Why Development is So Difficult to Achieve: Limitations to Development

An essay response to question one of Development Theory and Practice


Phyo Win Latt

Trying to Understand the Development

Robert Chambers in his (IDS) Institute of Development Studies Working Paper called Ideas for Development: Reflecting Forwards tries to simplify the meaning of development as "good change". On the other hand, there are many different definitions of development by other academics and development theory experts. For some development is maximizing of human choice, for dictionaries entries on development it is a normative concept. Alan Thomas tried to extend the chamberian definition of good change by stating that it implies "increase living standards, improve health and well-being for all, and the achievement of whatever is regarded as a general good to the society at large". (Thomas, 2000) This essay will use the chamberian approach of definition for development to explore why that particular good change is so difficult to achieve.

What Should Be Included in Development?

Different interpretation of development itself is one of the main difficulties to achievement of it. If we do not have a clear goal how can we achieve what we aim. It is sure that growth only is not development although development may not be the ideal state for the welfare of human being. The UN Development Decade: Proposals for Action assumes that development is constituted with growth plus change.(Esteva, 2005) If we focus more on any form of growth including economic growth, we cannot achieve the real development.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and pro democracy leader of Burma (Myanmar) Daw Aung San Suu Kyi differentiates between development and mere economic growth in her article published in Journal of Democracy in 1995. According to her as quoted by Lionnet, Nnaemeka, Perry, & Schenck, "the heart of the development process must be 'a sense of empowerment and inner fulfillment,' she rightly maintains, as people’s social and political transformation is 'the central issue of our time'. For Aung San Suu Kyi, development requires democracy, the genuine empowerment of the people, the very sort of participation advocated and recorded in this issue. When this is achieved, culture and economic development will naturally coalesce to create an environment in which all are valued, and every kind of human potential can be realized”(Lionnet, Nnaemeka, Perry, & Schenck, 2003)

In this sense, can we call burgeoning economic in East and South East Asia as a sign of development? Probably not. For example, look at China, which will officially declare itself as having third highest GDP in the world. Though having economic growth China has lack of democracy and still committing human right violations under communist regime. For Truman who used the term underdevelopment China can still be consider as underdeveloped in this sense.(Esteva, 2005)

A senior Canadian lady volunteering in Child Protection Center in Bangkok as CUSO cooperant makes a remark on the issue of child abuse in Thai society as a cultural development and concept of human right are left far behind economic and infrastructural growth of Thailand. It is supposed to be synchronizely improved as the economy and infrastructural assets grow. So we can conclude that development should covers growth and positive changes in society.

What Are the Underlying Factors That Make Development Hard to Achieve

There are many factors hindering development process. Such as having set the development goal far from the reality to the lack of enthusiasm and participation from the beneficiaries. One point we normally over look is the fact that development is not just what development agencies do. If it is so we will have already achieved some extent of development as the agencies promised. And other issues are whose development and to develop who. Compare with the practice of communism, we can see its change of focus from communism for the welfare of the people to make people protect, sometimes sacrifice for the sake of the endurance of communism. This situation can also be applied in development world. The situation may turn from development for the people sake to the people for development sake like in communism . So what ever done in the name of development may not be development.

1) Material Centered or Human Centered?

Cocoyoc Declaration, which was issued in 1974, has the clear statement on that matter. What the declaration emphasized was that the purpose of development "should not be to develop things, but to develop man. Any process of growth, it added, that does not lead to the fulfillment [of basic needs]-- or, even worse, disrupts them--is a travesty of the idea of development".(Esteva, 2005) That goes with the idea of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who advocates for democracy as the genuine empowerment of the people to achieve development. Bjorn Hettne labeled material centered development as a growth manic in his book Development Theory and the Three Worlds: Towards an International Political Economy of Development.

2) Lack of Participation of the Beneficiaries and Lack of Mutual Understanding

Most of the development plan and strategies are drawn by the development agencies. That is the way they use to implement development is top down approach, which doesn't have the place for the participation of those who will benefit from the development plans. Because those planners and developers assume themselves, development experts and the plans will rightly fit into the need of the local people. However, in the reality those top down type of development plans fail. Just because they are not coming from the people. And this may also lessen the trust of the people on the projects and may cause misunderstanding between developers and local people. To give an example let's see the case of Population Service International (PSI) in Burma (Myanmar), a Washington based NGO working for public health services. As a part of HIV/AIDS campaign, the NGO has to advocates for the use of condom widely. Without having awareness of the extroverted nature of Burmese people, PSI used the direct method to promote the use of condom, which resulted in public dislike on PSI. A development plan may not be successful if it does not receive the participation from the beneficiaries and the people.

In chapter, five of his book Development Theory and the Three Worlds Hettne quoted alternative development thinking popularized by Dag Hammarskjöld report and Development Dialogue Journal published by Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation. It has five principles one of which is endogenous. Which means "stemming from the heart of each society, which defines in sovereignty its value and the vision of its future".(Hettne, 1995) According to Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation successful alternative development the society has to define its own future, how it wants to make it better. However, in reality such kind of development planning is too much far from the practical field.

3) Having No Will to Develop or Having Fatalistic Outlook

Will to power is the term widely used by Nietzsche. But for the development of the people, will to develop is much more important. If the people are very religious and believe that, any profit making and physical growth are against the religious teaching of temperance, self-denial, and austerity they may not have the will to develop. An example from Thailand may be useful to explain this case. In 1959 when Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat seize the state power by a soup d etat he formed a new ministry for national development to modernize the country. But the government saw the ideological teaching of Sangha (Monks) to know one's limit of wants and to contented, as a limit to economic development.

As Surichai Wangaeo stated in his paper Possibilities of Alternative Social Science Discourse in Thailand: A Lesson from Buddhist Praxis "The government worried that many monks, conscious ideological leaders, would instill in the people ideas inappropriate from the point of view of mobilizing the people to economic pursuits. It even instructed the Sangha to refrain from teaching negative or inappropriate Buddhist concepts for development, for example, Santosa, which means knowing one's limitations or be contented. The government then thought it would be working against its slogan Ngarn ku ngern, Ngern kun garn bandana suk (work is money, money is work, this creates happiness). For the government elites were aiming rather at creating 'more wants' and 'more desires' or demands for consumption, which were viewed as stimuli for further growth and production. Economic growth was the be-all and end-all."(Surichai Wangaeo) To prevent this Field Marshall Sarit Thanarat sent a notification latter dated April 18, 1960 to most of the senior monks across the country.


Another negative impact of being religious is having fatalistic believes on one's life. Some believers of Buddhism who believe Karma (good or bad deeds people did in the previous lives that has an effect on present life) have fatalistic point of view on their life. For them they are poor and underdeveloped because they did bad deeds in previous lives so they are deserved to suffer the poverty and other miseries and will not receive redemption. Therefore, they believe anyone tries to help them out of poverty and miseries will end up in vain. They assume themselves that they must suffer the poverty and miseries as a penance. Rural areas in some parts of Burma still hold this point of view. Some time they even question the development workers why they are trying to help them, the cursed people, which will not be successful. This mentality is disturbing development process by discouraging people to dropping their will and hope to develop.

4) Active or Passive Type of Development

It is clear that development is not the process totally done to the beneficiaries by developers and developing agencies. The beneficiaries themselves have to participate in the process. So that they can understand why they need to develop, how can they contributed in the developing process of the agencies, how can they sustain the development they have already achieved and will achieve after the development project initiative by the agencies. Since the nature of development, projects are time limited, after the project the people have to take care of the achievement and sustain it for the generations to come by themselves. That is why they have to be active participants of the development projects that are being done to their region. However that needs a lot of advocacy and persuasion process. They should be well aware of the consequences good and bad of course. Not 100% of the people would be benefit form a single development project. There will always be some people who would not satisfy with the results and improvements come out from the project. If we cannot go beyond this step, we will only have to say that development is difficult and roll back the action.

5) Conflict of Interests and Polarization of Interests

Some time development may bring benefits to some and problem to others. Because it involves changing the present situation. Whatever that changes will be there will be those benefits from the change and there will be those who lost their status quo due to that change. If people are not well informed and not well prepare to accept the change and live with this change it is better not to change. As Mohandas K. Gandhi said, "You must become the change you wish to see in the world." So that they can enjoy the change.

In 1995, Electronic Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) planned to build Pak Moon dam on Moon River in Ubon Rachatani Province. For the inhabitants of this area the dam will totally change their livelihood of fishing in the Moon River. While building the dam some villagers find themselves in better situations by working in the construction and related development projects when others have to leave their villages to continue their fishing business, which is their only way of livelihood. We can see the interests of the villagers became polarized on this particular project. Although the dam project is a development project, the changes required to implement this project were threatening the livelihoods of the people.

This project has another dimension. It was not intended for the people living near the dam area. The indented beneficiaries are the people living in metropolitan area. Moreover, the focus of the development is totally on those people living in cities, not the area around the dam project. For those cities dwellers the project was positive and have nothing to lose their present status, it may even ameliorate their living standard. Therefore, their interest concerning this project was totally opposite to the villagers who live by the river. These are the good examples of conflict of interest and polarization of the interest that a development project can brings.

6) Lacking the Notion of Responsible Well Being in Development World

Robert Chambers proposed the notion of 'responsible well-being' as he defines "concepts of well-being, and personal responsibility – can be combined as responsible well-being, a two-word concept to explore. The challenge is to see what this might mean for all people, in their relations with themselves, with others, and with the environment. Two basic principles on which there is wide agreement are equity and sustainability." For him " The objective of development is well-being for all. Well-being can be described as the experience of good quality of life. Well-being and its opposite, ill-being, differ from wealth and poverty." Patta Scott-Villiers also back up the notion in 2004 by stating that " . . . one cannot be responsible for others’ well-being without being responsible for one’s own, but neither can one be well on one’s own without taking some responsibility for the well-being of others." (Chambers, 2004)

Can we see any sense of the notion responsible notion in practical development world? Probably rare if not at all. May be Chambers is too optimistic but without having the sense of responsibility or having only little sense of responsibility it would be hard to achieve and sustain development in the long run.

Conclusion

I have tried to examine some aspects of development theories to identify which factors make development so difficult to achieve. And so far come up with six factors, which I think would be important. Since the nature of development is wide and diverse, some theory and practice are still far away. We have to go on theorize what we find and tried to apply this theory in practice. Otherwise, development will still be difficult task for us.

Bibliography

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