Development Obstacles

Each country in the world is at a different stage of development, that is to say they are mostly progressing towards an industrialized society. There are factors which help this process. Obviously the type and availability of natural resources will help the nation progress in industrializing its society. How skilled the labour force is will determine the types of industries that will locate in that nation. The government's attitude towards multinational corporations and whether they are granted tax incentives to locate will influence the start-up of industries.

There are benefits for the nation as it industrializes. Obviously employment opportunities will expand as the mechanization of agriculture happens. The displaced farmers will migrate to cities looking for work. This is the labour pool which will help the nation industrialize. Another advantage is the increase in wealth from producing products to be sold on the world market. Governments can also raise money through taxes on those industries and on the workers who are better paid than before. Industrialization also changes the attitudes of society. Better education is demanded and rising expectations are important results of greater economic opportunities. Institutions become more democratised and people begin to experience a wider choice of what they can do and how they wish to live. The most oimportant change is in birth rates where as they population becomes wealthier, the need for large families lessens.

Some of the factors which hinder the development of industries are illiteracy, a lack of infrastructure (if there are no roads, rail or airports to transport materials and products), government attitudes (whether there are left-over influences from colonial times, or whether the government welcomes the changes that will be inevitable when it industrializes), lack of resources and automation.

There are a few recommendation for development in LDC's. They will ensure success.

Your text gives a good summary of the 3 Industrial Revolutions and where we may be headed for the future. Also in your text, a section on the 5 stages of industrialization is explained on pages 248-251. This theory was presented by Walter Rostow in 1960 and parallels the progression through the Demographic Transition Theory. Rostow'a theory used the historical economic growth in countries such as Japan, USA, Canada and Britain. His theory may not work today for some developing countries since the development of tourism bypasses the manufacturing stages. However, it does explain the progression in a succinct way.