Colonialism and Drain of Wealth

The harmful effect of the British colonialism and economic exploitation of India was the Drain
of Wealth. It means the flow of wealth from India to England without adequate economic or
material return. This was the dangerous symptom of the British colonialism. Never before the
British rule, had India experienced such a harmful effect that broke the economic backbone of
the country. Prior to the English, India had been ruled by the foreigners like the Kushanas,
Turko-Afghans and Mughals. Each one of those ruling dynasties gradually got assimilated with
Indian society and culture. They not only formed the integral part of India but also protected
and promoted Indian society, culture and economy. None of the above rulers carried wealth or
resources from India to any other country.
Revenue collected or wealth acquired by them was spent within India for various purposes.
The revenue was either spent for the public welfare or for the state or for personal luxury, it
remained within the country. The revenue was circulated as wages in lieu of employment or
labour. It ultimately encouraged Indian trade and industry. Peculiarly the British remained
alienated from the Indian society and culture. They were isolated from the mainstream of Indian
life and formed a separate class of their own within India. They continued to remain perpetual
foreigners in India till they left this country and never thought India as their home as was done
by earlier rulers. Therefore, their property or wealth became the wealth of England and when
the English merchants as well as administrators left India, they carried the wealth with them.
Even the Government of Britain considered the profits of the company, the savings of its
servants and the revenue of the Government of India as the rightful wealth of England.
Therefore, large part of taxes and revenue collected from the Indian people was spent in Britain
for prosperity of Britain.
As a result, one way flow of wealth continued till independence of India. "The Drain of Wealth"
as called by Dadabhai Naroji in his masterpiece "Poverty and un-British Rule in India" was the
cause of poverty in India. Further Indian economy became subordinated to the British trade
and industry. The British intentionally kept India industrially backward and Indian markets
depended on the supplies from the British industries. In addition, export of raw materials from
India accelerated the drain of wealth. No less costly was meeting the expenses of administration
and conquests. It is not wrong to say that the British conquered India by spending Indian
Wealth.
The drain started from the very first day of the Company's Rule in 1757. The servants of the
company dispatched from India immense fortunes acquired by various means both legal and
illegal. The trading profits of the company when added to personal property of its servants
became an astronomical figure.
After 1765, the company was directly involved in the drain. It purchased Indian goods,
specifically raw materials, out of the revenue of Bengal and exported those to England. Such
purchases were called "Investments" and the drain continued in the shape of "Investments".
The amount of wealth drained increased when salaries and other income of the officials and
the trading profits of the merchants flew to England. It was admitted that India was, "required
to transmit annually to this country, without any return except in the small value of military
you stores, a sum amounting to between two and three million sterling." The quantum of wealth
drain, though calculated differently, was a huge amount. Between 1758 and 1765, amount
drained was more than four times of the total land revenue of Bengal.

"The drain of Wealth" gave deadly blow to the economy of India and obstructed economic
progress. It promoted the British economy at the expense of Indian economy. As it halted
industrial development in India, there remained little or no scope for investment in India for
rich landlords and businessmen. As the savings or surplus money flew to England, there was
no chance for capital formation in India. This prevented the installation of industry by any
Indian. Consequently, all to switch to cultivation and ultimately agriculture was over crowded.
This increased agricultural laborers and the impoverishment of the peasants. Thus, once rich
India became poverty stricken India under the British rule. There was a constant flow of wealth
from India to England which had a devastated impact on the Indian economy. The country did
not get any commercial, economical or material return, which has been termed as Drain of
Wealth by the Indian nationalist leaders and economists. The colonial government used all of
the Indian for their outcome in England.
This period of Drain of Wealth started after the Battle of Plassey in1757, when the East India
Company acquired political power. The company then extended its territorial aggression in the
country and began to administer territories and acquired control over the surplus revenues. The
company had a recurring surplus from:

Profits from oppressive land revenue policy.

Profits from its trade resulting from monopolistic control over Indian markets.
Exactions made by the companys officials.

The theory of Drain of Wealth was first systematically put forward by Dadabhai Naoroji in
1867. He was the first man to say that internal factors are not the reasons of poverty but poverty
was caused by the colonial rule which was draining the wealth and prosperity in India.
He put forward several factors that caused external drain:

Home charges referring to the public debt raised in England at comparatively higher
rates.
Annuities on account of railway and irrigation works.
Indian office expenses including pensions to retired officials who had worked in India
or England, pensions to army or navals etc.
Remittances for purchase of British goods for consumption of British employess in
India.
Interest charges on public debt held in Britain.

Based on the drain theory of Dadabhai Naroji, the nationalists came to see the foreign capital
in perilous terms. They came to regard foreign capital as an unmitigated evil, which did not
develop a country but exploited and impoverished it. Dadabhai Naroji saw foreign capital to
be representing despoliation and exploitation of Indian resources. It was further argued that
instead of encouraging and augmenting Indian capital, foreign capital replaced and suppressed
it, led to the drain of capital from India and further strengthened the British hold over Indian
economy.
According to them, the political consequences of foreign capital investment were no less
harmful for the penetration of foreign capital led to its political subjugation. Foreign capital
investment created vested interests which demanded security for investors and therefore

perpetuated foreign rule. The drain by taking form of excess of exports over imports, led to
progressive decline and ruin of Indias traditional handicrafts. The British administrators
pointed with pride to the rapid growth of Indias foreign trade and rapid construction of
railways as instruments of Indias development as well as proof of its growing prosperity.
However, because of their negative impact on indigenous industries, foreign trade and railways
represented not economic development but colonization and under development of economy.
What mattered in case of foreign trade was not its volume but its pattern or nature of goods
internationally exchanged and their impact on national industry and agriculture. And this
pattern had undergone drastic changes during the 19th century, the bias being overwhelmingly
towards the export of raw materials and the import of manufactured goods.
According to early nationalists, drain constituted a major obstacle to rapid industrialization
especially when it was in terms of policy of free trade. The policy of free trade was on the one
hand ruining Indias handicraft industries and on the other forcing the infant and
underdeveloped modern industries into a pre-mature and unequal and hence unfair and
disastrous competitive with the highly organized and developed industries of the west. The
tariff policies of the Government convinced the nationalists that the British economic policies
in India were guided by the interest of British capitalist class.
For the early nationalists the drain also took the form of colonial pattern of finance. Taxes were
so raised as they averred, so as to overburden the poor while letting the rich especially the
foreign capitalists and bureaucrats to go scot-free. Even on expenditure side, the emphasis was
on serving Britains imperial needs while the developmental and welfare departments were
starred.
By attacking the drain the nationalists were able to call into question, in an uncompromising
manner the economic essence of imperialism, the drain theory and the agitation by nationalists
on economical hegemony of alien rulers over India. The secret of the British power in India
lay not only in physical force but also in moral force that is in the belief that the British were
the patrons of the common people of India. The nationalist drain theory gradually undermined
these moral foundations. The economic welfare of India was offered as the chief justification
for the British rule by the imperialist rulers and spokesmen. The Indian nationalists by their
forceful argument asserted that India was economically backward precisely because the British
were ruling it in the interest of British trade; industry and finance were the inevitable
consequences of the British rule. The corrosion of faith in the British rule inevitably spread to
the political field. In course of time, the nationalist leaders linked nearly every important
question with the politically subordinated status of the country. Step by step, they began to
draw the conclusion that since the British administration was only the handmade to the task of
exploitation, pro-Indian and developmental policies would be followed only by a regime in
which Indians had control over political power.
The result was that even though the early nationalists remained moderates and professed loyalty
to British rule, they cut at the political roots of the empire and sowed in the land, the seeds of
disaffection and disloyalty and even sedition. Gradually, the nationalists veered from
demanding reforms to begin demanding self-government or swaraj.
The nationalists of the twentieth century were relying heavily on the main themes of their
economic critique of colonialism. These themes were then to reverberate in Indian villages,

towns and cities. Based on this firm foundation, the later nationalists went on to stage powerful
mass agitations and mass movements. The drain theory thus laid the seeds for subsequent
nationalism to flower and mature.

P. Sainaths Style of Reporting

The International Monetary Fund-led economic reforms launched in 1991 by Manmohan Singh
constituted a watershed in India's economic history and in Sainath's journalistic career. He felt
that themedia's attention was moving from "news" to "entertainment" and consumerism and
lifestyles of the urban elite gained prominence in the newspapers which rarely carried news of
the reality of poverty in India. "I felt that if the Indian press was covering the top 5 per cent, I
should cover the bottom 5 per cent", says Sainath.
He got the fellowship from Times of India and took to the back roads in the ten poorest districts
of five states. He covered close to 100,000 km across India using 16 forms of transportation,
including walking 5,000 km on foot. On his observation of people and places he wrote a
hundreds of articles. The Times of India published 84 reports by him across 18 months.
He collected these articles in the form of a book Everybody Loves A Good Drought. For
more than two years, the book remained on top amongst non-fiction bestsellers on diverse lists
across the country. Eventually, it entered the ranks of Penguin Indias all-time best sellers. It
is considered handbook for NGO activists, with its direct reporting style and sharp focus on
social and economic cleavages in society. The book is now in its thirty-first edition and is still
in print. Typically Sainath gave all the royalties from this huge best-seller to fund prizes for
young rural journalists.
Through his works, he made his journalistic name and earned numerous prizes, both national
and international. The prizes furnished him credibility and also money to go on freelancing.
At the same time, he writes articles on international economics and politics and critiquing the
"corporate-owned" mass media. According to him the shift from hard-hitting, truth-seeking
journalism to innocuous, promotional stenography goes hand in hand with the increase of
globalization. The photographs he has taken in rural India have resulted in several highly
acclaimed photo exhibitions.

He is currently the rural affairs editor of The Hindu.

One of his more recent projects, on dalits, for The Hindu, is nearly complete, and he is planning
a book based on this work. This project covers a gigantic area across 15 states in India. He has
already covered 150,000 km and has five more states to go. When the newspapers were
unwilling to fund beyond a point, Sainath spent from his own resources, his savings, his
provident fund, his gratuity - avoiding corporate sponsors.

Words provoke action

Sainath's most important work from the past decade focuses on India's agrarian crisis, with
roughly 200 exclusive field reports and news analyses and hundreds of photographs.

His writing has provoked responses that include the revamping of the Drought Management
Programs in the state of Tamil Nadu, development of a policy on indigenous medical systems
in Malkangiri in Orissa, and revamping of the Area Development Program for tribal people in
Madhya Pradesh state. The Times of India institutionalized his methods of reporting and sixty
other leading newspapers initiated columns on poverty and rural development.
Through his work on the India's social problems, Sainath changed the nature of the
development debate in his own country and across the world. His best selling book, Everybody
Loves a Good Drought, helped focus public attention on the condition of India's rural poor,
increasing public awareness and support. In the last decade, he has spent on average threefourths of the year with village people, reporting extensively on agrarian crises due to the neoliberal policies like globalization, privatisation and related government policies and the shift in
its priorities, on the lack of sensitivity and efficiency by the government and the bureaucracy
and on farmer suicides in Wayanad, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and on the plight
of dalits, writing articles for various newspapers.
As a reporter, he proved the power of the Press repeatedly. In one state after another, the
bureaucracy and politicians acted upon his stories, preferring this to confrontation or denial.
Today, more than any other journalist in India, he has been responsible for the attention brought
to the raging farmers' suicides in the country. He was instrumental in the establishment of the
Agriculture Commission in Andhra Pradesh to suggest ways for improving agriculture in that
state.
An excellent photojournalist
Sainath takes all the photographs that have accompanied his reporting for the past 30 years.
His exhibition 'Visible Work, Invisible Women: Women and work in rural India' has been seen
by more than 600,000 people in India alone. A public space exhibition, it has been shown at
factory gates, village squares, bus and railway stations, colleges and similar venues in India,
but also at galleries overseas, including at the Asia Society in New York and others in Japan,
Canada and elsewhere. His photographs constitute the largest body of photographs on labour
in rural India.

Awards and honours

I got a couple of prizes which I didn't pick up because I was ashamed, P Sainath.
He has received close to 40 other national and international journalism awards and fellowships
in 30 years as a journalist, including the Ramon Magsaysay journalism award in 2007, the
European Commission's Natali Prize in 1994 and the Boerma Journalism Prize from the UN
FAO in 2001 (along with CNN International's Jim Clancy), the Amnesty International global
award for human rights journalism in 2000, the PUCL Human Rights Journalism Award, and
the B.D. Goenka award for excellence in journalism in 2000. In June 2006 Sainath won the
Judges' prize (newspaper category) in the 2005 Harry Chapin Media Awards. In June 2011,
Sainath was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree (DLitt) by the University of
Alberta, the university's highest honor.
He is one of few Indians to receive the Ramon Magsaysay Award, which he accepted in 2007
in the category of Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts.

Canadian documentary film maker Joe Moulins made a film about Sainath titled "A Tribe of
his Own", and when the jury at the Edmonton Film Festival picked its winner, it decided to
include Sainath in the award along with the maker of the film because this was 'an award about
inspiration.'
Another documentary film, 'Nero's Guests,' looks at inequality (as manifest in India's agrarian
crisis) through Sainath's reporting on the subject. Nero's Guests won the Indian Documentary
Producers Association's Gold Medal for best documentary for 2010. It has also won several
other awards overseas.

To know about development journalism

"the art and science of human communication linked to a society's planned transformation from
a state of poverty to one of dynamic socio-economic growth that makes for greater equity and
the larger unfolding of individual potential."
Development journalism centres around development issues- issues that determine, hinder,
contradict, intervene development of a nation. Some of the most talked about and frequented
concerns are poverty, unemployment, sanitation, health, environment, infrastructure,
agriculture, gender issues, road and safety, education, human rights, and labor issues.
Development journalism attempts to document the conditions within a place so that the larger
world can understand them. Journalists are encouraged to travel to remote areas, interact with
the citizens of the country, and report back. This type of development journalism also looks at
proposed government projects to improve conditions in the country, and analyzes whether or
not they will be effective. Ultimately, the journalist may come up with proposed solutions and
actions in the piece, suggesting ways in which they might be implemented. Often, this type of
development journalism encourages a cooperative effort between citizens of the nation and the
outside world.
Such journalists have a motive to work. Guaranteeing, augmenting, forwarding and causing
socio-economic development is the prime mover and objective of development journalists.
Also, this group of individuals seek to inform the general public about the various issues that
affect us, and thus awaken and enlighten us against those. They report such events of concern,
and try to educate us, so that the malpractices and events can be eroded from the society. The
ultimate aim is to rationalize people, and build up a changed and better society.
The specific skills required to be a development journalist include excellent communication,
to be able to know, understand, comprehend, and share and educate. So is the need of interpersonal skills to be able to empathize, and extract the most crucial and hidden truths. One has
to have keen observation power, which does not mean only looking out for different and new
events, but also exploring and exploiting those that are already present. Sometimes the most
bitter of truths lie in front of us, and we tend to ignore or overlook it. And being aware of
everything is necessary.
The profession demands considerable amount of travel and expeditions; different projects
every other day. It demands great responsibility. One has to be responsible not only to oneself,
but also to the organization one is working for and that entrusts such delicate and critical work
to the journalist. Responsibility should also be towards the society and people, who are either

the sufferers of the crime or are unaware of the existence of such serious issues. Only a diligent
human being can fit into the shoes of a development journalist. One who is not concerned about
the adversities, threats and risks of the profession.
P. sainaths work and dedication inspire us, young journalists who are stepping in Business of
media, to stop and think
All a development journalist gets as remuneration is immense satisfaction, and the pride of
being involved in the development of the society by helping in the eradication of the accepted
evils.
We may make good money and name by selling news, of those who want to make news, and
for those who want them to make news
Or we may choose the path of developmental journalism, to show about people, who need to
be given attention to those who escape their eyes

Marshall Plan
In the immediate post-World War II period, Europe remained ravaged by war and thus
susceptible to exploitation by an internal and external Communist threat. In a June 5, 1947,
speech to the graduating class at Harvard University, Secretary of State George C. Marshall
issued a call for a comprehensive program to rebuild Europe. Fanned by the fear of Communist
expansion and the rapid deterioration of European economies in the winter of 19461947,
Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act in March 1948 and approved funding that
would eventually rise to over $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe.

First page of the Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan generated a resurgence of European industrialization and brought extensive
investment into the region. It was also a stimulant to the U.S. economy by establishing markets
for American goods. Although the participation of the Soviet Union and East European nations
was an initial possibility, Soviet concern over potential U.S. economic domination of its
Eastern European satellites and Stalins unwillingness to open up his secret society to
westerners doomed the idea. Furthermore, it is unlikely that the U.S. Congress would have
been willing to fund the plan as generously as it did if aid also went to Soviet Bloc Communist
nations.
Thus the Marshall Plan was applied solely to Western Europe, precluding any measure of
Soviet Bloc cooperation. Increasingly, the economic revival of Western Europe, especially
West Germany, was viewed suspiciously in Moscow. Economic historians have debated the
precise impact of the Marshall Plan on Western Europe, but these differing opinions do not
detract from the fact that the Marshall Plan has been recognized as a great humanitarian effort.
Secretary of State Marshall became the only general ever to receive a Nobel Prize for peace.
The Marshall Plan also institutionalized and legitimized the concept of U.S. foreign aid
programs, which have become a integral part of U.S. foreign policy.
Marshall Plan or European Recovery Program, project instituted at the Paris Economic
Conference (July, 1947) to foster economic recovery in certain European countries after World

War II. The Marshall Plan took form when U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall urged
(June 5, 1947) that European countries decide on their economic needs so that material and
financial aid from the United States could be integrated on a broad scale. In Apr., 1948,
President Truman signed the act establishing the Economic Cooperation Administration (ECA)
to administer the program.
The ECA was created to promote European production, to bolster European currency, and to
facilitate international trade. Another object was the containment of growing Soviet influence
(through national Communist parties), especially in Czechoslovakia, France, and Italy. Paul G.
Hoffman was named (Apr., 1948) economic cooperation administrator, and in the same year
the participating countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, West Germany, Great Britain,
Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey,
and the United States) signed an accord establishing the Organization for European Economic
Cooperation (later called the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) as the
master coordinating agency.
The ECA functioned until 1951, when its activities were transferred to the Mutual Security
Agency. Over $12 billion was dispersed (194851) under the program. From the start the
Soviet Union strongly opposed the Marshall Plan while the various countries in Eastern Europe
denounced or ignored it. Completed in 1952, the Marshall Plan was one aspect of the foreign
aid program of the United States and greatly contributed to the economic recovery of Europe.

Trumans four point programme

In his inaugural address, President Harry S. Truman calls for a bold new program for making
the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial progress available for the improvement
and growth of underdeveloped nations.
The resulting Point Four program (so-called because it was the fourth point in Trumans
speech) resulted in millions of dollars in scientific and technical assistanceas well as hundreds
of U.S. expertssent to Latin American, Asian, Middle Eastern, and African nations.
Though Truman did not mention communism or the Soviet Union during his discussion of
Point Four, it was clear that the program was part of a foreign policy designed to contain the
Soviet threat. As the president noted, over half of the people of the world are living in
conditions approaching misery. While the material resources that the United States might
offer to these nations was limited, its technical superiority was constantly growing and was
inexhaustible. Truman believed that this technical expertise could be used to foster economic
development and opportunities for capital investment in the Third World. Such action would
also benefit the United States, since past experience demonstrated that our commerce with
other countries expands as they progress industrially and economically. Democracy alone,
Truman announced, can supply the vitalizing force to stir the peoples of the world into
triumphant action.
The program drew some criticism in the United States and abroad. In America, some U.S.
businessmen and agricultural producers were wary that programs aimed to help other countries
with the production of goods and crops might be at odds with their own interests. The Senate,
reflecting many of these concerns, passed the program by the margin of only one vote in May
1950. Abroad, suspicions arose that Point Four was merely another form of economic

imperialism designed to force Third World nations to increase their natural resource production
for the benefit of Western industries. Despite these concerns, Americas technical assistance
initiatives to other countries continued throughout the duration of the Cold War, though they
came to operate under a variety of different program and agency names.

Relation of development and communication

Although it may appear to be stating the obvious, the importance of communication to human
life cannot be overemphasised, for without communication no society can exist, no social
structures can form or endure. For the existence and organisation of any society communication
is the fundamental and vital process because all joint action by individuals is based on shared
meanings conveyed by communication. (Communication means not only to pass on
information, it also means community, participation.)
Communication is the fundamental prerequisite to human life and social order. Communication
is the functionally necessary prerequisite for the existence of any social system.
Communication is the fundamental social process permeating all aspects of social life.
Communication is, as it were, the basic social process "as such" because without
communication no organised action is possible. Social systems can only form and endure if the
participating persons are linked to each other by communication.
Because of the ubiquity of communication the human being can be perceived as 'homo
communicator' since what it is (and what it can be) came about (or will come about) in
communication situations. Communication is culture and culture is communication. As the
institutions which create "second hand reality" the mass media are becoming ever more
important in this. Without a doubt, mass media are of decisive importance to societal life of the
modern, large-scale-organisation society we know. Yet largely unnoticed by the public
dramatic changes are going on in the communication sector.
On the one hand a development is happening under the influence of the so called new
communication media in the process of which the borders between mass communication and
individual communication are becoming ever vaguer. The mass propagation of identical
contents to a dispersed public will no longer be the predominant form of communication, but
chosen communication (on-demand communication) will become ever more important. On the
other hand, however, under the influence of the technological revolution in the field of data
processing the fundamental structures of society are changing; coming into being is the
information society (cf. 14.3 Technical development: telematics and trans-border data flow).
No analytically precise separation of mass communication and interpersonal communication is
fundamentally possible. It would be only if one limited the mass communication process to the
emission of the contents and ignored the recipients. Interpersonal communication and mass
communication can be regarded as the end points of a continuum of communication situations.
Although mass communication is inseparably linked to interpersonal communication there are
considerable differences between the two. If a communicator's aim is to change attitudes or
even behaviours, interpersonal communication in general is more effective than mass
communication. The communicator can react more flexibly, that is check on the potential effect
of a message (direct feedback). Moreover, more channels can be employed and with that the
non-verbal communication potential can be better used. Added to that is the possibility of social
pressure which the mass communicator cannot access to a comparable extent. Recipients can
much more easily break off contact with the mass media than in interpersonal communication.

In the mass communication process active participation by the recipient is comparably small
(although this depends on content as well as the situative context and the personality of the
recipient), whereby the recipient does not have to express his or her opinion on a possibly
controversial subject raised by the mass communicator. The advantage in mass communication
is its dissemination effect in spreading information; but it is limited by the communicator's
addressing an indefinable number of people in the mass communication process without being
able to take the various situations of the individuals into account. The optimal combination of
mass communication and interpersonal communication is achieved if the mass media manage
to reach the opinion leaders in the fields concerned who pass on the messages into interpersonal
channels or strengthen them in the sense intended at the level of interpersonal communication.
Communication and quality of life
Communication is inseparably linked to quality of life. Quality of life is defined here as
identification with the community, a feeling of being able to make the best of one's abilities
(e.g. to have achieved something in one's vocation) and an appreciation of the beauty of art and
nature, whereby the material basics and especially health assume decisive importance to the
quality of life. In the following, under-development is to be taken to mean that compared to
Western industrial nations in terms of economic performance and technological standard a
nation is weaker, but not inferior in respect of cultural values nor automatically in regard to
quality of life. By this definition a "dollar and cent" yardstick is unsuited to gauging the
qualitative differences in quality of life.
In "The Health of Nations" Leonard A. Sagan points to the outstanding importance of
communication to the quality of life, in this more specific context the ability to read and write.
Sagan reports on a study done by him in which data about more than 150 societies (from premodern to highly complex modern ones) were analysed. Examined were inter alia
demographic, social and medical factors, religious preferences, and distribution of wealth,
urbanisation, per capita income and energy consumption. Sagan comes to the conclusion: "By
far the most consistently powerful predictor of life expectancy was the prevalence of literacy."
Quite clearly there is a link between the spread of education to broad masses of the population
and the decline of the mortality rate.
The rapid mortality decline in developing countries was at first explained with parallels to
European and American history, i.e. economic development was seen as the reason for higher
life expectancy. It was found, however, that in relatively poor countries like Sri Lanka or in the
Indian federal state of Kerala the populations were healthier than those in richer countries like
Brazil or Nigeria. In the late 60s the fallen mortality was put down to technological advances
and the expansion of public health care. But this explanation was also too simple because the
improvement of hygienic conditions and water supplies in some countries were not the decisive
factors, either, for the reduction in the incidence of diseases - sanitation and water supply
programmes failed to reduce disease incidence in some countries. Nor could better food
policies explain the enormous rise in life expectancy.
Finally, the importance of literacy, which in turn is dependent on the existence of adequate
communication structures, to the quality of health care was recognised in the early 80s. In 1985
UNESCO published a study in which the influence of many factors on mortality in 15
developing countries was examined (inter alia occupational and educational status of parents,
urban/rural residence, religion, ethnic group, availability of health facilities, piped water, flush
lavatories). Without doubt the strongest influence on health was found to be the school

attendance of the mother. Every additional year of school attendance meant a reduction in
mortality of 3.4%. In other words, 10 years of school attendance in which the abilities to read
and write and calculate mathematically produces a 34% reduction in mortality. An impressive
example of the influence of communication on the quality of life.
In addition to interpersonal communication, in developing countries mass communication is
also of decisive importance. This holds not only for running health campaigns or for diffusion
of innovations but above all for the communication of those matters that concern all of a state's
citizens. Development towards a modern society which is to be characterised by democracy,
social and economic justice, national consolidation, social discipline and economic growth is
hardly possible without employing mass media for in societies with large rural sectors the mass
media are able also to reach the rural dwellers and supply them with information. Only a
communication system which also allows the population of the rural sector to inform
themselves continuously and above all also to articulate their own opinions enables national
identities to be formed and can prevent or remedy society's being culturally split into a rural
and an urban sector.
Modernisation, respectively development, apart from technical progress also encompasses
democratisation in the sense that old social structures, most of which are based on inherited
positions, are broken up. Political participation by segments of society previously excluded is
a central element of democratisation. Thus the North-South Commission gave a wider
definition to development than the transition from poor to rich. Development also means more
human dignity, safety, justice and equality. The elimination of existing strong inequalities
within society is central to successful development processes starting. Equality is the value
which is of decisive importance to successful modernisation and whose attractiveness has been
proved in the context of successful liberation wars.
Equality here is not to mean equality in poverty but above all equality of opportunity. Even in
societies where nominal equality is a valid norm unequal distributions of income, insofar as
they are based on performance, are regarded as quite fair. The propagation of the normative
notion that equality means equality of opportunity can be done with the help of the mass media,
whose effectiveness is greatest in times of marked social change. Such situations, in which
traditional values and structures are in flux, are also the situations in which mass media can
give orientation aids and convey new ideas (e.g. about future democratic forms of co-existence
in society). Prerequisite to this is that the mass media are perceived as credible.
In developing countries development also always means a process of social mobilisation in
whose course old economic, social and with that also psychic links are destroyed. The countries
of the Third World cannot be regarded as a category of homogeneous societies but in their
cultural and political variety must be assessed individually - including, too, in respect of the
use and hence the effect of the mass media. In regard to the expressive power of indicators for
measuring quality of life it must also be assumed that no two societies are the same, because
"development is like a giraffe: difficult to describe, but easy to recognize".
The federal German government now places central importance on media promotion measures
in both the national development process and as an instrument to improve relations between
peoples and states. In the paper Media promotion in development policy cooperation it is
argued that the media offer the chance "positively to influence social change in developing
countries by informing and motivating the population, by familiarising them with educational
contents, values and norms indispensable to a country's development.... The breadth of

developmentally instrumental use of the mass media ranges from the possibility of educational
measures on the broadest possible basis, through the preservation and cultivation of cultural
values, to the effective support of efforts at democratising society and strengthening self-help
and participation in the development process".
Communication as a human right
The principle of Free Flow of Information was written into the United Nations Charter, the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 1948. Article 19 declares freedom of information a
fundamental human right: "Everyone has a right to freedom of opinion and expression; the
right includes freedom to hold opinions... and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers." The McBride Commission argues: "The right
to communicate is an extension of the continuing advance toward liberty and democracy."
In connection with the principle of "free flow of information" the structure of the world news
system was for a long time in the foreground of the media policy debates conducted in the
UNO, respectively UNESCO, a discussion aimed mainly at constructing a New World
Information Order. In the dispute over free versus balanced news flow the position of the West
was and is unequivocal: freedom of information and opinion is perceived as a basic right.
Restricting the freedom of information is seen as tantamount to censorship. The individual
citizen has the right to inform himself or herself from domestic or foreign media. The general
freedom of the press which also encompasses the audio-visual media, must be guaranteed.
There must be no state control of mass media, whereby the control of the mass media by a few
powerful individuals or companies must also be seen as a danger to democracy. Press freedom
must not mean that only a few economically powerful people or organisations have the
opportunity to disseminate their opinions. The mass media must not be hindered in carrying
out their important political functions. Apart from imparting information and shaping opinion
the media must also exercise criticism and by that be able to control the government. That is
why no state can assume responsibility for information the mass media disseminate in its area
of jurisdiction or from its territory to other countries.
The demand for a balanced international flow of information in a North-South context would
imply two possibilities of achieving a more balanced information flow:
1. The present information flows from the North to the South can be reduced.
2. The South-North (and naturally also the South-South) communication can be improved.
Since option one implies destroying or hindering existing communication channels, which
would mean a lessening of the system's ability to learn, option two is without doubt preferable.
In connection with trans-border communication of news an improvement of the possibilities of
free flow of information is needed, in which the building of better South-North communication
must be linked with better South-South communication. This proposition assumes that a
government is interested in having a population which can and wants to participate in the
process of democratic will-shaping. Investment in South-South flow also means that the chance
to create solidarity in world society is used. Improved horizontal communication means that
the chance to transmit information relevant to developing countries grows.
If information flow is restricted, on the other hand, it is very likely that existing undemocratic
structures of rule will remain, under which the dignity of human beings is not respected and

underprivileged parts of the population are prevented from gaining knowledge about
possibilities of better lives. People must be aware of their being under-privileged and they must
perceive this as unjust and stoppable so as to take action to improve the quality of life (on
fighting fatalism cf. 8. Development journalism). Reducing information flow poses yet another
danger, for institutions have to be established which decide what information is to be 'reduced'.
Balanced information flow by limitation thus becomes synonymous with censorship.
The great handicap: misconceptions about the importance of the mass media.
An excursus on the sociology of science
The theories and/or models about the effects of the mass media which have dominated in
science over time can be characterised in their historical sequence as follows:
1. The early approaches to theoretical evaluation of media effects were closely linked with
mass psychology. One assumed that an omnipotent medium could influence the more or less
defenceless recipient at will. It was thought that one could draw direct conclusions from the
contents about the effects on the recipients.
2. Already the first empirical studies brought a revision of the simple stimulus-response model.
Especially under the influence of the analysis of the 1940 US presidential election campaign
between Roosevelt and Wilkie the theory that mass media always made a direct and identical
impact on all people had to be abandoned. There followed a time in which the theory of relative
ineffectiveness of the mass media predominated. Klapper in his literature appraisal came to the
conclusion that in the normal case mass communication had to be seen neither as a prerequisite
nor an adequate condition for effects. According to this the main effect of the mass media is to
strengthen existing opinions. McGuire still maintains in the 1969 Handbook of Social
Psychology that on the basis of the research findings to hand it could be assumed that the mass
media had no effects at all.
3. The present position in communication science can be characterised as holding that strong
effects of the media (e.g. on public opinion, the world-view, etc.) are recognised as
indisputable, whereby there is no adherence to the simple cause-and-effect model of the first
phase of effects research which at the same time seems to be ineradicable among noncommunication scientists.
Effects of the media are defined as: characteristics and/or changes firstly at the level of
individuals, secondly at the level of social groups and organisations (mesosystem) and thirdly
the level from whole societies to the world system which can be wholly or partly traced back
to the contents, forms and organisations of the mass media. Thus effects are identified not only
at the level of individuals and groups, but mass communication as a social sub-system interacts
with other sub-systems (e.g. politics, education, economics, churches, etc.) and society as a
whole. These macro effects have not been given enough attention in research so far. An
example would be, for example, the changing of the election campaign, respectively the
selection of candidates in democratic parties by introduction of television (e.g. "show" on TV
rather than political grass roots work). It would also be a decisive effect of television on the
sub-system politics if the majority of the population believes because of the TV coverage that
the individual cannot influence political decisions but that they are made by 'those up there'.

Because of their wide dissemination the mass media from the outset were at the centre of public
discussions. A problem arises in this for communication research which, although it is common
to all social sciences, becomes especially conspicuous here because, at least in the industrial
states, everyone has their own experience with the mass media: The scepticism vis a vis the
social sciences and the findings they make, prevailing generally in the public and politics, is
especially marked here. Particularly in respect of the effects of the media there are widespread
popular-scientific notions, most of which can be characterised as holding that although one is
oneself a very critical media consumer, the 'others' (the "mass of the population") are in extreme
jeopardy because of the assumed great effectiveness of the media.
The lay notions about media effects, very many of which have the character of self-evident
cultural tenets, form a substantial barrier to the dissemination of findings in communication
science (and the implementation of promotion measures in the media sector). If the findings of
a scientific study correspond to the general assumptions it is seen as proof that one knew
everything anyway and that communication science had nothing new to offer. If the results of
a study are not compatible with widespread beliefs then their acceptance and dissemination is
obstructed, for example by imputing that the researchers had worked faultily or imprecisely.
Fundamentally, no simple and eternally valid statement on what effects the media have can be
made because the effects are so complex. This is due to the uniqueness of each situation, the
mould ability of human beings - whereby it must also be considered that identical contents can
be used and perceived differently by various recipients - and the systemic nexus of the
components relevant in a given situation. Propagation of communication science findings is
also made difficult by the public and/or the journalists who report on them expecting that they
need to be easily and generally understandable. Especially in regard to the effects of media the
"roller coaster argument" applies: If reality has the shape of a roller coaster, then the theories
which attempt adequately to explain the reality must also assume the character of a roller
coaster. In other words the tendency so popular with politicians and other decision makers to
speculate about the effects of the mass media on the level of plausibility arguments which are
mostly extrapolations of one's own life-experiences is bound to produce misconceptions.
In the context addressed here it is of decisive importance that it is not only naive culture
pessimists who tend to sweeping uncritical condemnation of the mass media. Even related to a
scientific public it appears more promising of success in many cases to make statements based
on everyday knowledge. A typical example of this is the argumentation of Stanislav Andreski
who rails against the "witchmasters of the social sciences" and their methodological conjuring
tricks but himself gets entangled in culture-pessimistic platitudes when he speaks of the
"advanced stage of cretinisation into which our civilisation has fallen under the influence of
the mass media".
Also in complete misperception of the effects of the mass media Ludwig von Bertalanffy
argues that every well managed advertising campaign is as precise a behaviourial experiment
as any in a laboratory. Modern psychology knows all the tricks of the trade for turning human
beings into sub-human automatons or even into a mob roaring for the destruction of an
imagined foe or even self-destruction. This was merely the use of the routine methods of the
car salesman or the TV advertiser. The author, whose reputation as a system theoretician and
biologist is undisputed worldwide, nevertheless arrogates unto himself knowledge in the field
of effects research and dilettantes on by arguing that because we treat human beings according
to the model of Skinner rats and more and more make them into robots we have all those
problems. For this reason we urgently needed a science of mass-influencing, both for the

manipulators seeking new effective methods and for the manipulated so that they can be on
guard against them. Mass-influencing became almost invincible if it was not applied by
external compulsion but rather was internalised; if the animal within the human being were so
conditioned that it had no option but to respond to the stimulation given it in the way the
manipulator wanted it to. Next to nuclear weapons, this was the great invention of our age: the
forming of humanity into automatons who simply "buy" anything - toothpaste, washing
machines, presidents, atomic war and self-annihilation.
Such statements about the alleged effectiveness of the mass media made by indubitably
renowned scientists who in their own fields have successfully tried to popularise their
knowledge and therefore possess high reputations in public help to spread totally false notions
because as a rule the non-communication scientist cannot recognise when an author oversteps
the bounds of his competence. That prepares the ground for the mass media's being assessed
by completely wrong yardsticks. If political decision makers adhere to such omnipotence
suggestions and then find that an investment in the media sector does not immediately show
the hoped for effects it cannot be ruled out that they react negatively inasmuch as further media
promotion measures are made more difficult or prevented since one could, after all, assume
that the media did not work anyway.
But as already mentioned, media effects are always very complex. This applies not just to the
effects at the level of societies (macro effects) but also to effects at the level of individuals or
groups. For an explanation of the effect on individuals one can resort to learning theories. From
the premise of learning theory people are neither solely driven by internal forces nor pushed
forward solely by environmental stimuli. Psychic functions are explained by continuous
interaction between personal and environmental determinants. This reciprocal determinism
means that expectations influence the ways people behave and that the consequences of this
behaviour in turn change their expectations again. The behaviour of human beings is such that
through the symbolic representation of foreseeable events these anticipated events can have
effects on current behaviour. That means that most actions are subject to anticipatory control.
This in itself is enough reason always to reject as wrong any explanation of the effects of mass
media based on a simple cause-and-effect model.
However, effects research itself has largely added to the widespread notion that nothing precise
was known about the effects of mass media. A state-sponsored German effects research
commission in 1986 came to the conclusion that quite generally we know too little about the
connection between mass communication and society, about the effect laws of the media. The
commission stated further that although the research works to hand were thematically wide
ranging they were disparate at the same time. Often there was only a single study on a particular
problem. Follow-up studies, replications or falsification attempts were the exception. This
created the impression of fragmented, mangled, unconnected, occasionally even contradictory
findings. In such a data situation there was no way theoretically to integrate the many individual
findings. The demand for "the one" theory of media effects could not be met because the media
and their contents were much too varied. Also, the conditions under which the media made
their impact were much too complex for them to be assembled in one consistent set of
hypotheses.
However - and in the context being addressed here this is the most important aspect - it is
undisputed that the mass media do have an effect. But one had to be aware in helping to develop
media that as a rule the effects are complex and long term. This complexity and long term
perspective must under all circumstances be taken into account in the evaluation of such

measures. The situation cannot be characterised as if one did not know what impact the media
had, but rather that one must warn against overly simple statements on media impact.
The resum to be drawn from this scientific-sociological excursus is this: If one has completely
wrong notions about the effects of the mass media and uses them as the yardstick to assess the
success of measures in the media sector negative judgments about media promotion measures
are almost bound to be made.
5. On hostility towards the media
Walter Lippmann's famous formulation that "we define first and then see" also applies to
politicians. Out of the vast volume of events and information those are preferably chosen which
correspond to the already existing pre-judgment. Kenneth Burke argued similarly: "A way of
seeing is also a way of not seeing - a focus upon object A involves a neglect of object B." If
we have a corresponding image in our heads there is no difficulty processing even apparently
contradictory information. Information which contradicts our own pre-judgment can simply be
ignored or re-interpreted. The German poet, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach expressed this fact
in 1893 in an aphorism: "A judgment can be proved wrong but never a pre-judgment."
In respect of the effect of media the valid proposition is that identical contents can be perceived
and used completely differently. Every person chooses from the multitude of environmental
phenomena only a few (selective perception), and depending on life experience especially those
which fit into the familiar world-view. The decisive thing is the frame of reference within which
perception takes place. Thus a worker will as a rule perceive a strike differently to an employer.
In this context the 'hostile media phenomenon' is important. Valone et alii who coined this
phrase proceeded from the assumption that in readers' letters to newspapers and magazines
often one and the same article was attacked as one-sidedly presenting the position of the other
side in each case - and this by people who held completely different views. It was obviously
assumed the mass medium concerned in each case took a position hostile to the letter writer's.
It can be assumed that as a rule politicians and other decision makers feel unjustly treated by
the media and therefore try to control them in their favour. For media promotion measures
which aim at democratisation of the media this means in countries where such control of the
media by politicians already happens that in principle such help is perceived as a threat to a
status quo pleasant for the rulers. There is always massive resistance by those concerned to
reforms and improvements in the media sector which could endanger the existing nondemocratic structures of rule, although they never tire of claiming that they stand up for the
freedom of the mass media.
6. The paradigms debate
The starting conditions for 'communication and development research' were almost ideal.
Communication scientists such as Joseph Klapper, Harald D. Lasswell, Paul F. Lazarsfeld and
Leo Lwenthal - all authors whose scientific reputation is still beyond dispute - were co-authors
of Issue 4 of the 1952/53 Volume of the periodical 'Public Opinion Quarterly' in which
'international communication research' was launched into the world. The political climate was
very favourable to this young branch of science for in the USA one felt committed to spreading
the American ideals of freedom and democracy throughout the world. The motive of pulling
the rest of the world up to one's own level, to the "American way of life", was especially
apparent in point 4 of President Trumann's 10-point programme of 1948: "Fourth. We must

embark on a bold new program for making the benefits of our scientific advances and industrial
progress available for the improvement and growth of underdeveloped areas."
In this programme communication research was assigned an important task in the propaganda
battle then fought with the Soviet Union for the loyalty of the developing countries. American
foreign policy aimed at containing communism and included preventive measures in the
developing countries in the form of development aid. Development aid was understood in this
as an investment in world peace by which the political systems concerned were to be developed
towards democracy.
Development aid was based on the following logic: One thought that by introducing
modernising institutions (e.g. schools or mass media) one could raise modern personalities who
in turn would be able adequately to fulfil vocational roles in modern institutions (e.g. in
factories). This, it was thought further, would enable economic growth. Breaking the 'vicious
circle of poverty' was regarded as possible. Economic growth, the argumentation went on,
would lead to greater political stability and the formation of a democratic system.
Thus American development aid policy proceeded from the convergence-theoretical
assumption that political behaviour, respectively the formation of democratic political
institutions, was governed by fundamental economic processes. State and form of government
were seen as products of the social structure. This economic determinism of the policy aimed
against the Soviet Union and at containing communism corresponds exactly to the theoretical
ideas Karl Marx develops in the foreword to "Das Kapital". Marx argues that the capitalists
would overcome the backward production methods in the "under-developed" countries: "It
concerns these laws itself (the laws of nature of capitalist production, M. K.), these seemingly
oaken laws and asserting tendencies. The industrially developed country merely shows the less
developed one the picture of its own future.
For decades the most influential book on the practical use of mass media in developing
countries was "The Passing of Traditional Society" (New York 1958) by Daniel Lerner. It was
originally designed as a study for the Voice of America. One wanted to know which recipients
one could reach in developing countries. Lerner, who had worked in the "Intelligence Section
of the Psychological Warfare Division of the US Army" during World War II, differentiated
between modern, transitional and traditional personalities, wherein the transitional persons
were seen as the key to change in the Middle East, where the study was done.
Apart from the economic and political interests the main motive in American development aid
was also to try to set in motion modernisation processes by investments in the communication
sector. The findings of socio-scientific research were to enable people to have lives in freedom
and dignity. This basic position becomes clear with Wilbur Schramm who argues:
"- knowledge is better than ignorance;
- health is better than disease;
- to eat is better than to be hungry;
- a comfortable standard of living is better than poverty;
- to participate actively in one's nation is better than to be isolated from it."

In the mid 70s one arrived at the conclusion that development aid and especially the use of
mass media by no means automatically set in motion peaceful development towards
democracy; publication of an essay by Everett M. Rogers marked the end of the dominance of
modernisation theories. However, the Lerner model influenced communication science until
the mid 80s. The modernisation theories, according to which the causes for the underdevelopment of certain societies or world regions lie in those societies themselves, were
obviously off the mark. Under-development is not solely the cause of certain socio-cultural
characteristics (e.g. traditionalism) or other system-immanent misdevelopments (e.g.
population explosion).
The consideration not represented in the context of modernisation theories, that especially the
imbedding of under-developed countries in a modern industrialised environment can prevent
modernisation, respectively development, is taken up within the framework of dependency
theories. The dependency theories, which attempt an all-encompassing explanation for the
failure of decades of efforts to develop the Third World, perceive under-development as a result
of worldwide economic interactions. Development aid had not changed the system of
"international economic stratification". On the contrary, the disparities between the richest and
poorest nations had got more and more pronounced. A rule of thumb had also evolved: the
poorer a country, the greater the differences between rich and poor in it.
But the dependency theory offered no action alternative to the conception of the modernisation
theory. The present situation comprises a "potpourri of theories" to choose from. The
hypothesis of decoupling is only seldom espoused because in practice it means that one
excludes oneself from processes of development going on worldwide and the lag behind the
developed countries becomes larger and larger.
Starting from philosophical considerations of the type propagated for example by Paulo Freire
in "Pedagogy of the oppressed", value was placed also in the use of mass media in the
development process on such concepts as self-development, distributive justice, self-reliance,
people participation, etc. However, this paradigm of media usage in developing countries did
not produce the desired effects, either. Saxer and Grossenbacher write: "It is often overlooked
that communication is always meant to be only part of an overall strategy and not its central
element. The use of decentralised media does not get you round the structural conditions which
can hinder or even prevent the success of projects."
In this context Sonaike emphasises as a further paradigm the approach of the "culturalists" who
see the key to development of the countries of the Third World in the diverse traditional
cultures. The integration of modern and traditional methods of communication to impart
development-relevant information is regarded as decisive to the success of media promotion
measures. The needs of the people affected are to be taken into account in carrying out
development measures.
In regard to the dependence theory considerations it remains to be observed that regardless of
how applicable they are or are not, they pose a great danger: Politicians in developing countries
can easily misuse them to deflect attention from their own failings. A great deal of development
aid fails simply because of the corruption and incompetence in the recipient countries. There
was exploitation and despotic rule in many developing countries before they became the
victims of colonial and economic exploitation by the West. It is also possible that in some of
them Western values have been selectively adopted. Thus Ali Mazrui argues that the African
culture replicated the wrong things from the West: "We borrowed the profit motive but not the

entrepreneurial spirit. We borrowed the acquisitive appetites of capitalism but not the creative
risk taking. We are at home with Western gadgets but are bewildered by Western workshops.
We wear the wristwatch but refuse to watch it for the culture of punctuality. We have learned
to parade in display, but not to drill in discipline. The West's consumption patterns have arrived
but not necessarily the West's technique of production."
Characteristics of Developing Societies:
The first- is the problem of uneven development and effective national unification, especially
in deeply divided societies. Capitalist development has impinged on semi-developed countries
from outside rather than transforming slowly from within, incorporating different groups in
different ways.
The consequence of deep divisions is that there is likely to exist an unusually large number of
prisoner's dilemma situations. (The prisoner's dilemma arises when partners in crime are
apprehended and held separately. The prisoners will be jointly better off if they do not inform
on each other, but each prisoner will be better off if he informs on the other, while the other
does not inform on him. Attempts at individual maximisation may lead to both prisoners
informing on each other which leads to the worst joint outcome. The dilemma arises because
of the absence of the opportunity for co-operation.) Under such conditions, negotiation skills
are at a premium. There are also advantages in the acceptance of a deontological liberal
philosophy which (in the shorthand of political philosophers) places the right over the good.
This involves seeking to regulate social relations by just procedures while leaving individuals
as free as possible to pursue their own, diverse conceptions of the good life. Such an enterprise
has a better chance of success if its conception of justice implies that attention should be paid
simultaneously to the reduction of poverty.
The second theme- in the literature on semi-developed countries has to do with their position
within the world economy. Three related sub-themes can be identified.
Firstly, there has been a debate about the forms and limits of the diffusion of industrialisation.
Dependency theory - now somewhat out of fashion, since its predictions of severe limitations
on industrialisation in developing countries have been falsified - asserted that relationships
between developing and developed countries are such as to keep the latter in perpetual
economic subordination. The contrary thesis - that advanced industrial countries have had to
deal with increased competition arising from quite widespread diffusion - now seems more
plausible. Lester Thurow, for instance, has argued that the increase in inequality in the United
States since the late 1970s is not to be attributed either to the Reagan administration's tax
welfare policies nor to demographic change, but to intense international competitive pressures
coupled with high unemployment.
Secondly, some theorists have asserted that a process of the "globalisation of capital"
unprecedented opportunities for international movement of short-term and long-term capital has removed the possibilities of national reformism (i.e. class compromise reached at the level
of the nation state) and is ushering in a period of global class conflict. If there is any truth in
this hypothesis at all, it would have to be qualified both by a careful study of precisely how the
capital (and trade) flows of the 1980s differed from those of earlier periods and the sorts of
changes in national policy choices capable of delivering a broadly-based rise in living standards

which follow from these differences. Even if some options may have disappeared, it does not
follow that new ones are not available.
Finally, there has been a preoccupation with the problems of structural adjustment (in both
developed and developing economies) necessitated by a changing international environment.
Structural adjustment is a subject for both economic and political analysis. At the economic
level the issues of maintaining macroeconomic balance, changing industrial and manpower
policy and protecting the poor against a period of deflation which is - or seems to be - necessary
in many cases, all have to be considered. Political problems arise when it comes to the
distribution of the burdens of adjustment and the creation of new capacities for development.
Lack of ability to handle structural adjustment problems can lead to a variety of outcomes,
from the shifting of a large part of the burden of change to future generations (as both the
United States and Brazil have done in recent years), to loss of control at the macroeconomic
level leading to rapid drops in living standards, hyperinflation and/or defaults on international
obligations, political instability and even regime change. Identification and study of the
capacities available to avoid undesirable outcomes are of considerable interest.
The third theme- in the semi-developed country literature is that of the relationship between
economic inequality and political conflict. Characteristically, semi-developed countries have
more unequal distributions of income between households than developed countries. It used to
be thought that inequality peaked at the intermediate stage of development, partly because of
limitations of the spread of education (and therefore of human capital) and partly because lowpaying sectors continued to account for a substantial proportion of employment. Recent
evidence has thrown doubt on the view that inequality necessarily increases during the early
stages of development; it is much clearer that it tends to decrease during the later stages. The
relationship between economic inequality and political conflict is also complex: studies of
cross-national correlations between indicators of the two phenomena have led to unclear, even
contradictory results. One reasonably robust result is that revolutions at a relatively early stage
of development have much to do with inequality in land holdings. But coherent fmdings in
semi-developed countries are virtually non-existent. Part of the reason for this is mindless
number-crunching with insufficient attention paid to the theoretical tradition dealing with
conflict and revolution. There is probably quite a lot to be said, for instance, for the Hobbesian
view that the proximate cause of violent conflict is itself political in the form of the weakening
of the power of the state. Economic factors may also matter, but among these, income
distribution may be relatively unimportant and improvements may play as significant a role as
deterioration.

Rational actor models of regime change have recently appeared in the political science
literature. John Roemer, for instance, conceives of revolution as a two person game between
the present ruler (whom he calls the Tsar) and a revolutionary entrepreneur, whose name is
Lenin. In his attempt to ovethrow the Tsar, Lenin can propose redistribution of the fixed pie of
income. The Tsar can announce a list of penalties which define what each agent who chooses
to join Lenin will forfeit, should the revolution fail. Each possible coalition of the population
has a probability of succeeding in making the revolution, depending on its size and
composition. Lenin chooses the income redistribution which maximises the probability of
overthrowing the Tsar and the Tsar in turn chooses the list of penalties which minimises this

maximum value. The solution to this minimax game defines the instability of the regime, i.e.
the probability tht it will be overthrown. From game theoretical results, Roemer is able to draw
conclusions about the strategies of the players according with experience. For instance, the
Tsar will treat the poor harshly and let off the rich lightly if the conditional probabilities of
revolution by coalitions are the least bit sensitive to the penalties announced. Lenin, on the
other hand, will only propose a progressive redistribution of income as his optimal strategy
under some circumstances. Highly probable revolutions are highly polarised revolutions.
Lurking in this literature is also the issue of whether a coherent distinction can be made between
revolutions and other forms of regime change, but exploration of that issue would require a
lecture of its own.
The fourth theme- in the semi-developed country literature concerns the bearers of the
capacities for economic development. In no society are these likely to be located wholly within
the state or within the private sector. Instead, rather complicated networks able to mount major
initiatives may straddle both the public and private sectors. In some semi-developed countries
described as "bureaucratic authoritarian", it may even be the case that some parts of the state
continue to act with leading components of the private sector to manage economic
development, while other parts of the state induce periodic crises by losing macro-economic
control.
Two debates in political science are relevant here. The first concerns the nature and functions
of civil society. In its classical use by Adam Smith and Hegel, civil society refers to a social
system sufficiently productively advanced and regulated by morality and law to be able to
support both the division of labour and the institution of private property. Hegel throws in the
police and the civil service as regulators of last resort for good measure. The term "civil
society" has been taken up in recent South African debate, sometimes in a rather quaint fashion
- one contributor to a recent seminar defined it as consisting of the trade unions, civics, the SA
Council of Churches and the Kagiso Trust! Marxists have criticised liberals for representing
the interests of a part as the good of the whole; liberals, it seems, are not the only people capable
of making that mistake. A more interesting redefinition of the term has been proposed by
Michael Lipton who reserves for it institutions forming neither part of the state nor part of the
market, but whose influence may make both state and market function more efficiently. The
original definitions are probably the most useful; in terms of them, the strengthening of civil
society is indeed a prerequisite for development. It amounts to developing new specialisations,
to building institutions with new capacities and to creating the attitudes and legal framework
necessary to support these endeavours. Much of the time, these changes will evolve from
existing resources and capacities. But there are also periods of rapid and discontinuous change
in which the positions of major groups within societies are fundamentally changed. This
amounts to a social and economic revolution, which may or may not be accompanied by a
political revolution. At the analytical level, the classical Marxist conflation of the social,
economic and political processes is a serious distortion. At the political level, versions of the
Marxist formulation have been used to represent the most grinding political oppression as
inaugurating social and economic emancipation.
The second political debate is about corporatism. This refers to a situation in which powerful
organised interests play a major role in political life as opposed to individuals organised into
political parties in a liberal democratic system. Indeed, to the liberal ear, the term "corporatism"

has an authoritarian sound about it. Powerful organised interests, of course, exist in liberal
democracies but these function as interest groups with no formal political status. Corporatism
emerges when political institutions are shaped to include them. An important distinction needs
to be drawn between democratic corporatism where these arrangements are subject to choices
made by the electorate in regular elections and authoritarian corporatism where they are not.
Fascist Italy and some Latin American countries provide examples of the latter and the
European democracies examples of the former. The mildest form of corporatism is probably
tripartite institutions comprised of trade unions, employer organisations and state departments.
These participate in the determination of macroeconomic and/or labour market policy in
advanced industrial countries, the whole process being described as that of a "social contract".
Democratic corporatism is subject to changes depending on changes of opinion within the
electorate; particular forms put together by left of centre governments are often modified or
dissolved by succeeding conservative governments. Authoritarian corporatism, on the other
hand, produces an oligarchical system based on deals between elites which sometimes deliver
stability and economic growth, quite possibly for long periods of time, but which are not subject
to popular approval. Indeed, they are characteristically accompanied by a substantial degree of
repression. In this way they contain divergences of interest which would rip liberal democracies
apart. Even in democracies, corporatist arrangements display a degree of inertia; it appears
from the recent literature that the welfare state has been more resistant to conservative
dismantling in European countries in which corporatist arrangements have been well
developed. They also deliver control; it has also been suggested that corporatist structures (as
well as a highly competitive configuration) in the labour market result in lower real wages than
collective bargaining between employers and industry-wide trade unions. Democratic systems
in which linguistic, religious and ethnic identities perform the function of corporations are
referred to as consociation and have some of the same authoritarian logic as corporatist
systems.
The final theme- of interest in the literature on semi-developed countries is that of the transition
from authoritarian to democratic rule, the subject of a major scholarly enterprise directed from
the Woodrow Wilson International Centre at Princeton University about a decade ago. Alfred
Stepan pointed out that there are a number of distinctive paths leading to democratisation: in
some, warfare and conquest play an integral part, as in Europe after the Second World War.
Here, three sub-cases can be distinguished: internal restoration of democracy after external
conquest, redemocratisation after a conqueror has been defeated by external force, and
externally monitored installation of democracy. In others, the termination of authoritarian
regimes is initiated by the wielders of authoritarian power themselves. In yet others,
oppositional forces play a major role in terminating authoritarian rule via diffuse protests by
grass-roots organisations, general strikes and general withdrawal of support for the
government, by the formation of a grand oppositional pact, possibly with consociation features,
by organised violent revolt co-ordinated by democratic reformist parties or by Marxist-led
revolutionary war (though the latter has usually led to the installation of an authoritarian
successor regime). These are all ideal types with rather different dynamics; any actual process
is likely to contain elements of more than one ideal type.

UN Family:
Due to the powers vested in its Charter and its unique international character, the United
Nations can take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, such as peace
and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism,
humanitarian and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and more.
The UN also provides a forum for its members to express their views in the General Assembly,
the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and other bodies and committees. By
enabling dialogue between its members, and by hosting negotiations, the Organization has
become a mechanism for governments to find areas of agreement and solve problems together.
The UN's Chief Administrative Officer is the Secretary-General.
2015 marked the 70th anniversary of the United Nations.

Main Organs:
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the
UN. All 193 Member States of the UN are represented in the General Assembly, making it the
only UN body with universal representation. Each year, in September, the full UN membership
meets in the General Assembly Hall in New York for the annual General Assembly session,
and general debate, which many heads of state attend and address. Decisions on important
questions, such as those on peace and security, admission of new members and budgetary
matters, require a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly. Decisions on other questions
are by simple majority. The General Assembly, each year, elects a GA President to serve a
one-year term of office.

Security Council
The Security Council has primary responsibility, under the UN Charter, for the maintenance of
international peace and security. It has 15 Members (5 permanent and 10 non-permanent
members). Each Member has one vote. Under the Charter, all Member States are obligated to
comply with Council decisions. The Security Council takes the lead in determining the
existence of a threat to the peace or act of aggression. It calls upon the parties to a dispute to
settle it by peaceful means and recommends methods of adjustment or terms of settlement. In
some cases, the Security Council can resort to imposing sanctions or even authorize the use of
force to maintain or restore international peace and security. The Security Council has a
Presidency, which rotates, and changes, every month.
Daily programme of work of the Security Council
Subsidiary organs of the Security Council

Economic and Social Council

The Economic and Social Council is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy
dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as
implementation of internationally agreed development goals. It serves as the central
mechanism for activities of the UN system and its specialized agencies in the economic, social
and environmental fields, supervising subsidiary and expert bodies. It has 54 Members, elected
by the General Assembly for overlapping three-year terms. It is the United Nations central
platform for reflection, debate, and innovative thinking on sustainable development.
Trusteeship Council
The Trusteeship Council was established in 1945 by the UN Charter, under Chapter XIII, to
provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories that had been placed under the
administration of seven Member States, and ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare
the Territories for self-government and independence. By 1994, all Trust Territories had
attained self-government or independence. The Trusteeship Council suspended operation on
1 November 1994. By a resolution adopted on 25 May 1994, the Council amended its rules of
procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion required -by its decision or the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of its members or
the General Assembly or the Security Council.

International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Its seat
is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs
of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America). The Courts role is
to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to
give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs
and specialized agencies.

Secretariat
The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN
staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General
Assembly and the Organization's other principal organs. The Secretary-General is chief
administrative officer of the Organization, appointed by the General Assembly on the
recommendation of the Security Council for a five-year, renewable term. UN staff members
are recruited internationally and locally, and work in duty stations and on peacekeeping
missions all around the world. But serving the cause of peace in a violent world is a dangerous
occupation. Since the founding of the United Nations, hundreds of brave men and women have
given their lives in its service.

Programmes and Funds

UNDP
The United Nations Development Programme works in nearly 170 countries and territories,
helping to eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and build resilience so countries can sustain
progress. As the UNs development agency, UNDP plays a critical role in helping countries
achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund provides long-term humanitarian and development
assistance to children and mothers.
UNHCR
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR protects refugees worldwide
and facilitates their return home or resettlement.
WFP
The World Food Programme aims to eradicate hunger and malnutrition. It is the worlds largest
humanitarian agency. Every year, the programme feeds almost 80 million people in around 75
countries.
UNODC
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime UNODC helps Member States fight drugs,
crime, and terrorism.
UNFPA
The United Nations Population Fund UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world
where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, and every young person's potential is
fulfilled.

UNCTAD
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development is the United Nations body
responsible for dealing with development issues, particularly international trade the main
driver of development.
UNEP
The United Nations Environment Programme established in 1972, is the voice for the
environment within the United Nations system. UNEP acts as a catalyst, advocate, educator
and facilitator to promote the wise use and sustainable development of the global environment.
UNRWA
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees has contributed to the
welfare and human development of four generations of Palestine refugees. Its services
encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and

improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance, including in times of armed conflict. It

reports only to the UN General Assembly.
UN Women
UN Women merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the
UN system, which focus exclusively on gender equality and womens empowerment.
UN-Habitat
The mission of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme is to promote socially and
environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate
shelter for all.

UN Specialized Agencies
The UN specialized agencies are autonomous organizations working with the United Nations.
All were brought into relationship with the UN through negotiated agreements. Some existed
before the First World War. Some were associated with the League of Nations. Others were
created almost simultaneously with the UN. Others were created by the UN to meet emerging
needs.

World Bank
The World Bank focuses on poverty reduction and the improvement of living standards
worldwide by providing low-interest loans, interest-free credit, and grants to developing
countries for education, health, infrastructure, and communications, among other things. The
World Bank works in over 100 countries.

IMF
The International Monetary Fund fosters economic growth and employment by providing
temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment and
technical assistance. The IMF currently has $28 billion in outstanding loans to 74 nations.
WHO
The World Health Organization is the directing and coordinating authority on international
health within the United Nations system. The objective of WHO is the attainment by all peoples
of the highest possible level of health. Health, as defined in the WHO Constitution, is a state
of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity.
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization focuses on everything
from teacher training to helping improve education worldwide to protecting important
historical and cultural sites around the world. UNESCO added 28 new World Heritage Sites

this year to the list of irreplaceable treasures that will be protected for today's travelers and
future generations.
ILO
The International Labor Organization promotes international labor rights by formulating
international standards on the freedom to associate, collective bargaining, the abolition of
forced labor, and equality of opportunity and treatment.

FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization leads international efforts to fight hunger. It is both a
forum for negotiating agreements between developing and developed countries and a source of
technical knowledge and information to aid development.
IFAD
The International Fund for Agricultural Development, since it was created in 1977, has focused
exclusively on rural poverty reduction, working with poor rural populations in developing
countries to eliminate poverty, hunger and malnutrition; raise their productivity and incomes;
and improve the quality of their lives.
IMO
The International Maritime Organization has created a comprehensive shipping regulatory
framework, addressing safety and environmental concerns, legal matters, technical
cooperation, security, and efficiency.
WMO
The World Meteorological Organization facilitates the free international exchange of
meteorological data and information and the furtherance of its use in aviation, shipping,
security, and agriculture, among other things.
WIPO
The World Intellectual Property Organization protects intellectual property throughout the
world through 23 international treaties.
ICAO
The International Civilian Aviation Organization sets international rules on air navigation, the
investigation of air accidents, and aerial border-crossing procedures
ITU
The International Telecommunication Union is the United Nations specialized agency for
information and communication technologies. It is committed to connecting all the world's
people wherever they live and whatever their means. Through our work, we protect and
support everyone's fundamental right to communicate

UNIDO
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization is the specialized agency of the
United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive
globalization and environmental sustainability.
UPU
The Universal Postal Union is the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players.
It helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services.
UNWTO
The World Tourism Organization is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion
of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

Other Entities
UNAIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS is co-sponsored by 10 UN system
agencies: UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, the ILO, UNESCO, WHO and
the World Bank and has ten goals related to stopping and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
UNISDR
The United Nations Office for Disaster Reduction serves as the focal point in the United
Nations system for the coordination of disaster reduction.
UNOPS
The United Nations Office for Project Services is an operational arm of the United Nations,
supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and
development projects around the world.

Modernization Theory
Modernization theory is a description and explanation of the processes of transformation from
traditional or underdeveloped societies to modern societies. In the words of one of the major
proponents, Historically, modernization is the process of change towards those types of social,
economic, and political systems that have developed in Western Europe and North America
from the seventeenth century to the nineteenth and have then spread to other European
countries and in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries to the South American, Asian, and
African continents (Eisenstadt 1966, p. 1). Modernization theory has been one of the major
perspectives in the sociology of national development and underdevelopment since the 1950s.
Primary attention has focused on ways in which past and present premodern societies become
modern (i.e., Westernized) through processes of economic growth and change in social,
political, and cultural structures.
In general, modernization theorists are concerned with economic growth within societies as
indicated, for example, by measures of gross national product. Mechanization or
industrialization are ingredients in the process of economic growth. Modernization theorists

study the social, political, and cultural consequences of economic growth and the conditions
that are important for industrialization and economic growth to occur. Indeed, a degree of
circularity often characterizes discussions of social and economic change involved in
modernization processes because of the notion, embedded in most modernization theories, of
the functional compatibility of component parts. The theoretical assumptions of modernization
theories will be elaborated later.
It should be noted at the outset that the sociological concept of modernization does not refer
simply to becoming current or up to date but rather specifies particular contents and
processes of societal changes in the course of national development. Also, modernization
theories of development do not necessarily bear any relationship to more recent philosophical
concepts of modernity and postmodernity. Modernity in philosophical and epistemological
discussions refers to the perspective that there is one true descriptive and explanatory model
that reflects the actual world. Postmodernity is the stance that no single true description and
explanation of reality exists but rather that knowledge, ideology, and science itself are based
on subjective understandings of an entirely relational nature. While their philosophical
underpinnings place most modernization theories of development into the modern rather than
the postmodern context, these separate uses of the term modernity should not be confused.
Also, modernization, industrialization, and development are often used interchangeably but in
fact refer to distinguishable phenomena. Industrialization is a narrower term than
modernization, while development is more general. Industrialization involves the use of
inanimate sources of power to mechanize production, and it involves increases in
manufacturing, wage labor, income levels, and occupational diversification. It may or may not
be present where there is political, social, or cultural modernization, and, conversely, it may
exist in the absence of other aspects of modernization. Development (like industrialization)
implies economic growth, but not necessarily through transformation from the predominance
of primary production to manufacturing, and not necessarily as characterized by modernization
theory. For example, while modernization theorists may define development mainly in terms
of economic output per capita, other theorists may be more concerned about development of
autonomous productive capacity, equitable distribution of wealth, or meeting basic human
needs. Also, while modernization theories generally envision democratic and capitalist
institutions or secularization of belief systems as components of modern society, other
development perspectives may not. Indeed, dependency theorists even talk about the
development of underdevelopment (Frank 1966).
Each of the social science disciplines pays particular attention to the determinants of modern
structures within its realm (social, political, economic) and gives greater importance to
structures or institutions within its realm for explaining other developments in society.
Emphasis here is given to sociological modernization theory.
Although there are many versions of modernization theory, major implicit or explicit tenets are
that (1) societies develop through a series of evolutionary stages; (2) these stages are based on
different degrees and patterns of social differentiation and reintegration of structural and
cultural components that are functionally compatible for the maintenance of society; (3)
contemporary developing societies are at a premodern stage of evolution and they eventually
will achieve economic growth and will take on the social, political, and economic features of
western European and North American societies which have progressed to the highest stage of

social evolutionary development; (4) this modernization will result as complex Western
technology is imported and traditional structural and cultural features incompatible with such
development are overcome.
At its core modernization theory suggests that advanced industrial technology produces not
only economic growth in developing societies but also other structural and cultural changes.
The common characteristics that societies tend to develop as they become modern may differ
from one version of modernization theory to another, but, in general, all assume that
institutional structures and individual activities become more highly specialized, differentiated,
and integrated into social, political, and economic forms characteristic of advanced Western
societies.
For example, in the social realm, modern societies are characterized by high levels of
urbanization, literacy, research, health care, secularization, bureaucracy, mass media, and
transportation facilities. Kinship ties are weaker, and nuclear conjugal family systems prevail.
Birthrates and death rates are lower, and life expectancy is relatively longer. In the political
realm, the society becomes more participatory in decision-making processes, and typical
institutions include universal suffrage, political parties, a civil service bureaucracy, and
parliaments. Traditional sources of authority are weaker as bureaucratic institutions assume
responsibility and power. In the economic realm, there is more industrialization, technical
upgrading of production, replacement of exchange economies with extensive money markets,
increased division of labor, growth of infrastructure and commercial facilities, and the
development of large-scale markets. Associated with these structural changes are cultural
changes in role relations and personality variables. Social relations are more bureaucratic,
social mobility increases, and status relations are based less on such ascriptive criteria as age,
gender, or ethnicity and more on meritocratic criteria. There is a shift from relations based on
tradition and loyalty to those based on rational exchange, competence, and other universally
applied criteria. People are more receptive to change, more interested in the future, more
achievement-oriented, more concerned with the rights of individuals, and less fatalistic.
Underlying the description of social features and changes that are thought to characterize
modern urban industrial societies are theoretical assumptions and mechanisms to explain the
shift from traditional to modern societal types. These explanatory systems draw upon the
dominant theoretical perspectives in the 1950s and 1960s, growing out of classical
evolutionary, diffusion, and structural-functionalist theories.
The evolutionary perspective, stemming from Spencer, Durkheim, and other nineteenthcentury theorists, contributed the notion that societies evolve from lower to higher forms and
progress from simple and undifferentiated to more complex types. Western industrial society
is seen as superior to preindustrial society to the extent that it has progressed through
specialization to more effective ways of performing societal functions. Diffusionists added the
ideas that cultural patterns associated with modern society could be transferred via social
interaction (trade, war, travelers, media, etc.) and that there may be several paths to
development rather than linear evolution. Structural functionalists (Parsons 1951; Hoselitz
1960; Levy 1966) emphasized the idea that societies are integrated wholes composed of
functionally compatible institutions and roles, and that societies progress from one increasingly
complex and efficient social system to another. This contributed to the notion that internal
social and cultural factors are important determinants or obstacles of economic change.

Research by Smelser (1969) draws on all three traditions in describing modernization of society
through processes of social differentiation, disturbances, and reintegration. In a manner similar
to other conceptions of modernization, Smelser emphasizes four major changes: from simple
to complex technology, from subsistence farming to commercial agriculture, from rural to
urban populations, and, most important, from animal and human power to inanimate power
and industrialization.
Parsonss later theoretical work (1964) also combines these perspectives in a neo-evolutionist
modernization theory that treats societies as self-regulated structural functional wholes in
which the main processes of change are social differentiation and the discovery (or acquisition
through diffusion) of certain evolutionary universals such as bureaucratic organizations and
money markets. These, in turn, increase the adaptive capacity of the society by providing more
efficient social arrangements and often lead to a system of universalistic norms, which, more
than the industrial revolution itself, ushered in the modern era of social evolution (Parsons
1964, p. 361). A similar neo-evolutionist social differentiation theory of modernization is
provided by Eisenstadt (1970).
Another early influence on modernization theory was Webers work on the Protestant ethic.
This work stressed the influence of cultural values on the entrepreneurial behavior of
individuals and the rise of capitalism. Contemporary theorists in the Weberian tradition include
Lerner, McClelland, Inkeles, and Rostow. Lerners (1958) empirical studies in several Middle
Eastern societies identified empathy, the capacity to take the perspective of others, as a product
of media, literacy, and urbanization and as a vital ingredient in producing rational individual
behavior conducive to societal development. McClelland (1961) felt that prevalence of
individuals with the psychological trait of high need for achievement was the key to
entrepreneurial activity and modernization of society. In a similar vein, Inkeles and Smith
(1974) used interview data from six societies to generate a set of personality traits by which
they defined modern man. They felt that the prevalence of individual modernity in society
was determined by such factors as education and factory experience and that individual
modernity contributed to the modernization of society. Finally, Rostows (1960) well-known
theory of the stages of economic growth, which he derived from studying Western economic
development, emphasized the importance of new values and ideas favoring economic progress
along with education, entrepreneurship, and certain other institutions as conditions for societies
to take off into self-sustained economic growth.
All of these versions of modernization theory depict a gradual and more or less natural
transition from traditional social structures to modern social structures characteristic of
Western European and North American societies. More specifically, these theories tend to
share to one degree or another the views that (1) modern people, values, institutions, and
societies are similar to those found in the industrialized West, that is, the direction of change
tends to replicate that which had already occurred in Western industrial societies; (2) tradition
is opposite to and incompatible with modernity; (3) the causes of delayed economic and social
development (i.e., underdevelopment) are to be found within the traditional society; (4) the
mechanisms of economic development also come primarily from within societies rather than
from factors outside of the society; and (5) these internal factors (in addition to industrial
development) tend to involve social structures, cultural institutions, or personality types.

In keeping with this orientation, empirical studies of sociological modernization tend to deal
with the internal effects of industrialization or other economic developments on traditional
social institutions or with the social, political, and cultural conditions that facilitate or impede
economic growth within traditional or less-developed societies. Examples might include
research on the impact of factory production and employment on traditional family relations or
the effects of an indigenous land tenure system on the introduction of cash crop farming in
society.
Even though modernization theory since the 1960s has been dominated by and sometimes
equated with Parsonss neo-evolutionary theory, it is clear that there is no single modernization
theory but rather an assortment of related theories and perspectives. In addition to those
mentioned, other important contributors of theoretical variants include Hagan (1962), Berger,
Berger, and Kellner (1973), Bendix (1964), Moore (1967), Tiryakian (1985), and Nolan and
Lenski (1999). Useful reviews include Harrison (1988), Harper (1993), and Jaffee (1998).
Since the 1960s, many critiques of modernization theory and the emergence of competing
theories of development have eroded support for modernization theory. Foremost among these
are dependency, world systems, and neo-Marxist theories, all of which criticize the
ethnocentricity of the modernization concept and the bias in favor of dominant capitalist
interests. The focus of these theories is on explaining the contemporary underdevelopment of
Third World countries or regions of the world in terms of colonization, imperialist interference,
and neocolonial exploitation of developing countries since their gaining of independence. In
these counterperspectives, both development and underdevelopment are viewed as part of the
same process by which certain center countries or regions become economically advanced
and powerful at the expense of other periphery areas. Rather than explaining development
and underdevelopment by the presence or absence of certain internal institutions or
personalities, these alternative theories argue that both result from unequal exchange relations
and coalitions of interests associated with the structural position of societies in the global
economy. Rather than interpreting underdeveloped societies as traditional or archaic, both
underdeveloped and developed societies are contemporary but asymmetrically linked parts of
capitalist expansion. Both are relatively modern phenomena.
Attention to modernization theory in sociology has declined as a result of the theoretical and
empirical weaknesses raised especially during the 1970s. Nevertheless, it is still the dominant
perspective among government officials and international agencies concerned with third world
development. Hoogvelt has noted its influence on development policies as follows:
Because modernisation theories have viewed the total transformation, that is westernisation, of
developing countries to be an inescapable outcome of successful diffusion of the Western
economic/technological complex, by methodological reversal it is argued that a reorganization
of existing social and cultural as well as political patterns in anticipation of their compatibility
with the diffused Western economic/technological complex may in fact facilitate the very
process of this diffusion itself. This monumental theoretical errorwhich to be fair was not
always committed by the theorists themselveshas in fact been made and continues to be made
by modernisation policy-makers such as those employed by Western government, U.N.
organizations, the World Bank, and so forth. (1978, pp. 60-61)

Thus, various indicators of social, political, and cultural development (such as degree of
urbanization, high literacy rates, political democracy, free enterprise, secularization, birth
control, etc.) have frequently been promoted as conditions for development.
Interestingly, as modern structures and institutions have spread around the world and created
economic, political, social, and cultural linkages, an awareness of global interdependence and
of the ecological consequences of industrial development and modern lifestyles has grown. It
is now clear that finite natural resources and the nature of the global ecosystem could not
sustain worldwide modern conditions and practices of European and North American societies
even if modernization theory assumptions of evolutionary national development were correct.
Thus, new visions and interpretations of national and global development have already begun
to replace classical modernization theory.
Some selected publications readers may wish to consult on this topic include Billet (1993),
Inglehart (1997). McMichael (1996), Roberts and Hite (1999), Roxborough (1988), and Scott
(1995).

Participatory Action Research

Participatory action research (PAR) differs from most other approaches to public health
research because it is based on reflection, data collection, and action that aims to improve health
and reduce health inequities through involving the people who, in turn, take actions to improve
their own health.
PAR has a number of antecedents.1 It reflects questioning about the nature of knowledge and
the extent to which knowledge can represent the interests of the powerful and serve to reinforce
their positions in society.2 It affirms that experience can be a basis of knowing and that
experiential learning can lead to a legitimate form of knowledge that influences practice.3
Adult educators in low income countries drew on these intellectual perspectives to develop a
form of research that was sympathetic to the participatory nature of adult learning. This
perspective was strongly supported by the work of Freire,4 who used PAR to encourage poor
and deprived communities to examine and analyse the structural reasons for their oppression.
From these roots PAR grew as a methodology enabling researchers to work in partnership with
communities in a manner that leads to action for change.

Definition of PAR
PAR seeks to understand and improve the world by changing it. At its heart is collective, self
reflective inquiry that researchers and participants undertake, so they can understand and
improve upon the practices in which they participate and the situations in which they find
themselves. The reflective process is directly linked to action, influenced by understanding of
history, culture, and local context and embedded in social relationships. The process of PAR
should be empowering and lead to people having increased control over their lives.

The distinctiveness of PAR

PAR differs from conventional research in three ways. Firstly, it focuses on research whose
purpose is to enable action. Action is achieved through a reflective cycle, whereby participants
collect and analyse data, then determine what action should follow. The resultant action is then
further researched and an iterative reflective cycle perpetuates data collection, reflection, and
action as in a corkscrew action. Secondly, PAR pays careful attention to power relationships,
advocating for power to be deliberately shared between the researcher and the researched:
blurring the line between them until the researched become the researchers. The researched
cease to be objects and become partners in the whole research process: including selecting the
research topic, data collection, and analysis and deciding what action should happen as a result
of the research findings. Wadsworth7 sees PAR as an expression of new paradigm science
that differs significantly from old paradigm or positivist science. The hallmark of positivist
science is that it sees the world as having a single reality that can be independently observed
and measured by objective scientists preferably under laboratory conditions where all variables
can be controlled and manipulated to determine causal connections. By contrast new paradigm
science and PAR posits that the observer has an impact on the phenomena being observed and
brings to their inquiry a set of values that will exert influence on the study. Thirdly, PAR
contrasts with less dynamic approaches that remove data and information from their contexts.
Most health research involves people, even if only as passive participants, as subjects or
respondents. PAR advocates that those being researched should be involved in the process
actively. The degree to which this is possible in health research will differ as will the
willingness of people to be involved in research.

Methodology/method
Research methodology is a strategy or plan of action that shapes our choice and use of methods
and links them to the desired outcomes.8 In contrast with a decade ago, when epidemiological
methods were regarded as the only gold standard in public health research, many authors
agree9,9a,9b that effective public health research requires methodological pluralism. PAR
draws on the paradigms of critical theory and constructivism and may use a range of qualitative
and quantitative methods. For instance a participatory needs assessment would include
extensive engagement with local communities and may also include a survey of residents who
are less centrally engaged in the participatory process.

Application of PAR to health

In the 21st century PAR is increasingly used in health research. By contrast, in the 1980s and
in earlier decades, very little research using PAR was reported in health journals. Through the
1990s more participatory research was reported and textbooks including PAR became more
common.,11a An example of this interest is the special edition of the Journal of
Interprofessional Care, with an editorial and 16 articles reporting on PAR. Initially PAR was
mainly used in low income countries for needs assessment (see for example De Kroning and
Martin) and planning and evaluating health services (for examples see collection in Minkler
and Wallerstein). The work by HowardGrabman provides a typical description of developing
a community plan to tackle maternal and neonatal health problems in rural Bolivia. The project

built on and strengthened existing women's networks and the staff played the part of facilitators
rather than educators. A community action cycle was developed whereby problems were
identified and prioritised, joint planning took place, and the plan was implemented and then
evaluated in a participatory way. The project developed innovative and engaging ways for staff
and community members to work together effectively.
Recently PAR has been used more frequently in rich countries. In mental health research, for
instance, PAR has been used in response to the survivor's movement and demands for a voice
in planning and running services and to stimulate choices and alternative forms of treatment.
PAR principles also form the basis of empowerment evaluation that argue that the evaluation
of health promotion should include those whose health is being promoted. While there has been
some debate about the distinctiveness of empowerment evaluation it certainly strives to be
more democratic, to build capacity, to encourage self determination and make evaluation less
expert driven.
PAR is increasingly recognised as useful in Indigenous health research, both internationally
and in Australia. It has the potential to reduce the negativeand some would argue
colonisingeffects much conventional research has had on Indigenous people. It does this by
avoiding some of the criticisms made of health research including: (1) Indigenous people being
exploited and treated disrespectfully, (2) research processes that see nonIndigenous
researchers and research bodies retain all the power and control, (3) the lack of specified short
and long term benefits to Indigenous communities and persons, and (4) the misrepresentation
of Indigenous societies, cultures, and persons by nonIndigenous academics and professionals.
An example of the application of PAR in a remote Aboriginal Australian community is the
work to support a men's self help group to plan, implement, and evaluate their activities.28
With support from the research team community members are acting as researchers exploring
priority issues affecting their lives, recognising their resources, producing knowledge, and
taking action to improve their situation. The ongoing PAR process of reflection and action,
which incorporates participant observation, informal discussions, indepth interviews, and a
feedback box, is viewed by the participants as contributing to their self reported increased
sense of self awareness, self confidence, and hope for the future.
For academics, dilemmas arise in the use of PAR because it is time consuming and
unpredictable, unlikely to lead to a high production of articles in refereed journals and its
somewhat messy nature means it is less likely to attract competitive research funding.
Acceptance of PAR as a legitimate research methodology will require change from public
health journals, funding bodies, and universities in the way that they judge research
performance. For instance most public health academic units assess their academic researchers'
suitability for promotion according to the number of peer reviewed journal articles. The ability
of a researcher to engage with communities and bring about real change to their quality of life
and health status rarely counts. The global research community is already being urged to adapt
its grant assessment methods and its assessment of research performance to ensure that the
engaged processes typical of PAR are valued and encouraged.
PAR also requires health researchers to work in close partnership with civil society and health
policy makers and practitioners. This requires each of these players to learn methods of
working together effectively and to manage the different and sometimes competing agendas of

the partners. The focus of the research partners should also be on health improvement for the
community involved.

Participation
Participation has been central to improving health since the WHO Health for All Strategy and
its importance to health promotion strategies has been reinforced by subsequent statements on
health promotion. Participation has been seen as a means to overcome professional dominance,
to improve strategies (whether they are for practice or research), and to show a commitment to
democratic principles. In the 1970s debate on development emphasised that development
should no longer be a topdown process but should emphasise participation of those whose
development was being attempted. PAR came to be used in many development projects as a
mechanism through which to put the rhetoric of participation into action. Associated methods
are rapid assessment methods and rapid rural appraisal both of which aim to produce
knowledge that combines professional and community perspectives.

Power/empowerment
Power is a crucial underpinning concept to PAR. PAR aims to achieve empowerment of those
involved. Labonte conceptualises empowerment as a shifting or dynamic quality of power
relations between two or more people; such that the relationship tends towards equity by
reducing inequalities and power differences in access to resources. Power itself is an elusive
concept about which there has been considerable discussion. Foucault's position is particularly
relevant to PAR because he sees power as something that results from the interactions between
people, from the practices of institutions, and from the exercise of different forms of
knowledge. His work on discipline and control shows that disciplinary power functions
through surveillance and internal discipline of people to achieve their subjugations and
docility. The PAR movement challenges the system of surveillance and knowledge control
established through mainstream research. When communities seek control of research agendas,
and seek to be active in research, they are establishing themselves as more powerful agents. In
health services and public health initiatives in recent years community members and consumers
have gained more power over the practices of institutions and the production of knowledge.
Developments in participation have implications for health services and public health
organisations that, if they are to be true to the principles of participation, must initiate
organisational change to improve their capacity to work in partnership with a wide variety of
communities.
Many dilemmas of the PAR approach revolve around contested power dynamics in research
relationships. Wallerstein detailed the power conflicts in research on New Mexico's Healthier
Communities Initiatives and concluded that handling these requires a painful selfreflective
process. These included differences in perceptions of priorities between researchers and
community members, dealing with community politics in the different communities involved
in the study and resolving different ways in which researchers and communities might interpret
findings.

Lived experience
PAR stands in contrast with what Husserl (quoted in Crotty39) describes as the
mathematisation of the scientific world by Galileo, for whom the real properties of things were
only those that could be measured, counted, and quantified. Husserl argued that the scientific
world is an abstraction from the lived world, or the world we experience. This scientific world
is systematic and well organised, unlike the uncertain, ambiguous, idiosyncratic world we
know at first hand. On the other hand, PAR draws on the work of phenomenologists who
expand the breadth and importance of experience when they argue that humans cannot describe
and object in isolation from the conscious being experiencing that object; just as an experience
cannot be described in isolation from its object. Experiences are not from a sphere of subjective
reality separate from an external, objective world. Rather they enable humans to engage with
their world and unite subject and object.One example of a use of lived experience is research
using feminist theory, which refers to women's ways of knowing or women's experience.

Critical reflection and a critical edge

Crotty argues that while interpretivists place confidence in the authentic accounts of lived
experience that they turn up in their research, this is not enough for critical theorists who see
in these accounts voices of an inherited tradition and prevailing culture. Critical theorists use
critical reflection on social reality to take action for change by radically calling into question
the cultures that they study. This critical edge is central to PAR.

Critical reflection on professional practice

PAR draws heavily on Paulo Freire's epistemology that rejects both the view that consciousness
is a copy of external reality and the solipsist argument that the world is a creation of
consciousness. For Freire, human consciousness brings a reflection on material reality,
whereby critical reflection is already action. Freire's concept of praxis flows from the position
that action and reflection are indissolubly united: reflection and action on the world in order
to transform it. It is from this position that Freire derives his famous dictum that reflection
without action is sheer verbalism or armchair revolution and action without reflection is pure
activism, or action for action's sake. In the same vein, PAR sees that action and reflection must
go together, even temporally so that praxis cannot be divided into a prior stage of reflection
and a subsequent stage of action. When action and reflection take place at the same time they
become creative and mutually illuminate each other.45 Through praxis, critical consciousness
develops, leading to further action through which people cease to see their situation as a dense,
enveloping reality or a blind alley and instead as an historical reality susceptible of
transformation. This transformative power is central to PAR.