Modernisation Theory Essay

Progression has been a defining feature of humanity and it has continued to be a much discussed topic in academic, political and economic fields. Over the past seventy years the attention has turned to states that are regarded as third world, where the economic and standards of living is considered to be lower than developed nations such as Australia and Great Britain and how to encourage development within their systems (Evans & Thomas 2013). During the Cold War era from 1947 - 1989, two prominent ideologies were clashing in the form of two world powers, USA with liberalism and USSR with socialism; the campaign against socialism by the USA included pushing the liberalist theory of modernisation as the superior form of theory to stimulate development.

The ultimate goal of any society which follows Modernisation theory is become a first world state that is completely modernised (Armer & Katsillis 2001). Modernisation theorists rely on economic growth to drive social and political change, believing that “all good things go together (like economic growth, economic equality, political stability, democracy, national independence, and autonomy)” (Weber 2005, 155). Modernisation leaves no room for tradition, forcing traditional societies to adjust or slowly

They point to the examples of Spain’s dictatorship collapsing with the death of Franco and the Argentinian restructuring following the Falklands War. Rather they suggest that democracy occurs as a “Deus Ex Machina. It survives if a country is modern but it is not the product of Modernisation” (Przeworski & Fernando 1997, 159). They also found that while democracy is more likely to emerge with growing economic prosperity, at a certain level the trend reverses and authoritarian powers become more