Strategy for Self-Centered Development from the Perspective of an Historical Analysis of Development

After acknowledging the three phases of historical analysis of development, and especially considering the research work done in the last twenty-five years by the Germans Dieter Sengcheus and Ulrich Mezel, the author presents the principle elements of a self-centered development strategy which highl...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Alfredo Pérez Sánchez
Format: Article
Language:Spanish
Published: Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) 1998-04-01
Series:Revista CIDOB d'Afers Internacionals
Online Access:http://www.cidob.org/es/content/download/5670/54991/file/40-41perez.pdf
Description
Summary:After acknowledging the three phases of historical analysis of development, and especially considering the research work done in the last twenty-five years by the Germans Dieter Sengcheus and Ulrich Mezel, the author presents the principle elements of a self-centered development strategy which highlights the following perspectives:dissociation, economic restructuring, and the new forms of an international division of labor among Third World economies.This document calls into question the underlying operation of the conventional theory of development and its current policy, which call for the increasing integration of the Third World in the world market as a means of going beyond development as it is commonly understood. Though being an integral element in the theory of self-centereddevelopment, temporary dissociation from the world market is proposed. The justification for the strategy of dissociation, excepting the recourse to some historical and paradigmatic reflections sketched by Friedrich List, has kept itself, of necessity, to the global and abstract level. This position is nothing, however, but a most direct analytical result deduced fromthe principle theoretical beginnings and the empirical observations of both the Theory of Dependence and Peripheral Capitalism. Although the review vents its criticism on (and mainly questions the practicality of) the aforesaid conception, a more penetratingunderstanding of what the wager for such a strategy entails is found. Thus, the notion of self-centered development influences and gives impulse to a most extensive ideologicallymarked debate about the alternative conceptions of development.
ISSN:1133-6595
2013-035X