Communication for development: alive and kicking!

ABSTRACT

Communication has been a key element in the West's project of developing the Third World. In the one-and-a-half decades after Lerner's influential 1958 study of communication and development in the Middle East, communication researchers assumed that the introduction of media and certain types of educational, political, and economic information into a social system could transform individuals and societies from traditional to modern. Conceived as having fairly direct and powerful effects on Third World audiences, the media were seen as magic multipliers, able to accelerate and magnify the benefits of development.     

Culture and leadership in development initiatives in Egypt

Until the early 1980s, despite paying lip-service to the central role of 'human capital', most decision makers were obsessed by physical development and the rate of increase of Gross National Product. Like other Third World countries, Egypt followed suit. Ten years ago, however, with accumulating external debts and social disintegration, it became clear that the returns on investments in these infrastructural schemes were meagre or even negative. Culture, community, and organic leadership were rediscovered as the missing links in the development process. These and other forms of associational life are sometimes subsumed under the concept of 'civil society'. Development has come to be defined as a process in which human potentialities are optimised at the individual and collective levels. This article illustrates the interaction among these variables by reference to examples of community-based development.     

The domestic and international quest for economic equality: The interactional process

The historic interaction between domestic and international interpretations of the meaning of equality involves today's economic equality. The economic demands of the Third World countries on the advanced countries find support in the social developments which earlier had occurred in the latter. But these demands have also important domestic consequences, both in the advanced and Third World countries.     

Governance in Central Asia: national in form,Soviet in content

American policy toward Central Asia is based on a serious misperception of the region's problems and potential for non‐violent political change. The reality is that the five Central Asian states are not post‐Soviet but neo‐Soviet. The former Communist Party bosses retain the nomenklatura system of centralised and hierarchical rule. The regimes also resemble the clan‐based autocracies of post‐colonial Africa, but with the mechanisms of the modern police state. These countries face all the challenges common to the Third World, but are less amenable to positive external influences or to the development of pluralist politics and civil society. While the regimes have mixed prospects for retaining power, none is likely to succeed in economic development or in responding to social change.     

Consolidating democracy by containing distribution: “sandwich tactics” in Indian political development, 1936–96

How did Indian democracy avoid the fate of other Third World democracies that collapsed in the face of distributional conflicts, when such conflicts were in ample evidence in India? The traditional answer is that the inclusiveness of the Indian National Congress during the independence movement gave the party legitimacy after independence and allowed it to contain social conflict. This argument fails to account for the persistence of Indian democracy after the 1960s. This article suggests that the pre-independence Congress did not accommodate challengers from below as is commonly suggested, but rather outflanked them by championing still weaker groups further down the social ladder. This “sandwich tactic” has been used repeatedly by Congress leaders during successive crises and accounts for the party's long innings in power, its continued strength today, and, inter alia, the acquiescence of Indian elites in electoral democracy.     

Gender justice: the World Bank's new approach to the poor?

Gender inequality is now widely acknowledged as an important factor in the spread and entrenchment of poverty. This article examines the World Development Report 2000/01 as the World Bank's blueprint for addressing poverty in the twenty-first century, together with several more recent Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), with a view to analysing the manner in which gender is incorporated into the policy-making process and considering whether it constitutes a new approach to gender and poverty. It is argued that the World Bank's approach to poverty is unlikely to deliver gender justice, because there remain large discrepancies between the economic and social policies that it prescribes. More specifically, the authors contend that the Bank employs an integrationist approach which encapsulates gender issues within existing development paradigms without attempting to transform an overall development agenda whose ultimate objective is economic growth as opposed to equity. Case studies from Cambodia and Vietnam are used to illustrate these arguments.     

Multinational corporations and regional integration: Some preliminary reflections

In 1970, the worldwide affiliates of mutlinational corporations (MNCs), headquartered in Europe and the USA, numbered 27,300. Inevitably, they have had a significant effect on regional integration—economic, social, and political. Economically, production and marketing patterns of MNCs have tended to aid regional integration in developed regions. However, they have had a limited impact in the Third World.

The presence of MNCs in pluralistic societies will probably further social integration by first fostering a regionally oriented elite; this orientation may then spread to the populace at large. In the Third World, however, MNCs may actually widen the elite‐masses gap.

Social integration also has political overtones, as the socialization process will inevitably enhance attitudinal integration. The more MNC facilities in a region, the more will decision‐making powers and activities tend to be transferred from national units to regional institutions (institutional integration), and the more governments within the region will be urged to make joint policies (policy integration). However, nationalistic feelings and fears of dependence will probably impede regional political integration in the Third World.     

Communication or information: excellence in which one?

ABSTRACT

Communication conditions the fate of people about and for whom the outcomes arise. The challenge to scholars, practitioners and policy makers is for excellence in the practice of communication. The question which arises is whether this excellence is about efficiency or effectiveness. Towards unravelling this question, two media theoretical notions of communication and information are examined. Though mutually related, the two basic notions are nevertheless different. This article argues that the interchangeable regard and use of these notions by many scholars, practitioners and policy makers is the reason for communication's little apparent impact on improving the developing communities' social and economic conditions despite the accelerated pace, tempo and volume of information technology. The paper rationally situates this argument within the field of development and the role therein of ‘communication’ with reference to the development performance of generally the Third World, and Africa particularly, over the last three decades. Upon this argument, the article suggests a communication paradigm of reversals and practical diversities as a contribution towards excellence in communication. Only when messages sent really begin to speak to the intended audiences and form the basis of intervention can there be excellence in communication.     

Manufacturing and consuming knowledge

The article examines the problems facing African scholars and publishers, in the context of rapid developments in information technology and a deepening economic gulf between industrialised and Third World countries. Many of these problems, and conventional responses to them from libraries, publishers, and donors, are themselves a legacy of colonial relations, the most significant of which is the deepening dependence on Western forms of knowledge and systems to validate all forms of intellectual activity. Questioning the terms 'information-rich' and 'information-poor', the author stresses the need for Africans to develop the means to generate, value, and disseminate their own forms of knowledge.     

“Trade with the Devil”: Rubber,Cold War Embargo,and US–Indonesian Relations, 1951–1956

This article examines the issue of rubber in US–Indonesian relations in the 1950s. Indonesia, attempting to promote its economic development, sought to sell natural rubber to the Communist People's Republic of China. In so doing, it risked alienating the United States, which for its part led anti-PRC trade embargo efforts while at that same time attempting to woo Third World neutrals such as Indonesia. The article explores the course and complexities of this issue on both sides, and concludes that, in the end, Washington decided that enforcing an increasingly questionable rubber embargo was not worth a rupture in relations with Jakarta. It also finds that President Eisenhower, although keenly aware of the issues at stake, did not provide the decisive leadership that would allow Washington to take the initiative, rather than react to circumstances, regarding the sale of rubber to the People's Republic of China.     

The U.S. press and political change in the Third World: The coverage of military coups

One of the chief features of the Third World is how often regimes change. These regime changes have many implications both for internal political stability in the Third World and in the relationships between the Third World and the superpowers. In the United States, it is generally the media that inform the American people about these changes and their implications for the United States. This paper analyzes the coverage of the two most recent military coups in Nigeria by the U.S. press.

Our analysis indicates that if a government that is supportive of American interests is overthrown, and the personalities and policies of the new leaders are not readily apparent to the press, the change is greeted with hostilities by the U.S. press. However, as soon as it becomes apparent that the new regime will not threaten the economic and political interests of the United States, the press rallies behind the new regime and begins to proclaim it as a savior. The press lamented the overthrow of Shagari's government and proclaimed the coup a setback for democracy in Africa. However, within a few weeks of this judgement, the coup that overthrew President Shagari was hailed as necessary for the political stability and economic prosperity of Nigeria. When the military government that seized power from Shagari was itself thrown out of office in a military coup, the new regime was welcomed by the press. We also found the U.S. press utilizes a biased and distorted framework in its coverage of political events in the Third World. The framework used in the Nigerian case asserts that all economic and political crises emanate from tribalism, corruption, and the criminal tendencies of Nigerians. We argue in this paper that this perspective, which informs the coverage of political events in Nigeria by the U.S. press, does not allow it to present valid and truthful explanations of political changes in Nigeria. We also argue that this shallow coverage is done deliberately so as to obscure the reality of political struggles in Nigeria. We assert that it is in the interests of both the Nigerian ruling class and international capitalism to attribute economic and political crises in Nigeria to tribalism, corruption, and nepotism.     

African rural labour and the World Bank: An alternative perspective

In the context of economic and technological change in the late twentieth century, the World Bank's World Development Report 1995 combines the themes of labour and the global market, celebrating the triumph of the market in efficient labour-allocation worldwide. The World Bank's emphasis on boosting Africa's agricultural export capacity ignores the prevailing hostile conditions which African products encounter on the world market, and the current tendency towards agricultural labour displacement. `Labour flight', particularly of youth, signals African farmers' own disenchantment with farming under present liberalised market conditions. The narrowness of the W orld Bank's policy vision for Africa avoids the social and political implications of rural labour displacement as well as the need for human-capital investment in rural areas. This article argues that the alternative to human-capital investment now may be war and expensive disaster-relief for decades to come.     

Leadership in the WTO: Brazil,India and the Doha development agenda

The Doha round of multilateral negotiations has witnessed the relocation of Southern powers towards the core of the World Trade Organization (WTO) decision-making structure. Brazil and India are the only developing countries that have participated consistently in all major ministerial phases of the Doha round between 2001 and 2008. Their consolidation as trading powers cannot be attributed solely to their status as emerging economies. Their projected legitimacy as representatives of the global South has operated as a catalyst in facilitating their relocation. In various phases of negotiations, however, Brazil and India have refrained from playing a proactive role in driving negotiations forward. Their defensive stance has raised questions about the two countries' prospects for systemic leadership in world trade. In explaining this condition, this article will argue that Brazilian and Indian trade diplomacy is consistently directed towards maintaining broad bases of followership. Brazil and India are disposed to exercise assertive leadership only when that accommodates the expectations and preferences of their followership in the global South. Their preoccupation with constantly reasserting their Third World image often renders blocking agreement the preferable strategy to avoid paying a high price in terms of legitimacy.     

Surveillance of the poor in a socio-financial enclosure: a critical analysis of Zidisha.org

This article provides a critical analysis in examining narratives on Zidisha.org, a microlending site that facilitates loans to the poor, building on media scholar Mark Andrejevic's conception of the digital enclosure and the critical anthropology of development scholar Anke Schwittay's theorisation of financial inclusion. Online microlending sites like Zidisha have wide-reaching implications for policy and development initiatives. The study's findings suggest that perceptible signs of the contemporary neo-liberal effort to assemble ordinary people through Web 2.0 communication technologies to participate in the socio-financial enclosure are riddled with issues of control and surveillance, coupled with a paradoxical meaning of the financial inclusion concept.     

More than a token gesture: NGOs and trade unions campaigning for a common cause

With the passage of the 1999 Asylum and Immigration Act in the UK, a system of vouchers for all new asylum seekers was to be introduced from April 2000. These vouchers were widely regarded as iniquitous in that they discriminated against an already vulnerable sector of society. A unique coalition between two NGOs (Oxfam GB and the Refugee Council) and a trade union (the Transport and General Workers' Union—TGWU) led to a concerted campaign against the voucher scheme that included a range of media work, political lobbying, and public awareness raising. The voucher scheme was eventually scrapped. This article draws various practical lessons on how to develop successful collaborative relationships across different social sectors. The author concludes that the principal lesson is not that NGOs must work with trade unions, but that by working with others, united by a common goal, they can challenge injustice effectively and make a difference to people's lives.     

‘Knowledge management’: a case study of the World Bank's research department

This article looks at ‘knowledge management’, using a case study of the World Bank's research department, located in the Bank's Development Economics Vice-Presidency (DEC). Despite the Bank's presentation of its research arm as conducting ‘rigorous and objective’ work, the author finds that the Bank's ‘knowledge management’ involves research that has tended to reinforce the dominant neo-liberal globalisation policy agenda. The article examines some of the mechanisms by which the Bank's research department comes to play a central role in what Robert Wade has termed ‘paradigm maintenance’, including incentives in hiring, promotion, and publishing, as well as selective enforcement of rules, discouragement of dissonant views, and manipulation of data. The author's analysis is based both on in-depth interviews with current and former World Bank professionals and on examination of the relevant literature.     

Children,war and world disorder in the 21st century: a review of the theories and the literature on children's contributions to armed violence

Young populations, and particularly young males, have been attributed a proclivity to aggression and unrest that puts societies at risk. Theories about the dangers of a demographic ‘youth bulge’ inform public and policy debates about the predictors of violent conflict, as evidenced most recently in the World Bank's World Development Report for 2007. This paper assesses the validity and utility of claims linking youth bulges to civil conflicts by reviewing different literatures concerning naturalist ideas of young humans' innate aggression and cognitive incompetence as well as environmentalist ideas of environmental stimuli, processes of socialisation, and the dialectical relationship of structural conditions and human agency. This review finds that the moral panic propagated by youth bulge theorists is too often based on only one form of influence on human development and action, whether an aspect of environment, personal experience, or individual traits. A more cogent analysis must integrate the highly complex and dynamic processes involved in cognition and behaviour and aim to develop theories that take account of the social power, ideational and structural forms, and emotional and cognitive processes that young people experience and draw on in times of war.     

Gender and democratization: Or what does democracy mean for women in the Third World?

The article argues that the ongoing process of democratization in the Third World affects both men and women significantly, though differentially. It examines the two major strands of democratic theory, representative and participative, to emphasize that both of these take for granted the division between the public and the private spheres. This division inhibits the mass participation of women in politics and therefore in the democratic processes affecting them. It further analyses the arguments made in the name of cultural specificity of Third World societies and the dilemmas that these pose for women in their struggle for democracy. It draws upon various case studies to examine the contradictory and often painful options that women of the Third World are faced with in any process of political change, including that of democratization. Through the case studies the article underscores the complex relationship between the state and civil society in the Third World and how women negotiate the boundaries of both. It concludes that the process of political democratization, though not an unproblematic transition, creates new opportunities for women to mobilize in their own various interests.     

“Now that the Milk is Spilt”: Appeasement and the Archive on Intelligence

This article assesses British intelligence and its effect on policy during the interwar years. It discusses the publically available documentation, which now includes almost all the material on the matter, though the data base has been permanently destroyed in significant ways. The paper traces the development of British intelligence between 1869–1939, involving the transition from a tradition to a system of intelligence, with the greatest change occurring during the Fist World War. The article assesses how, between 1914–39, intelligence was interrelated to bureaucratic politics, modes of decision making, and the formulation of strategic politics, modes of decision making, and the formulation of strategic policy. It discusses the structure and power of British intelligence agencies between 1919–39, their quality compared to rivals in other countries, and the impact on policy of their successes and failures. It concludes that intelligence, as an influence and a source of evidence, is essential to the study of diplomatic and strategic history, upon which its impact is complex and variable.     

Participatory appraisal in the UK urban health sector

Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) emerged in the context of working with rural communities in developing countries. But the principles of participation and of action-oriented research are equally valid for development work in the urban sector, and in industrialised countries. This article describes the use of participatory appraisal techniques in disadvantaged communities in the UK, in the fields of health and social welfare. Drawing on a case-study of her work, the author looks at the practical, organisational, and political difficulties inherent in bringing together multi-agency professionals and public-sector workers, and members of local communities, and in developing a functional consensus between them.