Jun Hesselberg

The Third World in lransition The Case of the Peasantry in Botswana

Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala

The Third World in Transition

The Third World

The Case of the Pesantry in Botswana

Scandinavian Institute of African Studies, Uppsala 1985

Jan Hesselberg is professor in Development Geography at the Department of Geography, University of Oslo. His main research interests are production processes in rural areas and levels of living in the Third World. He has conducted field work several times in Botswana and Sri Lanka.

This book has been published with support from the Norwegian Agency for International Development.

ISBN 91-7106-243-2

@ Jan Hesselberg and Nordiska afrikainstitutet

Printed in Sweden by Motala Grafiska AB, Motala, 1985

PREFACE

The o b j e c t i v e o f t h e p r e s e n t work is through t h e c a s e of Botswana t o d i s c u s s the creation of poverty in the period of transition from tribal to modem society in the Third World today. T h i s i s done by a n a n a l y s i s f o c u s s i n g a t t h e p e a s a n t r y . The r e c e n t l y renewed f a s h i o n o f blaming t h e peasants f o r l a c k

o f improved food p r o d u c t i o n and t h u s a l s o f o r p o v e r t y a t l o c a l and n a t i o n a l

l e v e l s i s q u e s t i o n e d .

I n a s h o r t n o t e i n 1961 F a l l e r s l e f t no doubt t h a t a g r i c u l t u r a l p r o d u c e r s i n

A f r i c a c o u l d and s h o u l d b e c a l l e d p e a s a n t s economica l ly , p o l i t i c a l l y and

c u l t u r a l l y . P e a s a n t communit ies a r e more d i f f e r e n t i a t e d t h a n t r i b a l s o c i e-

t i e s b u t l e s s s o t h a n modern ones. P e a s a n t s c o n s t i t u t e t h e n a c a t e g o r y of

p e o p l e found i n a c o u n t r y where fundamental changes o c c u r l e a d i n g t o a so-

c i e t y of a d i f f e r e n t k i n d . I t i s p a r t i c u l a r l y t h e semi-autonomy of p e a s a n t s

r e l a t i v e t o l a r g e r sys tems t h a t i s used i n t h e argument o f t h e o p t i o n t h o u g h t

a v a i l a b l e t o p e a s a n t s o f withdrawing from p r o d u c t i o n f o r marke ts . The main a s p e c t s d e a l t w i t h i n t h e work a r e : s o c i e t a l e v o l u t i o n , a g r a r i a n t r a n s i t i o n ,

i n e q u a l i t y and p o v e r t y , and r u r a l s e t t l e m e n t p a t t e r n . These a s p e c t s p r o v i d e

t o g e t h e r a f a i r l y comprehensive p i c t u r e o f t h e n a t u r e o f t h e t r a n s i t i o n i n

which Botswana f i n d s i t s e l f .

The d a t a used i n t h e e m p i r i c a l p r e s e n t a t i o n a r e p r i m a r i l y t a k e n from L e t l h a -

kenq and Tutume, two medium-sized v i l l a g e s i n Botswana. S i m i l a r s t u d i e s

were c a r r i e d o u t i n 1976 and 1980 a l l o w i n g f o r a t i m e p e r s p e c t i v e . I n add i-

t i o n , i n f o r m a t i o n a b o u t t h e c o u n t r y a t l a r g e is used whenever p o s s i b l e t o

enhance t h e s t r e n g t h o f t h e f i n d i n g s .

The t h e o r e t i c a l p e r s p e c t i v e h a s been t r e a t e d r e l a t i v e l y e x t e n s i v e l y . I t en-

compasses i n a few i n s t a n c e s more t h a n t h e d a t a g a t h e r e d p e r m i t t o t e s t . T h i s

i s d e e m e d u s e f u l because of t h e e x p l o r a t i v e c h a r a c t e r o f t h e s e p a r t s o f t h e

work, I t i s a l s o r e g a r d e d t o b e f r u i t f u l t o i n c l u d e a thorough d i s c u s s i o n o f

the concept development, of development studies and of development geography.

At the present early stage in the evolution of development geography, this

part of the work may have some merit per se, in addition to explaining the choice of research approach.

Over the years I have had recurrent useful discussions with Gerd Wikan.

The arguments forwarded here have also benefitted from her penetrating

question-marks. Sylvi Endresen has pointed at several fine nuances of

meaning in the manuscript. I am grateful to both of them.

Jan Hesselberg

August, 1984

CONTENTS

Preface

PART I INTRODUCTION

1. DEVELOPMENT AND GEOGRAPHY Development and related concepts Some empirical observations Development studies: causes and remedies

of inequality and poverty Development geography Some problematic aspects of development studies Conclusion

2. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

PART I1 THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE 3. PEASANT AND RELATED CONCEPTS

Definitions of peasant Peasant studies Characteristics of peasant production Conclusion

4. SOCIETAL EVOLUTION AND AGRARIAN TRANSITION Societal evolution Agrarian transition Peasant differentiation Conclusion

5. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND RURAL SETTLEMENT PATTERN Agricultural development Rural settlement pattern

5. THE PEASANT CONCEPT, QUESTION AND HYPOTHESES The peasant concept Questions and hypotheses Conclusion

PART 111 BOTSWANA 7. APPROACH AND DATA

A note on peasant and related concepts in the literature on Botswana

8. SOCIETAL EVOLUTION

9. AGRARIAN TRANSITION "Work position" and types of agricultural producers Characteristics of the agricultural production process Multiactivity at the household and individual levels Conclusion

10. INEQUALITY AND POVERTY Inequality Poverty Conclusion

11. AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT Policies and programmes relevant for agricultural

development in Botswana Viewpoints on agrarian policies in Botswana Conclusions

12. RURAL SETTLEMENT PATTERN 203

13. THE PEASANT CONTROVERSY - SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 2 17

APPENDIX 1. Definitions 224 2 . Functions in Letlhakeng and Tutume 1976 and 1980 229

REFERENCES 231

PART I

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 DEVELOPMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

DEVELOPMENT AND RELATED CONCEPTS

Development constitutes a process. The concept is normally used at a

fairly general level. It includes a wide variety of changing features.

It is in common usage equated with improvements. The word development

thus has a positive connotation regardless of how it is defined. To pre-

tend otherwise, as Seers (1972) says, is just to hide one's value judge- ments. Moreover, it is often difficult to separate the positive from the

negative in a process of change. For instance, the building up of formal

education is in most cases a good and necessary element for change. In

many Third World countries formal education may nonetheless have negative

side-effects such as alienation regarding strenuous work in, for instance,

agriculture. Due to the arguments above one may opt for adopting a defi-

nition of development which is goal-free. Brookfield (1975) takes this stance when he defines development as "the whole process of change brought

about by the creation and expansion of an interdependent world system".

In analytical work it is, however, necessary to establish a concept with a

specified content and regarding the process of development also to give

the concept a positive meaning. Since concepts such as change and evolu-

tion (which are broader concepts) cannot replace development as a general, descriptive and goal-free concept, it seems essential to refrain from de-

fining development in a detailed manner. Development should instead be used, as is usual, to denote a complex process of change that may, al-

though not necessarily in the short-run then later, result in improved le-

vels of living for the world's population at large, that is, the collec-

tive betterment of mankind. In thinking about development it is easy to

fall pray to the use of a framework of mechanical evolution, of thinking

in linear historical sequences leading to a typical modern Western (or Eastern) society. This is not implied in the concept in the present work. In fact, one should strivc for an acceptance of multitudinous cultural

definitions of the good life. ~hus, the concept has a certain amount

of vagueness. This is as it should be. The concept should refer to a

movement of a society as a whole to a better but undetermined position.

However, this "third option" should imply high economic welfare with low

ecological imbalances and a minimum of personal alienation. There may

be cases in which beneficial structural changes take place without imme-

diate improvements in material satisfaction. At a later stage such struc-

tural changes may prove to be the key to economic and social development.

The point is that we do nota pr ior i know what brings about development or what the necessary principal structural changes are in concrete empi-

rical situations.

It is common to split the concept development into economic growth and

social change which, for instance, UThant (1965) did at the start of the UN's First Development Decade. Social change is a broad concept and

difficult to quantify. In view of the above discussion economic and so-

cial development will be used as analytical categories. Economic devetop- man t refers to economic growth (increases in GNP) and a more equal distri- bution of economic means (measured by income and employment). It is im- portant to note that economic growth at the national level does not auto-

matically reduce poverty and inequality or provide sufficient employment,

at least not in the short-run. Many scholars confuse the concepts of

growth and development. The reason is often, as for instance Sundrum

(1983) anticipates, that as soon as attitudes and behaviour of people in their economic activities become more like "economic man", growth becomes

automatic and welfare in an encompassing sense ensues. By soc ia l develop- ment is meant improvements regarding such aspects as life expectancy, nu-

trition and educational standard. In short, social development refers to

the realization of the potential of the human personality. This is of

course generally accepted. The path to this realization is, however,

highly disputed. A pivotal controversy is, for instance, the possible ad-

verse effect of redistribution of income on economic growth. Each path

advocated of course contains its own contradictions. Development is ge-

r,erally a result of the interplay of "old" and "new" artifacts, social

structures and cultural values. Normally, conflicts arise between the

"old" or indigenous and "new" or imported elements. Development accor-

dingly constitutes a dialectical process in a Hegelian sense, that is, a

rigorous prediction of societal evolution, as in Marxism, is not inclu-

ded. It is the method that is highlighted, and development in future does

not necessarily have to contain similar negative effects everywhere, such

as the creation of an internal "proletariat". If we then are to under-

stand the process of development, we have to look for conflicts and stress

created when the "old" and "new" merge without a pr ior i knowing the funda- mental forces of change in particular places.

Development has by some been substituted with liberation (Goulet 1971), that is, with social justice and basic political freedom. Liberation means the removal of an elite by a majority who then assumes control over its own process of change. The most common example is nation-building by

the majority in a country. To use liberation instead of development, to talk about strategies for change of political and economic power ra ther than how higher material and social levels are to be achieved, is to adopt

a revolutionary in contrast to a reformist attitude. To my mind, libera-

tion is nothing but a necessary prerequisite for development in certain

countries, and cannot replace development as a concept of general concern.

There are, for instance, few prospects for economic development (not to say social development) in South Africa short of a struggle of liberation including violence. After a successful liberation struggle the question

arises of what long-run content development should be given. Should the

content be limited to economic and social aspects or should also the di-

mension of control over the forces of change be included? Rodney (1972) includes the latter aspect in his definition of economic development: "A

society develops economically as its members increase jointly their capa- city for dealing with the environment". Can Third World countries become

masters of their own transitions or must they depend on imports of techno-

logy and culture from the West (or the East), or let transnational compa- nies dominate their large-scale economic activities? Undoubtedly, econo-

mic development can only in exceptional cases, if at all, take place in

isolation from other more developed countries. The dependence on techno-

logical know-how is, for instance, a common characteristic of Third World

countries i n t h e i r present s trategy for development. (BY strategy is meant a set of internally consistent plans deduced from a general or several part-

theories given certain goals.) The question then arises whether the nc,ga- tive effects of the relations Third World countries have with developed

countries put a number of poor Third World countries at a dead end. The

concept zinderdevelopment denotes usually, in addition to undesirable condi- tions for work and life, such a situation where economic development is im-

possible due to the characteristics of the relations such countries have

with developed countries. This is a relational mode of explanation.

Other scholars, who maintain that the developed countries are not a c t i v e l y underdeveloping the Third World, argue that nondevelopment (or undevelop- ment) is a better description of most Third World countries. This is a non-relational mode of explanation. It should be underlined that none of

the economies in the Third World are stagnant, both quantitative and qua-

litative changes occur, although often at a relatively low level. Nonde-

velopment and underdevelopment thus make sense only in comparing levels of

development. The choice of words are evidently closely related to views

adopted on causes for lack of development, whether the causes are origi-

nating mainly internally or externally. (What appears to be internal cau- ses often have an external dimension wholly or in part.) All Third World countries may be said to have been underdeveloped in a historical perspec-

tive. However, whoever or whatever is to blame historically for the exis-

ting inequality and poverty, the situation today is that an active under-

development as the main characteristic of the relationships (positive and negative relations will "always" exist) with the developed countries can- not be maintained for all Third World countries. Thus the designation un-

derdeveloped countries is not appropriate for the Third World as a whole.

Nonetheless, both underdevelopment and nondevelopment are useful concepts

for sub-groups of the Third World category.

The recent economic growth in some Third World countries has made the con-

cept dependent development popular. In particularly the "Newly Industria- lizing Countries" (NICs) economic and social development, if not political development, have occurred to some extent. This development is, however,

heavily dependent on foreign inputs of capital both private and governmen-

tal. The debt-burden to multilateral development banks (for instance the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and private transnational finance institutions) reduce the freedom of choice for these countries re- garding national economic policy generally. A question-mark is therefore

put, through the use of the label dependent (in contrast to interdependent), on whether their rapid economic development can be sustained.

S p a t i a l development is a major concern in geography. To decide whether a spatial pattern is optimal, is difficult in other but a limited economic

sense. Once other criteria are included, it becomes less useful to at-

tempt to establish an optimum pattern. It is thus more relevant to ask

if the spatial pattern functions in such a way as to justify the label developed. It is then often easy to see that spatial reorganization is

necessary in order to attain economic and social development. Various

alternative spatial patterns may thereafter be suggested.

The choice o f a t e r n to designate the poor and non-modern countries of the world implies a judgement on what the main causes for poverty or non- modernity are. In the 1950s and 1960s backward regions and less develo-

ped countries were commonly used. In contrast to these concepts, the con-

cept "proletarian states" was used to point at the relations between na-

tions as the main explanation for poverty and relatively permanent struc-

tural imbalances, that is, underdevelopment. In the 1970s underdeveloped

countries gained popularity, as did the more optimistic term developing

countries. Personally, I prefer poor countries to the former term but

since poverty includes both a quantitative position and a structural di-

mension, neither poor nor underdeveloped are appropriate designations.

Since the structural changes that take place in many Third World countries

are not conducive of economic and social development, the term developing

country is not an appropriate description of reality generally. Myrdal

(1968) calls it a diplomatic euphemism. Others may be of another opinion and hence choose this term.

It has been a fashion today to split the Third World into a number of often

overlapping categories. oil-importing/oil-exporting developing countries, low-income/middle-incomedeveloping countries, most severely affected count-

ries, least developed countries, non-oil least developed countries, island

developing countries, landlocked developing countries, newly industriali-

zing countries and others. (The rest of the world is usually divided into three categories: Industrialized (market) countries, centrally planned eco- nomies and capital-surplus oil-exporters.) The more specified and limited categories of Third World countries represent an important reorientation

of the development debate because those categories are more empirically re-

levant than the often extreme generalizations made in the last three decades.

Nonetheless, there are some structural characteristics which are common to

the Third World. To my mind, it is most adequate to use the term Third World and Third World countr ies at the general level because, as has been said above, only some countries are today being actively underdeveloped and

only some are developing both economically and socially. Moreover, the

concept Third World escapes an explicit comparison with the developed

either capitalist or socialist countries. According to Lacoste (1965), the designation Third World was first used by Sauvy in an analogue with

"Tiers Etat" denoting all the disadvantaged groups in France in 1789

that were opposed to the nobility and clergy. The concept Third World

is neutral. By using this concept, the scope is open for more complex

explanations, and no a priori decision is made of the main causes of un- derdevelopment/nondevelopment at a general level. The First World refers to developed market economies and the Second World to the developed socia-

list countries. These terms are little used in the literature, and will

not be applied here. The last argument for adopting the concept Third

World is the implicit notion of (or hope for) a third path, an undeter- mined but possible path to a "sane society". At least it represents an-

other, undefined option for development thinking and planning.

The Third World is negatively defined "all nations that did not become,

during the historical process of the establishment of the present World

Order, industrialized and wealthy" (Abdalla 1978). Exploitation and re- shaping of the economy and distortion of social, cultural and psychologi-

cal patterns during the colonial epoch are essential common factors. The

category Third World is therefore still useful in spite of the existing

heterogeneity regarding, for instance, population size, resource endow-

ment and level of development. This heterogeneity, or rather different

combinations of undesirable characteristics, which the Third World count-

ries have, makes a short and positive definition less appropriate. Most

countries have all or approximately all of the following characteristics:

Insufficient food supply (or a skewed distribution among groups and/or regions), low productivity in agriculture, high population growth, physi- cal and other resources which are unused or used by foreigners, huge un-

employment, low degree of industrialization, incomplete market system, un-

equally developed economic sectors hampering economic circulation, large

tertiary sector and social structures contradlcotry to economlc optimisa-

tion. The relative importance of these factors will vary from country to

country. The main point is the existence of a large number of these (and other) factors at the same time. This was not the case in the developed countries earlier. In view of the above, the following two examples of

definitions (somewhat shortened here) clearly become unsatlsfactory: A

region is underdeveloped when there are a net flow of capital out from the

region, structurally caused unproductivity and increasing poverty (Frank 1967). A country is underdeveloped when it is dominated from outside and when sectors are thereby created which are not linked and have large dif-

ferences in productivity (Amin 1974).

It is necessary when operationalizing the concept the Third World to rely

on measurable aspects. In fact, the GNP together with structural imbalan-

ces of a relatively permanent nature give the group of countries included

by the United Nations in the category developing countries.

Moreover, since the Third World is not the unit of analysis in the present

work, it is in spite of its inadequacies acceptable in certain instances

to use the World Bank concept "developing countries", which is adopted in

major international statistical publications. The World Bank (1980 a) uses national income per person as the criterion of classification. Low-

income (developing) countries (poor Third World countries) are those at or below 300 (1977) US dollars GNP per person. The middle-income developing countries include those countries which have a GNP per person above 300

(1977) US dollars and which are not included in any of the following cate- gories: Industrialized countries, centrally planned economies or capital-

surplus oil-exporting countries. The last category includes such count-

ries as Kuwait, Libya, Oman and Saudi-Arabia. The middle-income develop-

ing countries comprise also Southern European countries such as Spain and

Greece, and Israel and South Africa. These latter countries do not re-

present Third World countries because they have highly developed and re-

latively efficiently functioning government administrations. They have

lastly no similar colonial experiences as the Third World. The oil-rich

countries have such experiences. Furthermore, in these countries wealth

and industrial production do not yet coincide. In addition, oil is an

exhaustible resource. It is thus possible to argue that the oil-rich

countries should, due to structural considerations, be included in the

Third World category. The magnitude of their wealth seems, however, to

prohibit such a reasoning. China is often not included in statistical pub-

lications for lack of data. The reason for arguing that China should be

excluded from the Third World category, is that China was never really do-

minated by a western power. Furthermore, the Chinese culture never collap-

sed. Its present coherent social structure, well organized economy and

equality (although at a relatively low level of living) may make it appro-

priate to include China in the category centrally planned economies, and

exclude it from the Third World category. Although the Chinese leader-

ship maintains that the country belongs to the Third World (South, May 19831, this is not a sufficient reason to include it. It should be noted

that the category centrally planned economies is rather heterogeneous in

that it contains East-European countries and the Sovjet Union on the one side and China, Cuba, Vietnam and North-Korea on the other.

In sum, ~~>hc-n T r c ? f & > r to the Third W o ~ l d , I eccclude the Southern European countr ies , I s m e Z , South Afr ica, China arid the capital- surplus oil-expor- t i n g c o u n t r i ~ s . Some of these countries may, however, be included when international statistical data are used. To offset this discrepancy, the

category poor Third World countr ies will be preferred whenever possible. The rationale behind the above delimitation of the Third World is two-fold:

F i r s t , poverty and not a relatively low GNP per person is a necessary cha- racteristic of a Third World country. Second, underdevelopment in the structural dimension alone is not sufficient for a country to be included in the Third World category.

When poverty is used here, it implies mass poverty, that is, a relatively large amount of a country's population which is living in either absolute

or relative poverty. Absolute poverty refers to such aspects as inadequate dietary and health standard; in short, to insufficient provision of basic

physical needs. A distinction may also be made between primary and secon-

dary absolute poverty. Primary (abso lu te ) poverty refers to lack of enough food to sustain physical fitness for an individual (Rein 1970). Secondary povc?rty exists when the income earned is high enough for physical fitness but is used for other purposes. By r e l a t i v e poverty is meant that a part of a country's population has a less than acceptable (related to a national or world standard) satisfaction of basic needs and/or is kept away from po- litical and/or cultural participation. Most often this means a lack of re- sources necessary to permit participation in diets and activities commonly

approved by society. An interesting question, although of only theoretical

significance, is whether there is only secondary poverty in the world today

or a redistribution of wealth and income would result in global primary po-

verty. In the super-industrial and post-industrial societies envisaged by

Kahn (1976) the whole world will be inhabited by numerous people who are rich (GNP per person above 2 000 (1975) US dollars) and in control of the forces of nature. Economic growth will slow down and eventually stabilize.

100 y e a r s l a t e r t h e gap between t h e 10% r i c h e s t and 20% p o o r e s t c o u n t r i e s ,

now a t 100 t o 1 , w i l l be o n l y 5 t o l. T h i s "economic t r a n s i t i o n " w i l l be

p o s s i b l e w i t h a v a i l a b l e r e s o u r c e s h e r e on e a r t h . None the less , e x t r a - t e r -

r e s t r i a l a c t i v i t i e s such a s autonomous c o l o n i e s i n space i n v o l v e d i n raw

m a t e r i a l and energy p r o c e s s i n g w i l l t h e n , Kahn m a i n t a i n s , a l s o e x i s t . I n

my o p i n i o n t h i s i s a w r o n g k i n d o f optimism. Although one should c l a i m t h a t

development p a r t i c u l a r l y s o c i a l development i s p o s s i b l e , i t ought t o be

looked upon a s a non-ending s t r u g g l e - development w i l l succeed o n l y i f t h e

wor ld r e a l i z e s t h a t it c a n f a i l .

To q u a n t i f y p o v e r t y i s d i f f i c u l t . I t i s v i r t u a l l y i m p o s s i b l e t o a r r i v e a t

a n o b j e c t i v e c a l c u l a t i o n of a b s o l u t e p o v e r t y . P o v e r t y c a n b e shown t o v a r y i n a c o u n t r y f o r t h e same y e a r a c c o r d i n g t o a c c e p t a b l e b u t d i f f e r e n t opera-

t i o n a l i z a t i o n s of t h e c o n c e p t . Fur thermore , d i f f e r e n t s c h o l a r s may f i n d

t h a t p o v e r t y d e c l i n e s o r i n c r e a s e s over t i m e i n t h e same c o u n t r y f o r s i m i l a r

reasons. T h i s h a s o b v i o u s l y i m p o r t a n t p o l i c y i m p l i c a t i o n s . The s e l e c t i o n of

i n d i c a t o r s and c h o i c e o f methods f o r measuring a b s o l u t e o r r e l a t i v e p o v e r t y

o r f o r e s t a b l i s h i n g a compos i te i n d e x , a s o c a l l e d po73erty l i ne , c a n n o t be done w i t h o u t v a l u e judgement. Moreover, a p o v e r t y l i n e w i l l b e r e l a t i v e when used i n a compara t ive s t u d y . D i f f e r e n t s t u d i e s have , f o r i n s t a n c e ,

g i v e n t h a t t h e p o v e r t y l i n e i n USA i s 1 0 t o l 7 t i m e s t h a t o f I n d i a ( S c o t t 1 9 8 1 ) . I n a T h i r d World c o u n t r y urban and r u r a l d i s p a r i t i e s a r e a l s o impor- t a n t , making t h e p o v e r t y l i n e concept a r b i t r a r y t o a c e r t a i n e x t e n t . An

example p r o v i d e d by S c o t t c l e a r l y shows t h e d i f f i c u l t y i n "drawing a l i n e " :

I n r u r a l West- Pakistan i n 1963/64 34% of t h e p o p u l a t i o n would f a l l below t h e

p o v e r t y l i n e i f a Rs 225 income was used f o r i n d i v i d u a l s . I f t h e same amount

was used b u t t h i s t i m e measur ing e x p e n d i t u r e 26% were below t h e l i n e . By

u s i n g 2 100 c a l o r i e s a s a minimum requi rement a s much a s 808 o f t h e popula-

t i o n c o u l d b e s a i d t o b e a b s o l u t e l y poor . The c o n c l l ~ s i o n i s 1 . t h a t i t 1s

b e t t e r t o r e l y on a l e s s g e n e r a l concept t h a n a b s o l u t e p o v e r t y , such a s mal-

nour i shment , and 2 . t h a t it i s more u s e f u l t o o p e r a t e w i t h a d i s t r i b u t i o n

o f t h e p o p u l a t i o n o v e r t h e income r a n g e . The poor would t h e n , f o r i n s t a n c e ,

be t h e 20% w i t h lo r res t income. I n a c o u n t r y w i t h o u t a l a r g e p o r t i o n of t h e

p o p u l a t i o n i n wage employment, o r o t h e r w i s e e a r n i n g money, o r w i t h o u t an in-

come p o l i c y , it i s more i n t e r m s w i t h r e a l i t y t o u s e d u r a b l e consumer goods

( e . g . b l a n k e t , t o r c h ) i n g e n e r a l demand i n t h e a r e a s t u d i e d t o e s t a b l i s h t h e concept o f r e l a t i v e p o v e r t y . The fundamental p o i n t i s t h a t p o v e r t y d e n o t e s

n o t j u s t l a c k o f r e s o u r c e s , it r e f e r s t o l a c k o f r e s o u r c e s used (and f e l t t o be r i g h t l y used) by t h e r i c h .

SOME EMPIRICPL OBSERVATIONS

There is a t p re sen t a dismal o v e r a l l s i t u a t i o n i n t h e Third World d e s p i t e

t h e ex i s t ence of economic growth on average and gene ra l improvements on

some s o c i a l i n d i c a t o r s . Below t h i s is d i scussed .

There has even i n t h e poor Third World c o u n t r i e s been economic growth per person i n t h e pe r iod 1960-1980. The average annual growth pe r person (con- s t a n t p r i c e s ) was 1.7% (World Bank 1981 b ) . I n d u s t r i a l market economies had i n comparison a 3.3% growth. The income gap i s thus widening b y the r i c h countries ge t t ing r i cher , and no t the poorer ge t t ing poorer. ~t should be under l ined t h a t t h e r e a r e v a r i a t i o n s i n s i d e t h e group of poor Third World

coun t r i e s . I t was i n 1970 thought p o s s i b l e f o r t h e Third World t o achieve

an economic growth pe r person of 3.5-4.5% (Heppling 1971) . Moreover, t h e Pearson r e p o r t (1969) he ld t h a t 3.5% economic growth pe r person o r 6% t o t a l growth would s u f f i c e t o c r e a t e economic development on a sus t a ined b a s i s .

The growth t h a t occurred was, a s shown above, much lower than expected, and

lower than t h e necessary l e v e l f o r development t o speed up. The income dis- t r i b u t i o n among people i n the poor Third World countries has not improxed during the 1970s. The percentage of income rece ived by t h e lowest 20% was 4.9 i n 1970 and 4.1 around 1977 (World Bank 1980 b). These d a t a i n d i c a t e t h a t t h e r e i n seve ra l Thi rd World c o u n t r i e s has been an inc reas ing inequa-

l i t y and thus no economic development although economic growth may have t a - ken p lace . I f unemployment is inc luded a s an i n d i c a t o r on economic develop-

ment, t h e above conclusion i s s u b s t a n t i a t e d , t h e propor t ion of t he economic

a c t i v e popula t ion seeking work is inc reas ing . A f u r t h e r important p o i n t i s

t h a t self-employment o f t e n y i e l d s a n inadequate income t o meet b a s i c needs

f o r a family. Those who a r e self-employed may t h u s want ( a d d i t i o n a l ) work without a c t u a l l y seeking it . Theestimated f i g u r e of underemployment (of t h e to ta l . labour f o r c e ) i n t h e Third World was a s much a s 36% i n 1975 ( K i m and Hanson 1 9 8 2 ) .

On some of t h e i n d i c a t o r s of social development t h e r e has been a p o s l t i v e change i n t h e 1970s. L i f e expectancy i s s t e a d i l y inc reas ing on average i n

the Third World. The same i s t h e case wi th t h e percentage of t h e popula-

t i o n which i s l i t e r a t e . I f food production pe r person i s used a s an ind i-

c a t o r f o r n u t r i t i o n a l s t anda rd , t h e p i c t u r e i s n o t p o s i t i v e (assuming an unchanged d i s t r i b u t i o n ) . The average index (1969/71 = 100) f o r 1977-1979 was 97 f o r t h e poor Third World c o u n t r i e s ( Ind ia excluded) (World Bank

1981 b ) . Socia l development may evident ly be s a i d t o occur o r not occur according t o ind ica to r s se lected. The conclusion must therefore be that important improvements have taken place i n the social dimension i n the Third World, but on the whole social deve lopment, as economic deve Zopment, i s not found. I t i s then not su rpr i s ing t h a t the number of (absolute) poor i s high and increasing. A t present about 750 mi l l ion people a r e held

t o be e i t h e r " d e s t i t u t e " ( i n acute poverty) o r "absolute" poor i n the Third World. The f i g u r e w i l l increase t o 850 mi l l ions by the year 2 000 accor-

ding t o the low-growth World Bank scenario which includes "unprecedented

economic and s o c i a l advance i n some p a r t s of t h e world". The poor a r e

ba re ly surviving on incomes judged i n s u f f i c i e n t t o secure the bas ic necessi- t i e s of l i f e . (The poverty l i n e used i n these ca lcu la t ions a r e based on r e a l buying power i n each country.)

Although the re a r e pockets of poverty i n developed coun t r i es , t h i s poverty

i s a r e s u l t of a skewed d i s t r i b u t i o n of income, t h a t is , the re i s secondary

poverty. I n the poor Tnird World countr ies t h e r e i s l i t t l e t o d i s t r i b u t e

although the inequa l i ty of income and a s s e t s o f t en i s extremely high, t h a t

i s , primary poverty i s found a t nat ional l e v e l . Although the number o

undernourished and hungry i n t h e Third World i s not known, es t imates put

it a t 500-600 mi l l ions (Brandt 1980). About 8 mi l l ion chi ldren below 5 years of age d i e every year from diarrhea caught from pol luted water. Many

fu r the r examples could be given. This s u f f i c e , however, t o po in t a t the

bad s t a t e of our present world.

DEVELOPMENT STUDIES: CAUSES AND REMEDIES OF INEQUALITY AND POVERTY

After the Second World War the debate concerning poverty and i ts causes i n

the Third World s t e a d i l y increased i n popular i ty . Development was i n the

beginning seen t o be a problem of Lack of capital and s k i l l s . This was a l s o typ ica l of the 1950s. Galbrai th (1979) maintains t h a t what the developed countr ies could a s s i s t the Third World with, were taken t o be the causes of

poverty. In a long period i n the 1950s population pressure on land and food

supply were, according t o Galbrai th , not regarded t o be causes of poverty

because t h a t would have a l i ena ted the Cathol ics of the developed countr ies

f o r whom family planning was ideo log ica l ly impossible. The development op-

t i m i s m of t h e 1950s ex i s ted a l s o i n the next decade, the F i r s t Development

Decade. Nonetheless, it was now recognized by most scholars that eccnomic

factors were not the only relevant factors for explaining or eradicating

poverty. The "low-equilibrium trap", "cumulative circular causation" or

"vicious circle of poverty" became catch words. A large number o f i n t e r - n a l f ac to r s (economic, social, psychological, political etc.) were seen to go together to produce a situation where a change had to be initiated in

several dimensions in order to bring about progress. Although technology

still was held to be the key factor, it was realized that technological

adoption was not a sufficient condition for development. The "discovery"

of the limited ability of economics to solve the question of poverty in

the Third World, resulted in that development studies became popular in

many social sciences and in history. Nonetheless, modernization in the

sense of westernization (the Western societies were made equal to the state of being modern, Bernstein 1973) continued to be the prevalent goal of de- velopment. This ethnocentrism was not widely criticized until the end of

the 1960s. The view that development constituted a "total process" em-

phasized the need to transcend the conventional segregation of economic

and non-economic factors. This was the base for the diffusion of the fa-

shion of multidisciplinary research and "General Systems Theory" in the

early 1970s. This fashion led to little actual empirical research but re-

sulted in that team work of scholars of several disciplines became more com-

mon. In the 1970s particularly history and sociology brought studies of

colonialism and neo-colonialism and of class relations to the forefront of

development studies. Poverty and (structural) underdevelopment were seen to be closely related to the various previous and present Zinks between devclopcd c o u n t r i e s and t he Th i rd World. During colonialism people were, according to Mabogunje (1980), "... reduced to a state of imitative depen- dence, a highly degraded state associated not only with an inability to

provide themselves adequately with the material means of sustenance but

also with the loss of cultural and psychological integrity". The remedy

was logically a (selective) delinking from the developed countries. In economics critical voices were heard, for instance, in the attack on the

notion of comparative advantage and the doctrine of free trade among count-

ries at different levels of development. As in the two previous decades,

the empirical relevance or testing of statements were often inadequate.

Each discipline has a tendency to magnify its own importance. The result

in this connection is that core subjects of a discipline are often made into

l e a d i n g c a u s e s o f p o v e r t y , such a s gemeinschaft-gesellschaft i n s o c i o l o g y ,

c a p i t a l - o u t p u t r a t i o s i n economics and absence o f n a t i o n a l p o l i t i c a l in-

s t i t u t i o n s i n p o l i t i c a l s c i e n c e . H i s t o r i a n s made c o l o n i a l i s m i n t o t h e main

e x p l a n a t o r y f a c t o r . Although l a c k o f s k i l l s i s h e l d by some s c h o l a r s t o

b e even more e s s e n t i a l , h i s t o r i a n s may s a y t h a t l a c k o f s k i l l s i s o n l y a

c a u s e i n t h e s e n s e t h a t c a u s e s and consequences r e i n f o r c e e a c h o t h e r . The

r e a s o n f o r l a c k o f s k i l l s may, f o r i n s t a n c e , b e found i n t h e ban on manu-

f a c t u r i n g which England i n t r o d u c e d i n many o f i t s c o l o n i e s . E l i t e s and do-

minant c l a s s e s i n a l l i a n c e s w i t h " c a p i t a l i s t s " i n deve loped c o u n t r i e s a r e

s e e n by many t o r e p r e s e n t t h e main p o s t - c o l o n i a l c a u s e of l a c k o f develop-

ment i n t h e T h i r d World. A s o c i a l i s t s t a t e i s t h u s advoca ted . O t h e r s would

a r g u e t h a t s o c i a l i s m i n t h e T h i r d World today would p u t a heavy c l a i m on

t h e s c a r c e s t r e s o u r c e - a d m i n i s t r a t i v e t a l e n t . They t h e r e f o r e a r g u e t h a t

e n t r e p r e n e u r s and m a r k e t s a r e i n e v i t a b l e i n poor T h i r d World c o u n t r i e s . Of

l e a d i n g c a u s e s r e l a t e d t o n a t u r e , u n f a v o u r a b l e c l i m a t e , bad s o i l s and m a l a r i a

a r e o f t e n mentioned. I n t h e p s y c h o l o g i c a l dimension "accomodation t o pover ty" ,

t h a t i s , t h e f a c t t h a t p e o p l e o f t e n p r e f e r t o s t a y w i t h what t h e y a r e ac-

customed t o , i s h e l d t o b e a s t r o n g e x p l a n a t i o n f o r u n s u c c e s s f u l d i f f u s i o n

o f i n n o v a t i o n s . The s p a t i a l s t r u c t u r e of i n f r a s t r u c t u r e and economic a c t i -

v i t i e s which were l e f t when t h e c o l o n i e s a t t a i n e d independence, shows a t y p i -

c a l p a t t e r n o f " p e r i p h e r y- c e n t r e" d i r e c t i o n . The r a i l w a y l i n e s go from t h e

i n t e r i o r t o t h e c o a s t w i t h few o r no l i n e s c o n n e c t i n g " p e r i p h e r y" w i t h " p e r i-

phery" . Other c e n t r e s o f economic a c t i v i t i e s t h a n t h e p l a n t a t i o n s o r mines

from which t h e r a i l w a y l i n e s commonly o r i g i n a t e d a r e l o c a t e d a t p o i n t s b e s t

s u i t e d f o r t r a d e w i t h Europe o r f o r s e t t l e m e n t o f w h i t e p e o p l e used t o a

more t e m p e r a t e c l i m a t e . L o c a t i o n s t h a t would have been s e n s i b l e i n r e g a r d

t o t r a d e and o t h e r r e l a t i o n s w i t h ne ighbour ing c o u n t r i e s h a v e s e l d o m become

c e n t r e s .

The above s k e t c h o n l y r e v e a l s t h e dominant t r a i t s o f t h e development l i t e r a -

t u r e . The v a r i o u s o p i n i o n s on c a u s e s and remedies o f i n e q u a l i t y and p o v e r t y

have e x i s t e d and c o n t i n u e t o e x i s t 7:n r*'ifferc7n/, m i l i eus . There h a s been a n accumula t ion o f paradigms p r a c t i c e d by d i f f e r e n t m i l i e u s o r by i n d i v i d u a l

s c h o l a r s . The s h i f t o f paradigm i n f a s h i o n is a r e s u l t o f , among o t h e r

t h i n g s , t h e l a c k o f s u c c e s s i n t h e e f f o r t s of development i n most T h i r d World

c o u n t r i e s . I n a number o f c o u n t r i e s t h e r e h a s i n f a c t been economlc growth

n o t w i t h development b u t w i t h i n c r e a s i n g p o v e r t y . Today and s u r e l y i n t h e

r e s t o f t h i s decade a wide v a r i e t y of remedies t o p o v e r t y a r e and w i l l con-

tinue to be suggested - from extreme isolationistic self-reliance to

maximum borrowing of foreign capital from multilaterial development

banks. Poverty is, however, a many-sided and highly integrated phenome-

non. Remedies must therefore also be of such a kind. The one-factor

solution does not exist. Some scholars accordingly argue that "invest-

ments in the poor" will yield positive results such as higher producti-

vity and production by an appropriate mix of infrastructural provisions.

Obviously, deuelopment p ~ m n i n g should in this situation include, as an explicit goal, the "satisfaction of an absolute level of basic needs"

(ILO 1976). Development efforts should hence be more directly focussed on the poorest groups of people.

McNamara's speech at the World Bank annual meeting in 1973 was seminal

in redirecting the attention (at least at the level of rhetoric) to po- verty as the essential preoccupation of aid. Economic growth was then

accepted not to be a sufficient indicator, in fact, development was no

longer thouyhtto follow automatically from economic growth. In addition,

it was decided that the smallholder was a legitimate unit to support in

order to increase global food production. The lending policy of the

World Bank did, however, not change much in the following years. (In the period 1975-1978 only 9.6% of the Bank's loans went to the "least deve-

loped countries", while 30.3% was given to the "upper middle-income group"

(Laar 1980).) Undoubtedly, both economic growth and redistribution are necessary to solve the problem of poverty. Other scholars maintain that

there is no alternative but to rely on the modern sector either the plan-

tation or the export industry sector as the engine of growth and thus de-

velopment. The urban slums become in this perspective a necessary evil in

a period of transition.

The optimism of the 1950s and 1960s and the critical views of the 1970s

have been replaced by a widening pessimism in the early 1980s, despite a

short-lived fairly general optimism around the turn of the decade based on

the high rates of growth achieved by the NICs before their serious balance

of payment difficulties became too apparent. No wonder that slogans such

as "alternative" or "another development" find ample space In journals. The stagflation of the world economy has made Keynesian economics insuffi-

cient. According to Frank's (1967) thesis, there should now be a better

possibility for self-centred economic and social development (as he showed was the case for a short while in Latin America during the depression

from 1929 onwards). The common view is, however, that the relatively high degree of interdependence among most countries today, leads to the

opposite conclusion, the Third World will be adversely affected by global

economic stagnation. Warren (1980) was a representative of the orthodox Marxists maintaining that capitalism is presently developing the Third

World and that this development of the productive forces is a necessary

stage in the evolution towards a succes s fu~ socialist revolution. The immediate preoccupation of orthodox Marxists is similar to the only pre-

occupation of conservatives and liberals, that is, the identification of

the forces in the market economy and elsewhere that hamper a market eco-

nomy development. Although a full-fledged market economy development

eventually will arrive, the strategy is to assist this process by removing

barriers, also barriers which are created by the process itself (figure 1). Neo-Marxists (for instance Amin 1974, 1977, 1980, Wallerstein 1974, 1979) base their writings more on Luxemburg (1913), Lenin (1917) and Baran (1957) than on Marx. They argue that peripheral or dependent capitalism in the

Third World has qualitative differences from capitalism in the centre.

The existence of poverty in the Third World is an outcome of the peripheral

nature of capitalist expansion in most of the Third World and of insuffi-

cient socialist mobilization in other Third World countries. In the former

case the market forces are not able to eradicate traditional forms or pro-

duction completely but they are strong enough to transform these forms of

production into what may be called a transitory - not completely traditio-

nal, not fully modern - form.

Figure 1. The penetration and contradiction of capitalism

Capitalist penetration

--c------ l= Traditional Contradictory forces

Thus, t h e c o n d i t i o n s p r e v a i l i n g i n r u r a l a r e a s i n t h e T h i r d World a r e

r a t h e r a r e f l e c t i o n o f t h e c o n t r a d i c t o r y f o r c e s i n t h e expans ion o f t h e

marke t economy t h a n t h e r e s u l t o f a s imple d i f f u s i o n p r o c e s s . The pe-

n e t r a t i o n o f marke t f o r c e s c r e a t e s b o t h o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r and o b s t a c l e s

t o development . The e m p i r i c a l v a r i e t y of l o c a l and r e g i o n a l a r e a s a r e

f u r t h e r m o r e o f p a r t i c u l a r impor tance . However, more s o e a r l i e r t h a n t o-

day . I n c r e a s e d i n t e g r a t i o n h a s changed t h e o f t e n un ique r e s u l t s o f t h e

combinat ion o f l o c a l t r a d i t i o n a l economy and c u l t u r e and t h e p e n e t r a t i o n

o f o u t s i d e f o r c e s . E a r l i e r , economic r e l a t i o n s were t h e dominant f o r c e s ,

b u t now c u l t u r a l u n i f i c a t i o n o f t h e West and t h e T h i r d World i s a l s o

hav ing a tremendous impact on t h e T h i r d World. The i n d i r e c t e f f e c t s on

development of t h e s e p r o c e s s e s a r e viewed t o b e one o f t h e p r imary r e a s o n s

beh ind t h e c r e a t i o n o f (mass) p o v e r t y i n t h e T h i r d World.

The t r a r i s l t o r y form of t h e p r o d u c t i o n s t r u c t u r e (and s o c i e t y a t l a r g e ) i s t h o u g h t t o b e o f a r e l a t i v e l y permanent c h a r a c t e r . The c o n c e p t '%Locked transition" i s a p p l i e d t o t h i s s i t u a t i o n . S i n c e t h e b locked t r a n s i t i o n h a s been c r e a t e d by t h e p e n e t r a t i o n of g l o b a l marke t f o r c e s , some s c h o l a r s

i n t h i s s c h o o l o f t h o u g h t m a i n t a i n t h a t a d e l i n k i n g from a t l e a s t t h e world

marke t i s a n e c e s s a r y p r e r e q u i s i t e f o r a i~tonomous and s e l f - c e n t r e d economic

and s o c i a l development .

I n my o p i n i o n it i s i m p o r t a n t n o t t o u s e t h e term c a p i t a l i s m when r e f e r r i n g

t o t h e marke t economies e x i s t i n g today . The r e a s o n f o r t h i s i s t h a t t h e

a l r e a d y w i d e l y u n d e r e s t i m a t e d p r e s e n t and p o t e n t i a l r o l e o f t h e s t a t e i n

many T h i r d World c o u n t r i e s i s f u r t h e r e d . The s t a t e may, i f t h e p o s i t i v e

and n e g a t i v e f o r c e s of t h e p r e s e n t merger of "new" and " o l d" p r o c e s s e s a r e

i d e n t i f i e d , a s s i s t t h e good and hamper t h e had f o r c e s and t h u s c r e a t e de-

velopment . Also t h e term marke t economy h i d e s t h e f a c t t h a t t h e r e i s a

mixed economy i n most T h i r d World c o u n t r i e s . C o u n t r i e s such a s China and

Tanzania have p r i v a t e a g r i c u l t u r a l p l o t s a l o n g s i d e t h e c o l l e c t i v e ones .

But even t h e s o c a l l e d c a p i t a l i s t c o u n t r i e s may have s t a t e fa rms and v a r i -

o u s forms of c o o p e r a t i v e s . I n r e a l i t y t h e r e a r e d e g r e e s of mixed eco-

nomy i n most c o u n t r i e s . S i n c e t h e term mixed economy a c c o r d i n g l y i s n o t

a d e q u a t e , marke t economies and s o c i a l i s t c o u n t r i e s w i l l b e used . The r e a-

son f o r h e t e r o g e n i e t y i n s o c i a l i s t T h i r d World c o u n t r i e s may l i e i n t h a t

t h e s o c i a l i s t form of p r o d u c t i o n i s n o t implemented i n a l l s e c t o r s o r i n

all parts of a country, because of, for instance, lack of political or

military strength. Finally, it should be stressed that the problem of

development in most Third World countries is specific to each country,

that is, in no circumstances will a "selective delinking" or "forced

socialization" be sufficient conditions for development. Furthermore,

development in the Third World is, on the whole, qualitatively different

from the transition from tradition to modernity in Europe. The Third

World exists in a fundamentally different world than Europe did during,

what Hettne (1982) has called, the original transition.

DEVELOPMENT GEOGRAPHY

Development geography is a subdiscipline which together with similar sub-

disciplines within economics, social anthropology, sociology, political

sclience etc. are called development studies. Development studies may be defined as studies that are dealing with the alleviation of poverty in

the Third World and with the reduction of inequality inside the Third

World and between the Third World and developed countries. To conduct a

geographical study in a Third World country thus does not automatically

qualify a scholar for the category development geographer. The aim and

often also the approach of the study must beseleckd in such a way as to

allow a discussion of poverty and development related matters in order for

the scholar to be included in this category. Development geography is

accordingly a subdiscipline of a particular kind because it comprises to-

pics which are studied in various other subdivisions of the discipline.

It should be mentioned that it is not possible to formulate development

relevant research objectives regarding all the topics studied in geography. No single (sub)discipline holds the key to such a compiex problem as the existing global misery. The development geography's point of view high-

lights some aspects neglected or only rudimentary treated by other social

sciences. There is, as mentioned above, a constant risk that a discipline

overemphasizes the importance of its own core subject matter. In develop- ment g e o g r q h y spatial variation has been given a dominant place in the discussion on development. In reality geography as a spatial science is

regarded by most other scholars and even some geographers to be of less

centrality to the question of development. It is essential to relate spa-

tial variation and spatial flows to the broader structure of society in

order t o gain explanatory power. I f t h i s i s accepted, it becomes a matter

of d i spos i t ion whether economic, s o c i a l , p o l i t i c a l and other processes re-

levant i n a p a r t i c u l a r context should be discussed before o r a f t e r the

treatment of s p a t i a l aspects . In the present work the s p a t i a l aspects a r e

placed a t the end. Geography (geography i s used and not human geography t o ensure t h a t physical a spec t s a r e understood t o be of relevance i n human

geography) may provide d a t a , i n s i g h t s and an understanding valuable t o the development debate. The d i s c i p l i n e s deemed most useful regarding an under-

standing of t h e problem ofpovertydepend on the aspects of the problem

looked a t . The r e l a t i v e importance of economics and geography concerning

economic development may a t f i r s t hand be sa id t o favour the former. How-

ever, t h i s implies t h a t the re i s a general agreement on the causes of un-

derdevelopment o r nondevelopment. This i s not the case. In the present

s i t u a t i o n of incomplete knowledge, a determining of the r e l a t i v e relevance

of d i f f e r e n t d i s c i p l i n e s i s not poss ible t o undertake. In p a r t i c u l a r con-

t e x t s the aspec t s thought t o be of l e s s relevance may eventually prove t o

be key fac to r s .

The major source of new ideas and concepts f o r development geography w i l l , a s was the case i n the p a s t , probably be development ( sub)d i sc ip l ines i n o the r s o c i a l sciences. Innovations may, but i s l e s s l i k e l y t o o r ig ina te

i n development geography i t s e l f because of the r a t h e r l imi ted mil ieus .

Another source of novel concepts but p a r t i c u l a r l y of methods of study is

o ther p a r t s of geography. To t e s t the a p p l i c a b i l i t y of such innovations

i n the Third World should be a task f o r development geography i n fu tu re .

It must n o t be fo rgo t ten t h a t the main theore t i ca l and methodological de-

bate i n geography a s well a s most empirical geographical s tud ies focus on

developed coun t r i es .

Development geography has contr ibuted l i t t l e t o development theory. This

is pr imari ly due t o the r a t h e r weak t r a d i t i o n of explanation i n geography.

Both reg iona l geography, which was the leading paradigm before and shor t ly a f t e r the Second World War, and the d i f p s ~ s i o n studies of the 1960s (Gould 1964, Soya 1968) were r a t h e r desc r ip t ions of f a c t s than e lucidat ions of causes. The d i f fus ion paradigm was taken from economics, p o l i t i c a l science

and sociology of t h e 1950s. This socal led modernization paradigm r e s t s on

the notion of dualism, and of development through imita t ion and integra-

tion with the western world. Development was equated with spatial dif-

fusion of modern elements from growth centres. The diffusion was thought

to occur eventually after an original phase of polarization. These stu-

dies have been heavily criticized (Brookfield 1973, 1978, Slater 1974, 1977). For instance, the sophisticated modernization surfaces produced by Gould (1970) and Riddell (1970) reveal little about the process of development. (These studies are nonetheless part of development geography because the assumption of the studies is that development

is brought about through a "trickling down" of modern, i.e. western

techniques, organization and culture, that is, development is regarded

primarily to be a process of diffusion.) The diffusion paradigm was not replsced but two other categories of development geographical studies

appeared to become more popular in the 1970s. The first wasneo-

Marxist dependency studies (an approach based on a particular theory), the other multidiscipZinary studies (not necessarily based on any expli- cit theory). These two categories remained largely at the prcqraarmatic level. Few studies used explicit Marxist concepts and methods of study.

The multidisciplinary studies turned out to become team work consisting

of disciplinary specialists rather than one scholar combining concepts

from and studying research objects "belonging" to a number of other disci- plines. The conclusion that can be drawn is that mainstream geography

continued to prevail. This in fact applied also to many of those scholars

who used non-traditional geographical concepts. Since the basic approach

used was mainstream geography, the use of some "new" concepts became a

form of "window-dressing" with certain exceptions. Those adhering to the

Marxist category focussed explicitly on spatial structures. This has been

called the dialectic development geography approach (De Souza 1982). To those more inclined toward multidisciplinary team work, space seldom be-

came the dependent variable. Poverty and resource use became the foci of

study. Space was nonetheless included whenever it was regarded to be of

relevance; the spatial point of view was never lost sight of. Browett

(1980,1981) maintains that if the neo-Marxist dependency approach is ac- cepted by development geography generally that would imply a repetition of

the mistake of the 1960s of adopting the diffusion approach when that ap-

roach was being discarded in other social sciences. To Browett there are

two paths for development geography in future: The reformist path con- cerned with micro-macro scale dialectics and the (orthodox;.) MamZst path, that is, a structural, political economy approach with historical analyses

of the "totality" and of the fundamental processes of change. Of course,

dependency theory in its crude (Frankian) form is not tenable. However, to deny the existence of dependency relations between developed countries

and transnational companies on the one hand and many Third World count-

ries on the other would be false and imply to "throw out the baby with

the bath water".

Since the r a i s o n d ' z t r e of development geography is relevance to major global problems, geography as a s p a t i a l s c i ence i n a narrow sense will often be inappropriate. It is important not to limit geography to "a

discipline in distance". Geography confined to a spatial science, for

instance, in the form of correlations of spatial patterns, is in danger

of spatial determinism. This is not to say that space as t h e o b j e c t of research cannot be of relevance in the Third World. The point is rather that space as a poin t o f view on another (the primary) topic is held to be of greater significance to an understanding of poverty. Although a

truism, it must not be forgotten that socio-economic processes are not

reducible to spatial patterns, and furthermore that people and groups of

people are active agents of change. In other words, spatial relationships

must be given meaning through other processes in order for geography to

become explanatory. "...spatial structures are implicated in social struc-

tures and each has to be theorized with the other." (Gregory 1978). Space should be regarded as one of a number of relevant factors, such as the phy-

sical environment, that need to be taken into consideration in an analysis

of inequality and poverty. This does not, however, mean, as pointed out

above, that space is thought to have a crucial explanatory power on inequa-

lity and poverty as implied by Soya (1980) in his call for socio-spatial dialectics. I argue accordingly for a pragmatic and broad view of geo-

graphy, in contrast to a narrow and, according to Johnston (1979), spatial separatist view.

There is only one possible path for a geographical discipline aiming at

explanation. This path is s y s t e m a ~ i c geography, that is, the selection of one topic for analysis and the study of this topic in several places or

through time, thereby enabling generalization. To reach beyond the stage

of classification through area1 differentiation (Hartshorn 1939, 1959) has proved futile. Regional geography in the sense of a study of the interre-

lations of features in specific localities (in contrast to regionalism)

has furthermore been fairly widely accepted to be empirical, inductive and

inescapably caught in the web of uniqueness. There are of course a number

of interesting exceptions to general findings which must and should be

studied as unique cases. But for a science generalization is necessary

because that is the basis of theory. Without theory we are left with sub-

jectivity, and in the case of regional geography often a form of art. If the above fundamental difference between systematic and regional geography

is accepted, the frequently quoted argument of Berry (1964) that geogra- phical studies may be found anywhere in a continuum from many characteri-

stics in one locality to one characteristic in many localities, is mis-

leading. It gives the impression that there is no fundamental difference

between systematic and regional geography. The characteristics of a lo-

cality, its "total milieu", cannot but be unique and therefore, if that

is the purpose of study, there is a fundamental difference between syste-

matic and regional geography. If the purpose is not the character of the

locality per se but a topic, then the question arises of appropriate ap- proach.

The objective of the present work is to contribute to an enhanced under- standing of poverty and the nature of the process of development. This

is a complex subjective matter and a choice has been made to analyse this at what could be called middle-level complexity. The study does not pur-

port to be "holistic" in any sense but to include a number of variables

that are thought to be of general relevance. A case-study approach was

thus regarded to be most appropriate. This type of approach may be a lon-

ger route to generalization but its aim is nonetheless the formulation of

hypotheses and testing of theory. Studies at "middle-level complexity"

are important in order to gain insight into relatively comprehensive pro-

cesses. This point should be seen in the light of the urgent need for in-

formation of development planning institutions.

In conc~us ion , the distinguishing features of geography, besides the pre- occupation with space, is the interest in resources, the production pro- cess and leve l of l i v ing of s p e c i f i c groups of people i n part icular Zo- c a l i t i e s . I agree with Gregory (1978) that what makes geography diffe- rent as a social science, is not the falsely stated aim of eventually at-

taining the grand synthesis of man and nature but "its attempts to operate

within specifically regional contexts". Although the overall aim of de-

velopment geography is description and explanation of uneven spatial de-

velopment, t h i s should no t p r imar i ly be understood a t t h e l e v e l of an

ind iv idua l geographer b u t a t t h e l e v e l of geography.

SOME PROBLEMATIC ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Development geography and o the r development s t u d i e s a r e problemoriented and thus s a i d t o be inescapably normative. This i s c o r r e c t i n so fa r a s t h e meaning of t h e term normative i s t h a t a scholar has t o s e l e c t h i s

t o p i c of research. Then a l l s o c i a l sc ience work i s normative. Although

a theory is used t o determine t h e exact way of posing ques t ions and formu-

l a t i n g hypotheses, a scholar s e l e c t s t h e t o p i c t o which t h e theory belongs.

Since the resources f o r research a r e sca rce , a l imi t ed number of poss ib le

s c i e n t i f i c jobs, fe l lowships e t c . e x i s t . A s c h o l a r ' s choice of r e sea rch o b j e c t w i l l t he re fo re conta in a p o l i t i c a l dimension, h i s choice w i l l r e s t on value judgement. This i s a l s o t h e case i f he chooses a t o p i c a t t h e r e sea rch f r o n t i e r . When t h e s e l e c t i o n of a t o p i c has been made, it i s

poss ib le a l s o i n t h e s o c i a l sc iences t o achieve a high degree of ob jec t i- v i t y i n d a t a c o l l e c t i o n , processing and ana lys i s i n t h e sense of i n t e r -

sub jec t ive t e s t a b i l i t y of r e s u l t s . In t h i s r e spec t development s t u d i e s a r e no exception. I n s h o r t , t o study " re levant" problems does not g ive

normative theory . Normative theory i s produced when an end- state i s

given and t h e path t o i t s a t ta inment analyzed. Development s t u d i e s do not

necessa r i ly b u i l d normative t h e o r i e s b u t may d i scuss research f ind ings i n

a normative way. One may, however, say t h a t t h e ques t ions asked a r e value-

determined. The answers obtained a r e nonetheless ob jec t ive i n s i d e a given frame of r e fe rence .

For scho la r s from developed coun t r i e s carrying o u t r e sea rch i n a Third

World country, t h e e x i s t i n g poli t ical- economic system may be taken a s the

frame of re ference. The government's p r i o r i t y wishes concerning research t o p i c s may be chosenan3those t o p i c s t h e government i s b l a c k l i s t i n g may

be shunned. The s i t u a t i o n may thus a r i s e t h a t t h e top ic a group of scho-

l a r s hold t o be e s s e n t i a l regarding development, i s no t researched upon

a t a l l . A scholar unwill ing t o comply with a government's r e sea rch p r i -

o r i t i e s , and who i s s t i l l opting f o r research on domestic i s s u e s i n a

Third World country, may f i n d h i s " a l i b i " i n t h e UN Human Rights Char ter .

Myrdal (1968) argues t h a t a scholar should not be concerned with t a c t ,

t a c t i c s and diplomacy. I t is e s s e n t i a l t h a t research aims a t t r u t h , and

the researchermust always asce r ta in t h a t t h i s i s achieved. The honesty

of the scholar thus becomes imperative. Tact may nonetheless be neces-

sary i f recommendations a r e t o be adopted by a government. The develop-

ment scholar has a moral respons ib i l i t y t o o f f e r recommendations t o go- vernments or o ther r e levan t p a r t i e s . This is , however, no t unproblematic.

I t is "easy" t o advocate r a d i c a l so lu t ions o r pa in fu l reforms f o r o the rs

when seated s a f e and comfortable i n a developed country (Streeten 1974).

Although it i s widely accepted t h a t bas ic knowledge i s a common good, t h a t

t r u t h cannot be ra t iona l i zed , and t h a t f r e e research should not be l imited

by nat ional boundaries, the re i s a question of adequacy when scholars go

t o an a l i e n cuzture. Discipl ines t rying t o i n t e r p r e t a l imi ted top ic i n another c u l t u r e may encounter problems of understanding and thus draw f a l-

lacious conclusions. The common object ion t o such research i s t h a t the concepts, models and highly sophis t icated methods the scholars from deve-

loped countr ies o f t en apply i n t h e Third World a r e u t t e r l y inadequate t o

the r e a l i t i e s of t h i s p a r t of the world. The p o l i c i e s recommended w i l l

then be inappropr ia te . Another negative e f f e c t i s t h a t l o c a l scholars

o f t en imi ta te the inadequate models of v i s i t i n g scholars . In addi t ion t o

t h i s model and methodological b i a s , a b i a s of re levant top ics i n l o c a l re-

search may e x i s t . To counteract biased research, everybody should be f r e e

t o carry out research i n the Third World. In r e a l i t y some foreign scho-

l a r s w i l l "always" be found i n the Third World. I t i s the re fo re "always"

a p o s s i b i l i t y t h a t co r rec t ions should be applied by other scholars t o the

a t b e s t p a r t i a l so lu t ions advocated by the " f i r s t " scholars. (Another reason f o r conducting research i n the Third World i s t h a t business, cul-

t u r a l and other l i n k s always w i l l e x i s t between the Third World and the

developed countr ies . Research on these l inks and t h e i r manifestations

i n p a r t i c u l a r countr ies i s thus necessary f o r the debate i n the developed

countr ies on t h e i r r e l a t i o n s with the Third World general ly . ) This view i s based on the b e l i e f t h a t the t a sk of soc ia l s c i e n t i s t s i s t o provide

policy-makers with a range of poss ib le and necessar i ly p a r t , o f t en con-

f l i c t i n g , i n t e r p r e t a t i o n s of a socie ty . Collaborative research between

scholars from developed countr ies and scholars from the Third World would

provide a so lu t ion t o the above mentioned problems. Moreover, such a col-

laborat ion would increase the p o t e n t i a l influence on policy-makers i n both

p a r t s of the world. In s h o r t , development research in the Third World in-

c l u d i n g p e r s o n s from t h e developed c o u n t r i e s s h o u l d b e a form of d i a l o g u e ,

and t h i s d i a l o g u e should b e looked upon a s a n i m p o r t a n t p a r t of t h e e f f o r t

towards a p e a c e f u l economic and s o c i a l development of t h e e n t i r e wor ld .

I t must , however, n o t b e f o r g o t t e n t h a t t h e above argument o f u n f a m i l i a r i t y

w i t h a n o t h e r c u l t u r e o f t e n a l s o a p p l i e s t o "urban" h i g h s t a t u s T h i r d World

s c h o l a r s when t h e y e n t e r t h e r u r a l f i e l d i n t h e i r own c o u n t r i e s . The fresh-

n e s s o f p e r c e p t i o n a c h i e v e d when s h u t t l i n g between c u l t u r e s i s , on t h e o t h e r

hand, a n i m p o r t a n t a m e l i o r a t i n g p o i n t .

For development r e s e a r c h e r s a c o n t r a d i c t i o n may b e found between what t h e y

s e e a s b e i n g of p r a c t i c a l r e l e v a n c e , the development research frontier (of t h e i r r e s p e c t i v e d i s c i p l i n e s ) , and t h e a c a d e m i c a l l y r e l e v a n t , the institu- tional research frontier. T h i s s i t u a t i o n e x i s t s because development s t u d i e s o n l y c o n s t i t u t e a minor p a r t o f t h e r e s p e c t i v e d i s c i p l i n e s . T h i s h a s a

b e a r i n g on t h e q u e s t i o n o f employment a t u n i v e r s i t i e s . There i s , however,

no a l t e r n a t i v e i n development s t u d i e s b u t t o choose t o p i c s r e l e v a n t t o and

p l a c e d i n a p e r s p e c t i v e of development i n t h e c o u n t r y i n which a s t u d y i s

c a r r i e d o u t . Because o f t h e n e c e s s a r y dedication to the problem of develop- rncnt, t o a l l e v i a t i n g p o v e r t y and m i s e r y i n t h e wor ld , a development r e -

s e a r c h e r ' s c h o i c e o f r e s e a r c h t o p i c may harbour a n e lement o f d i s q u a l i f i -

c a t i o n r e g a r d i n g a n academic c a r e e r a t home (Chambers 1 9 8 1 ) . Thus, i f idea- l i s m was r e l i e d upon, t h e number o f s c h o l a r s i n t h i s f i e l d would b e extremely

low. Chambers m a i n t a i n s t h a t i n o r d e r t o a c h i e v e r e l e v a n t development re-

s e a r c h " t h e system o f rewards , p r e s t i g e and promotion h a s t o change i f t h e

m a j o r i t y o f t h o s e concerned w i t h ( r u r a l ) development a r e themse lves t o change". The i m p o r t a n t r e a s o n f o r d e d i c a t i o n l i e s i n t h e f o l l o w i n g q u o t a t i o n from

Goule t ( 1 9 7 1 ) : "Unless one h a s p s y c h o l o g i c a l l y " t u n e d i n " on t h e wavelength of t h e p o o r , he ( t h e s c h o l a r ) c a n n o t imagine even v i c a r i o u s l y what it means t o be underdeveloped. T h i s j.s e s p e c i a l l y t r u e o f t e c h n i c i a n s working abroad ; t h e y cannot hope t o g a i n r e a d y a c c e p t a n c e i n underdeveloped s e t t i n g s u n l e s s

t h e y p r a c t i c e v o l u n t a r y a u s t e r i t y i n j u d i c i o u s f a s h i o n . ... ( T h i s ) must be founded on i n t e r n a l detachment from e g o c e n t r i c p u r s u i t s and on a c t i v e r e -

s p e c t f o r o t h e r s . "

CONCLUSION

The t y p i c a l t r a i t of development s t u d i e s i s t h a t of incomple te knowledge.

No g e n e r a l t h e o r y o f development e x i s t s , a n d i f fo rmula ted i n f u t u r e , no

common a c c e p t a n c e i s l i k e l y t o b e found. The urgency of f i n d i n g a so lu-

t i o n t o g l o b a l i n e q u a l i t y and ( m a s s ) p o v e r t y i s no l e s s t h a n t h a t o f p r e- v e n t i n g a n u c l e a r h o l o c a u s t . A poverty focus was u n d e r l i n e d above a s t h e main c h a r a c t e r i s t i c o f development s t u d i e s . Thus c e r t a i n r e s e a r c h t o p i c s

have t o b e g i v e n p r i o r i t y . A l i s t of p r i o r i t y t o p i c s h a s t o be based on

development t h i n k i n g , on t h e f i e l d of development r e s e a r c h , and n o t on

convenience , p o l i t i c a l expediency o r c a r e e r c o n s i d e r a t i o n s . The l i s t

should n o t b e of a narrow k i n d because o f t h e s t a t e d incomple te knowledge.

I t s h o u l d f u r t h e r m o r e b e s t r e s s e d t h a t development i s a n open-ended con-

c e p t , and t h a t e t h n o c e n t r i s m is a c o n s t a n t t h r e a t i n c h o i c e of t o p i c and

method o f r e s e a r c h .

The r e s e a r c h approach adopted should b e i n d u c t i v e r a t h e r t h a n d e d u c t i v e ,

a s e x p r e s s e d by Hyd6n ( 1 9 8 0 ) : "We have r e a s o n t o i n i t i a t e an i n d u c t i v e s e a r c h t h a t w i l l f i l l t h e empty s p o t s i n our knowledge o f development ( i n A f r i c a ) and t h e r e f o r e e n r i c h o u r models" . The r o l e of developmrnt p6.c- graphy i n t h i s p e r s p e c t i v e s h o u l d b o t h b e t o p r o v i d e a wider v a r i e t y of d a t a which t a k e n t o g e t h e r w i t h s t u d i e s o f t h e developed c o u n t r i e s discZosa m d explain regional and global inequaz i t i e s , and t o h i g h l i g h t t h e more narrow s p a t i a l dimension of t h e development p r o c e s s . The o v e r r i d i n g ques-

t i o n i s why economic and s o c i a l development have o c c u r r e d r a p i d l y i n some

a r e a s and s lowly i n o t h e r s . To l i m i t t h e development g e o g r a p h i c a l ana-

l y s i s t o i n c l u d e o n l y forms o f s p a t i a l o r g a n i z a t i o n ( i n t h e extreme c a s e o n l y d i s t a n c e ) a s v a l i d dimension o f e x p l a n a t i o n , i s deemed t o make deve- lopment geography a n i r r e l e v a n t d i s c i p l i n e . On t h e o t h e r hand, develop-

ment i s " e s s e n t i a l l y a s o c i o - s p a t i a l p r o c e s s" (Mabogunje 1 9 8 0 ) , and (geo- g r a p h i c a l ) s p a c e i s a d imens ion which t h e development g e o g r a p h e r , i n con- t r a s t t o o t h e r s c h o l a r s , is c o n t i n u a l l y looking f o r , e v a l u a t i n g t h e i m -

p o r t a n c e o f and i n c l u d i n g i n h i s a n a l y s i s .

Should p r i o r i t y b e g i v e n t o m r a z areas? The r e a s o n f o r g i v i n g a p o s i t i v e answer i s , i n f o l l o w i n g L i p t o n ( 1 9 7 7 ) , t h a t t h e most i m p o r t a n t c o n f l i c t between g r o u p s o f p e o p l e t o d a y i s between r u r a l and urban g r o u p s . Most of

t h e p o v e r t y and most o f t h e low- cost s o u r c e s of p o t e n t i a l advance a r e found

i n r u r a l a r e a s , whereas t h e u rban s e c t o r c o n t a i n s most of t h e a r t i c u l a t e d -

n e s s and power. Fur thermore , i f it is t a k e n a s a n assumpt ion t h a t p r i o r i t y

i n i n v e s t m e n t s should b e g i v e n t o a g r i c u l t u r e and n o t t o i n d u s t r y , t h e

a t t e n t i o n should b e c e n t r e d on r u r a l p o v e r t y .

I s global development possible through a s trategy based on an asswnption of harmony of i n t e r e s t i n the world? The Brandt r e p o r t (1980) t a k e s harmony a s t h e l e a d i n g premise . The r e p o r t s t a t e s : "The 1980s c o u l d w i t n e s s even

g r e a t e r c a t a s t r o p h e s t h a n t h e 1930s." T h i s i s , however, n o t seen t o b e in-

e v i t a b l e . The wor ld i s a u n i t y w i t h problems b u t t h e n e c e s s a r y fundamental

changes can b e t o t h e b e n e f i t of a l l . For i n s t a n c e , a l a r g e- s c a l e t r a n s f e r

o f r e s o u r c e s t o t h e T h i r d World w i l l have a major impact on growth i n t h e whole world economy. The r i c h d o e s n o t r e a l l y have t o s a c r i f i c e i n o r d e r t o

u p l i f t t h e poor b u t i n t h e s h o r t- r u n r e d u c e t h e i r i n v e s t m e n t s i n t h e developed

c o u n t r i e s . Goule t (1971) h o l d s a d i f f e r e n t view: "... inhuman p o v e r t y cannot b e wiped o u t u n l e s s t h e world a s a whole s e t s o u t t o e l i m i n a t e p o v e r t y , n o t

t o o b t a i n a f f l u e n c e " . T h i s c l a s s i c a l dilemma o f whether t o g i v e pr imacy t o

economic growth o r t o p o v e r t y e r a d i c a t i o n r e g a r d l e s s of a p o s s i b l e n e g a t i v e

impact on economic growth i n t h e long- run l i e s a t t h e bot tom of t h e d i s c u s s i o n

o f ( r a d i c a l ) r e f o r m s v e r s u s r e v o l u t i o n . Although a c e r t a i n d e g r e e o f mutual i n t e r e s t e x i s t s between t h e T h i r d World and deve loped c o u n t r i e s , a c o n f l i c t model is a b e t t e r r e f l e c t i o n of the real world. one example i s t h e compe- t i t i o n between e s p e c i a l l y t r a n s n a t i o n a l companies which r e s u l t s i n t h a t c o s t

c o n s i d e r a t i o n s th rough cheap l a b o u r become i m p e r a t i v e and t h u s t h e p r e s s u r e

on poor c o u n t r i e s t o c r e a t e a n ample supply t o a t t r a c t f o r e i g n inves tments .

T h i s i s n o t t o deny t h a t l a r g e- s c a l e i n d u s t r i e s have a n o b j e c t i v e i n t e r e s t i n an improved buying power among t h e w o r l d ' s p o p u l a t i o n a t l a r g e . A c a s e

i n p o i n t is t h e mutual i n t e r e s t e x i s t i n g between many l a r g e South A f r i c a n

companies and a n t i - a p a r t h e i d f o r c e s , Another example i s t h a t t h e M a r x i s t

c o n c l u s i o n t h a t t h e r e i s a b a s i c s o l i d a r i t y between r i c h and poor workers

n a t i o n a l l y a s w e l l a s i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y i s b e l i e v e d t o have l i t t l e e x p l a n a t o r y

power i n t h e world today . S o l i d a r i t y between r i c h workers i n t h e developed

c o u n t r i e s and poor workers i n t h e Thlrd World i s a c c o r d i n g l y r e g a r d e d t o be

a t b e s t a f a r - s i g h t e d o p t i o n , and t h u s a g e n e r a l agreement on a n " i n t e r n a-

t i o n a l w e l f a r e ideo logy" i s n o t thought t o b e p l a u s i b l e i n t h e f o r e s e e a b l e

f u t u r e .

There i s a common agreement t h a t g lobal interdependence regarding raw ma-

t e r i a l s , technology and c a p i t a l has reached such a high l e v e l t h a t it i s

impossible t o envisage the development of any Third World country through

a s t ra tegy of i s o l a t i o n . Furthermore, the developed countr ies a r e techno-

l o g i c a l l y more advanced and w i l l "always" be so i f market fo rces a r e l e f t

t o operate unchecked. The d i r e c t i o n of technological change w i l l there-

f o r e be determined by the developed countr ies . The r e l a t i o n s between the

Third World and the developed countr ies which r