“Developing
countries in Africa have been more concerned with bridging the gaps of
inequality with the developed countries, whiles the developed countries have
been more concerned with increasing the gaps of inequality with the developing
countries.”
Development is a term which came into vogue after WorldWar II when development economists attempted to design appropriate development
models for developing countries to catch up with the developed world. The word
development is however very difficult to define. Over the years, there has been
long debate over the exact definition of the concept development. Different
scholars have viewed development from different perspectives. Some of these
perspectives have been examined below with analysis based Michael P. Todaro and
Stephen C. Smith book on Economic Development, ninth edition.
According to the Traditional Economic Perspectives, in
strictly economic terms development has traditionally meant the capacity of a
national economy, where initial economic condition has been more or less static
for a long time, to generate and sustain an annual increase in its Gross
National Income (GNI). A common alternative economic index of development has
been the use of rates of growth of income per capita. Development strategies
have therefore usually focused on rapid industrialization, often at the expense
of agriculture.
Dudley Seers used poverty, unemployment and inequality as
indicators for measuring development instead of economic indicators. Dudley
Seers posed the basic question about the meaning of development succinctly when
he asserted, “the questions to ask about a country’s development are therefore:
What has been happening to poverty? What has been happening to unemployment?
What has been happening to inequality?
If all three of these have declined from high levels, then beyond doubt
this has been the period of development for the country. If one or two of these
problems have been growing worse especially if all three have, it would be
strange to call the result ‘development’
even if per capita income doubled”(Seers, 1969:3 cited in Conyers and Hills,
1984: 29-30). Development must therefore be conceived of as a multidimensional
process involving major changes in social structures, popular attitudes and
national institution as well as the acceleration of economic growth, the
reduction of inequality and eradication of poverty.
Amertya Sen’s “Capabilities” Approach, Sen argues that
the “capability to function” is what really matters as a poor or nonpoor
person. As Sen put it “Economic growth cannot be sensibly treated as an end in
itself. Development has to be more concerned with enhancing the lives we lead
and the freedom we enjoy. Functioning that is what a person does (can do) with
the commodities of a given characteristics that they come to possess or
control. The concept of functioning reflects the various things a person may
value doing or being. Sen define capabilities, as “the freedom that a person
has in terms of the choice of functioning, given his personal features and his
command over commodities”.
UNDP’s Multidimensional Measurement, since 1990 the UNDP
has primarily focused on human development in its Human Development Index (HDI)
as measured by three major indicators. These are Health, Education and Income.
In Micheal P. Tadoro and Stephen C. Smith book, Economic
Development, they highlighted three core values of development which serve as
conceptual ground and indicators for comprehending the concept of development.
Firstly Sustenance: the ability to meet basic needs. All people have certain
basic needs without which life would be impossible. Secondly Self Esteem: To be
a person. A sense of worth and self respect, of not being used as a tool by the
others for their own needs due to the significance attached to material values
in developed nations, worthiness and esteem are nowadays increasingly conferred
only on countries that possess economic wealth and technological power.
Thirdly, freedom from servitude: To be able to choose. Freedom here is to be
understood in the sense of emancipation from alienating material conditions of
life and from servitude to nature, ignorance, other people, misery,
institutions and dogmatic beliefs, especially that poverty is predestination.
The three objectives of development therefore are, To increase the availability
and widen the distribution of basic life-sustaining goods such as food, shelter,
health and protection, To raise levels of living, including, in addition to
higher incomes, the provision of more jobs, better education and greater
attention to culture and human values which will help generate greater
individual and national self-esteem and To expand the range of economic and
social choices available to individuals and nations by freeing them from
servitude and dependence.
The final perspectives worthy of mentioning is the
Post-Modernism Idea of Development, they argue that the concept of development
is not practical and just a body of ideas and theories used by the Western
world to dominant the third world countries.
They entreat Third World countries to craft their own conceptual
understanding of development that best address their needs.
For the purpose of digesting the issue of developing
countries in Africa having been more concerned with bridging the gaps of
inequality with the developed countries, while the developed countries have
been more concerned with increasing the gaps of inequality with the developing
countries, I have decided to craft my understanding for development which is
development been a multidimensional process which involve using the means of
development (i.e. Natural resources, Institutions and Human actors) to address
the goals of development (i.e. either to reduce or to create socio-economic and
political inequality of well-being within or across societies) in addition to
the cultural and political requirement for effecting rapid structural and
institutional transformations of entire societies in a manner that will most
efficiently bring the fruits of economic progress to the broadest segments of
their populations.
According to the Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s
ENGLISH DICTIONARY, Inequality is the difference in social status, wealth, or
opportunity between people or groups. Situating the meaning of inequality into the
context of the issue under discussion, inequality can be explain as the
difference in social, economic, political advancement and infrastructure coupled
with institutional progress among countries.
Developing countries are deemed to have low level of per
capita income, low industrialization, low literacy rate, poor living standard
and weak institutions coupled with inadequate technological infrastructure. Developing
countries have been bedeviled with Weak institutions, Dependence on and
vulnerability to foreign exploitation, High illiteracy rate, High levels of unemployment,
Prevalence of endemic diseases, Limited technological capacity, High infant
mortality rate, Malnutrition, Poor sanitation, Unequal distribution of income
etc.
Examination of the characteristics of developing
countries will better explain the reason why developing countries in Africa
have been more concern with the bridging the gaps of inequality with the
developed countries. A point worth noting is that the developed countries have
already passed through this stage and characteristics that the developing
countries are currently in. In examining the characteristics of developing
countries, reference is made to Michael P. Todaro and Stephen C. Smith book on
Economic Development, chapter two.
The first point worth mentioning is low levels of living,
characterized by low incomes, inequality, poor health and inadequate education.
In developing countries, the levels of living tend to be very low for the vast
majority of people. These low levels of living are manifested quantitatively
and qualitatively in the form of low life and work expectancies, high infant
mortality rate and in many cases a general sense of malaise and hopelessness.
Secondly, dependence and vulnerability in international
relations, for many developing countries a significant factor contributing to
the persistence of low levels of living, rising unemployment, and growing
income inequality is the highly unequal distribution of economic and political
power between rich and poor nations. These unequal strength are manifested not
only in the dominant power of rich nation to control the pattern of
international trade and agreements regulating it but also in their ability
often to dictate the terms whereby technology, foreign aid, and private capital
are transferred to developing countries.
Furthermore, substantial dependence on agricultural
production and primary-product exports, the vast majority of people in
developing nations live and work in the rural areas. The basic reason for the
concentration of people and production in agricultural and other primary
production activities in developing countries is the simple fact that at low
income levels, the first priorities of any person are food, clothing and
shelter. Agricultural productivity is low not only because of the large numbers
of people in relation to available land but also because developing countries
agriculture is often characterized by primitive technologies, poor organization
and limited physical and human inputs. Technological backwardness persists because
developing country agriculture is predominantly noncommercial peasant farming.
The final characteristic of developing countries to be
digested is the prevalence of imperfect market and limited information. It is
worth noting that the presumed benefits of market economics and market-
friendly policies depend heavily on the existence of institutional, cultural
and legal prerequisites that most of us in industrial societies take for
granted. In many developing countries, these legal and institutional frameworks
are either absent or extremely weak. These situations do not allow for the
enforcement of contracts and validation of property rights, a stable and
trustworthy currency, an infrastructure of roads and utilities that result in
low cost of transport and communication. Moreover, information is limited and
costly to obtain, thereby often causing goods, finances, and resources to be
misallocated.
Examining the characteristics of the developing countries
is clearly obvious that developing nations needed to bridge this vast gap of
inequality comparing with the developed countries. Any development policies
must be geared towards mitigating this extreme level socio-economic and
political couple with institutional inequalities. Educational infrastructures,
economical stability, political independence and strong institutional framework
are the key areas that the developing countries must endeavor to bridge the gap
that have been created internally by poor institutional framework and
externally by the developed countries. Since developing countries are in a
gradual process of developing, these inequalities must necessarily be bridge
for them to achieve their development targets of economic stability,
technological infrastructure, political independent and strong institutional
framework.
Now a cursory look at the developed countries and how
they are more concerned with creating inequalities with the developing
countries, according to Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United
Nations, “A developed country is one that allows its citizens to enjoy a free
and healthy life in a safe environment.” Developed countries are mostly
characterized by high level of industrialization, high literacy rate, and lower
level of unemployment, better sanitation, accessible medical services,
democratic government, a stable currency and well functioning institutions.
In my candid opinion, the developed nations have over the
decades thrown out policies and program that have created inequalities with
developing countries. It must be noted that the developed countries have internally
bridge the gap of inequalities by establishing strong institution, stable
economic, adequate educational and medical infrastructures coupled with
advanced technological development.
Free trade policy of developed countries with developing
nation has created inequalities that sector. The developed countries benefit
from this policy by their firms dapping cheap and inferior product onto the
market of developing countries which adversely affect the developing countries infant industries by
indirectly collapsing them because
consumers preference for cheap goods.
Controlling of trade and prizes of goods and services by
the developed countries have not benefited the developing countries in foreign
trades but rather increase inequalities of imperfect market and vulnerability
of the economics of the developing countries.
In addition to that, even the financial assistances
extended to the developing countries by the developed countries are mostly
attached with strings and harsh conditions which are detrimental to the quest
of developing countries to bridge the gaps of inequalities with the developed
countries but beneficial to the effort of developed countries to create
inequalities. An illustrative example in that regard is when financial support
is given to the developing countries to bridge their infrastructures deficits
but with the conditions that all material resources and the construction firm
to do the project must necessarily come from the developed country offering the
support. This kind of support will rather boost the economy of the developed
countries because the financial support they offer will return in their economy
coupled with the export gains and the interest that the developing countries
will pay on the financial support.
In conclusion, is worth stating that development is an
ending process of historical change because of durable inequalities and also
the developed countries are already developed and therefore their quest to
better their lot will amount to the creation of inequalities with the
developing countries. From the angle of the characteristics of developing
countries (poor health system, malnutrition, high literacy rate, high infant
mortality rates, weak institutions, poor technological infrastructures etc)
relative to that of developed countries, developing measure necessarily put in
concrete measures to bridge these gaps of socio-economic and political
inequalities with the developed countries. On the developed countries more
concerned with creating inequalities with developing countries, is clearly
obvious that the developed countries are already developed and they want to
better their lot therefore policies( free trade and economic partnership
agreement, financial support with harsh conditions and strings attached) pretending to be in the interest of
developing countries are thrown to the developing countries which in the long
run tend to benefit the developed countries and the inequalities gaps continue
to persist.
REFERENCES:
1. MICHEAL P. TODARO AND STEPHEN C.SMITH BOOK OF ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT (Chapter 1, 2 and 3)
2. DR. DANIEL APPIAH LECTURE SLIDES ON DEVELOPMENT ISSUES
IN GHANA (Level 200 Undergraduate GIMPA 2013/2014)
3. WIKIPEDIA (Differences between Developed and
Developing Countries)
