Development is a multidimensional concept with no single agreed upon definition. It involves measurable changes in quality of life through economic, social, political, and human development. Historically, development originated from efforts to improve living standards in former colonies and alleviate poverty globally after WWII. While early conceptions focused narrowly on economic growth, development is now broadly understood as the transformation of whole systems across multiple dimensions to enhance human capabilities and well-being in a sustainable manner.

1. Introduction to Development Studies
Historical and Conceptual Understanding of
Development and its Dimensions
Solomon Mwije

2. Session objectives
 Highlight the origins of “development” concept
 Define the concept of development as multidimensional
 Discuss why some countries (areas) are developed than
others

3. Some Books

4. Development?
 Understandings of development mainly linked to measurable changes
in the physical and quality of life
 through implementation of plans and programmes
 No SINGLE definition!
◦ → meaning of development relatively changes from person to person, time
to time, place to place…
 Different thoughts about what development is, how it operates, what it
does, and its ultimate goals.
 To understand this overwhelming concept, we rely on historical
and current perspectives and proposals of its meaning.

5. Historical origins of “Development” concept
 Origins often located in post 1945 era – postWWII crusade
to end poverty
 BUT can be traced from colonialism
 Colonialism → “improvements” and “transformation” e.g.,
infrastructures, education, technology …
 Colonial and post colonial development
 BUT colonialism & imperialism → cause of poverty,
exploitations, inequalities and violence in the colonies
 Emergence of anti-colonial and decolonization movements

6. Historical origins of “Development” concept
 Ideologies, people, and practices of colonial and postcolonial
development
 Emergence of superpowers (USA vs Soviet Union) → Cold
War
 PostWWII development projects → linked to modernization
 Modernization projects = technology, education,
industrialization, health services, high agricultural yields →
eradication of poverty
 Formation of international organizations to oversee
development projects
 Providing aid to “end poverty”

7. Historical origins of “Development” concept
 Global divisions ➔ First world vs Third world, Global north
vs Global south, Developed vs Under-development countries,
 High development, middle, low developed countries
 Neo-colonialism
 Emergence of markets (power of currency) → neo-liberalism
 The power of languages (English-speaking) vs others
 Now competitions between Europe,America, Russia, and
China over Africa, South America, Middle East, and Asia
 Competition based on DEVELOPMENT theory and
practices in the Global South

8. So, what is DEVELOPMENT?
 Development is dynamic course of change.
◦ Many definitions!
 We all have different thoughts about what development is, how
it operates, what it does, and its ultimate goals.
 The meaning relatively changing over time as a result of changes in
economic, social, cultural, political, and human needs.

9. Factors influencing definitions
 Three factors that influence the understanding of the concept of
development.
1. Perceptions. Perceptions of development are wide and varied
2. Values and beliefs.Values and beliefs are based on people’s culture,
social orientation, spirituality and religious convictions.
3. Cultural values. Set of values and beliefs shared by a group or
community in one common local area or at a regional level. Cultural
backgrounds give people their identity.

10. Cont.
 Development has many meanings.
 The meaning a particular person attaches to the term
depends on her subjective view of the world.
 Indeed, the meaning of development is not only a
product of the individual's perspective but also of the
particular period in time when the word is being uttered.

11. Different meanings of Development
 Development as ‘Responsible Well-being’ (Chambers, 1997)
 Development as a ‘Transformational Lifelong Journey’ (Myers, 1999)
 The ‘Human Development – Human Rights’ Development Perspective (UNDP, 2000)
 Development as a ‘Living Process’ (Kaplan, 2000)
 Development as an ‘Interest-Relationship’ Phenomenon (Nabacwa, 2006)
 Development as a ‘Sustained Elevation of a Good Life’ (Todaro & Smith, 2012)
…etc

12. Narrow definition of development
 Development = Economic Growth
 ➔ e.g. production of goods and services
 Specifically, development is seen as being about economic
growth engineered by experts.

13. Development as Economic Growth?
 Measure of welfare of humans in a society
◦ Indicators → include economic growth
 Economic growth (a measure of the values of output of
goods and services with in a time period) involves
◦ National income
◦ Growth Domestic Product (GDP) [the value of output produced
within a country during a time period]
◦ Growth National Product (GNP) [the value of output produced
within a country plus (+) net income from property abroad
◦ Per capita income

14. Problems with economic growth measures
 Measures used. Using measures of economic growth can give
distorted pictures because they do not put into account the income
distribution
 Quality of life?
◦ Can changes in economic growth measure changes in the quality of life?
◦ Does additional earnings power bring with it additional stress, increases in
working hours, increased family problems?
◦ Are the goods and services distributed equally?
 What about the informal economy?
◦ Some activities are not recorded and measure including their effects on
population e.g. un-paid household work, community charitable work.

15. Validity problems with measuring
development as economic growth
If we define development in terms of economic growth we miss issues
related to
1. Personal capabilities (deprivation)
2. Environmental → e.g. Infectious diseases
3. Social (public & collective goods & services)
4. Relational – e.g. to appear in public without shame
5. Household – e.g. Power relations, Productive activities that are not
counted? (see next slide)
6. Problems with general surveys → sampling, close-ended
quaetions? (QuantitityVs Quality) → from country to household
to individuals

16. Example:The unpaid care work
Source: UBOS and MGLSD 2019

17. Shifts in definitions and
measurements
Development
From economic
based measures
To gender
equality/equity
measures
To human
development
measures

18. From narrow to multiple definitions
 Narrow definitions of development
• Economic growth
 Open definitions: multidimensionality
• Poverty reduction
• Decreasing inequality
• Equality
• Equity
• Well being
• Happiness
• The good society including democratic politics
• A sustainable planet
 TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE
 Economic, social, political, cultural

19. Shifts in development measurements
 Concerns with economic development.: market oriented than
people oriented
◦ Single-minded concentration on the GDP &GNP.
◦ Yes, increased income and quality of goods and services essential for
people BUT quality of their lives matters a lot.
 So, economic development a means but not an end in
itself.
 A need to shift to a human-oriented development:
“development with a human face.”

20. Human Development VS Economic Growth
Expanding people’s choices
(social, economic, political)
Economic growth
Functionings and capabilities Utility of goods and services (satisfaction)
Human capabilities, equality of
outcomes, fairness and justice in
institutional arrangements
Economic well-being, economic
growth, efficiency
Human outcomes, deprivational
and distributional measures
Economic activity and condition,
averages and aggregate measures
Ends: beneficiaries; means: agents Means: human resources for
economic activity
Individual action and collective action Individual action
Emphasis on equality and on the
human rights of all individuals
Concern with poverty
Human rights and freedoms have intrinsic value
and are development objectives.
Income and resources are essential for achieving
economic development
Conditions enabling
human development
• Health services
• Education services
• Employment opportunities
• Democracy
• Environmental protection
Conditions enabling
economic development
• People's knowledge and skills (human capital)
• Efficient use of human capital
• Sound economic policy
Fukuda-Parr, S. (2003),

21. Development as multidimensional
◦ Not purely an economic phenomenon but rather
multidimensional involving re-organization and re-orientation of
entire economic and social systems (Todaro & Smith, 2012)
◦ economic, political, social and psychological, and now human
development aspects.

22. Development as multidimensional
 Development is rather amorphous and there is a multiplicity
of views as what constitutes development.
 Development is contextual → vary from place to place, time
to time, individual to individual
 Multidimensional
◦ Economic development
◦ Social development
◦ Political development
◦ Administrative (institutional) development
◦ Human development
◦ Sustainable development

23. Narrow Dimensions of Development
 Economic development
 Economic growth → amount of goods and services produced by a county (GDP)
 Economics of income! National and per capita incomes
 Distribution of wealth
 Social development
 From peasantry to modern societies →
 Changes in social life → changes in social relations e.g. family and kinship, social
organizations, social networks (example of social structures in Papua New Guinea
Vs Los Angles)
 Social mobilization over time → cultural and social institutional changes
 Social services (health, education, housing, etc.)
 Freedoms and choices? Identity of who you are what you do? → e.g. social roles of
WomenVs Men?

24. Narrow Dimensions of Development
 Political development
 Political systems responding to people’s needs → Governance
 Changes in political structures → e.g. from Totalitarian to Democratic structures
 Administrative (institutional) development
 Development of administration and administration development
 Human development
 Quality of life → Long and healthy life, literacy and standard of living
 Capabilities and functionings → freedoms and choices
 Sustainable development
 Environment and people’s needs?
 Don’t run out of resources → meet the current development needs but don’t
compromise the need of future generations

25. Broad Dimensions of Development
 Development are a process → patterns of change in
the pollical economy
 Development as a project → policies and strategies
(interventions) aimed at shaping and creating positive
change
 Development as object of knowledge → Theories of
development as an outcome of processes and projects

26. Short-, medium- and long- term
definitions and measurements
Source: Based on Kothari (2005) in Khan & Chowdhury (2016, p.5).

27. Development is therefore…
 a process (from a certain stage to another)
 an end and a means in itself
 about positive change (transformational change) quantitatively and
qualitatively but also sometimes a negative in its ends
 about progress – in other words wellbeing
 about overcoming poverty
 about reducing and/or eliminating the gaps between social groups to
bring about equality
 about bridging the gap between development and underdeveloped
societies
 universal – can take place in any society – it deals with issues in societies
 based on actions by actors such as the state, donors, NGOs, and other
CSOs but also the affected people themselves.

28. Summary of what development is
WATCH!
Imran Hossain Bhuiyan. (2019). Development | What is
Development | Development Studies (video file): Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixkW-IMmKGQ

29. UNDER- DEVELOPMENT?
 Absence of characteristics of modern economic growth
as experienced in the FirstWorld (Developed
Economies) – USA, Europe, China, Japan
 Under-developed Areas? Africa,Asia, Latin America

30. Why are some countries (areas)
developed than others?
Developed, Developing and Least Developed Countries by 2019
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/e8wj1d/developed_countries_of_2019/

31. Why are some African countries (areas)
developed than others?
Source:
https://www.pinte
rest.com/pin/5580
94578826637634/

32. GDP per capita of African countries
Source: TOP 10 Channel (2010). GDP per capita of African countries (Online video).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bddaWPEWYzA

33. Why are some
countries (areas)
developed than
others?

34. Acemoglu & Robinson (2012)
Diamond (2003)
GEOGRAPHY VS INSTITUTIONS

35. Why are some countries (areas) developed than others?
 Geography
 Tropical climates, labaor productivity
 Climate, landlockedness, agricultural technology, human and animal health
See, Jared Diamond (2005) Guns, Germs, and Steel: the Fate of Human Societies:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYSz010CVss
 Institutions (weak!)
◦ Rules and norms and organisations that constrain and enable human behaviour
(Douglas North 1990)
◦ Political and economic systems! Extractive vs Inclusive institutions!
See,Acemoglu, Daron & Robinson, James (2012).Why Nations Fail:The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty.
First Edition.
 Culture → Social structures
 Religion and wealth (social capital) → Religious beliefs (superstitions)Vs
talents/skills and achivement
 Time conservetion and literacy
See, David S. Landes (1999)TheWealth and Poverty of Nations:Why Some Are So Rich and Some So Poor…

36. Why are some countries (areas) developed than others?
 Freedom?
◦ Power and inequalities → from global to regional to national to community
to individual inequalities
◦ Lack of intellectual, political, economic, religious, cultural freedoms
◦ “Freedom" index based on political participation of the population, civil
liberties, and unrestricted media.
 Property rights
◦ Legal systems → land tenure and ownership
◦ Private property rights → e.g. for collateral for loans in the banks
◦ Tying wealth in “dead capital” due to legal and social customs.
 External factors
◦ Colonialism (history) [See next Session 3]
◦ Global capitalism, international competition

37. Why are some countries (areas)
developed than others?
Some helpful videos
1. Cai Tro. (2017).Why Some Countries Are Poor and Others Rich (video file):
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEe_QTNPffU
2. Mervan Polat (2019). 8 Reasons why nations fail | Animated book
review. (video file): Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up-2XVMVA2M&t=79s
3. Thought Monkey. (2016). Guns, Germs and Steel: Why Europeans Came
to Dominate the World in 7 Minutes. (video file): Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYSz010CVss

38. Bottom line
 Development is ‘contested, complex, and ambiguous’ (Thomas, 2004, p.1 in
Khan, 2016)
 There is no universal (single) definition of development. Varies from
place to place, time to time, individual to individual
◦ Defining development depends on who defines and the ideological basis
for the definition given
 Development of any area or country is influenced by different
factors though in some cases factors may be common

39. Discussion Question
a) What is your understanding of the term
development?
b) Why is your country more or less developed
than others? Provide supportive examples from
your country with comparisons

40. Some references
1. Desai,V., Potter, R.B., (eds.) (2014): Companion to Development Studies. 3rd edition. Routledge,
Pages 33-54
2. Acemoglu, Daron & Robinson, James (2012).Why Nations Fail:The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty.
First Edition. NeyYork: Crown Publishing Group
3. Jared Diamond. (2003). Guns, Germs, and Steel:The Fates Of Human Societies. NewYork:W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc.
4. Todaro, P., M., & Smith, C., S., (2012), Economic Development, 11th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc., USA
5. Chambers, R., (1997), Whose reality counts? Putting the first last, IntermediateTechnology Publications, London,
UK
6. Fukuda-Parr, S. (2003),The Human Development Paradigm: Operationalizing Sen’s Ideas on
7. Capabilities, Feminist Economics 9(2 – 3), 2003, 301 – 317
8. Khan N.A. & Chowdhury, H.A. (2016).A probe into the genesis and current trends of the growth of
“Development Studies” as an Academic discipline in Bangladesh. University of Dhaka. Pages 1-20.
9. Kaplan,A. (2000) Understanding development as a living process in WallaceT & Lewis D., (Eds.), New roles and
relevance, NGOs, and the challenges of change, Kumarian Press, Connecticut, USA.
10. Myers, L. B., (1999), Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices ofTransformational Development, Orbis Books,
MaryKnoll, NewYork, USA.
11. Nabacwa, M., (2006), Interests and relationships in NGO gender advocacy:A case of Uganda, (PhDThesis),
University ofWales, Swansea, UK.
12. Todaro, M. P., & Smith, C. S., (2012), Economic development, 11th Edition, Pearson Education, Inc., Boston, USA
13. United Nations Development Programme [UNDP], (2000), Human development report 2000, Oxford University
Press, Inc., NewYork, USA