Successful Economic Development example essay topic

The Development of Modern Africa There are over 40 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and the wealth of natural resources and the prevalence of wealth in the northern segments of Africa have led many to speculate about the equity and economic development in the sub-Sahara. Unfortunately, the progression of economic, political and social factors in this region have done little to improve the overall conditions, and have instead demonstrated a consistent bias towards the government and the social elites that has impacted the chances of successful development in the region. Since the end of World War II, changes in the infrastructure, the political forces, and in the capacity for collective action in many of these countries has underscored what some have described as the "Africa crisis" (Stryker, 1986). One of the major issues that still remain in this region is the history of development in the sub-Sahara, generally traced back to the history of British rule, and the relinquishing of colonial control which led to greater regionalization. But there was little in place in terms of expansion planning or economic development in the period following the end of the Second World War, and it can be argued that the struggle for economic development is linked to existing and maintained inequities, based both on social conditioning and political control, that has weakened the agrarian force and impacted the development of industrialization. During the 1980's, when many countries through out the world were experiencing the successful pull away from years of recession, the countries of the African sub-Sahara were not impacted by this positive transformation, and instead, it was posited that the decline in economic conditions would result in years of continued recession (Stryker, 1986).

A number of theorists have attributed this crisis to different components of the politics, the economic base, and the social perspectives, as well as basic problems like the lowest world-wide life expectancy, lowest nutritional and literacy rates, lack of access to medical care, safe water supplies, and support services, and high population growth coupled by the highest infant mortality rates in the world (Stryker, 1986). It has been recognized that of the 40-50 poorest counties of the world, most (2/3) are located in the sub-Sahara, and even though there are larger populations of impoverished people in South Asia, Africa still is considered the poorest population in the world and this problem has been increasing for decades (Stryker, 1986). It has been argued that the factors that have led to a lack of efficacy in the economic picture of the sub-Sahara is directly linked to the process of British control. During the era of early colonial rule, British administrators exercised what has been described as "indirect rule" which was created to maintain military and political control (Berry, 1992).

This inherently impacted the conditions of access to land, labor and agricultural tracks which in turn determined the progression of agricultural commercialization and the migration of labor (Berry, 1992). For decades, the struggle to maintain control over a commercial agrarian base and to provide for the distinct call for industrialization has had limited acceptance and widespread opposition to those driving for dictated control. As a result of the issues that emerged during the colonial era, the shaping of government and the development of elite groupings within the social constructs, and subsequently the emerging social conditioning, created inherent inequities between the government and the agrarian labor force (Berry, 1992). Struggles to unite localized native laws and customs and emerging governmental constructs modeled after colonizer perspectives, clearly designed the inequities that would become a major component of the social order. It has been argued that failed efforts to promote stability and social order and a heightened sense of the disequilibrium and the authoritarian rule in many regions has been a fundamental key to understanding the implications of widespread social and political divisions (Berry, 1992). It has been argued that everything from the distribution of wealth to the allocation of defense spending since the 1960's has reflected the lack of equity in the social and economic conditions of the sub-Saharan nations (Gyimah-Brempong, 1992).

It has also been argued that the policy makers in the sub-Sahara maximize their political survival at the cost of arrested economic development and this can be demonstrated through social indicators that have worsened over the past 30 years, as well the maintenance of perceptions regarding the counties of this region and the notion that the regression that occurred was a necessary part of the rationale for economic development that negated participation by the agrarian sector (Seitz, 1991). There are a number of factors that must be considered first before attempting to evaluate the perspectives of leadership and their progress in terms of economic conditions and their own political protection. First, it is necessary to recognize that the problems that have stemmed from declining agrarian controls is directly linked to the fact that there has been a severe drought through out the region for a number of years, and that the progression of deforestation has inherently impacted the return of recurrent droughts (Stryker, 1986). Attempts to maintain effective farmer practices that can allow for the maintenance of crops even during difficult environmental seasons has been a focus in the region since the 1980's (Stryker, 1986).

Unfortunately, the agrarian sector of the sub-Saharan nations is among the poorest and most socially and educationally challenged populations of the world, and therefore, attempting to provide instruction that moves people towards greater successes in their agriculture is limited by the overall lack of its applicability. At the same time, the overall lack of complicity between indigenous communities, the governmental processes and the national leaders has led tot he perception that there is no general representation within many of these communities. It appears as though warring factions of agrarian tribal units has also inherently impacted the capacity to provide a defined government recognized by the masses, and instead, the notion of regional ized leadership is more normative in Africa, even if it is not more acceptable for the governmental process as a whole. These segmented leaderships have also been the hardest hit by declining conditions and declining overall efficacy in government action. In turn, the call for economic expansion, industrialization, the focus on creating an infrastructure in the region that can maintain successful economic development has become an inherent part of arguments regarding the successful expansion in the region (Seitz, 1991). Unfortunately, even in the midst of attempts to interject some level of industrial progress, the lack of education, lack of common languages, and the general sense of ambivalence of the indigenous peoples for the government structures has resulted in the diminishing efficacy of attempts at industrial change and economic development (Seitz, 1991).

Seitz (1991) has even gone as far as to argue that in the wake of failures of authoritarian regimes in the sub-Saharan countries, and in the midst of attempts to build nations and provide a force for economic development, that countries able to support their military regimes could actually be the factor that lends itself to the development of state institutions for enforcing public order and creating austere economic accounting. In other words, it can be posited that in the midst of opposition to industrial expansion, the military presence could provide a means by which governments can maintain order over conflicting indigenous populations (Jaycox, 1993). At times, economic expansion has been touted as the most important and influential process in maintaining political stability and quelling unrest (Lonsdale, 1970). In Kenya, for example, the application of the Swynnerton Plan of 1954 was designed to intensify the progression of African agriculture as a means of creating a more effective political and economic response (Lonsdale, 1970). Unfortunately the changes in social conditions, political perspectives, environmental conditions and the unrest within regional communities have all lent themselves to the decline in economic conditions and the lack of efficacy in industrial development that has resulted in the continued impoverished conditions through out many of the countries of the sub-Sahara. Though it was perceived that the commercialization of industry, economic development, urbanization, educational reforms and the spread of governmental bureaucracy would all inevitably lend themselves to reductions in the negative living conditions through out this region, it was recognized that the divisions that were created that separated tribal leaders and community integration from elitist governmental and dictatorial groupings inevitably reduced the impact of economic reforms within the call for industrial development.

Because there has long been an extreme dichotomy within the communities of Africa in regards to their economic stability, the perception that reforms could somehow promote a major transformation within the varied communities of the sub-Sahara placed too great an emphasis on the process of development and too little emphasis on the impact that the division itself would have on existing communities.

Bibliography

Berry, Sara (1992, Summer).
Hegemony on a shoestring: indirect rule and access to agricultural land. Africa, vs. 62 n 3, pp. 327 (29). Gyimah-Brempong, Kwa bena (1992, May).
Do African governments favor defense in budgeting? Journal of Peace Research, vs. 29 n 2, pp. 191 (16). Jaycox, Edward (1993, March).
Structural adjustment spurs African development. Africa News, vs. 38 n 2-3, pp. 14 (1). Lonsdale, J.M. (1970).
Nationalism and Traditionalism in East Africa. in Collins, R., Ed. Problems in the History of Colonial Africa, 1860-1960.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Seitz, Steven (1991, January-April).
The military in black African politics. Journal of Asian and African Studies, vs. 26 n 1-2, pp. 61 (15). Stryker, Richard (1986).