Is Modernisation Inevitable Term paper

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Is Modernisation inevitable? by Steve McGraw

Modernisation can be interpreted as growth of a nation in all areas (i.e. social, economic, political), for example, the aim is ‘development of national forms of polity, the objects of which are to increase the social product with fair shares for all. Successful models now include Japan and the Soviet Union’ (Apter 1965, Preface). Although this definition is outdated, as the inclusion of the Soviet Union (no longer in existence and with serious economic and social problems persisting in Russia) and Japan (also currently in a recession along with most of Asia) illustrates, the ideal of modernisation is clear. Another approach to the term modernisation is not to take it as an ideal but as a simple increase in social (literacy, numeracy), economic and political (rationalizing beaurocracy) standards within a given region (Marglin and Marglin 1990). Whether this ideal or set of standards is a natural state to which all countries will gravitate is the question that this essay will attempt to answer. Is the Darwinian theory of evolution something that can be applied to the great animal that people know as civilisation (or the nation-state)? Is modernisation the evolution of the species on a different level?

Britain was the first ‘modern’ nation by these standards, in the sense that industrialisation of the country resulted in a final shift from an agrarian society (limited trade) to an industrial society (highly commercial) thereby creating a new social, economic and political state. This is to say that the ‘instrument’ (Weiner (ed.) 1966, 7) for modernising Britain was industrialisation, and not that industrialisation equals modernisation. The British Empire, already being established, grew rapidly due to the technological innovations derived from industrialisation, colonies were established in countries without the modern system which Britain had evolved. Thus, it can be derived that, British colonists who sought to establish political, social and economic systems to benefit the modernisation of the colony exported the ideal of the modern nation-state to those countries within the empire.

The majority of these colonial nations as well as those of the other industrialised nations gained their independence following the end of the Second World War, and were faced with the problem of attempting to modernise (if that was the objective). Modernisation often requires ‘personalities’ (Apter 1965, Hunter 1969, Pye 1966), the Elite members of Shils’ ‘new states’ (in Geertz (ed.) 1963) sought to create an acceptable political system whether that took the form of one-party or multiple-parties by following the colonial political structures that had been established. These largely peasant societies were traditionally agricultural/agrarian based, much like those found in 15th Century Europe (Hunter 1969, 4), thereby making the application of established political practices from far more developed countries a great challenge. As a result of this; ‘Difficulties arise for comparative study because we have enshrined moral principles in models that have served well in a western political context’ (Apter 1965, 15). After all, the global economic and political climate found in 15th Century Britain & Europe was markedly different to that which surrounded these developing nations. Therefore the impetus for modernisation comes as much from external forces exerted by modernised nations as from within the nation itself. So although, as Pye puts it, ‘Economic achievement is, for example, directly tied to the spirit of industry and entrepreneurship of a people..’ ( in Weiner (ed.) 1966, 364), nations such as Britain and the United States exerted pressure on the economies of developing countries for purposes of trade and international relations. Indeed a ‘major goal of United States foreign policy’ was ‘the political development’ of Third World countries (Wiarda 1989).

Whether this political development has actually occurred, particularly in Africa, is a matter of great debate (Shaw 1991, Nyang’oro 1989). The images of Ethiopia in the 1980s where famine was decimating the population, Rwandan civil war and ethnic cleansing, and the Central African Republic/Congo political leadership struggle have all outlined the great political, social and economic problems on the continent. In Ethiopia the feudal, with a few moderations, system has been the dominant political situation since 1941 (Gilkes 1975). The people of many countries in Africa, even those with strong ties to colonial powers and well-established infrastructure (e.g. Tanzania), may have the trappings of modern society (e.g. Television and Coca-Cola) without having a stable political system. As a result of war, famine, lack of diversification and their exploitation by foreign powers, these nations are in massive debt and cannot modernise their society (hence the Cancel Third World Debt appeal). This can surely not be considered modernisation by the westernised standards that are imposed upon the term. However, it is important to note that these same standards would have classified the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia as modernised political societies. With the return to year zero in Russia (in terms of standard of living of the vast majority, and growth) through the introduction of capitalist values coinciding with the...

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