Bureaucracies and Development

VICTOR SEGESVARY : INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE DESTINY OF THE WEST

– Part Two. Disjunction Between the Western and Other Cultural Worlds – Chapter Seven. Political Action and the State -

possession of juridical statehood even if not much evidence of empirical statehood exists, undoubtedly sustains this assessment. These quasi-states, as Jackson calls them [Jackson 1990: 24-25], were creations following "changes in the rules of membership and modes of operation in international society which were deliberately made to replace the institutions of European overseas colonialism" [ibid. 26]. This meant self-determination for countries formerly colonized and, at the same time, entitlement to development assistance for impoverished countries (an international distributive justice) but, most importantly, freedom from outside interference.

VICTOR SEGESVARY : INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE DESTINY OF THE WEST

– Part Two. Disjunction Between the Western and Other Cultural Worlds – Chapter Seven. Political Action and the State -

speak the same language, people are moved from one country to another, from one post to another, in internationally funded programs and assistance activities. This could, of course, not be a major problem if the criterion of recruitment was not carried out on the basis of ethnic solidarity, knowledge of a language or other ascriptive and political reasons, but technical excellence and widespread professional experience. The ascriptive trend in filling posts in national administrations and bilateral and international aid bureaucracies is overwhelming; one could almost say that instead of the introduction of the Weberian principles into non-Western administrations, the traditionally sanctioned, ascriptive criteria more or less dominate non-Western, especially cooperation bureaucracies, and first of all, the multilateral bodies.

The second major defect is the saddening and profound disinterest in the goals of economic and social modernization, not only on the surface of activities, but also in the essentials of the bureaucracies' objectives. Local administrations in any country are responsible for the collective destiny of the nation, for carrying out what people want and prefer. But they largely implement what the ruling strata think is the best for the country. The fundamental problem is that objectives, strategies, future tactics change periodically, but regularly, indicating that no serious effort was made by any of the participants in their definition and formulation, no objective and sincerely committed will to the welfare and progressive improvement of conditions of life is evidenced in the preparation of such programs. Officials of national, bilateral, and multilateral bureaucracies frequently appear to be disinterested in the goals pursued, strategies prepared, and, most importantly, results and performances obtained through the operations of their administrations. In this way, the principal objectives of economic cooperation and technical assistance activities are ignored, pushed aside. The words are, of course, there, but not the careful action or, in many cases, the intent.

To close this chapter, an especially important effect of the national, bilateral, and multilateral bureaucracies' intervention in developing countries should be noted that which is mostly responsible for the failure of modernization and developmental efforts. All three types of bureaucracies involved in these activities, either on the receiving and implementing side or on the donor and executive side, are the most important vectors of the transmittal, without any effort of critical evaluation as to their suitability or without any effort for their adaptation, of Western social and economic beliefs, concepts, structures, and policies to the non-Western world. Again, the largest responsibility must be laid on the shoulders of the bureaucrats and managers of the receiving countries, because it cannot be a foreigner's duty, as it is beyond the bounds of his competence and his understanding of the local cultural context, to adapt beliefs, concepts, structures, and policies borrowed from abroad to the respective countries' cultural, spiritual, and social traditions and lifeworld. It is well known today how the elite of developing countries educated abroad were isolated from the masses once they returned home, isolated particularly from the rural masses.

The Western-oriented bilateral and multilateral bureaucracies behave, in truth, as the missionaries of other ages, who brought to the poor and destitute populations of the world their own Gospel. It is justified to designate their doctrine as such because, in many cases, it is not even allowed to question or discuss it.

Acceptance is expected to bring the desired results of improved quality of life and, first and foremost, material riches. It should be clearly stated that the efficiency of Western methods of economic development and modernization achieved phenomenal results in the West in improving human life and, especially, the life of the lower strata of society. But this still does not justify the supposition that "all things being equal," which they never are, the same concepts, methods, structural changes, and cultural transformations are applicable anywhere in the world. Such an attitude shows an unbearable self-sufficiency, an inadmissible ignorance of the existence of other cultural worlds, and a deliberate annihilation of the wonderful human diversity.

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VICTOR SEGESVARY : INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE DESTINY OF THE WEST

– Part Two. Disjunction Between the Western and Other Cultural Worlds – Chapter Eight. Modernization as Framework of Economic Development -

CHAPTER EIGHT

MODERNIZATION AS FRAMEWORK OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The eventual dialogue or conflict between the Western and non-Western civilizations may have considerable influence on the domain of economic activity in the world, in general, and on the interaction between these civilizations, in particular. The problem envisaged from this angle could best be formulated as the interplay of modernization and development. After more than three decades of efforts of cooperation between Western and non-Western countries, and after provision of huge amounts of financial aid as well as technical assistance to the latter, the results of these efforts appear, in many cases, disastrous. Often, the countries to be modernized are less better off now than they were at the beginning of the period when cooperation and assistance started; one might even say that their situation is desperate, from the point of view of their lifeworld, as traditions, social structures and the everyday way of life were destroyed without having been replaced by new ones adapted to their cultural heritage and natural environment.

In some instances, there is much-heralded success due to particular circumstances which explains why these countries were able to affect the "cultural switch;" to slowly erase the inherited values and beliefs from people's minds, to gradually change social and communal structures of life, and adapt, step by step, the Western way of life correlated with efforts of modernization and development. In most countries, however, a situation prevails which could best be called schizophrenic; some economic changes were introduced, and social stratification was somewhat modified without replacing the mental and cultural world which hitherto sustained economic activities and the traditional differentiation of society. As a result, people in these countries live in two completely different worlds: the world of modern economic and political activities, and the world of inherited cultural and mental realities. This situation is reflected in uprooted ways of life, urban and rural maladjustment, new differences in social status, and discrepancies in belief and value systems.

Simply, many of the modernized groups of society live in a cultural vacuum, without an all-encompassing worldview constituting the framework of everyday life. Hegel would have considered these people as possessing consciousness in two separate worlds through estrangement from their inherited institutions and cultural surroundings.

The situation thus produced in countries belonging to non-Western civilizations is dramatic, not only because vivid hopes stirred by the movement of decolonization after the Second World War faded away, but also because no political independence can be complete without (relative) economic independence, or at least the hope of reaching it in a foreseeable future. In addition, such a situation cannot be sustained for another half a century, and who could say that this is not to be envisaged in light of the results of the past three decades? It appears that the industrialized and democratic countries of the West will run into greater and greater economic and social difficulties in the future for reasons inherent in their proper evolution, and all the more so as people from other continents try, by every means possible to migrate into the richer areas of the world in the hope of a better livelihood. Populations of Western countries will therefore not be willing and able to continuously deliver ever-growing volumes of financial aid and technical assistance, not even the humanitarian aid necessitated by the terrible sufferance resulting from political troubles and uprooted social structures, the disintegration of communities, and cultural disorientation.

In exploring aspects of modernization and development in the framework of inter-civilizational relations, the methodology of contemporary mainstream economics will first be analyzed here. Significant trends of economic activities in non-Western countries will be traced before examining and, finally, with modernization and development in the cultural context.

VICTOR SEGESVARY : INTER-CIVILIZATIONAL RELATIONS AND THE DESTINY OF THE WEST

– Part Two. Disjunction Between the Western and Other Cultural Worlds – Chapter Eight. Modernization as Framework of Economic Development -