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liberal democracies, the latter primarily in Europe, North America and
Australia. By 1995, there were 43 authoritarian states, whilst the number of
partial and liberal democracies had grown to 42 and 79 respectively (Potter,
2000: 369). However, two points must be emphasised. First, and generally, it
has increasingly come to be accepted that the nature of governance or the
effectiveness of state intervention is a significant factor in the development
process in developing countries; a lack of development has come to be equated
with the concept of the 'failing state' (Di John, 2010; Ghani & Lockhart,
2009). Second, democratisation by itself may not facilitate development, and
may even impede it. That is, irrespective of changes in the nature of govern-
ment, the distribution of power within many less developed countries tends
to favour a small, powerful élite (their position often being strengthened and
legitimised by the democratic process); experience has shown that successful
development is dependent upon fundamental transformations in socio-
economic structures that challenge this traditional dominance of the élite.
This is not, of course, a definitive list of the characteristics of under-
development. There are many other indicators of human development,
including gender-related issues, access to energy and natural resources, safety
and security and so on that must be included as measures of development.
At the same time, there are also many 'developmental' problems facing
industrialised countries. For example, the so-called Index of Sustainable
Economic Welfare (ISEW) which, in addition to correcting for income
inequalities hidden in standard GDP figures, attempts to make adjustments
for environmental costs, the depreciation of natural capital, unpaid work,
'defensive' health care and other indicators of overall welfare (Daly & Cobb,
1989). While both controversial and applied to relatively few, mostly devel-
oped, countries, the results of the ISEW are interesting in that they consis-
tently demonstrate a perceived increase in welfare below the rate of increase
in GDP and in some countries, notably the USA and the UK, a decline in
welfare over the last 20 years. In other words, some developed countries are
experiencing 'negative' development according to broader welfare indicators
(Jackson & McBride, 2005).
Many of these issues are discussed in depth in the development studies
literature. The main point here, however, is that for tourism to be considered
an effective vehicle for development, then it should implicitly represent a
means of addressing and providing a solution to many of the developmental
challenges outlined above. In other words, there is little doubt that, as an
economic sector, tourism has much to contribute to countries or specific
areas within both the industrialised and less developed worlds; indeed, there
are innumerable examples of tourism's positive contribution to income,
employment and foreign exchange earnings in destination areas. What is less
certain, however, is the extent to which this economic contribution of tour-
ism feeds the developmental process, or whether tourism, as a single, identifi-
able economic sector, represents on its own an effective developmental
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