1. The Problem of Poverty In the Modern World - 2
Decolonizing, Modernizing, Developing

2. The effects of capitalism and empire
The production of deep socio-economic inequalities
The production of the very categories used to apprehend these inequalities: progress/backwardness, development/underdevelopment, modernity/tradition – a binary framework of understanding
One part of the world comes to be known as dynamic, outward-looking, modern; the rest understood in terms of ‘tradition’, static character, dependency.
Genuine observations of social reality constantly get mixed up with sweeping ideological constructs about whole societies

3. ‘Development’ metamorphoses: from colonialism to anti-colonialism
Late 19th century onwards: the discourse of ‘development’ begins to widen and shift
Anti-colonial thinkers, movements, leaders begin to re-purpose ‘development’ as the basis for a critique of colonialism
Significant tension within this: categories born as a result of colonialism are retained by many of its critics, but also reversed

4. Anti-colonial thought and the question of development
Dadabhai Naoroji: prominent Indian liberal nationalist in late 19th century. Major text: Poverty And Un-British Rule In India (1901). Recommends reform of colonial rule, demands measures to stimulate indigenous business, capitalism. Colonialism as force of underdevelopment.
Gandhi: opposite track. Critique of ‘modernity’, ‘development’, industrial civilization; celebration of the conventional markers of ‘backwardness’.
Frantz Fanon: Martinican anti-colonialist involved in Algerian struggle against French rule. Psychoanalytic critique of colonialism, polemic against European claims to ‘civilization’ and universality.
Anti-Colonial Political Leaders: Nehru (India), Nkrumah (Ghana), Kenyatta (Kenya), Ho-Chi-Minh (Vietnam), etc – rework nationalism and decolonization as agenda for socio-economic reconstruction.

5. Dadabhai Naoroji ( )

6. M.K. Gandhi ( )

7. Frantz Fanon ( )

8. Decolonization: Contexts And Choices
Decolonization, by mid-twentieth century, understood by its champions as the path to ridding colonized societies of pervasive poverty and backwardness.
Cold War imperatives: to align or not to align?
‘Models’ of development: state socialism and liberal capitalism converge on certain points between 1940s and 1970s : esp. focus on investment, industrialization, technology as answers to social problems

9. Theories v. Experiences
Modernization Theory (Rostow, Lipset, etc) – application of abstract model of ‘modernity’ to largely agrarian societies. Themes: capital investment, introduction of capitalist ‘mentality’ into ‘traditional’ social life, rapid transformation towards industrial modernity.
Revolutionary transformation: eg. Maoist China and the emphasis on overnight transformation of economy; devastation and famine caused by ‘Great Leap Forward’
By 1970s, ‘developmentalism’ of various sorts in crisis; more pessimistic theories emerge. Eg. dependency theory, theories of ‘neocolonialism’: ways in which an unequal division of labour and wealth structures the world, and how basically colonial relations get reproduced even after end of empire. (Metropole/periphery). Major theorists: Andre Gunder Frank, Immanuel Wallerstein.

10. Globalization/Neoliberalism: the 1980s and after
Collapse of socialist model
Crisis of welfare-state capitalisms
Crisis of ‘Third World’ developmentalist models
In all three ‘worlds’, similar patterns seem to emerge: economic liberalization, privatization of public services, scaling back of social protections, market reforms – all with mixed and ambiguous consequences
One common feature: galloping inequality

11. Case Study: India after decolonization
Unique experiment in combining democracy with capitalist economic transformation in a largely agrarian society
1950s, 1960s: Nehruvian model, ‘mixed economy’ with heavy emphasis on state-led investment and economic planning
Import-substituting industrialization: theme of self-sufficiency. Some considerable achievements.
Very little attention paid to health, education, social welfare: ‘development’ and ‘modernization’ supposed to take care of that through organic process
1990s: dramatic shift to economic liberalization

12. The Narmada Controversy
Multipurpose dam project: interlinked dams on the river Narmada (western and central India): ostensibly for purposes of drought relief in western India
Long tradition of utopianism about big dams. Nehru: big dams as ‘temples of modern India’.
Traumatic displacement : people lose homes, livelihoods, entire structure of social life
Inadequate, often meaningless ‘compensation’
Narmada Bachao Andolan (‘Save The Narmada’ Movement): one of the largest social movements in the world, led by Gandhian social activist Medha Patkar
Perennial feature of large-scale development projects (highways, roads, urban beautification, etc): illustrates tensions between ‘development’ (as generally conceived) and human rights and dignity.

13. ‘Temples of Modern India’: The Sardar Sarovar dam seen from above

14. Waiting for the flood: what the dam looks like ‘from below’

15. What home looked like before ‘development’: The Narmada valley

16. What ‘home’ looks like after ‘development’: resettlement

17. “Rehabilitation”?

18. Scenes from a movement

19. Scenes from a movement: women demonstrating for proper rehabilitation

20. Scenes from a movement: Narmada marchers in Delhi

21. Scenes from a movement: Medha Patkar on hunger strike, August 2017