L5 dev defsassumptns
This document discusses several definitions of development: - Developing countries are those with a low standard of living and undeveloped industry, moving away from agriculture towards modern infrastructure and sustained economic growth. - "South"-oriented definitions see development as enabling human potential and dignity, and moving away from oppression through independence and growth from within societies. - Human development prioritizes expanding people's choices in areas like employment, education, healthcare, and participation. - Development as freedom requires removing barriers like poverty and oppression to allow people free choice in their lives. - Sustainable development meets present needs without compromising the future, through environmentally sound living and long-term economic and institutional changes.
L5 dev defsassumptns
- 1. Development: Definitions and Assumptions Technology for Developing Communities Professor Jay Aronson Fall 2006
- 2. Developing Country Standard definition of a developing country is “a country with a relatively low standard of living, undeveloped industrial base, and moderate to low Human Development Index (HDI). The term has tended to edge out earlier ones, including the Cold War-defined "Third World". Development entails a modern infrastructure (both physical and institutional), and a move away from low value added sectors such as agriculture and natural resource extraction. Developed countries usually have economic systems based on continuous, self-sustaining economic growth and high standards of living. 2
- 3. “South”-oriented Definition … “a process which enables human beings to realize their potential, build self-confidence, and lead lives of dignity and fulfillment. It is a process which frees people from fear of want and exploitation. It is a movement away from political, economic, or social oppression. Through development, political independence acquires true significance. And it is a process of growth, a movement essentially springing from within the society that is developing.” • The Challenge to the South: Report of the South Commission, 1990 3
- 4. Human Development “The basic objective of human development is to enlarge the range of people’s choices to make development more democratic and participatory.” o Choices include: decent wages and employment opportunities, education, healthcare, clean and safe environment, ability to participate in community decision making, and enjoyment of basic human, economic and political freedoms. • UNDP Human Development Report, 1991 4
- 5. Development as Freedom Development is the process of expanding the freedoms that people enjoy (Sen) o Requires removing barriers to freedom: poverty, tyranny and unaccountable government, lack of opportunity, systematic social deprivation, lack of functioning infrastructure, and repression Development depends on people’s ability to make good choices in their economic, political, and social lives. 5
- 6. Gilbert Rist’s Definition “Development consists of a set of practices, sometimes appearing in conflict with one another, which require—for the reproduction of society—the general transformation and destruction of the natural environment and of social relations. Its aim is to increase the production of commodities (goods and services) geared, by way of exchange, to effective demand.” 6
- 7. Sustainable Development Defined in the 1987 Bruntland Commission Report, Our Common Future as: o Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (para. 27) o Adoption of a more ecologically sound lifestyle by affluent(para. 29) o Not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional changes are made consistent with future as well as present needs. (para. 30) Added later: development should be economically viable in the long-term and should pay for itself; large inputs of additional money should not be relied upon 7