Countries that are labelled as being ‘traditional’ are in effect deprived of a past or history prior to colonialism or development.
“To classify these countries as ‘traditional societies’ implies either that the underdeveloped countries have no history or that it is unimportant.”
(Griffin, 1969, Development versus Dependency theory, 28th April 2002, www.revision-notes.co.uk)
In fact prior to exploitation through slavery, followed by colonialism, many of these countries had rich cultures and civilisations. Prior to the advent of the slave trade the people of the African continent had long traded goods with neighbouring societies as far up the continent as Morocco. These trade routes were then completely destroyed by the slave traders who took away all the able bodied men, women and children that they could find. The African continent is still struggling to recover from the harm done over two hundred years ago.
Commonly, developed countries are now pushing ‘free-trade’ as the saviour of less developed countries. This is an application of Rostow’s modernisation theory. Trade embargoes are supposed to be being lifted in order to facilitate improved trade for less developed countries. However, the West and in particular the USA and the EU continues to subsidise its own farmers to overproduce and protect their own prices. This effect keeps the developing world in poverty because their crops cannot compete with the prices of the subsidised crops. In an article in The New Statesmen it was stated that:
“The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, recently calculated that if world prices were not depressed by subsides, millions of poor cotton producers could be lifted out of poverty”
(Barbara Gunnell, The New Statesman, 20th May 2002)
If this change was made in the developing countries of the world it would mean that for example in the West African state of Burkina Faso, the number of people who live in poverty would be reduced by half within six years (Source: The New Statesman, 20th May 2002). Cynics believe that ‘free-trade’ is not in the best interests of poor countries, but that the conditions of loans from the IMF and the World Bank generally force them to participate.
“The poorest countries have been rightly cynical of the benefits to them of a free trade in agriculture, recognising that the rules of international trade are written by the rich for the benefit of the rich.”
(Barbara Gunnell, The New Statesman, 20th May 2002)
In contrast to Rostow’s approach Gunther Frank whose work was developed from Marxism (although it is not a Marxist account) put forward the ‘dependency theory’ suggesting that underdevelopment is not a consequence of traditionalism. Instead he claims that underdevelopment is directly caused by colonialist exploitation. He argues that underdevelopment in Latin America, parts of Africa and Asia has been systematically caused by colonialism. An article in The New York Times illustrates this point well. East Timor has just gained independence from Indonesia. The country was previously a Portuguese colony and its prime crop, sandalwood, has now run out. The country is now struggling amongst the poorest countries in the world to find an economic future.
“The sandalwood that first attracted the Portuguese ran out years ago, and the coffee that used to fetch high prices faces stiff competition in the current market glut.”
(The New York Times, Jane Perlez, “Impoverished East Timor Exults Over Independence”, 20th May 2002.)
There are many of these colonies which have now achieved independence, but they are still tied economically to their old colonial rulers. For example Ghana, once a British colony but now independent, still relies on its cocoa crop the bulk of which is exported to Britain. Cocoa has no other use than in the manufacture of chocolate, it is of no use to local people who are unable to process it and it cannot be used to feed hungry children in times of food shortages. Ghana is completely dependent on the whims of the chocolate producers who fix the prices of the crops passing on very little of the profit that chocolate earns. In Nicaragua production was concentrated on coffee, meat and seafood during colonialism, and despite attempts to diversify, these products still make up over half of the country’s exports. The country runs at a large trade deficit and is highly reliant on aid from the USA, which pays for food and fuel imports. In an essay in “The New Internationalist” this point was made quite succinctly:
“Quashing rebellion in the tropics gave US corporations more low-wage havens abroad to move operations to and more desperate immigrants to hire here, thus helping to suppress wages in the basement of our split-level economy.”
(Peter Constantini, “An American Tragedy”, New Internationalist, Issue 324, June 2000)
In Zambia a country in southern Africa, bordering Angola, long term exports have relied on a few primary resources that were developed by the ex-colonial powers. The modernisation theory should have meant that through urbanisation and more industrial jobs the result would be a diversified and less dependent economy. In fact the result has been quite different – production of copper was concentrated on during the British colonial era, and this has continued since independence. The people living in the urban areas have prospered, whilst agriculture has been ignored. In 1955 only 20% of the country’s food was imported now almost half of the country’s food has to be imported. The copper mines will be exhausted in twenty years and there is no other export to take its place. The gap between rich and poor in Zambia has widened with the top 20% of the country owning 61% of the wealth. (Source: ‘Development Choices-The Facts’, New Internationalist, issue 183 – May 1988)
Rostow’s theory that development requires the removal of all traditional methods has left a legacy in many developing countries. Prior to colonialism traditional societies had their own remedies or medicines to deal with illness. The colonialists told the people that they should abandon their old ways and use only the modern western medicines. Now modern medicines are expensive, and are priced out of the reach of many of the people in the less developed countries. Yet there are very few people left who practise the traditional medicines, and so many are faced with the inability to get any form of treatment if they are unfortunate enough to fall ill. Also the colonialists brought with them new diseases to which local people had no immunity , such as smallpox and chickenpox amongst others.
Frank argues that the West is actually ‘under-developing’ or exploiting some countries because it suits them to do so. These countries then become poorer and more reliant or dependent on the developed countries for aid or investment. In the instance of Nicaragua, a small South American country situated between Honduras and Costa Rica, the United States of America has repeatedly attempted to colonise the country. In 1850 a Tennessee adventurer called William Walton took over Nicaragua after the country gained independence from Spain. Walton’s desire was to make Nicaragua a ‘slave state’ to the union. Nicaragua was repeatedly invaded by the USA, who even today still attempts to control the country by external manipulation and also involvement in anti-government guerrilla movements. Not surprisingly when a Communist Government came to power in 1979 following a civil war, the American Government supported a guerrilla war to overthrow the Sandinista Government. In fact the Sandinista Government was doing a relatively good job. They had improved health-care, introduced the most effective land reforms in Latin America and tripled the spending on education. Yet the Government of the USA, led by Ronald Reagan, believed that Nicaragua should be developed along western or modernisation theory lines. There is now much poverty in Nicaragua, malnutrition is rising, yet in the capital, Managua, they are suffering from traffic jams caused by the élite in their new imported cars. In an interview in the New Internationalist, Sandra Ramos, a Feminist, described the effect of rising unemployment on the women in Nicaragua:
“The Government’s only alternative in terms of jobs is to go to work in the ‘maquilas’ (export-only factories). This strategy is based on the poorly paid labour of women workers. There are 20 international companies investing here-mostly Korean and Taiwanese - all producing for the North American Market. The women who work here have no benefits and are entirely outside the normal labour-law requirements.
(The New Internationalist, Interview with Sandra Ramos, 28th April 2002, www.newstatesman.co.uk )
Nicaragua is a country rich in natural resources and yet it remains one of the poorest in South America.
Modernisation theory makes a major assumption that the way that things are done in the West is the ideal way to run a any society. The industry, technology and democracy of the West it assumes creates the most advanced form of society. What this theory forgets about are the problems that the west has created through its ‘advanced’ society – global warming, caused by the excessive amounts of pollution from the West’s industries, and urban crime – an increasing problem in Western society. If developing countries are to follow Rostow’s model for development, then it is likely that they will end up with the same problems that the West is struggling to deal with. Further, global warming is now accepted as a major problem by the majority of the world, greater industrialisation of the developing world can only make the problem much worse. Complete industrialisation of the world seems to be unsustainable.
Modernisation theory requires the intervention of developed countries into a developing country through investment and education in order to bring about development. Frank argued that a completely different strategy was required. He put forward the notion that it was ‘isolation’ and not ‘intervention’ that a developing nation needed. In theory isolation sounds like the ideal solution to the problems of the world’s less developed countries. Yet in the countries where isolation has been tried, such as China and Burma there is little evidence of success. In fact these countries have some of the worst human rights records in the world and as a result have found trade with the north and west difficult due to trade embargoes and restrictions.
Both development theories do not account for the success of the ‘Tiger’ economies of the Far East - Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Taiwan. These countries have not followed Rostow’s stages of development and yet they have thriving economies with strong export markets. However the wealth of these countries is not enjoyed by the whole of their population. In South Korea a country that exports a wide range of goods to the west, the lowest 40% of the work force earn only 17% of the income. Wages are very low and working hours are long – a twelve hour day and a six day week are not uncommon. However, the wealth in Korea is controlled by multi-national corporations, who are responsible for around 30% of their exports. (Source: ‘Development Choices-The Facts’, New Internationalist, issue 183 – May 1988)
Both the modernisation and dependency theories of development seem to be flawed. They both fail to give an adequate explanation and in practise they fail to achieve the required results. Modernisation rides ‘rough-shod’ over the traditions and cultures of the developing world, whilst dependency theory attempts to ignore the extent to which these countries have already been changed irreparably, and in effect seeks to ‘turn the clock back’ – which is now totally impossible. A different solution must be required – one that takes into account a nations traditions and cultural heritage, getting the best out of the lands resources so that these nations are independent. Producing a greater diversity of crops and goods, they would be less dependent on imported goods and could trade surplus goods with the rest of the world. However, the solution to the developing world’s problems requires much more thought and research.
REFERENCES
Best, S. et al, “Active Sociology”, 2000, Pearson Education Ltd, Harlow.
Moore, S., “A Level Sociology”, 1994, Letts Educational, London.
New Internationalist, “Country Profile – Nicaragua”, 1996.
New Internationalist, “Development Choices – The Fact”, Issue 183, May 1988.
Revision-notes, “Development versus Dependency”, 28th April 2002, .
Smith, R., New Internationalist, “NI Interview – Sandra Ramos” 28th April 2002, www.newinternationalist.co.uk.
Fulcher, J., Scott, J., “Sociology”, 1999, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Giddens, A., “Sociology”, Third Edition, 1997, Polity Press, Cambridge.
Gunnell, B., New Statesman, “US Hits the Poor”, 20th May 2002.
20th May 2002