Liberal Model Of Participatory Development

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Development is one of the major problems facing the world today. While some countries have created systems in which their inhabitants to thrive, thanks to the legacy of colonialism, many others are struggling to industrialize and give their citizens a acceptable quality of life. One way that this struggle for development manifests itself is in the cycle of underdevelopment, dual economy, low productivity, insufficient capital, and few human resources (Kelleher & Klein, 2011, p. 74-77). Currently, there are three major models for addressing this issue, Liberal Economics, Dependency, and Participatory Development perspectives. While all three have their own merits, Participatory Development is the most effective when it comes to addressing the …show more content…

Liberal Economic perspective holds that the key to solve underdevelopment is in increased international trade, hoping to address the low productivity aspect of the cycle of underdevelopment (Kelleher & Klein, 2011, p. 95). Liberal Economics strongly holds that what these developing nations should be trading in the area in which they have the largest comparative advantage, or the area in which it is easiest to create goods. To do this more effectively, a developing country using Liberal Economics perspective would minimize government intervention and protectionist policies, such as tariffs or other barriers to trade (L. Kellem, personal communication, February 27, 2018). If this is done correctly, those who agree Liberal Economics believe that this will jumpstart industrialization and, as a consequence, rapid development (Kelleher & Klein, 2011, p. …show more content…

A direct challenger of Liberal Economics, its main principle is that the current international business market only benefits industrial nations by pitting low income countries against each other to get the lowest price for commodities (Kelleher & Klein, 2011, p. 98). Promoters of this approach believe that much of this inequality is caused by neocolonialism, since underdeveloped countries need highly developed countries more than they need them. It also highlights the need for government intervention in international trade and believes that the government should redistribute wealth to the country's poor (Kelleher & Klein, 2011, p. 99-100). Those who support a Dependency view also hold that the intergovernmental organizations such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, and the World Bank should adopt policies and give foreign aid without stipulations like structural adjustment that would cause the developing world to give into unfair demands to directly address the lack of capital in the cycle of underdevelopment (Kelleher & Klein, 2011, p.

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