Politics of Development - Research Paper Example

? Politics of Development Introduction Blakely and Leigh (2006) suggest that development is the aspect of growth or it maysimply refer to expansion, progress or improvement. Improvement comes in terms of services offered, facilities available in a country for public use and the kind or level of production in the industries of that country. Development of this kind could be termed as economic improvement or growth. Development, especially economic development associates itself with the kind of life people of a particular nation or state lead long and healthy lives. This is where access to the necessary resources that guarantee a civilized standard of living is possible and practical. On the other hand, development revolves around the empowerment where people of a particular nation control their live through finding solutions to their demands and problems. This reflects on the availability of necessities to the nationals of a given nation. In other terms, development is the upward movement of social systems, which include economic and non-economic factors. Development works in a way that creates social, economic and political frameworks that are able to stimulate growth in the said area of development. Development fosters easy access to resources, through transformation, or modification of the available facilities to suit the needs of individuals or the nation as a whole. Development of any kind has its own failures and successes associated with it (Burnell and Randall 2008). The various examples of political; development range from good governance that results to better lives through laid down frameworks that ensure provision of the basic necessities in a better and appropriate way. However, the success of economic development is when there is growth in economic sectors where more businesses flourish and production processes yield products with good quality and can be availed to the market at moderate or fare prices. On the other hand, the failures of economic development may result to high rates of inflation, unemployment and high living standards that a country may experience. Economic development has a direct impact on the lives of people in a country and it affects almost all activities carried out in a country. This is because, the areas of there economy like the lending of money form banks would highly be affected by economic growth, where more people may be encouraged to borrow money or production processes may seem favored by the availability of raw materials at low prices. Improved living standards would be indicators of economic growth. Thus, economic development is more fundamental and appropriate bin understanding what it means by development as the whole world focuses on economic development in various ways. Many countries engage in economic development strategies to improve living standards of people within the countries. Every country has its own history on how it deals with economic matters (Shane 2005). Economic Development in America America was discovered in the year fourteen ninety-two by Christoph Kolumbus, where the first settlers came from Europe and precisely England. After the arrival of the English people, they began to build colonies that resulted into new cities. In early sixteen nineteen tobacco industry establishment meant that labor force was required and as a result, slaves from Netherlands had to work on the new established tobacco industry plantation and factory. The Americans started fighting and becoming rebellious to the British minority after the Britons formulated unfavorable economic regulations. In the late seventeen seventies, the Americans overpowered the British forces and as a result, the then British King honored a peace agreement signing that granted the Americans independence and George Washington became the first president. Due to his interest in economic affairs, slavery influenced the history of America during his time. Slavery ended with the civil war after Abraham Lincoln who was against became the next American president by then. The involvement of the United States in the First and Second World War plunged it into economic problems that it had to solve in the early nineteen hundred. The fight for better economic environments goes on to date (Williams 2011; Harris 2002). Economic Development Shane (2005) affirms that economic development involves the enhancing of productive capacity aspects of a nation this include; technology, labor, capital and land. Economic development uses power and resources within a state or a nation to reduce or eliminate cots and threats or risks that may hinder investments. Economic development stands as the master plan for any nation’s continued prosperity as it links production sources with the welfare of people in a country. Several conditions or factors should prevail for effective economic development progress. These factors include; capital, good management, materials, markets and most essentially work force to provide the necessary avenues or help for development. Basing on the American economic development, this discussion looks at the history of the economic development in the vast lands of the United States. This dates back to the First World War times when the impacts of the national government in its active involvement in the countries economic systems influenced the economy of America in a big way. Government involvement in economic development takes root since the early civil war and the period between the beginning and the end of the First World War. This period holds significance as the first indicators of big business growth and expansions started emerging causing early effects of economic concentration because of monopoly of business. As a result, the national government came up with regulations to govern the negativity of economic concentration and monopoly. These regulations included the Antitrust Act of the year 1890 and the Clayton Act of early nineteen fourteen (Wright 2006). All this targeted to reduce of give guidelines that would eventually root out the evils of economic concentration due to business monopoly. This regulations by the earlier governments intended to create an even ground for economic stimulation that would foster both present and future economic growth by allowing even economic growth in all areas. With these regulations in place, the economic growth response delayed for along period until the early years of nineteen thirties. Before the Great Depression, the national government of United States established legislation for select building blocks for area economic development. This focused for instance, on vocational training and the building of highways. These were sensitive areas and their immediate improvement would reflect in the economic development. The highways are the key elements for connecting economic production factors; land, work force and capital. In addition, it ensures goods and services move to areas that need their supply or with high demands (Shane 2005; Crane 2009). In addition, development of these key elements was a positive step that aimed at stimulating economic expansion and diversity through out the American states. These governmental efforts to spear head economic development took a new dimension when in nineteen forty-four the then united States President, Roosevelt handed the Economic Bill of Rights to the American people. Because economic development focuses on empowering individuals in a nation, through better economic systems that develop sectors of the economy through job provision and better business environments, the Economic Bill of Rights had important set of guidelines among them the right to useful source of employment. It also focuses on the development of good economies, well secured to sustain jobs and businesses in the United States. This was one way of empowering individuals in America so that every citizen would have access to better and decent living standards. This was Roosevelt’s post war economic goal. This intended also to bring back the economy of the United States to and beyond the required levels as per the American dream. This was a focuses of the future through the present. This is in line with some policies of economic development, and the main goal of economic policies is to generate a higher standard of living through provision of jobs (Crane 2009; Wright 2006). In relation to Shane (2005) and Frost (2003), economic policies also focus on expanding opportunities for both businesses and avenues for jobs to the United States nationals. The laid down policies for economic growth addresses environmental assets conservation thus providing quality lives for the American citizen who are the centre focus. The shortcomings of the Economic Bill of rights were that it did not consider the small business, which are more important in any counties economy. This is because the majority in any population of a country holds potentials of having small businesses rather than the minority whose concentration accumulates large business that are randomly placed in a country. The small businesses handle the products and services that reach to the targeted individuals, thus taking good care of small businesses means that the whole business world in a country has a guarantee. Small businesses hold a key role in solving a country’s problems, due to their penetration capabilities. If the policies implemented in the Economic Bill of rights took the right direction from the start by focusing small businesses that had stronger economic potential for implementing and putting to task economic policies at all levels. However, through the new deal that Roosevelt initiated, affected upon regional economic development policies in a way that made them more effective. To ensure efficiency, the new deal had a number of issues that it included its planning and execution. To ensure a plan for construction, improvement, and repair of communal highways and other communal facilities, the Public Works Administration (PWA) establishment in the early nineteen thirties to addressed the issues of public interest including the road network and all social facilities accessible for economic purposes. This establishment was through the National Industrial Recovery Act and it focused on development and the general conservation of natural resources to secure a better future for the American people through the guarantee of safe and health environment for healthy and productive living. This also allows continuous supply of work force whose productivity and the general efficiency is high through improved health and living standards. Because the work force is an important element of economic development, the American economy is bound to expand through steady supply of health work force as provided for in the enacted regulations that focuses on a good environment (Frost 2003; Wright 2006). In addition to the PWA, the National Resources Planning Board got into action to help in implementation of the PWA under Roosevelt’s government. It established investigations that focused on examining physical aspects of regional economic development with a national vision of developing all sectors of the American economy through regional empowerment that would eventually put concentration on national economic developments for the whole of America. Another regulation or authority put forward under the Roosevelt administration is the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), which had vision to interconnecting national system of river valley regional development in projects. It was the most funded state planning commissions established in the nineteen thirties. This was a highway for the federal government economic planning. The Roosevelt government used the TVA planning as a pilot development commission that reflected the depth of the government’s engagement in formulating and designing and formulating policies of importance in economic development of the whole country. Further still, the federal government of United States continued with is efforts to streamline ways and highway that would guarantee good and competitive economic activities. These efforts emerged through the establishment of the Small War Plants Corporation (SWPC) as the first federal government’s agency. This aimed at utilizing the capabilities of small business in economic development. This started by employing small businesses potential in production of parts for the Second World War. This came because of high rate discrimination that the small businesses faced in the national defense contraction processes. Therefore, the federal government got under pressure to incorporate the small businesses to help integrate the majority as this would have stooped internal destruction from the Americans themselves due to negligence and high rate discrimination levels that threatened to split the nation (Shane 2005; Wright 2006). As result of this, the federal government formulated ways of tackling and eliminating the problems associated with small businesses. This was through the creation of a resolution that investigated and handled small business problems in depth to establish the root causes and possible lasting solutions. Through this efforts also, the federal government created a specific committee that focused on the problems of small businesses in a more practical way. In this way, the federal government of the American people was driving economic development on a right road as small businesses matter a lot in situations of national importance especially economic issues. As discussed earlier, economic development focused of various aspects of public importance including the provision of employment to the citizens of a country complete independence and development. In view of this, the federal government of the United States gave a legislative proposal that aimed at addressing the needs of the depressed or the disadvantaged people in the nation (Wright 2006). This legislation became an employment Act in the years that followed the legislative evaluation and consideration of its importance. The act addressed and helped the government to focus on the under developed areas of the nation in order give even and equal development to the nation which was able to guarantee good life and improved living standards through the acquisition of the basic necessities and rights as citizens of the vast American nation. This shows that any nation has to address problems of economic development from the grassroots level in order to have uniform national economic development capabilities. Guaranteeing these efforts was through remedial actions basing on rural problems. This particularly sought ways of handling worker orientation and employment expansion and creation. This were more of private economic initiations that targeted and focused more on grassroots developments that geared towards better economic up front forces that stimulated the efforts of very individual a positive mind for economic development towards self reliance and national I industrialization for economic sustenance(Crane 2009). Economic developments in a vast country requires a complete federal government intervention in a clear and balanced way to eliminate grass root economical hindrances in order to have unified economic development across the nation. These strategic moves by the federal government targets small businesses or entrepreneurs who hold the biggest percentage of the country’s economic development potentials. Because of this, the United States government under the former President Truman, the federal government established statistical collection and distribution agencies, which included; the Area Development Division and the Bureau of Employment Security. To an economic analyst, the two agencies served their purpose to bring to an end the economic development imbalances. Truman’s administration used this as a way of narrowing down regional differences in terms of development t by raising productivity and ways of income earning in the regions that lagged behind in economic development (Crane 2009). The federal government pushed its efforts in regional economic development balancing through innovative methods that aimed at improving agricultural methods and land use. Any nation that wishes to advance economically needs to better its food production processes through improved and better agricultural methods that ensures food sufficiency. This is in line with the meaning of development that generally involves better living standards that guarantee a healthy nation. a nation can only be health when its economy is favorable for business, good and secure employment for the communities in the country and when there is sufficiency of food supply at rates that all citizens can access without straining (Walton 2009). The federal government was aiming at improving food security as part of strategies to guarantee national economic development. To ensure economic development diversity in all sectors, Truman’s administration targeted industrial expansion and diversification that geared towards increased education levels and better health levels. The educational and health improvement funds sourcing were from improved industrial base that provided a diversity of employment across the nation. With the presence of industries that required skilled workers and the availability of funds through empowered citizens, educational levels were set to rise and meet the government’s desire of national economic development. Integration of in labor, business and agriculture laid a foundation for the achievement of goals for economic development that affected all sections of the nation (Walton 2009; Geselbracht 2007). Harris (2002) and Frost (2003) affirm that a country that needs better economic development has to create and nature strategies that analyses and puts in place economic master plans for every aspect of a good economic development that stimulates all sectors and levels of the economy. This strategic analysis of plans that could spear head economic development is useful as it indicates various causes of economic problems. As part of this analysis, the Truman government identified some ways of stimulating economic development through favoring technical assistance that would foster industrial and agricultural development in a move to increase or improve ways of economic development stimulation. The federal government focused most on ways that it would issue loans in addition to the technical assistance it offered in the depressed areas. Initiation of the rural development program and the small business act in mid nineteen fifties was a plan that gave way for the government to penetrate rural areas in a bit to foster unified economic development. The fruits of these efforts as witnessed in the later years, where more than five decades the United States’ economy took the first stand in leading the world economy to new levels. Civil organizations and local governments play the key role in economic development that. Local governments are the extensions of the federal government and better organization and good governance practices at local government levels leads to better economic development national as the federal government would have easy ways of moving or taking its strategic plans to the grassroots levels. The problems associated with a centralized government would reduce and thus economic development would easily achieve their purpose as good economic development strategies means development at all levels (Frost 2003). Economic development programs in the United States According to Shane (2005), for any successful economic development, any federal government has to formulate programs that would act as guiding principles for effect development that affects all parts of the country. For this reason, the United States had a number of development programs it put in place to guarantee development. To begin with, the Public Works Act of the late nineteen seventies served the purpose of addressing the problem of high employment levels. Formulating the program in the late nineteen seventies helped the federal government to put efforts in stimulating economic recovery. This served as emergence federal government assistance to the local and state governments in preventing budget actions that would hinder the federal government in initiating economic recovery strategies. The program focused on construction projects that majored in stimulating economic growth by providing some form of employment to the American population. The shortcomings of this development program are that it failed to include some segments of the population that had higher rate of unemployment. Secondly, the development program had another shortcoming in that it failed again to incorporate a key unit for economic development. This was the failure to incorporate the minority small businesses. This failure meant that there were gaps in the development efforts spear headed by the government. Thus, the development program deserved amendments that would eliminate the gaps and allow the federal government to total associate all sectors or parts of the population in national economic development. Further still, the hub zone program established in early nineteen nineties focused on providing federal contract assistance that targeted small business in under utilized business zones. This served the purpose of increasing employment levels to empower the citizens of the United States in all areas to achieve a nation wide economic development target. It also focused on increasing economically viable investments through the assistance it offered to such small businesses located in the under developed areas (Harris 2002; Shane 2005). The federal government used the programs as a way of accessing the neglected areas. This ensured grass root penetration of the federal government agencies while focusing on economic development. Had procedures that allowed government agencies to scrutinize the documents of the small business companies located in the hub zones. These procedures included a certification test that required the companies to meet a thirty five percent (35%) employee test. This test and procedures are among the requirements that allowed the government to give certification numbers for easy allocation of contracts when the government embarked on the plans of creating more jobs to its population, especially those in rural and under development areas. To this end, the program served its purpose of empowering the citizens through investment assistance and employment creation. All this reflects the meaning of economic development through this hub zone program (Shane 2005: Crane 2009). The program had its failures in that it lacked adequate ties to the depressed communities it was created for as it mostly targeted already established small business companies. This was a bit of failure because it never addressed directly the needs and requirements of the community by creating or assisting in creation of new businesses or companies through grass root initiatives. Economic development relies on proper utilization of work force around the country. In line with this statement, established the Labor Surplus Areas program, came because of high unemployment rates, low equipment, and plant utilization that threatened to corrode the mobilization base. This would have had a big impact of the production capability of the United States as a nation. In response to this, the United States government through the issuing of the Defense Manpower Policy, which helped or served as frame to that the United States federal government used to direct procurement contracts to employers in areas perceived to have a surplus of employees(Wright 2006). According to the federal government reports, this areas ha d high rates of unemployment, which would hinder the economic development for a vast nation like the United States. Thus, this program was more goals oriented as it aimed at utilizing one of the key elements of economic development to its maximum to achieve great and faster economic development results perceived to have an impact on the living standards of the American families. This is true because, when at least on member of the family has a sustainable employment, all other fruits of economic development; quality lifestyles, through better health facilities, quality education and good road networks would be part and parcel of the aspects of development. The success of this program highly depended on the efficiency of the economic development elements that included proper utilization of labor force in the given areas, and maximum utilization of production facilities. To ensure this, the program required that efficient utilization of both labor and management skills to receive good and better outcome. Another thing was that the program aimed at having full utilization of existing production facilities, this geared towards creation of new plants in line with worker mobility. This was a plan that would help in maintaining economic balance while focusing on employment stability in America. Through this program, the government expanded its help in designing ways of employment provision including training for both underemployed and sub employed (Frost 2003; Wright 2009). Shane (2005), Crane (2009) and Geselbracht (2007) assert that, among the economic development programs put in place included also the Economic Development Administration that served its purpose in greater significance. The former United States president, Johnson used this as a platform that he laid a plan to group together communities and counties in economically viable districts. This helped the federal government officials in focusing on a collective plan and assistance. This served to reduce great unemployment levels. This program had a number of objectives it used to serve its purpose right. The first objective, the primary objective had a number of issues it used to serve its purpose. This included the following; the rural focus of aid used as a strategy for reducing rural urban migration; by setting objectives to develop rural areas, through investments as part of industrial decentralization strategies. Secondly, self-sustained economic development; this aimed at provision of stimulus for self sustained growth or improvement. This cut off long-term income transfer to the unemployed. Finally, increased planning capacity; this served to endorse long-term plans in all levels of the government. This supported infrastructure development that would stimulate and facilitate growth in all sectors of the economy. The secondary objectives included; the maximization of national economic efficiency through proper utilization of both skills and resources in the economic viable locations or areas. There was also the geographic dispersion of assistance that helped the federal government increase its penetration capabilities to all areas in the country to stimulate uniform national economic development as one way of cubing rural urban migration. Conclusion Development in simple terms refers to growth or improvement in a number of factors. In economic development, this means growth that allows or avails various services to the citizens of a country through creation of jobs, better educational and health services and viable environments for economic investments. From the American history, it is evident that a good economic development plan needs the attention of both legal systems and political systems that lay frameworks and programs that spear heads economic development. Every good leadership has to focus on economic development in their way. To realize good economic development, economic development programs have to be in place as frameworks for laying and executing economic plans (Blakely and Leigh, 2009). References Blakely, E. & Leigh, N. (2009). Planning local economic development: theory and practice. Washington, DC: Sage. Burnell, P. & Randall, V. (2008). Politics in the developing world. Oxford: Oxford University Press Crane, K. (2009). Guidebook for supporting economic development in stability operations. North Carolina: Rand Corporation. Frost, B. & Sikkenga, J. (2003). History of American political thought. Chicago: Lexington Books Geselbracht, R. (2007). The Civil Rights Legacy of Harry S. Truman. New York, NY: Truman State Univ Press. Harris, S. (2002). American Economic History. California: Beard Books. Shane, S. (2005). Economic development through entrepreneurship: government, university and business linkages. New York, NY: Edward Elgar Publishing Walton, G. & Rockoff, H. (2009). History of the American Economy. Washington, DC: Cengage Learning. Williams, W. & Grandin, G. (2011). The Contours of American History. Chicago: Verso Books. Wright, G. (2006). Slavery and American economic development. New York, NY: LSU Press. Read More