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PartI.Theory
highlightedinshapingbasicassumptionsofthediscourse.EspeciallyAmartyaSen’s
contributionisofkeyimportancetothecurrentdebateoverwhatdevelopmentisand
howitshouldbeunderstood.
1.1.Traditionalviewsondevelopment
Inthefirstyearsofdevelopmentdiscourse,asimpledefinitionlimitedtheterm
togrowthonly.Theviewprevailedintheworksofpioneersofdevelopment
economics.AsArthurLewis(1955,citedinEsteva2010:8)claimed,“firstitshould
benotedthatoursubjectmatterisgrowth,andnotdistribution,”followedbyPaul
Baran(1957citedinEsteva2010:8),whodefinedgrowthordevelopmentasthe
increaseofpercapitaproductionofmaterialgoods.TodaroandSmith(2012:14),
writingaboutoriginaleconomicmeaningoftheterm,statethat“developmentmeant
achievingsustainedrateofgrowthofincomepercapitatoenableanationtoexpand
itsoutputataratefasterthanthegrowthrateofitspopulation.”Thismeaningequals
overallwell-beingofapersontoitsconsumptionandinvestmentscapabilitiesin
accordancewithone’sincome.Inreferencetothecountry,‘todevelop’meantto
expandcountry’stotaloutputofagrarian,industrialproductionandservicesinorder
toachieverapidgrowthofGDP.
Thesimplisticviewondevelopmentwaschallengedwhenmanycountriesover
the1950sandthe1960sfacedeconomicgrowthandlackedprogressinthestandard
oflivingoftheirpopulations.Thequalityofpeople’slifewasproposedasthekey
conceptintheProposalsforActionoftheFirstUNDevelopmentDecade.Asearly
asin1952aterm‘socialsituation’hadbeenintroducedintheUNreports,replaced
soonby‘socialdevelopment.’Socialdevelopmentwasmeantasacounterpartto
‘economicdevelopment’andanideatointegratebothappeared.Traditional
definition,limitingdevelopmenttogrowthonly,turnedouttobeinsufficient.Dudley
Seers(1969)noticedthat:
“Thequestionstoaskaboutacountry’sdevelopmentaretherefore:Whathas
beenhappeningtopoverty?Whathasbeenhappeningtounemployment?What
hasbeenhappeningtoinequality?Ifallthreeofthesehavedeclinedfromhigh
levels,thenbeyonddoubtthishasbeenaperiodofdevelopmentforthecountry
concerned.Ifoneortwoofthesecentralproblemshavebeengrowingworse,
especiallyifallthreehave,itwouldbestrangetocalltheresult‘development’
evenifpercapitaincomedoubled.”(Seers1969:5)
Developmenthadtoberedefinedandhasbeguntobeunderstoodas“reduction
oreliminationofpoverty,inequalityandunemploymentwithinthecontextofa
growingeconomy”(TodaroandSmith2012:15).Thisapproachwasclearlyvisible
intheUNresolutioncallingfortheidentificationofaunifiedapproachtowards
development.Itscomponents“includedequitabledistributionofincomeandwealth