EXAMINE THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING DEVELOPMENT - Essay Example

With this, these theories draw influence from various disciplines and approaches to social science. Ideally, the principle behind the establishment of the development theory was the alleviating of poverty in marginalized areas on the globe (Schuurman, 1993: 1). The establishment of the development theory happened in the period after the 1960s when this aspect became one of the most sought after means of disseminating progress theories. Many researchers concluded that the development theory was one of the modernization theories.

However, the advancement in defining this concept of modernity brought with it intense problems that led to the failure of the theory making impact. With this, this essay will delve into the failure of defining development as a theory in relation to the third world nations. Development as a teaching subject Arguably, teaching of development as a theory in institutions of learning evolved into a matter of conflict because there was no clear definition on explaining development theories. Nevertheless, many institutions organized forums with the aim of streamlining the development agenda to make a unified concept in teaching.

One of the institutions that organized such an initiative was the Nijmen University in Netherlands, which planned a forum in 1990 that intended to consolidate the various development theories that were in existence. The result of the forum became visible as the consolidation of theories made it possible to re-evaluate the approach to this theory and made the challenges for the future of the theory approachable. Additionally, the development theory also experienced critical challenges as many analysts suggested “the impasse in the development theory” (Schuurman, 1993: 45).

In essence, many developing nations were in the process of utilizing their potential towards achieving economic stability and were becoming socially competent. With this, there was a shift from the initial view on development to a liberalized and modern view because of the democratization. According to many, the change through democracy was partly the reason as to why many of third world nations experienced progress, that is, because of the inception of favorable conditions that harbored progress potential.

On the contrary, the concept of development was not a stand-alone idea in that it had to work with the aid of other theories such as the dependency theory (Schuurman, 1993: 3). Ideally, the dependency theory illustrated the relationship between industrially stable economies and developing economies. This was dominant in many of the developing nations because they were non-independent from the nations that had initialized the process of progress for them. However, many criticized this theory because they viewed its explanation on development as shallow and unable to cover the matter in entirety.

Politics as a contributor to the failure of the development theory Ideally, political structures within a nation tend to have a direct influence on the development levels that a nation intends to achieve. In essence, the policy frameworks that exist within a political structure have a correlation with the growth and political stability of a country. The problem also lies in the implementation of policies that may result into failure or success because of the inadequacies