The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (71 page)
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Authors: Iain McLean
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de Tocqueville
development
Development is a multidimensional process that normally connotes change from a less to a more desirable state. Development is a normative concept, and there is no single accepted definition. Some people argue that development must be relative to time, place, and circumstance, and cannot be reduced to one universally applicable formula.
Increased economic efficiency, expansion of productive capacity of the nation's economy, and technological advance are generally accepted as necessary conditions for development to be a sustainable long-term phenomenon, as are economic and industrial diversification and adaptability in the face of exogenous shocks. Several additional ingredients have been attached by writers from a variety of social science disciplines. They focus on changes in social structure, attitudes, and motivation, and on the purposes to which economic improvement is put. They see increase in gross national product (GNP) and average real incomes per head of population as merely means, and not ends in themselves. In some accounts, the increase of general social welfare goes beyond economic (aspects of) welfare, to embrace for instance spiritual and cultural attainments, and individual dignity and group esteem. Development has been defined as the fulfilment of the necessary conditions for the realization of the potential of human personality, which translates into reductions in poverty, inequality, and unemployment. Development has also been characterized more simply as the increasing satisfaction of basic needs such as for food. There is discussion about how extensive these needs are, and whether they include, for example, education. Development has been translated into improvements in certain social indicators, for instance housing provision, and into indicators of the (physical) quality of life, such as life expectancy. Many of these ideas of development have engendered considerable debate over the theoretical and empirical nature of the relationships between economic growth, the pattern of growth, and the distribution of the benefits of growth, or what is sometimes called
equality
.
Other conditions that have been included in development are increasing national self-reliance and self-determination, predicated on the notion that development is something a country does to itself, and that it involves a reduction in
dependency
. Then there is the environmental aspect, contained in the idea of sustainable development, which has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Political participation, accountable government, and a respect for human rights as well as attention to human needs, have recently been given increased prominence as features of political development that also belong to the generic sense of development.
Development, then, places a high value on increased freedom. After all, the most basic need of all may be the freedom to define your own needs, and to take part in making the decisions which affect your own life. Economic development cannot be divorced from the other aspects of development, but its most important value could be that it enhances the range of human choice. Many modern observers of development in the Third World argue that whatever else development is it must be participatory by nature—a ‘bottom up’ exercise, in which the mass of the ordinary people understand, initiate, and control the process.
PBI
Increased economic efficiency, expansion of productive capacity of the nation's economy, and technological advance are generally accepted as necessary conditions for development to be a sustainable long-term phenomenon, as are economic and industrial diversification and adaptability in the face of exogenous shocks. Several additional ingredients have been attached by writers from a variety of social science disciplines. They focus on changes in social structure, attitudes, and motivation, and on the purposes to which economic improvement is put. They see increase in gross national product (GNP) and average real incomes per head of population as merely means, and not ends in themselves. In some accounts, the increase of general social welfare goes beyond economic (aspects of) welfare, to embrace for instance spiritual and cultural attainments, and individual dignity and group esteem. Development has been defined as the fulfilment of the necessary conditions for the realization of the potential of human personality, which translates into reductions in poverty, inequality, and unemployment. Development has also been characterized more simply as the increasing satisfaction of basic needs such as for food. There is discussion about how extensive these needs are, and whether they include, for example, education. Development has been translated into improvements in certain social indicators, for instance housing provision, and into indicators of the (physical) quality of life, such as life expectancy. Many of these ideas of development have engendered considerable debate over the theoretical and empirical nature of the relationships between economic growth, the pattern of growth, and the distribution of the benefits of growth, or what is sometimes called
equality
.
Other conditions that have been included in development are increasing national self-reliance and self-determination, predicated on the notion that development is something a country does to itself, and that it involves a reduction in
dependency
. Then there is the environmental aspect, contained in the idea of sustainable development, which has been defined as development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Political participation, accountable government, and a respect for human rights as well as attention to human needs, have recently been given increased prominence as features of political development that also belong to the generic sense of development.
Development, then, places a high value on increased freedom. After all, the most basic need of all may be the freedom to define your own needs, and to take part in making the decisions which affect your own life. Economic development cannot be divorced from the other aspects of development, but its most important value could be that it enhances the range of human choice. Many modern observers of development in the Third World argue that whatever else development is it must be participatory by nature—a ‘bottom up’ exercise, in which the mass of the ordinary people understand, initiate, and control the process.
PBI
devolution
The grant of power by an upper level of government to a lower one. In contrast to
federalism
, where each tier has protected areas of power, a developed government remains constitutionally subordinate to the government which gave it its power and which could in principle revoke it.
There have been several experiments with devolution to subnational governments in the United Kingdom. The three Home Rule Bills (1886, 1893, and 1912) were all attempts to set up a developed government in Ireland while retaining sovereignty at Westminster. They all failed, for a number of reasons. Most relevant of them today is what is now known as the ‘West Lothian Question’ (because it was constantly being put in the 1970s by Tam Dalyell , then MP (Lab) for West Lothian; like Mr Gladstone's Irish Question, it never received a satisfactory answer). In a generalized form, the West Lothian Question asks what are to be the numbers, powers, and duties of uppertier (Westminster) MPs for a developed territory. If their numbers are left untouched (as in the Scotland and Wales Acts 1978), the developed territory is privileged
vis-à-vis
the rest of the country. If they are abolished (1886) the developed territory suffers taxation without representation. If they are allowed to vote at Westminster on non-devolved matters but not on develop ones (considered in 1886) the majority of votes on devolved matters might be for a different party to the majority of votes on non-devolved matters. The most coherent solution to the West Lothian Question is probably to reduce the numbers of such Westminster MPs and to ring-fence devolved matters in the devolved territory. This was adopted for Northern Ireland in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 but broke down in 1972 because Westminster could no longer refrain from intervening in the devolved affairs of Northern Ireland.
The difficulty of solving the West Lothian Question has driven various parties (the Liberals in 1912 and the Labour Party in 1991–2) to propose schemes for ‘Home Rule All Round’, in which the whole country is given lower-tier assemblies. In the United Kingdom this produces further problems: either the whole of England is given one assembly (the 1912 proposal), in which case it becomes overwhelmingly stronger than the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish assemblies and there is rather little left for Westminster to do; or each region of England is given an assembly (the 1991 proposal), a solution which has nothing in its favour except logic. Thus UK experience up till now has shown that devolution for one part of the country is difficult to introduce. However, some other countries, including Italy and Finland, have been able to grant more-than-standard powers to some of their local territories without incurring the above problems.
federalism
, where each tier has protected areas of power, a developed government remains constitutionally subordinate to the government which gave it its power and which could in principle revoke it.
There have been several experiments with devolution to subnational governments in the United Kingdom. The three Home Rule Bills (1886, 1893, and 1912) were all attempts to set up a developed government in Ireland while retaining sovereignty at Westminster. They all failed, for a number of reasons. Most relevant of them today is what is now known as the ‘West Lothian Question’ (because it was constantly being put in the 1970s by Tam Dalyell , then MP (Lab) for West Lothian; like Mr Gladstone's Irish Question, it never received a satisfactory answer). In a generalized form, the West Lothian Question asks what are to be the numbers, powers, and duties of uppertier (Westminster) MPs for a developed territory. If their numbers are left untouched (as in the Scotland and Wales Acts 1978), the developed territory is privileged
vis-à-vis
the rest of the country. If they are abolished (1886) the developed territory suffers taxation without representation. If they are allowed to vote at Westminster on non-devolved matters but not on develop ones (considered in 1886) the majority of votes on devolved matters might be for a different party to the majority of votes on non-devolved matters. The most coherent solution to the West Lothian Question is probably to reduce the numbers of such Westminster MPs and to ring-fence devolved matters in the devolved territory. This was adopted for Northern Ireland in the Government of Ireland Act 1920 but broke down in 1972 because Westminster could no longer refrain from intervening in the devolved affairs of Northern Ireland.
The difficulty of solving the West Lothian Question has driven various parties (the Liberals in 1912 and the Labour Party in 1991–2) to propose schemes for ‘Home Rule All Round’, in which the whole country is given lower-tier assemblies. In the United Kingdom this produces further problems: either the whole of England is given one assembly (the 1912 proposal), in which case it becomes overwhelmingly stronger than the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Irish assemblies and there is rather little left for Westminster to do; or each region of England is given an assembly (the 1991 proposal), a solution which has nothing in its favour except logic. Thus UK experience up till now has shown that devolution for one part of the country is difficult to introduce. However, some other countries, including Italy and Finland, have been able to grant more-than-standard powers to some of their local territories without incurring the above problems.
d'Holbach
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