6 Political Economy
UNIT 6
POLITICAL
DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMY
OF
Structure
6.1
Introduction
6.2
The Global Divide
6.3
Poverty of Income Comparisons
6.4
Global Social Reality: Essentials of Maldevelopment
6.5
Agenda of the Political Economy of Development
6.6
Some Important Aspects of the Political Economy: Theories of Development
6.7
Capital Accumulation: Role and Limitations
6.8
International Capital Flows
6.9
Role of the State
6.10
The Counter Revolution in Development Economics: The LPG Package
6.11
Outline of the Political Economy Approach
6.12
Summary
6.13
Exercises
6.1
INTRODUCTION
India, an ancient civilisation and a richly endowed sub-continental country, is home to about one-sixth of humanity. An overwhelmingly large part of its people live a life of extreme poverty, though there is a tiny minority which enjoys a standard of living at par with the highest in the world. This is not the only sense in which India can be seen to be a country of extreme contrasts. A country full of diversity and plurality, its encounter with what is generally termed modernity occurred under the aegis of its colonial domination, based on political subjugation at the hands of Great Britain, the pioneer of modern industrialisation which dominated the processes of modernisation-industrialisation for a long period of world history. Though India successfully liberated itself from the colonial rule by means of a mass, popular struggle for independence, it is still striving to be able to win for its more than a billion strong population a standard of living, dignity and empowerment commensurate with its resource endowment, rich heritage, democratic polity wedded to the highest values humanity has been able to articulate to this day and rich human element. It is this arduous struggle for achieving for her citizens what is their long denied due which constitutes the basic challenge for the political economy of development. Given the history of how India came to lag behind and lost
POLITICAL
DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMY
OF
Structure
6.1
Introduction
6.2
The Global Divide
6.3
Poverty of Income Comparisons
6.4
Global Social Reality: Essentials of Maldevelopment
6.5
Agenda of the Political Economy of Development
6.6
Some Important Aspects of the Political Economy: Theories of Development
6.7
Capital Accumulation: Role and Limitations
6.8
International Capital Flows
6.9
Role of the State
6.10
The Counter Revolution in Development Economics: The LPG Package
6.11
Outline of the Political Economy Approach
6.12
Summary
6.13
Exercises
6.1
INTRODUCTION
India, an ancient civilisation and a richly endowed sub-continental country, is home to about one-sixth of humanity. An overwhelmingly large part of its people live a life of extreme poverty, though there is a tiny minority which enjoys a standard of living at par with the highest in the world. This is not the only sense in which India can be seen to be a country of extreme contrasts. A country full of diversity and plurality, its encounter with what is generally termed modernity occurred under the aegis of its colonial domination, based on political subjugation at the hands of Great Britain, the pioneer of modern industrialisation which dominated the processes of modernisation-industrialisation for a long period of world history. Though India successfully liberated itself from the colonial rule by means of a mass, popular struggle for independence, it is still striving to be able to win for its more than a billion strong population a standard of living, dignity and empowerment commensurate with its resource endowment, rich heritage, democratic polity wedded to the highest values humanity has been able to articulate to this day and rich human element. It is this arduous struggle for achieving for her citizens what is their long denied due which constitutes the basic challenge for the political economy of development. Given the history of how India came to lag behind and lost