Society-Centered and Agent-Centered Approaches to Development - Essay Example

The liberties encourage innovations and trade thereby resulting in the growth of other spheres of human life. This debate alludes to development as a cycle consisting of the economic, political, and social aspects. The development of one of these results in the progression of another thus resulting in a holistically developed faction. Alexander Bernasek, on the other hand, in his article titled Banking on Social Change: Grameen Bank Lending to Women studies the role of the marginalized communities in the development process.

He asserts that democracy, which is presently the most preferred form of governance, disadvantages other groups within the society. Certain governments have often ignored some groups such as the women, youth, and the disabled. Consequently, this denies such regions development owing to the lack of a holistic approach to development. Of the three, the most objective reading is Strong societies weak states. The article raises a number of factors that inhibit development in modern day societies.

The writer explains that development is a multifaceted concept that includes such societal spheres as politics, economics, and social values. For effective development, all these spheres must develop concurrently. This is a fete which is never easy to achieve in most societies especially in the modern times. Socially, the writer explains the diversities that result in societal stratifications which if not effectively managed deter the development process. A state is made up of little societies that have to coexist peacefully; each society has its unique features and cultures.

Culture defines life for people in the society; retrogressive cultures inhibit the developments and growths in the society. Apparently, modern societies have different understanding to culture making it a non-static idea that societies manipulate to ease life thereby fast track development. Changing cultures expand markets for goods and services (Migdal 4). Currently, the world has become a global village owing to the expansive use of communication technologies. This makes it possible for people to conduct businesses easily and interact on global platforms.

The writer further fuses the social development to political and economic aspects of the concept. From the smaller units of life such as families and societies, people come together to share amenities and common interest. In a bid to safeguard such, they develop structures of governance. Most of the modern day societies are democratic owing to the hypothesis of the social contract theory which asserts that people sign social contracts with their leaders to safeguard their interests and common amenities thereby leading them for a set period after which they assess their performance and elect better leaders.

According to this theory, politics and leadership therefore is the centerpiece of societies and the source of all development prospects in any country. Political leadership constitute the governance of the society. This implies that the elected leaders make most of the important decisions concerning the daily operations of the societies. They effect this through the policies they implement; poor policies regresses the development prospects that the state makes. Furthermore, the political leadership