Essay Sample on Development: Transforming Social & Economic Systems for Better Living

Introduction

Development refers an economic concept and multi-dimensional process that encompasses reorganization and reorientation of the entire social and economic system to improve people's living standards, increase people's freedom to select by increasing the range of their choices, and creating a favorable conditions to the growth of people's self-esteem. Reportedly, development can be defined in various ways. First, it can be defined as an economic growth where it refers to the improvement of living standards of people within a country. It can also be defined as modernization where it entails social transformation needed to elicit economic improvement by examining changes in psychological, social, and political processes. More importantly, development can also refers to a distributive justice where it examines the improvements in the basic needs in terms of their access, nature of the goods and services that the government provides, and how its burden can be shared among people.

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There are numerous challenges associated with defining and measuring development. First, although Gross Domestic Product (GDP) offers a relatively limited measure of living standards and economic growth, it has the major benefit of being fairly easily obtained and is founded only on three variables which include output, income, and expenditure. As opposed to this, it can be viewed from Human Index Development (HID), Measure of Economic Welfare (MEW), and the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). Development is a multi-dimensional sophisticated process that can only be measured against numerous criterion, using a composite indices. This according to economists may cause various challenges involving biased value judgments on behalf of the economists who calculate the indices. For instance, ways in which factors such as literacy and life expectancy can be weighted within a particular index or specific factors that should be included and those that needs to be included. Therefore, while the Human Development Index, for instance may offer a relatively complex indicator of living standards, it leaves out certain crucial components including quality of the environment. Nonetheless, to develop a development index that is all-inclusive would be an economically overwhelming task.

Problem A

During a Millennium Summit held in the year 2000, the UN General assembly formulated eight development goals commonly known as the Millennium Development Goals. These goals include eradication of extreme hunger and poverty, attaining universal primary education, promoting gender equality and empower women, as well as reduction of child mortality. Other MGDs include improving maternal health, eradicating malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability, as well as, global collaboration for growth and development.

Internal conflicts especially ethnic violence and civil wars hinder development of third world countries. Reportedly, the damage brought by these conflicts discourages investment and tourism, reverse economic development, and interferes with factory production (Upreti, 2015). Further, they divert government expenditure to the military, away from funding the development of infrastructure and other projects that can enhance the living standards of people. Besides internal conflicts, development in third world countries is hindered by corruption. Reportedly, corruption lowers foreign and internal investments while fostering the misappropriation of public funds. Similarly, bribery also hinder economic activities thus lowering economic growth and development. In the third world countries, development is hindered by the natural disasters such as cyclones, floods, as well as other natural disasters. A good number of third world countries have relative little infrastructure, making it difficult for them to attain development. Reports indicate that scarce internal finance for the construction and maintenance lead to power cuts, crumbling roads, unreliable telephone service, as well as, similar challenges (Upreti, 2015). From the global standpoint, scholars have asserted that the major factors that hinder the development in third world countries emanate from external environment of the third world countries, particularly the different economic and international political pressures that industrialized countries offer (Upreti, 2015).

Democracy is relevant to development it creates a good environment where development can be achieved. Leftwich (1993) noted that independent media, free and fair elections, accountability of government officers and other fundamental democratic principles are key elements of a favorable environment for growth. By providing citizens with elected persons who can represent them and take necessary actions, democracy ensures proper management of public resources and promote development of economic, social, and physical governance infrastructure thus ensuring development. More importantly, democracy is relevant for development because it is a critical element of change. Principally, the outcome of a good democratic system is connected to development, impartial economic growth, as well as, respect of laws and regulations.

Part B

Sustainable development refers to the transformation process that where the direction of investments, exploitation of resources, orientation of institutional change and technological development realigned and fosters current and future potentials in order to fulfil the needs and future goals (Virakul, 2015). The leading challenges of sustainable development include inadequate financial resources to conduct and formulate sustainable development, wars and conflicts and corruption. Similarly, natural disasters such as tsunamis, earthquakes and floods shift water flow and destroy some components of infrastructure thus hindering sustainable development. More importantly, the government rivalry between instant profit and investment towards sustainable technologies form another major challenge of sustainable development.

Other alternative ways of classifying third world countries include measuring their achievements in education, income, longevity (HDI approach), measuring their credit worth (World Bank approach), and determining their fuller use of their resources (IMF approach). These alternatives are useful because they take into account various indicators of economic growth of a country.

References

Leftwich, A. (1993). Governance, democracy and development in the Third World. Third World Quarterly, 14(3), 605-624.

Upreti, P. (2015). Factors affecting economic growth in developing countries. Major Themes in Economics, 17(1), 37-54.

Virakul, B. (2015). Global challenges, sustainable development, and their implications for organizational performance. European Business Review, 27(4), 430-446.