Neoliberalism and Colonialism Economic Development Theories - Essay Example

Neoliberalism and Colonialism Economic Development Theories Development is the core of human existence and evidently the most essential aspect of human life because without development, life would be meaningless. Consequently, because of its importance, development has taken different phases of the years with some people even committing atrocities in the name of bringing development to certain groups of people. There are three stages of describing the level of development in the world, which are developed, developing, and underdeveloped. Mentioning developed; one immediately thinks of the western countries, and for developing African, some Asian and middle eastern countries. The concept of development originated from the west, and this saw the countries colonize other inferior countries in the name of promoting development. Therefore, the first approach to development was colonialism. Similarly, another development approach adopted in the 1960s is the neoliberalism, which involves aligning political ideologies with economic growth. There has been a great shift in development over years from the ‘top down’ to the ‘new development’ among others development schemes aided by neoliberalism concept. Neoliberalism as a development approach produced new understandings of development, though some of these understandings were, in fact, not as new as they seemed. Though the development has been sung over the years from the time of colonialism to date, Third World countries still remain under poor economic, and social conditions while the First World countries continue to develop. This is one of the dangers of development approaches especially neoliberalism and colonialism. This is because the approaches under the pretense of development only hurt the poor more instead of helping them develop. For example, how the poor countries are integrated into capitalism makes them even poorer, and thus, they are poor because of the approaches used. Neoliberalism promotes a shift from ‘top down’ development to development focused on empowering microenterprises as the gateway to economic development. After studying extensively the status of neoliberalism in Egypt, Julia reports in the book Market of Dispossessions that such transformations have impacted greatelty on lives of the poor (Elyachar 203). For instance, the new market society, which involves the interaction of bankers, NGOs, social scientists, state officials, and development workers with the unemployed youths and craftsmen leads to market dispossession with respect to cultural, economic and social aspects. Furthermore, Elyachar notes that these approaches are not very different from the previous ones as they involve control of the poor, on how they need to manage economic aspects. In addition, the development approach also involves informal networks of social assistance and obligations that put them in partial control of their own businesses, or economic lives. Elyachar goes ahead to note because of the multilayered links between bankers, officials, donors, social scientists and craftsmen, the decision made by these people shapes the craftsmen lives (Elyachar 204). For example, these decisions take place in the air-conditioned halls, conferences and offices, which seem like new approaches to development, but in reality resonates with the earlier approaches. To make matters worse, the experts who stick to the ideal, imagined economy are ignorant of the exchange and production system used by the craftsmen, yet they claim to be out to help them develop economically. Undoubtedly, neoliberalism approach to development draws a lot from the colonialism approach to development. Meaning a majority of the projects that seem new in the neoliberalism world were actually concepts explored during colonialism. For example, the development approach involving the creation of multiple and complex projects, which many of them end up failing. In addition, the two approaches use development aspect as a tool to manage modernity, as well as make up for the price of primitive accumulation. The colonialists viewed the countries colonized as primitive and backward; thus, they used development projects in a bid to enhance modernity among these people. In the same way, neoliberalism view the craftsmen in Egypt as outdated; thus, the introduction of the microfinance system to create new economic society. This is without regard to the consequences of such actions, or the feelings of the native people or the craftsmen. Elyachar gives a good example of neoliberalism’s attempt to face out traditional craftsmen, in which Ahmed and other craftsmen had been relocated from their traditional place where they have operated for generations in the name of urban renewal from old to new neighborhoods (Elyachar 200). Another development theory common in both colonialism and liberalism is social stratification, which involved classification of people into groups depending on factors such as wealth, property ownership, professional tile, and even income levels. During the colonial period, part of economic development theory involved transformation of landownership, as well as property rights, which gave rise to the property owning elite (Ferguson 56). This led to disparities between the colonialists who had wealth, and the natives who were poor. Similarly, in neoliberalism there are different classes of people such as the craftsmen who have traditional expertise, the professionals, as well as the youths. In addition, there are income earners, and the unemployed who are now the poor in the society. However, differences exist between these theories, for example, in colonialism there was a top down approach, while, in neoliberalism, the top down approach is lacking. In addition, neoliberalism the country is under the authority of the citizens who make important economic decisions, while in colonialism the important economic decisions were made by the colonialists majorly from the west. Similarly, the colonialism and neoliberalism concepts of development focused on facing out traditional economic, and social practices with disregard to their potential and benefits to this people. For example, about neoliberalism, Elyachar states that the craftsmen ventures were more profitable as compared to the microfinance ventures adopted by graduates. In addition, the microfinance ventures were short-lived, and without any fanfare. On the other hand, the colonialists enacted their development theories with disregard to the existing traditional economic ventures. Therefore, transitions in the economic development theories reproduce older ways of carrying out development as seen in the case of anti-politics, the role of debt, and accumulation by dispossession. In anti-politics, involves the concept of creating agencies to enhance the development in third-world countries, but in the end, they do not achieve economic stability that they set out to attain. A good example explored by James Ferguson in his book, The Anti-Politics Machine, is the 1975-1984 development project in Lesotho, a concept commonly referred to as Bovine Mystique (Ferguson 135). Similarly, the role of debt is another development theory reproduced in the midst of economic transitions. This is where the developing countries enter into debts in the name of development, yet; this debt only enriches the elite instead of enhancing and stabilizing economic activities of the country. Moreover, it results in dependency theory whereby the developing country depend on borrowing debts for survival. For example, by 1986 debt for the development world was trillion dollars. In order to repay these debts, elites derive money from the poor through several instruments. At the end of the day large amounts of money were transferred to the rich country from the poor countries, for example, in 1999, the transfer was 128 million dollars. Finally, there is the concept of accumulation by dispossession, which deals with bankers, NGOs, social scientists, and government officials engaging in activities to promote new economic society (Elyachar 204). However, these activities end up in economic, social and cultural dispossession of these people, for example, the case of craftsmen in Egypt. The economic development concept behind neoliberalism is creating new markets or new economic society that enhances economic activities, and improve the lives of the people. This concept introduces ways of understanding economic development, but it fails to enhance completely economic stability because it uses most development strategies derived from other development theories. For instance, it shows the number of similarities with the colonialism theory, in which both fail to address adequately the economic instability in developing countries. Therefore, serious concepts are needed if economic stability is to be achieved. Works Cited Elyachar, Julia. Markets of Dispossession: NGOs, Economic Development, and the State in Cairo. Duke University Press Books, 2005. Print. Ferguson, James. The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. University of Minnesota Press, 1994. Print. Read More