World Development: An Introduction - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745314074 ISBN 13: 9780745314075

Verlag: PLUTO PR, 2001

Inhaltsangabe

Do the structures of the world economy invariably work against the interests of the Third World? What is the impact of industrialisation? How does it affect people and their livelihoods, gender relations, the environment, movements for social justice and democracy? World Development offers answers to these questions. A comprehensive introductory guide for students, teachers, volunteers and NGO workers in development,World Development examines the substantive issues surrounding development, industrialisation and globalization and places them within a historic context. It outlines the historical development of the world economy and assesses the current prospects for developing countries. The book contains in-depth analyses of how particular industries operate at local and global levels, drawing from case studies on textiles, tourism and copper. There are also case studies of specific countries, including South Korea, Cyprus, Mexico, China and Spain.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Kieran Allen is a sociology lecturer at University College Dublin. His books include Marx and the Alternative to Capitalism (Pluto, 2011) and Max Weber: A Critical Introduction (Pluto, 2004) as well as a number of works on Irish society and politics. Brian O' Boyle is the Economic Programme Director at St Angela's College, National University of Ireland. He has published a number of articles in International Critical Thought, Cambridge Journal of Economics and Capital and Class.

Podoromos Panayiotopoulos is a Lecturer in Development Studies at the School of Social Sciences and International Development, University of Wales, Swansea and the Open University. Gavin Capps is a PhD Candidate in the Development Studies Institute at the London School of Economics and a Visiting Lecturer at the University of the North West, South Africa.

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World Development

An Introduction

By Prodromos Panayiotopoulos, Gavin Capps

Pluto Press

Copyright © 2001 Prodromos Panayiotopoulos and Gavin Capps
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-7453-1407-5

Contents

Preface, xiii, 
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms, xvii, 
Summary of Contents, xix, 
Introduction, 1, 
Aim of the Book, 5, 
1. World Development: Globalisation in Historical Perspective, 9, 
2. Globalisation: Industrialisation and Trade, 63, 
3. Country Studies, 113, 
4. Commodity Studies, 169, 
Conclusions, 207, 
Development and its Discontents Prodromos Panayiotopoulos and Gavin Capps, 209, 
Appendix 1: Of Noble Savages and Lazy Natives, 219, 
Appendix 2: The Third World. An Activity, 224, 
Tables, 228, 
Figures, 243, 
Notes, 247, 
References, 254, 
Further Reading, 266, 
Useful Websites, 270, 
Glossary, 272, 
Notes on Authors, 280, 
Index, 283, 

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

Gavin Capps

The development of capitalism on a world scale began in Europe. This was characterised by the development of the urban crafts in the Italian and German medieval city states which (for the first time) in human history represented the irreversible victory of town over country. The break-up of the feudal manorial estates and the expansion of commodity production (that is, production and exchange for sale) appeared initially in the form of specialisation in production and exchange between these city states. The expansion of the world economy appeared initially in the form of 'windfall' profits made from trade in scarce commodities, such as precious minerals and spices by European merchants. This is referred to as the period of 'mercantile trade'. The subsequent development of 'machinofacture', that is the increased application of machinery to production and the development of the factory system, laid the basis for a development which was different in scale and kind to that of mercantilism.

British capitalism appeared as a particularly powerful force because before any of the other European nations and city states, it had made the transition to nationhood and the potent connection between imperial expansion and industrialisation. Whilst in this section it is argued that industrialisation began in Europe, by this it is not meant that industrialisation is the property of Europe. Colonial expansion and imitative industrialisation policies by the ex-colonies, means that industrialisation has spread (albeit unevenly) to all parts of the globe acquiring as in the case of Japan, North America and the Asian and Latin American NICs, specific national characteristics. This is examined in Sections 2 and 3. In this section, we analyse the historical development of the global economy, the transition from mercantilism to industrial capitalism and the manner in which the expansion of Europe evolved from imperial acquisition and protectionism and towards 'free trade'. This evolution formed much of the context from the late fifteenth to the late nineteenth centuries. The expansion of industrial capitalism and the rise of the USA from a peripheral colony of the British Empire to the world's dominant economy by the late nineteenth century provided a sobering challenge for Europe. This was graphically illustrated in superpower rivalry between Russia and the USA for most of the latter part of the twentieth century. This bi-polarity had important consequences for their respective clients in the Third World. The section concludes by examining the historical roots of contemporary problems facing the Third World, such as the debt crisis which unfolded in the developing countries during the late 1970s and questions raised by the globalisation thesis. The section introduces basic concepts used to explain world development, globalisation and industrialisation.

One key sub-text in the intricate relationship fashioned between the expansion of Europe and what came to be the Third World was in the impact of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was in part driven by the phase of early mercantile exploration and attempts to offer explanations for the biblically unaccounted for peoples of the world. This curiosity when combined with innovations in Science and Technology, contributed to the questioning of the natural order of things and also questioned the rights of divine kings. In both England and France this culminated in popular revolutions which led to the beheading of both Louis XVI and Charles I. The rolling heads of kings of state symbolised the development of the 'Enlightenment model' which lies at the heart of ideas about 'modernisation' in the Third World. The model drew from the experience of the French Revolution during which the bourgeoisie achieved three major objectives in its struggle with the dying feudal order: first, the abolition of the monarchy and the introduction of democracy in the form of a constituent assembly; second, the break-up of the large landed estates held by the nobility; and third, national unification and the development of the nation state. The model was used in the newly independent countries and in their subsequent evolution, to point to the poverty of the ruling elites and their inability to meet even basic criteria necessary for development and modernisation.

1.1

Gavin Capps

The Expansion of Europe: Mercantile Trade 1500-1750

OVERVIEW

The period covering 1500 to 1750 can be seen as the era of merchant or mercantile trade. It witnessed major transformations in the economic life of Western Europe, as its feudal societies disintegrated and inter-state rivalry grew. From the fifteenth century onwards, competing European nations sent sailors, soldiers and merchants across the world to locate and monopolise new sources of wealth. Desirable luxury goods and precious metals, such as spices and silver, were extracted from the Americas, Africa and Asia through plunder, extortion and trade. European expansion drew a growing portion of the world into its orbit, through the development of rival commercial networks on a global scale.

EMPIRES AND TRADE: THE WORLD BEFORE EUROPE

To understand the changes that were to occur between 1500 and 1750, it is useful to sketch out the kind of world that Europe would soon encounter.

Two features stood out in the world of the 1400s. The first was the immense diversity in the types of economic activity found across the globe. For example, some people, like the Amazonian Mundurucu 'Indians', lived on what they could hunt or gather. By contrast, the nomadic Mongols of central Asia moved herds of animals across great areas, trading with and raiding the settlements and towns that they encountered. In Han China or Hausa Nigeria, small peasant farmers cultivated the land. They were controlled by ruling Chiefs or Lords, who claimed a portion of the peasants' produce in the form of tribute. Great city states were also known, like Malacca in South East Asia, which supported a population of 50,000 merchants and craftworkers through regional trade.

Alongside these differences, there were profound similarities and linkages emerging between the world's peoples. In the populous regions of Central America, China, India and parts of Africa, great empires rose up and expanded. Dynastic rulers, like the Mwene Mutapa of Zimbabwe, controlled trade, mining and production over vast areas. They incorporated surrounding societies into their empires through military expansion. The new subjects were then forced to pay tribute (a tax,...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: PLUTO PR
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2001
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0745314074
• ISBN 13: 9780745314075
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Herausgeber: Panayiotopoulos Prodromos, Capps Gavin
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar