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Ethnicity and development
Premdas, Ralph R.
Premdas, Ralph R.
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dp46.pdf
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"In the multi-ethnic states of the Third World, planned political change for development cannot succeed unless conceived through the prism of ethnicity. Developmental change cannot follow a simple linear path driven by neutral factors such as capital and technology without being mediated through social processes, especially the recognition of ethnic interests. The ethnic factor is a fundamental force in the Third World environment and must be incorporated into any development strategy that is adopted. Ethnic pluralism cannot be assumed out of existence; it cannot be reduced to an epi-phenomenon that will disappear when change transforms the environment. The ethnic factor is integral to the environment; it is at once both the subject and object of change. If it is accepted that the ethnic variable is and must be an integral part of the process of planned change, then one would expect to find it occupying a central role in the many strategies of development that have been designed and implemented in the Third World. Yet this is not the case. In the orthodox models of economic and political development from which strategies of change have been adopted for Third World transformation, the ethnic factor has generally been neglected. The obstacles that have been identified have come to define the nature of the development task. In the economic sphere, they are lack of capital, entrepreneurial and organizational expertise, infrastructure etc.; in the political realm, they are problems of participation, power, mobilization, etc.; and in the social field, they focus on institutional structures, minimum standards of education, nutrition, maternity care, housing, etc. Different ideologies of development vary the salience and mixes of these factors in interpreting and facilitating change. Regardless of whether they are founded on Marxist class analysis or capitalist laissez faire market claims, the various interpretations of social change tend to consign out of existence or consciousness the political-cultural claims of ethno-national groups, deeming these residual factors which would in due course be assimilated or eliminated in the process of developmental change. The evidence against this de-emphasis of the ethno-cultural factor by the different ideologies is devastating. From Lebanon in the Middle East to Guyana on the South American continent, from Northern Ireland to Azerbaijan in Europe to Quebec in North America, from the Sudan and South Africa to Sri Lanka and Malaysia, the assertion of the ethnic factor has made shambles of development objectives and social peace everywhere, on all continents, in both underdeveloped and industrialized societies. But particularly in the multi-ethnic states of the impoverished Third World, the ethnic resurgence, like an unrestrained monster, has devastated all those promising plans for change, built on sophisticated economic and other models. Where it has exploded, the “ethnic bomb” has diverted enormous amounts of scarce resources for security and stability. From a neglected and peripheral factor, the ethnic variable has now emerged as one of the paramount forces of Third World change."(pg 5)
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1993-10
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With permission of the license/copyright holder