Interdependent Development by Brookfield Harold;

Author:Brookfield, Harold;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

Discussion

It is rather surprising that Friedmann (1972: 83) should describe Siebert’s formulation as close to his own. It might be more accurate to say that, together, they form the closest approach to a single general theory thus far achieved. However, one inescapable conclusion arising from the discussion in this chapter is that a considerable number of theoretical strands of great value have not yet been incorporated into any synthesis. It is also obvious that the conditions governing development and weakening of regional inequalities – or of inequalities in any dimension – vary greatly from place to place, have varied greatly through historical time, but include forces that are present in all places and at all times. Even in the simplest, most egalitarian societies there are inequalities between persons, and between groups on the basis of the resources they command and can use, and the locations that they occupy. And although the reduction or elimination of inequalities is perhaps the most fundamental of social goals, it is also opposed to the self-interest and group self-interest of those with power, ambition and wealth. Possibly this is the basic dialectic which underlies all others, and should first be viewed at this most fundamental level, taking note of the fact that unequal advantage is an inevitable concomitant of any system of organization, viewed in whatever dimension; the dimension of geographical space is merely one in which unequal advantage is most obvious. If these fundamentals are first isolated, then theory based on any particular form of socioeconomic organization, on the conflict of different forms of socioeconomic organization, and on any particular scale of wider-than-local socioeconomic organization can be isolated as alternative paths containing common elements. Common elements are certainly present, and a great number have already been identified, but not properly separated from elements that are of limited-domain. We are as yet a very long way from any true general theory, but the knowledge and understanding wherewith to lay its foundations are present. A small part of this fund has been set out in this chapter, but the task of bringing it into even partial integration is beyond the scope of the present work.

1 In Fiji, for example, planning was concerned almost wholly with growth, and with intersectoral allocation, right through the 1960s; the regional aspect was scarcely mentioned. When I returned to Fiji in 1973 to plan and negotiate a UNESCO research project in the outer islands of Fiji, I found that far from my having to convince people of the importance of a regional approach to such a question, the government had already fitted the proposals firmly into their own large programme of regional development inquiry. What had taken place in the intervening years was an acceleration of the concentration of people and activities into the main towns and certain other growth industries (particularly tourism), so great that it was beginning to have very noticeable effects on the progress of rural development programmes. Large areas of the country, including many outlying islands, have lost almost all growth momentum.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.