Jottrnal of Geography, 10, 1983, 12, pp.333--389.

Theories of Development and Underdevelopment and

Chances of their Practical Application**

Kar1 Engelhard*

Perhaps the most important way in which tion.

modern geography differs from its immediate Model-building and theoretical explanation
predecessors is in its far-reaching concern of what a model is copying, is a fundamen-
￦ith theory. So modern physical, economic tal part of any learning process. Although
.and social geography is in step with the aims no model can exactly represent reality, it
of science in general. Science without theory can help not only in our immediate under-
is, as Kurt Lewin observed, essentially blind. standing of a problem, but it can also help
Theoretical approach to reality means that us to ask the right kinds of questions , to
we are effectively able to integrate and in- increase our understanding. But this can
terrelate our observations in any field of be achived only if models and theories are
knowlegde. Without an organizing structure tested rigorously. Thus an integral part of
knowledge is a mere collection of observa- the scientific process is the carrying out of
tions. Theory is the attempt to organized empirical studies, which should be clearly
systematic framework in order to structure defined within an appropriate conceptual fra-
ideas and knowledge and to understand and mework. If the assumpions of a model or a
explain the complexity of the real world theory will prove false , further elaborations
more readily and to predict future spatial are nessesary.
patterns. Closely connected to theory is mo- Another superficial theory to explan dif-
.delbuilding. While models are the simpli- ferences in development relates to.~ differen-
fied on central structures and on main ces in race and cu1ture. At first sight it
relations reduced. representations of a more seems possible to find some apparent link
complex situation, theory is the attempt to between the distribution of population of
explain what a model is demonstrating. Western European stock and the distribution
Models and theories help us deal with of highly developed countries and between
complex situations. We simplify and concen- people of negroid stock and less developed
trate on: what we perceive as the most countries. But again this link is not conclu-
important element or structure of a situa- sive. For example ]apan as well as Korea
* Prefessor, Universit합t Münster
•• This paper is the summary of colIoquium (I 983, 4) in the Department of Geography, Seoul Nationa1
University.

-- 383 -
 A·l
’’’----,.•
20. century

(
19.
--o:←F
』-늄

18.
a。

-17;--
*

---->
ouE@Eα。-@〉

16.

15. ’·l --‘

’wl •,
V
A
한mQ)ψEF

를i
Space

Fig 1. Development situations in the context of time and space

fa i1 to fit into this pattern. More important1 y economic development tend to score high on
people of the same racial stock have occu- all four indicator-groups , however countries
pied quite different positions in the order of showing slow development on a low level
development at different periods Jf their may have been held back by any one of
history and in comparable locations. For these fundamental factors.
example the economic vigor of migrant ln- With this approach of interlocking factors
dians and Pakistani in East Africa contrasts in development we enter the modern discu-
with the conservatism of people of exact1 y ssion of development theories. In this discu-
the same stock in lndia and Pakistan itself. ssion of development and underdevelopment
Climate and environment and race and we can distinguish three main ideologically
culture are insufficient explanation, not be- influenced approaches:
cause they play no role in development, but Q) Capitalistic theories of development.
because their effect is not simply mono- @ Marxian theories of capitalism and
causal, nor is it always the same. These imperialism.
factors do effect levels of developments @ Dependencia-theories of Latin-American
through their interaction with other groups ongm.
of factors. According to the economist Paul Let me give a very rough description of
Samuelson, population, natural resources , these three theoretical attempts to explain
capital formation and technology are the fun- development and underdevelopment.
damental factors in understanding develop-
ment. Each of these factors interlocks with Capitalístic theories of develòpment:
the others. Countries with high levels of Here we can distinguish two m~in variants:

- 384-
 1. Theories of modernization and growth. high leve1. Both sectors are unconnected.
2. Theories of international trade and This economic dualism is paralleled by social
labour division. dualism , characterized by poverty on the
Theories 0/ modernization explain develo- one side and wealth on the other side. Socio-
pment as a process passing off in stages , as economic dualism frequently is realized by
a process in which the least developed regional disparities. Development in the
countries are at the lowest stage and the meaning of theories of d ualism means to
highly industrialized countrÎes of Western provide the backward sector with the con-
Europe, North America and Japan have ditions of the modernized sector
reached the highest stage of development. A third variant are Theories 0/ Polari-
Between them a lot of developing countries zation. They try to explain regionl dispari-
is going to develop in intermediate stages, ties by the fact that economic growth does-
varing. in economic level and growth. Ac- n ’ t take place evenly in all sectors of econ-
cording to this theory developing countries omy and in all parts of a region or a co과
have the chance to reach the highest stage, ntry; investments rather concentrate on spe-
presupposed they provide the necessary de- cial economic branches respectively on spe-
velopment conditions. cial locations. Thus growth-cores with rapid
One of the most famous prototype in this economic growth are coming up. The grow-
theoretical framework is Rostow’ s “ Stages wth-cores and regions are contrasted by
0/ Growth"-Model. Rostow divides economic depleted regions with stagnating or even
development into five phases: shrinking economy, investments, capital-
1. a ‘traditional society' as starting basis. draining and migration of young qualified
2. a ‘society in transition. ' labour-force.
3. a ‘take off-phase' or the phase of a G. Myrdal , one of the most famou3
‘big push. ’ polarization-theorists has stressed that econo-
4. a ‘ drive-to-maturity’ phase. mic market forces tend to increase rather than
5. a movement ‘ towards high mass con- decrease regional differentiation. The build-
sumption. ’ up of activities in prosperous , growing reg-
Theories 0/ dualism are another variant ions influences the less prosperous , lagging
of modernization. Their basis is the assump- regions through two types of induced effects:
tion that third world societies are divided in spread effects and backwash effects.
two parts: in a modern developed , and in a Sþread e//ects are cal1ed a l1 positive impacts
traditional underdeveloped sector. The under- of growth from a core-region on other re-
developed sector is constituted malnly by gions. This impact comes from the stimu-
small-scale farmers , craftsmen and small- lation of increased demand for raw materials
scale dealers. This sector is marked by sub- and agricultural products and the diffusion
sistence-economy, labour-intensive produc- of advanced technology. Backwash e//ects
tion, low capital investment and underem- of agglomerated growth are net movements
,
ployment while the modern sector with of population, capital and goods that favour
mining, plantation economy and consumer- the development of the growing area but
goods-industry contrasts by capital and la- handicap the peripherical areas.
bour intensity and market-production on a These two opposing forces do not imply the

-- 385 -
 exist-ence of an equilibrîum situation. The two with its variants colonialism and imperialism.
, effects balanee each other only [Link] According to Marx exploitation by the cap-
i8 more likely is a cumulative upward or italistic countries is the cause of the exi-
강ownward movement over a considerable stence of underdeveloped countries.
time that leads ta long periods of increasing Neomarxian research of imperia1ism con-
regional con화'asts. centrates on the thesis of uneven barter and
An alternative approaeh is Friedman ’ S deteriorating terms of trade to the debit of
Core-Peri þkery model. He maintains that developing countries and on the theory of
￦e can diγide the global economy into a uneven international labour division.
(}ynamic, rapidiy growing eentral or core- Summarizing both approaches, the capi-
-region and a slower growing or stagnating talistic-western as well as the Marxian and
-periphery. Between these p이es there are two Neomarxian eastern can be critisized as uni-
intermediate regions; the upward traπsition lateral. While the capitalistic approaches
regioη and the resource froπtier region. presuppose that underdevelopment is c!lused
The theories of polarization have been by iηternal factors , Marxian and Neomar-
,extended by the theory of growth poles by xian theories restrict the causes of underde-
￡‘.Perroux, J. R. Boudeville and J. R. Las- velopment to external faηtors. Capitalistic
uen. They argue that there is a diffusion theories neglect external factors , Marxian
{)f innovations from growth poles to the theories neglect internal factors.
peripheries. Growth-poles are the dominating The theories of modernization and growth
factor of development. Underdevelopment as well as the theories of international la-
of third world countries as well as of back- bour division and trade take in consideration
ward regions within a country results from only economic factors , but eliminate poli-
Însufficient dynamics of diffusion of econo- tical , social and socio-cultural factors. Em-
mic activities. According to this theory de- pirical research has made evident that acc-
velopment requires the establishment of ording to these and other reasons these the-
growth poles with strong spreading effects. ories can only work partially.
The second main variant of capitalistic Also Marxian theories neglect socio-cul-
development theories are the classical theo- tural factors , and empirical rcseach has
ries of international laboμr divisioη aηd disproved the thcory of exploitation. The
.trade. They explain underdevelopment as development of capitalism has its basis in
backwardness, resu1ting from imperfect in- the development of the dynamics of capital
'corporation in the interar.. tional system of accumulation and production power in the
labour division and insufficient participation industrial countries themselves. Even the
in world trade. theory of uneven barter and deteriorating
terms of trade is uncertain ,
Marxian theories: In contrast to these traditional approaches
The differ짧.t Marxian theoretical approa- the dependeηcia-theories connect internal
.ches to underdevelopment agree that under- and external factors of development and
delopment has been initiated from outside. underdevelopment. These are the main sta-
Underdevelopment is understood as a nece- tements of dependencia-theories:
ssary result of the expansion of capitalism -Underdevelopment can’ t be explained

- 386-
without relating external and internal factors This figure is a rough demonstratiòn of
-Underdevelopment is no forerunner of the connections between Metroþolis , as the
capitalistic development, as theories of mo- industrialized countries are called , and the
dernization affirm; it is a consequence of periþhery.
capitalistic influence. The autonomous de- You may realize, that dependency exists in
velopment of peripheral countries has been a two fold way. The underdeveloped coun-
stopped by their incorporation in the world tries as a whole , called periphery, are de-
trade system. On behalf of this the struc- pendent on the Metropolis in so far as
ture of traditional societies has been distur- the periphery provides the Metropolis with
bed or ruined raw-materials , in return the. Metropolis sup'
-As a consequence the periphery-countries plies the periphery with industrial articles
have become structurally dependent on the for daily use, the main recipients are the
industrial countries and the structure of small group of social upper-classes in the
.peripheral societies has become heteroge- centres. The other link of dependency is
neous. It is indicated by a small group of realized in the peripheries themselves. The.
upper class-people with political and econornic margínalize d. sector or region is backwashed
power and the masses of poor people, the by the centres. They have to supply them
group of the marginalized without any poli- with food-stuífs , raw-materials and labour-
tical influence force. These links of dependency are pulled
-Another result of these structures of together by the economic and political power
dependence is regional and sectoral inequality of the metropolis in the first case. This
expressed in the juxtaposition of modernized power is marked by development of indust-
enclaves and sectors with a capitalistic way ries , education, investigation, infrastructure ,..
of production and dependent sectors and etc In the second case it is practised by the
hinterlands with pre-industrial ways of pro- centres in the peripheries , supported by
duction. metropolitan power.

「 Periphery Metropolis

Development of
• industries
Raw materials • education
• investlgation
.•
Articles for • infråstrucfure
daily use .Iabour forces
• democrac)'

Fig 2. Relations between Metropolis and Periphery.

- 387-
 These structural dependencies bring about operation has been perceived. The discus.
훌nequalities: development in the Metropo- sion has revealed that successful practical
Jitan countries and less distinct in the centres application demands consideration of the sþe
-and modernized sector of the periphery , no cific individual socio-economic, socio-cultural,
development or underdevelopment in the spatial, political and historical context of a
marginalized regions and sector. As a whole special development situation. Further more
.-capitalistic influence has handicapped an the analysis of development situations has
autonomous development in the third world. to cO l1sider at least two levels:
It has changed the precapitalistic structures - The macro-leνel or international level,
fundamentallyand started a development to which played the main part in the traditio-
underdevelopment for the broad masses of nal development-discussion
marginalized population. Concerning theories -the micro-level , that means the internal
,of dependence we have to criticize that cen nationaljregional or local level , which had
tral conceptions like exterηal and iηterηal been neglected in the traditional discussion.
fαctors or de pendeηcy have not been uni- An analysis of development situations has
versally defined and c1 early marked off to connect these levels because concrete de-
-from one another. velopment situations are influenced not only
Further more all these theoretical a pproa- by external conditions caused by interna-
:ches to explain underdevelopment and de- tional economic and political corrrelations
velopment c1aim absolute vniversality , between metropolis and periphery , they are
though none of them covers the problem also influenced by internal conditions on a
totally. ldeologies play an important part national, regional or local level composed
피 this c1aim. Another important problem mainly by social , cultural and religious
is their high level 01 abstractioη. This elements.
raises the question of their 0 perative value. Internal as external socio-economic struc-
The breakdown of so many development tures are confined to space and time , which
projects has proved that theories on such might generate important differentiations of
a high abstractive level are unsuitable for the development process. Spatial factors of
practical application. In the latest discussion differentiation are factors like natural reso-
()f development theories , the problem of urces , socio-economic and socio-cultural con-
- ditions , location in space, spatial relations
v
-• and so on. Historical factors are mainly
international relations ö stages in the development and realization of
-• lnternational level metropolitan capitalism from 15"-'20 century.
Macrolevel Head words like slave-trade plantation-eco-
-• [Metropolis닐PeripheryJ
nomy , colonies as raw material suppliers,
direct investments and multinationals may
National / regional/local ‘-- indicate capitalistic interference in different
Micro-leel I level
stages.
[l nternal social structuresJ ←「
This figure will demonstrate that underde-
Space------ velopment and vice versa development are
Fig 3. Theoretical coherence of development. no uniform processes. Different distinctions

- 388-
uf underdevelopment at different locations c1 oser, and later on in the far away surro-
'and at different times have in each case a undings backwash-effects turned to spread-
'specific constellation of causes. The correla effects.
tions between macro-and micro-level will Concerning the application of development
:change from place to place and from stage theories, this means that development the-
to stage in the historical development of oretically can’ t be explained by one special
-capitalism as well as the development of theoretical approach only. Each approach is
the internal milieu. Each special situation of confined to special aspects of a problem. 50
<l evelopment might be explained , if macro- different approaches have to be combined.
level and micro-level are correlated with The polarization-theory of Myrdal might be
regard to time and space. The failure of able to explain the effects of the first stage
traditional development theories concerning of 5eoul’ s development, but it can’ t work
practical application can be explained by to explain the following stages , beCéuise the
their neglecting spatial and historical dimen- conditions have changed. In this case theories
'sions of development situations and by neg- of growth-poles, based on the assumption of
lecting the dialectical interference of macro- diffusion of innovations are more successful.
and micro level. In future intensive empiri From this example we can conc1 ude,
cal development research under the demon- that one theoretical approach only is notable
strated theoretical conditions will have the to explain a development process. In each
chance to be more successful. Development case we have to look for fit!#"ηg comhiηa­
theories have to adjust at the results of tioηs of differeηt approaches, disregarding
practical interdisciplinary research , if they ideological borders. We have to elaborate
tend to be applicable. Furthermore theore- combinations of theoretical approaches , which
tical approaches to development and under- correspond with the individual development
development have to realize that the con- conditions. What we need, to make develop-
ditions of development in a special develop- ment theories applicable to practical deve-
ment situation will change according to the lopment activities, is to establish a theore-
process of development. tical framework , that is fitting to the diver-
For example 5eoul as the main Korean sified operative level.
development center caused backwash eff당cts Geographers are demanded to cooperate
in its c1 0ser and farther hinterlands and c1 0sely with their neighbouring disciplines
even in peripherical parts of the country and to do their part in this big interdisci-
in its first stage of development. But after plinary task of the future.
gaining a special development level in the

- 389-