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LECTURE 3: MACRO THEORIES OF DEVELOPMENT AND CONFLICT
 

• The relationship between the process of social and economic development – ‘the process
of development’ (Huntington) - and violence and war
...

• Policy prescription
Thinking can be divided into three periods:
1
...
These include Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emil Durkheim and their
concern on the focus of transition in Western Europe from a traditional to a modern
society
...
Grand theorizing about the
relationship between economic and social transformations brought about by industrialization was
a central occupation of political and social thought in the early 20th century
...

Classical sociologists thought in terms of an evolutionary paradigm; they tried to extract ideals
(model characteristics) from certain forms of society
...
Durkheim spoke about the shift from
mechanical to organic solidarity
...
The term ‘modernisation’ was utilized to explain this evolution of society
...

• Optimists: The inherently pacifist nature of capitalistic society and its corollary that war
would be seen as an anachronism
...
Political
economists saw an increase in trade between nations as heralding peace between nations
...

Schumpeter explained German military aggression in terms of the survival of military
(and aristocratic) class of German society
...

At the root of Marxist thinking, is the belief that the underlying foundation of any society is its
economic structure and this is given by systems of production relations and enshrined in property
laws
...
‘The mode of
production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life
...
’ Class conflict between the exploited and the exploiters is the
catalyst for social change
...


Marx sought to provide a global interpretation of human behavior and to reconstruct integral
theory of mankind in which particular questions can only be understood in relation to the whole
...
g
...
This holistic approach is both its strength because it tries to unify and make
sense of the world as a whole within a single framework and its weakness, because there are parts
which do not quite fit into the whole picture
...
Formal Imperialism was indistinguishable from
colonialism whereas Informal Imperialism refers to covert controls and domination; spheres of
influence fall into the latter category
...
There is a tension between determinism (the inevitability of these processes) and
voluntarism (the processes need to be helped along)
...
Similarly, the concept of class that is central to the writings and the concept of state is
never quite explored
...

The issue nowadays is that states are more autonomous in practice
...
Nevertheless, there are some important implications for the study of conflict and
development in international relations:
• Marxist thinking stresses on the totality of society of states and the socio-economic
structures underlying them
...

• Analyzing conflict through Marxist views, there cannot be rigid distinctions between rigid
spheres of activities
...
Sub-states
tensions between classes are very relevant and this could, in modern times, concern
movement of classes across borders
...

2
...

Before this, social sciences had not concerned themselves with the Third World and
decolonization gave new impetus to such studies
...
The kernels of modernisation are found in all societies (not just Western)
and most societies have gone through political modernisation, industrialization etc
...

In the 1950s, the stages of economic growth came forth
...
Walt Rostow’s
Stages of Economic Growth was sub-titled ‘a non-communist manifesto’ and this is indicative of
the context of sociology at the time
...
Traditional societies,
2
...
Take-off and the emergence of an entrepreneurial class,
4
...
High-mass consumption society (moving beyond basic needs to the consumption of
durable goods)
...
It is criticized for
assuming that development is a Western concept
...
He purports that rapid economic and social change will
disrupt traditional social groupings: families, caste etc
...
It can aggravate relations
over resources and consumption
...
The Bourgeois Revolution
in 1789 can be examined through this lens and even the Mexican Revolution was preceded by
economic growth
...
Structuralists such as Gunderfrank evolve from this classical starting point and
stress that the under-development of the periphery is crucial to the development of the centre and
the only way to overcome the former is to delink it from capitalism and to do away with it
...
Structuralists examine such flows (upwards and downwards) and cause-and-effect
...
The notion of underdevelopment is a modern feature of structuralism
...
Structuralism looks at the world as a whole and not as a sequence of national economies
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The welfare state has become widespread and conscious policies have been applied to
develop economic growth over the long period
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Nationalism and religion are powerful forces that Marx and the structuralists do not really deal
with
...
The relationship between socio-economic globalization and social violence (conflict)
...
This is, to some extent, reflected in
the literature
...
The drivers of
globalisation are not really in dispute but the real challenge is to assess their political, economic
and social significance
...
Financial regulation was
stimulated by deregulation in the 1980s, reinforced by changes in ICT
...
Economies that are more truly integrated is a subject of continuing debate and
many argue that they are merely more international
...
In some areas,
globalization has contributed to the growing gap between rich and form – a deformed structural
violence
...
Is there a way in
which contemporary armed conflict are sustained by global economic processes? For instance,
does the deregulation of financial markets make the financing of a conflict in a far-flung corner
of the world easier?



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