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Development Of A Nation 's Development

Decent Essays

By definition development means ‘the act or process of developing; growth; or progression’. The world’s nation-states are commonly categorized based on their state of development; nations who have reached the end-state, that being developed, are colloquially termed as ‘developed nations’ or ‘first world nations’. In contrast, nations working towards this end-state are referred to as ‘developing nations’ or ‘third world nations’. However obvious or apparent these designations may seem, the constituents affecting the status of a respective nation’s development is quite convoluted. What qualifications do developed nations hold over developing nations; what does it mean exactly to be developed or developing. The process of development is dynamic, and so is the system by which nations received their designation. A series of indicators, institutions and measures are used to assess the state of a nation’s development; historically, these indicators have varied throughout time and space.
Development theory has been largely presupposed to the fact that the only institutions of importance were those directly expediting market activity. Directly following World War II, the health of a nation was predominately based off its gross domestic product (GDP). This view of the ‘market as the magic bullet’ dominated the social construct of development; however, this paradigm began to shift come the late 1980s/early 1990s. This archaic way of thinking has now expanded to explore new theories of

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