Development: The Third Way

Abstract

The coming of independence to new nations means, besides self-government and management of resources, responsibility for the total welfare of the population as a whole and minimum disruption of the ecosystem. When options are available, what is the wisest way to development? The problem confronting the developing countries today is poverty. This poverty is characterized by unemployment, under-employment, illiteracy, malnutrition, disease, starvation and bad housing. How is this problem to be solved? The urban way or the rural way to development? The imitation of the patterns of development of the industrialized nations or the adoption of development patterns suited to indigenous traditional and cultural conditions? The lessons of the First United Nations Development Decade have shown quite clearly that given the pressure of time (constantly aggravated by the increase in population) the urban way to development and the imitation of the patterns of development of the industrialized nations are incapable of handling problems as complex and deep-rooted as those faced by many developing countries. What is required is the rural way to development from the bottom up (at micro-economic level) and not the urban way from top to bottom (at macro-economic level).