Defining Development

Development may occur due to some deliberate action carried out by single agents or by some authority pre-ordered to achieve improvement, to favorable circumstances in both. Development in its basic definition means an event constituting a new stage in a changing situation or the process of change per se. If not qualified, development is implicitly intended as something positive or desirable (Lorenzo, 2011). Over the years, development has very rarely been considered as a “god-given” condition of socio-economic systems, implying that policy makers at national and international level need to undertake some specific activities or refrain from carrying out some kinds of activities to promote positive changes. However there have been different schools of thoughts relating to the means of achieving development as well as the true definition of positive outcomes or changes as the end to development. Development may be viewed in different aspects. First development may be viewed as a modernization process with emphasize on social change which is required to produce advancements, reform social and political processes to attain the status already attained by other developed states. In this sense then development is subjected to the activities that produce the desired outcomes that conform to some outlined status. Secondly development may be view as a process of attaining distributive social justice with improved access to basic needs for all. Emphasize is on access to primary goods by all. Thirdly development may be viewed as a product of production with emphasize on the means and the mode of production and the endogenous and exogenous factors impacting production processes. This approach to defining development challenges existing modes of international division of labor, categorization of nations into core and periphery and the impacts of the markets on the economies and welfare of developing nations. This approach assumes that concepts of self-reliance, dependence and freedom are often suppressed by the existing relations between developed and developing nations and the agents that reinforce these relations. Fourthly development may be viewed in the context of resource exploitation. Sustainable development recognizes the finite nature of resources and the need to have equality in access to resources between the current and the future generations. Lastly development may be defined in the context of the victims of development. Capability approach to development resonates with theories of justice and equality within the society.