Visions of development: the inevitable need for alternatives

This paper begins by looking at radical visions of development, such as those of Gandhi and Mao, which developing countries threw up in the twentieth century. But soon these visions were eclipsed by the technological vision of development, now being championed in India by its president, Abdul Kalam. The elites of the world believe that only the technology of the developed west can lead developing nations to the path of development. But they fail to recognise the linkages of this capitalist, technology-driven path with colonial exploitation and war. They overlook the insight, first stated by Rosa Luxembourg, that capitalist expansion presupposes non-capitalist or pre-capitalist territories that provide the markets required for capitalist growth. Thus the major failure of the capitalist technological vision is that it can only be a vision for selected nations, or for a selected few within nations. It can never be a vision for the whole world. For countries like India, therefore, an alternative vision of development is essential. This will require a political act of courage to delink from the developed nations and the development and refinement of alternative technology, much of which already exists. Educating the intelligentsia that a good society does not require the technological pursuit of unlimited prosperity, however, is a big challenge.