Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
inequality and other indicators of 'underdevelopment'. A key part of
this is making sure that the basic needs of the people are being met.
All of these aspects of development are alluded to in the Rough Guide/
DFID definition.
But in day-to-day terms what exactly is meant by 'development'?
Have views of, and attitudes toward, development changed markedly
over the years? Who is development for? Do global institutions, national
governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), firms and indi-
viduals understand the word 'development' to mean much the same
thing? These issues are the focus in this chapter.
The Modern Origins of the
Process of Development
The origins of the modern process of development lie in the late 1940s.
The so-called 'modern era'
of development is often directly linked to a
speech made by the then United States President, Harry Truman in
1949 (Potter et al., 2008). In this, Truman employed the term 'underde-
veloped areas' to describe what was soon to be referred to as the Third
World. In his speech, Truman made clear what he saw as the duty of
the developed world or 'West' (see Chapter 1.3) to bring 'development'
to such relatively underdeveloped countries.
Colonialism may be defined as the exercise of direct political control
and the administration of an overseas territory by a foreign state (see
also Chapter 1.3). Thus, effectively Truman was emphasizing a new
colonial - a neocolonial - role for the USA within the newly independ-
ent countries that were emerging from the process of decolonization.
Truman was encouraging the so-called 'underdeveloped nations' to turn
to the USA and the West generally for long-term assistance, rather
than to the socialist world or 'East', based on Moscow and the USSR.
The genesis of much of development theory and practice lay in the
period between 1945 and 1955 and what is referred to as the period of
high modernism. Modernism may be defined as the belief that develop-
ment is about transforming 'traditional' countries into 'modern,
Westernised nations'. For many Western governments, particularly
former colonial powers, such views represented a continuation of the
late colonial mission to develop colonial peoples within the concept of
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