Abstract
This chapter discusses modernisation and dependency theories as the two central, classical approaches to international development. Modernisation theory distinguishes between ‘traditional’ and ‘modern’ forms of society, politics and the economy, and studies the circumstances and policies that are supposed to contribute to higher levels of development. Dependency theory focuses on the limits that historical relationships, often deriving from colonialism, place on the development of poor countries. Modernisation theory has been criticised severely for its perceived emphasis on the Western experience as a guide for countries in the South. Dependency theory has been criticised because it overemphasised the barriers for development in developing countries. Many contemporary scholars are still inspired by ideas derived from modernisation and dependency theories. The chapter discusses studies on democratisation and long-term socio-economic transformation as examples of the influence of modernisation theory, and studies on international commodity chains and the nature of the current crisis in relation to the lasting impact of dependency theory.
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Notes
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The pattern variables distinguished by Parsons were universalism versus particularism, ascription versus achievement, orientation towards the collective versus self-orientation, and diffuseness versus specificity and neutrality versus affectivity (Parsons 1951: 105).
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Wallerstein started to use the term world-system (instead of world system) theory to reflect Fernand Braudel’s (1992: 22) usage of ‘économie monde’ (world economy) as something different from ‘économie mondiale’ (world economy), where the former notion denotes a part of the world that is economically autonomous and characterised by a single division of labour.
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An important element in the visibility of world-system theory is the existence of two journals dedicated to publishing research findings of scholars working in the approach. Review, the journal of the Fernand Braudel Center for the Study of Economies, Historical Systems and Civilizations, was founded by Immanuel Wallerstein in 1977. The Journal of World-Systems Research was established by Christopher Chase-Dunn in 1994 as an open-access journal and has been an official journal of the American Sociological Association since 2009.
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Hout, W. (2016). Classical Approaches to Development: Modernisation and Dependency. In: Grugel, J., Hammett, D. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of International Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-42724-3_2
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