International Development Topics, Questions,

Propositions and Landmarks

TOPICS, QUESTIONS AND PROPOSITIONS

Background

When we discussed the results you wished to achieve in the course, you identified a number of questions to which you were seeking answers. Among them were the following.

What constitute the best "models" for different sorts of projects? What are the limits on project replicability?

How do international institutions help or not help in developing countries?

How can developing countries change from within?

What have been effective uses of technology in developing countries; what are appropriate uses of technology in developing countries?

What have been some of the most noteworthy development failures; what can we learn from them?

What have been some of the most noteworthy development success stories; what can we learn from them?

How can development projects help the "forgotten poor?"

What roles have development organizations other than the major multilateral financial institutions (the World Bank and IMF) played in development? In particular, what role have development institutions played?

I believe that one useful way to integrate the course materials in a form that will provide lasting value is in a propositional inventory, organized around topics and questions that are central to the international development field and of importance to you. Examples of central topics would be some of the themes collectively chosen by the international development faculty to organize class-sessions for this course. Examples of questions would be those listed above, which you provided at the beginning of class. The topics and questions you choose for your own final report may be somewhat different but should cover similar terrain.

Last week, I distributed two compilations of propositions that take a somewhat similar form. As you will have seen, both relate generally to the development field. Messages from Global Models compiles propositions from more than 20 global computer modeling projects completed mostly during the 1970s and early 1980s. They are drawn from publications authored and co-authored by Donella Meadows and myself, especially Groping in the Dark: the First Decade of Global Modeling (1983), Donella Meadows concluding address to the 10^th Global Modeling Conference of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and a contribution of mine to the edited volume, Breakthrough: New Global Thinking (1988). The Schools of Thought and Points of View on Ending Hunger propositions are from The Hunger Project Book, Ending Hunger: An Idea Whose Time has Come (1985). The latter set of propositions also illustrates a key perspective in this course: that there may be no single set of answers to important development questions. Rather, answers may break down into two or more contending schools of thought and that even within these schools, points of view may differ.

Format for Topics, Questions and Propositions

The only way I would like you to modify the format given in the handouts is to include a brief statement about the evidence that supports the propositions. Typically, this would also include the source from which you drew the proposition. You may, however, develop propositions of your own. Among the types of evidence found in the literature are:

Empirical generalizations from one or a few case studies.

Empirical generalizations from multi-case data bases (as in the World Developmet Reports, Human Development Reports, Index of Economic Freedom Reports, etc.)

Citations of other authoritative sources.

Anecdotal evidence.

No evidence – the propositions are essentially unsubstantiated.

Here is an example of what I have in mind, drawn from propositions found in the book Beyond the Limits (1992).

TOPIC: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AT THE GLOBAL LEVEL

Question: Are present global trends of physical capital expansion, resource utilization, population growth sustainable in the long run?

School of thought: No they are not sustainable.

Human use of many essential resources and generation of many kinds of pollutants have already surpassed rates that are physically sustainable.

Without significant reductions in material and energy flows, there will be in the coming decades, an uncontrolled decline in per capita food output, energy use and industrial production. (Beyond the Limits, pp. xv,xvi).

Evidence: Numerous scenario runs of a dynamic computer simulation model. The model was developed in 1972 and then updated in 1992. Empirically observed trends between 1972 and 1992 were consistent with scenarios generated by the model.

Question: Can market mechanisms and new technologies solve the Malthusian dilemma?

School of thought: No. Market mechanisms will not provide the solution.

Because of feedback delays, the global economic system is likely to overshoot and erode its sustainable limits. Indeed, for many sources and sinks important to the world economy, overshoot has already occurred.

Technology and markets operate only with delays and only on imperfect information; they are themselves negative feedback processes with response delays that enhance the economy’s tendency to overshoot. (Beyond the Limits, pp. 188-89).

Evidence: Generalizations from the structure of the World3 computer simulation model of global-scale dynamic relationships between population, resources and environment.

Technology and markets serve the values of society or of the most powerful segments of society. If the primary goal is growth, they produce growth as long as they can. If the primary goals are equity and sustainability, they can also serve those goals.

Evidence: Unsubstantiated generalization reflecting the authors’ life experience (especially the experience of building global models) and values.

 

LANDMARKS

Becoming knowledgeable about international development means knowing something of the field’s history. In my experience, a good way to survey an area of history is to compile a chronology of "landmark events" and the dates on which they occurred. "Events" could also include release of publications that turned out to have lasting significance. Rather than describe this facet of the assignment at length, I will simply offer a brief example of how it might be done: