The relevance of basic needs for political and economic development

This article addresses the “basic needs’ approach to development policy from the perspectives of the political and economic development literature. The central questions concern the compatibility of a basic needs approach with political and economic development and the impact of development on population welfare. Will a basic needs approach weaken or strengthn the processes of legitimation and state consolidation in developing systems? What impact will it have on participation and democracy? What will be the impact of such an approach upon attempts to industrialize and diversify production? While there are no definitive responses to these concerns the literature suggests that the approach has real potential value both for improving “human capital” and strengthening economic development, and for developing locally based political institutions.     

Regionalist governance in the new political economy of development: 'Relaunching' the Mercosur

The splintering of the Mercosur following the Brazilian devaluation in early 1999 has given way to an important re-crafting of the regional vision and a significant expansion of the scope of the regional project. This article contends that these trends can best be understood as coalescing into a new (and nascent) form of regionalist governance in the Southern Cone, in which the Mercosur is reconfigured as a vehicle for a new set of developmentalist and strategic objectives. This emerging form of regionalist governance is both causative and indicative of a new political economy both of the subregion and of the wider region of the Americas, and reflective of the crystallisation of a new political economy of development.     

Shia political development in Iraq: the case of the Islamic Dawa Party

The invasion of Iraq and its subsequent occupation by US‐led forces has allowed the majority Shia population to assert itself politically. Much of the debate regarding its political development has focused on the role of the religious scholars, at the expense of other Shia political groups. The Dawa Party has the longest history of organised communal political activity in Iraq among the Shia and is the only main party headed by a non‐scholar. The persecution it suffered under Saddam Hussein and the sacrifices it made have earned it support among the Shia population, but its fractious nature and the other Shia political groupings will make it difficult for the party to regain its former influence amongst the Shia.     

The political economy of development: An empirical analysis of the effects of the institutional framework on economic development

Researchers suggest that societies characterized by high levels of political freedom are expected to exhibit significantly higher rates of economic growth than those in which civil liberties and political rights are abridged. In the present study, four sets of national-level data and panel regression analysis are used to examine the relationship between the institutional framework and various measures of economic development. While the results from the full sample support the hypothesis that political freedom enhances economic development, the results obtained from the disaggregated models cast doubts on this conclusion. An important lesson to be learned from the present study is that there is yet no single empirical model of economic development that can be applied to all societies. John Mukum Mbaku, PhD, is professor in the department of economics at Weber State University. He received the Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Georgia in 1985. His research interests are in public choice, economic development, property rights, and Africa. He has published articles in such journals asPublic Choice, Cato Journal, Applied Economics (UK),Konjunkturpolitik (Germany),International Review of Economics and Business (Italy),Indian Journal of Social Science, Asian and African Studies, Journal of Economic Development, The Review of Black Political Economy. He is associate editor (Africa) ofJournal of Third World Studies. Recent publications include Markets and the economic origins of apartheid in South Africa,Indian Journal of Social Science, vol. 6, no. 2 (1993); Foreign aid and economic growth in Cameroon,Applied Economics (UK), vol. 25, no. 10 (1993); Rent seeking and institutional stability in developing countries, (with Mwangi S. Kimenyi),Public Choice, vol. 77, no. 2 (1993); and Institutional instability and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa,International Review of Economics and Business (Italy), vol. 40, no. 9 (1993). He is currently researching the determinants of institutional instability in Africa.     

Mining and subaltern politics: political struggle against neoliberal development in Bangladesh

Drawing on social movement scholarship, this paper analyses subaltern struggles against a multinational mining company. The Phulbari coal mine is the centre of contention between the mining company and local/national activists. Local concerns about the dispossession of lands and livelihoods and environmental destruction have been merged with a Leftist political agenda on the growing vulnerability of the state and national sovereignty in the Global South. A close examination of the movement's discourses suggests that a broader political struggle against resource plunder and energy imperialism has been strengthened by local community resistance to an environmentally destructive coal mine. Based on in-depth qualitative interviews, I analyse how activists have created new meanings of the conflict to confront and delegitimize hegemonic discourses of capitalist development and modernity.     

当代亚洲政党政治演进的主要特点

亚洲国家的政党政治发源于19世纪,其发展历程蜿蜒曲折、复杂多样,大体经历了三个发展阶段:第一阶段,从19世纪到二战结束,为亚洲政党政治的形成阶段,产生了一批民族主义政党和工人阶级政党.第二阶段,从战后到冷战结束,为其迅速兴起和蓬勃发展的阶段,各种类型的政党相继出现,政党政治在多数国家立足并发挥作用.第三阶段,从冷战后至今,为其调整与演变阶段,政党政治出现了更为复杂的变化,多党民主浪潮在亚洲部分国家兴起,许多国家的政党政治发生深刻变动.     

The state and rural development in Tanzania: The village administration as a political field

The Village Administrations (VAs) created by the Tanzanian state in the 1970s have been regarded as new state apparatuses intended to facilitate control over a recalcitrant peasantry. Field research in Dodoma revealed two kinds of factions competing for their control: Christians, who co‐operated with higher level state apparatuses in establishing working institutional structures, and Traditionalists, who sought to reconstruct the VA as an entity performing predominantly ritual functions and, by tactful non‐compliance, to insulate households from the demands of the state. If the VA is to be regarded as a state apparatus then it must be recognised that it has substantial autonomy, conditioned by its internal constitution as a political field.     

Rethinking political development: A look backward over thirty years,and a look ahead

The article analyzes the rise of the political development approach in comparative politics and the reasons for it. It traces the history of the political development literature and its emergence as the dominant paradigm in the field. It then presents and assesses the critiques, that have been levelled against political development. It also assesses the various alternative approaches that came to supplant political development. The article next presents the factors that have led to a renaissance in political development. It concludes by suggesting that while the political development approach was based on some erroneous assumptions in the short term, from a longer-term perspective that approach looks considerably better. Howard J. Wiarda is Professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst; associate of the Center for International Affairs. Harvard University; adjunct scholar of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research; and associate of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. This article is based on a paper presented at the Fourteenth World Congress of the International Political Science Association, Washington, D.C., August 28–September 1, 1988. A somewhat revised version of this article was presented at the Conference on “Comparative Politics: Research Perspectives for the Next Twenty Years,” sponsored byComparative Politics and the Ph.D. Program of the City University of New York, September 7–9, 1988. It will also be published under the title “Concepts and Models in Comparative Politics: Political Development Reconsidered-and Its Alternatives” in Kenneth Paul Erickson and Dankwart Rustow (eds.),Comparative Political Dynamics: Research Perspectives for the Turn of the Century (New York: Harper and Row, 1990).