translate to increased human knowledge and skills. Human capital is very vital because without it neither economic nor political development is possible.

Lack of development in the Third world has been largely attributed to the dearth of human capital. In a knowledge economy where ideas and skills are necessary catalysts, human capital is inevitable. It is the fulcrum of societal development.

Moreover, socio-cultural development involves the evolution of national norms, values and identity. All these are pre-requisite for nation building and national integration which are in turn necessary for total societal development.

Development means different things to different people. To some people, it is the improvement of the economy, while to others, it is a political transformation. Yet to some others, it is a social change or movement towards a desired state of being. At the Epi-centre of development is man. Hence, the ultimate goal of development is to improve the people’s welfare and quality of life by harnessing the available resources, and creating resources where they are not available, to meet their immediate and future needs. No society fully embodies all the development ideals, but there are some societies that have approximated or achieved these ideals to a reasonable degree. Such societies are regarded as developed.

Conclusion  

Development means different things to different people. To some people, it is the improvement of the economy, while to others, it is a political transformation. Yet to some others, it is a social change or movement towards a desired state of being. At the epi-centre of development is man. Hence, the ultimate goal of development is to improve the people’s welfare and quality of life by harnessing the available resources, and creating resources where they are not available, to meet their immediate and future needs. No society fully embodies all the development ideals, but there are some societies that have approximated or achieved these ideals to a reasonable degree. Such societies are regarded as developed.

Also read on << Definition of underdevelopment>>

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