The Politics of Development

Abstract

Humans develop within multiple contexts. Regrettably, developmentalists pay inadequate attention to the political context, which, arguably, is the most potent and determinative sphere of the human ecology. The political context is crucial for three reasons. First, its coverage is extraordinarily broad, and, in key ways binding. It includes governmental systems or structures – which often vary along a continuum of democracy – and their responsibilities for providing key services. It also includes policies, laws, and controlling actions of its agents (e.g., police, security and military personnel). In short, much of daily life – and, crucially, opportunity – is determined by the political context via its structures, policies, and operations. Second, more so than any other context, the political provides impetus, motive, and opportunity for individuals to actively engage the context, both cognitively and behaviorally. True, individuals engage their family contexts through crucial, evolving connections and separations; and we engage our educational contexts purposefully, but temporarily, in the pursuit of learning and the acquisition of credentials. But the political offers and demands more of the individual. Beyond the systemized regularity of behavioral engagement (e.g., electoral participation within democratic systems), individuals engage the political context cognitively as an expression of identity – whether that be as broadly as national identity, or as narrowly as a minority identity within the larger nation [Barber, 2009; Hammack, 2011]. In short, much of who we feel we are is reflected in the systems and practices of our governing; and, if it is not, we often engage through various forms of activism to assure that it is. This elucidates the third, and arguably most potent, element of the political context; namely, the values that the political structures and actors endorse and enact. The power of this element of the political is that the values associated with governing are the most fundamental of human values. That is, the currency of the political context is control or regulation – of access, opportunity, freedoms, rights, self-determination, and self-expression. The degree and manner with which governing systems approach and affect this control has unavoidable and often determinative impact on the dayto-day wellbeing of individuals. I began gaining these insights quite unintentionally when I responded to invitations, now exactly 20 years ago, to enlarge my research program to the Middle East. I needed no encouragement to honor culture and diversity as I was at the time deep-