Development tools of parasitic paradigm: an African perspective of western theories of development and reforms

Abstract

The orthodox conceptualisation of development and its reforms which are rooted in Western schools of thought recognizes the existence of three categories of polities, viz: developed, developing and underdeveloped states. But the major questions that are of concern are: on what grounds do we submit that a country is developed, and the other is either developing or underdeveloped? Using a historical method of research and utilising mainly secondary sources of data, the paper attempts to answer these salient issues by critiquing the orthodox western development theories and reforms, citing a wide range of instances of faulty development reforms imposed on the global south by the West. The study found that the western driven ‗development reforms or policies‘ for the governments of the global North are incompatible with the dynamics and interests of the South. It also found that the western driven ‗development reforms or policies‘ were never intended to sustain the economies of the global south or worsen the North-South dichotomy. The paper concludes that every society has its own sense of development and that the orthodox conception of development, and its reforms are not sacrosanct given the peculiarities of the global South. The paper also posits that western driven ‗development reforms or policies‘ are ‗neo-colonial schemes‘ targeted at strengthening the core-periphery arrangements between the global North and the global South.