Politics and Policy Studies | Development vs Underdevelopment

Running head: POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES
POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES1
What is development? What is underdevelopment? What are the ways
underdevelopment can be measured, according to Handleman? Do you
think Handleman’s understanding of underdevelopment is reasonable? Use
an example to illustrate your argument. Compare and contrast
modernization and dependency theory of development. Are either of these
best ways to understand development?. If so, why? If not what is the better
way to understand development. Provide an example that explains what
you mean.
Development is often defined as the process which helps in creating progress, growth
and positive change in one self or in the society and environment. According to scholars, the
development in terms of countries is mainly referred to working towards achieving living
standards, equality, economic performance and sustainability (Kitova et al 2016).
Underdevelopment generally means when the process of making progress is stagnant
and instead of positive growth there is negativity in one self or in the environment or the
society. In terms of a country it is somewhat similar where scholars have stated that
underdevelopment in a country means the development but at a very low level of
development which is generally characterized by the low income of people, poverty, the low
level in the literacy rate, low life expectancy and also the underutilization of the resources
which are present and many more (Cuervo-Cazurra and Ramamurti 2017).
According to Handelman, the most common characteristics of countries that are
underdeveloped can help in measuring underdevelopment. According to him, one of the most
salient characteristics of underdevelopment is poverty (Handelman and Rex 2019). He states

POLITICS AND POLICY STUDIES2
that at the grassroot level, underdevelopment is considered to be the combination of unequal
distribution of income, low income per capita, very poor infrastructure which also includes
transportation and communication and also the limited use of technology. These highly help
in measuring underdevelopment. There are other factors that help in measuring
underdevelopment according to the author are substandard housing, widespread scarcity,
inadequate nutrition, low education and literacy level and people in living in poor health
conditions.
I agree with the how Handelman has provided the factor which help in measuring
underdevelopment. I believe that development of a country means the overall development
from the high currency rate, good economic growth and also the social well-being of the
people or citizens of the country in terms of their quality of life, education and literacy rate
life expectancy and many more. A country can be called developed when it successfully
manages to look after the overall development of the country. For example, the United States
of America is considered to be one of the most developed countries because of the good
policies in terms of their economy and the social reforms which paves way for the overall
development of the country like less social issues, less rate of poverty and illiteracy, less
unemployment rates, has one of the highest rate of currency and many more which develop
economically as well as socially.
The theory of modernization is basically underpinned with the idea of development as
a consistent growth. According to scholars, modernization basically defines as the path
towards a proper and well developed industrial society (Hout 2016). On the other hand,
dependency theory states that the present state of underdevelopment or underdeveloped
countries in many nations across the world can be explained by examining and monitoring
the patterns of the interactions among the nations and by arguing the fact that inequality
among those nations in an integral aspect of the conversations (Tausch 2018).