The development dilemma : security, prosperity, and a return to history

Author/Creator:

Bates, Robert H., author

Publication/Creation:

Princeton : Princeton University Press, [2017]

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

The development dilemma : security, prosperity, and a return to history / Robert H. Bates

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Economic development
Economic development--History
Economic history

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Introduction -- The fundamental tension -- Taming the hierarchy -- Forging the political terrain -- The developing world: two examples -- The use of power -- Conclusion.

Summary:

Reassessing the developing world through the lens of Europe's pastToday's developing nations emerged from the rubble of the Second World War. Only a handful of these countries have subsequently attained a level of prosperity and security comparable to that of the advanced industrial world. The implication is clear: those who study the developing world in order to learn how development can be achieved lack the data to do so.In The Development Dilemma, Robert Bates responds to this challenge by turning to history, focusing on England and France. By the end of the eighteenth century, England stood poised to enter "the great transformation." France by contrast verged on state failure, and life and property were insecure. Probing the histories of these countries, Bates uncovers a powerful tension between prosperity and security: both may be necessary for development, he argues, but efforts to achieve the one threaten the achievement of the other. A fundamental tension pervades the political economy of development.Bates also argues that while the creation of a central hierarchy-a state-may be necessary to the achievement of development, it is not sufficient. What matters is how the power of the state is used. France and England teach us that in some settings the seizure and redistribution of wealth-not its safeguarding and fostering-is a winning political strategy. These countries also suggest the features that mark those settings-features that appear in nations throughout the developing world.Returning to the present, Bates applies these insights to the world today.

Language:

English

Physical Type/Description:

xii, 188 pages ; 23 cm

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9936668427002486

ISBN:

9780691167350
0691167354

OCLC Number:

974676665

Barcode:

010003044441