Future

1. DEVELOPMENT WITHIN
THE CONTEXT OF HISTORY
Real development cannot be measured in term of the conventional indicators of
national growth such as gross national product and per capita income but in terms of real
income distribution and the disposition of surplus, or more specifically, in terms of higher
living standards, social security, and access to the best in education and culture for all
men – in short, a more human and humane society for all.
In our case as in the case of all the Third World countries, development
must mean a leap from a condition of backwardness or what in more contemporary and
precise term is called underdevelopment. Therefore, it is imperative that we understand
the phenomenon of underdevelopment. The prevailing notion is that the backwardness of
nation of the Third World is merely a stage in an evolutionary spiral which will
eventually allow them to attain the status of developed nations. This is an unhistorical
and therefore unrealistic view, for it assumes that these countries are developing when,
actually, they are under developing.
A historical approach
The phenomenon of underdevelopment in the Third World cannot be understood
unless it is viewed as a historical product; it is the obverse of the history of the advanced
countries. Where we have development on one side, we see underdevelopment on the
other. For these are two poverty of the Third World has resulted in the wealth of the
advanced nation has been made possible by the impoverishment of the backward nations.