Conclusions

This is the oldest theory of development. Modernisation theory sees development from the prism of western civilisation. Its major exponents include Gabriel Almond, Bingham Powell, David Coleman and Lucian Pye. Also, some classical economists and sociologists such as Adam Smith, W.W Rostow, Henry Maine, Ferdinand Toennies, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, and so on, did make significant contributions towards the advancement of modernisation theory. According to this School of Thought, development simply means industrialisation and modernity which are exemplified by the Western industrialised capitalist nations.

Almond and Powell in their essay titled “Comparative Politics: A Developmental Approach”, and Almond and Coleman in their piece titled “The Politics of Developing Areas” argued that development is the evolution of a political system through series of stages, from a traditional state to modernity characterised by equality, cultural secularisation and structural differentiation. Cultural secularisation is the process whereby members of the society become rational, critical and analytical in their socio-political actions. Their orientations towards politics become pragmatic and participatory as a result of the increase in their knowledge of the political objects, norms and values (Cognitive Orientation) and also because of the increase in their feeling of attachment, involvement and rejection of the political objects and issues (Affective Orientation), as well as the increase in their objective judgments and opinions about the political objects and issues (Evaluative Orientation). When this happens, a participant or civic political culture replaces parochial and subject political culture which initially characterised the political system. On the other hand, Structural Differentiation is the process whereby roles change in the society. Old roles are transformed and new roles accompanied by new structures to perform them emerge. Division of labour and specialisation ensue, and this results in the total transformation of the society. At this point, the society achieves development having attained its optimum cultural secularisation and structural differentiation, and as a result, acquired the capacity to maintain law and order, to attract socio-political participation, distribute resources and privileges accordingly, and to win

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the loyalty, support and commitment of its citizens which is nation building.

Lucian Pye while elaborating the above mentioned views of Almond and Powell, noted that a society is developed to the extent it has

“development syndrome which includes: equality (popular involvement in political activities and socio-political recruitment based on achievement rather ascription), capacity (government’s ability to influence its subjects and execute policies), and role differentiations (division of functions and specialisation). With attributes, the society would be able to manage crisis of identity, crisis of legitimacy, crisis of participation, crisis of distribution and crisis of integration.

They all agreed that a society’s development is tied to its capacity to strike a balance between demands and support or inputs and outputs, and restore system equilibrium by performing satisfactorily rule making, rule application and rule adjudication functions. For these scholars, the industrialised capitalist countries have achieved these attributes and that is why they are developed. The Third world countries lack these characteristics and that is the reason for their underdevelopment.

Therefore, the Underdeveloped World can achieve development by imbibing the development attributes of the Capitalist West.

Also, some Western sociologists have attempted to explain why the West is developed, while the Third world is not, and how the latter can achieve development. In his view, Henry Maine submitted that development is a movement from a society characterised by status to the one characterised by contract. A status society is ascriptive, particularistic and non-individualistic, while a contract society is achievement oriented, universalistic and individualistic.

To Ferdinand Toennies, development emanates from Gemeinschaft to Gesellschaft. Gemeinschaft society is tradition and status bound. Life chances and life styles are determined by birth and there are little or no chances for individualism and tendency to act according to market norms, hence, Gemeinschaft is similar to Maine’s status society. On the other hand, Gesellschaft is analogous to contract society, and in such society, there is room for individualism, and people’s socio-political actions are guided by market norms. It is rather a clear case of consanguinity and co-residentship.

Furthermore, Emile Durkheim theorised that the pre-modern society is characterised by mechanical solidarity, while organic solidarity is the feature of a modern society. Mechanical solidarity and organic solidarity

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share similar characteristics with Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft, respectively.

Max Weber also described two types of societies – (1) Traditional society which is characterised by traditional authority whereby legitimacy of authority rests on the belief system and the sanctity of the local norms and values the le as a type of society where society. (2) Modern society which is characterised by rational, legal and bureaucratic authority whereby legitimacy of authority lies on acceptance of the laws made by men and those who enforce such laws and orders.

Talcott Parson further theorised that traditional and modern societies have five characteristics. For Traditional society, these include; (1) Affectivity (influenced by emotions in their socio-political actions); (2) Collective-Orientation (acting in groups such as family, age-grade, religious fraternity, etc); (3) Diffuseness (Diffusion of roles and relationship such that the whole of the personality is involved); (4) Particularism (judgement is not based on universally accepted principles, but rather on limited beliefs); (5) Ascription (social status and reward are based on birth instead of achievements). On the other hand, modern societies are characterised by neutrality and objectivity, self-orientation, specificity, universalism and achievement.

For these scholars, the Western countries are Contract, Gesellschaft and Modern societies and that is why they are developed, while the Third World countries are Status, Gemeinschaft and Traditional societies and that is why they are underdeveloped. Therefore, the only way Third World countries can achieve development is by discarding their traditional feature and emulating the values and norms of the West.

Moreover, Western economists were not left out in this quest for a theory that can explain the causes of development and underdevelopment across the globe. Adam Smith attributed the increase in the wealth of nations to development which was made possible by the increase in production and capitalist principles. Similarly, W.W. Rostow described development as economic growth which could only be attained by passing through five stages which he called “Stages of Economic Growth”.

These include:

(1) the Traditional Stage (2) the Transitional Stage

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(3) the Take-off Stage (where savings and investments increase significantly and revolutionise tools and methods of production) (4) the Drive to Maturity Stage

(5) the High Mass Consumption Stage. In Rostow’s calculation, it is only the USA that has attained the stage of high mass consumption, or even surpassed it. He argued that every society that desires development must go through these stages of economic growth, and that the Western countries that are developed today passed through these stages to achievement.

Therefore, non-Western countries that desire development should copy the development paradigm of the West.

All in all, the modernisation theorists see development from the prism of western civilisation. For them, development means industrialisation and modernity or Westernisation. They argued that the West is developed because it has certain socio-political and economic attributes that are amenable to positive change and development. The underdeveloped states don’t possess such attributes, thus they lack development. But, they can achieve development by trying to be like the West via the imbuement of Western culture. Today such Western culture expresses itself in form of capitalism or globalisation which advocates for liberalisation and market economy where the so-called “invisible hands of the forces of demand and supply” regulate the economy.