International Development and Its Negative Trends in Modern Day

The first thing one might think of when they hear the word “International development” might be volunteering abroad at a rural community or helping refugees from war-torn countries. However, development is not all that. In Professor Adelman’s Development or Justice? A Global History lecture, Adelman discusses the long history of development around the world. He emphasizes that the present-day developmental model is dangerous to the world and that the rising level of interdependence within countries makes them more susceptible to inequity.

All countries are different and in order for countries to develop, one must acknowledge its historical roots such as colonialism. He urges to view development as justice and states that global integration causes inequality. Ever since the golden era, post-World War I, there have been global debates about the issue of global inequality. Historical figures such as China’s former president Sun Yat Sen wanting, Japanese economist Nitobe Inazo advocated for Japan to colonize Korea and Taiwan in order to so it could be like other nations. Development can be interpreted in many ways to different people, but one thing that’s clear is that it’s constantly a work in progress. Last year, my high school took part in a monthly seminar at the Munk School of Global Affairs where schools collaborate and discuss solutions for global issues. My group and I had to develop a solution for the food insecurity crisis in northern indigenous communities. We developed the idea for a morning snack bin program at their community elementary school, Kattawapiskak Elementary school. It seemed like a good idea, as it was successful in schools across the GTA. It provided nutritious food and greatly helped students who were late or who could not afford a healthy breakfast. However, even though it was beneficial for students in Toronto. it was not necessarily “perfect” for the remote northern town of Attawapiskat. For the snack bin, we chose conventional foods: yogurt tubes, rice crackers, cheese strings, but we didn't realize that maybe some of students were not used to eating that breakfast. We didn’t know how the food would be transported, when the food will come and who is going to fund the food. Essentially, our main issue was that we had no idea what exactly it is like to live in an isolated First nations reserve. But we thought we did. And that’s exactly what Adelman tries to explain throughout his lecture.

In this case, the roots of the indigenous past and learn from there where to go about solving the issue. Learn more about its historical roots. Would they appreciate our help. We must acknowledge that not all countries are the same. Countries, cities and people all develop at their own rate. Professor Adelman helped expand and reinforce my understanding of development. Before the lecture I assumed International development was always a positive recent trend. In fact, Countries have only started to develop foreign aid, I thought development was only NGOS’s such as the UN or Unicef. However, that’s not the case. Both Kothari and Adelman discuss on the how development rarely acknowledges its colonial roots.