Importance Of Modernization Theory

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Modernization theory experienced its “golden age” during the 1950s and 1960s, when it reached the status of mainstream theory of development. Today, many scholars refers to it as an old-fashioned theory strongly criticized for its many weakness and its Eurocentric and ethnocentric perception of the world. However, besides its heavy criticisms and its supposed decay, it is undeniable that Modernization theory left a strong legacy in contemporary development thinking. In this paper I will argue that even though modernization theory’s legacy is quite often seen in a negative light, as it shows how development still remains a fundamentally western value-based project, its main contribution to development thinking has been to highlight the importance …show more content…

Then I will proceed by addressing some of its criticisms in order to introduce the “dialectal” or revised version of the theory, focusing especially on the figure of Samuel Huntington and its theory of “political change”. The following part is centred on the New Institutionalism and the rising of the “Good Governance” agenda, where I will outline some of the main concepts tied to contemporary development thinking that are extremely similar to modernization theory, in their renewed interest in political institutional and cultural factors. Moreover, I will argue that the development project today still resemble the old modernization project in its fundamentally ethnocentric and value-based nature. I will conclude with some final remarks on how the legacy of modernization theory is still a strong presence in contemporary development …show more content…

Two salient historical factors that boosted the formation of modernization theory, were the end of the Second World War, with the beginning of the Cold War and the bipolar rivalry, and the decolonization process of most of Asia and Africa. In this historical context, modernization theory found its roots in the desire of the United Stated to overthrow the Soviet Union and thus becoming the main source of influence for the Third World Countries that were deemed as extremely vulnerable and thus important amenable allies. (Decolonization, cold war and modernization theory, 178). This period was characterized by a rising attention of the international community to the social conditions of these areas of the world, that begun to be conceived as conditions of “underdevelopment”. The concept of modernization was therefore shaped by the association of development with the process of transition of these countries from their situation of backwardness to modernity, intended as similarity with the West

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