Topic 7.5 Notes – Theories of Development

What Development Theories Explain

Development means more than economic growth. It includes health, education, infrastructure, opportunity, and standard of living. So yes, indicators like GDP or GNI per capita, HDI, literacy, life expectancy, and infant mortality help show how developed a place is, but this topic is about why those patterns exist across space.

These four theories give different answers:

• Rostow explains development as an internal, national process that moves through stages.
• World-systems theory explains development through unequal roles in the global economy.
• Dependency theory explains underdevelopment through outside control and unequal dependence.
• Commodity dependence explains vulnerability when an economy relies on one or a few exports.

The biggest contrast to lock in is this. Rostow looks inside a country and sees a path forward. Wallerstein and dependency look at global power and see unequal relationships shaping outcomes. Commodity dependence narrows in on export structure and price risk.

The Four Theories of Development

Rostow’s Stages of Economic Growth

Walt W. Rostow published this model in 1960. He argued that countries move through five linear stages toward industrialization and mass consumption. His unit of analysis is the state, so he is mainly asking how a national economy changes over time.

Rostow’s five stages of economic growth

1. Traditional society

   Primary-sector work dominates, especially subsistence farming. Productivity and infrastructure are low.

2. Preconditions for takeoff

   Roads, ports, schools, banks, and investment begin to expand. Agriculture becomes more productive, which frees workers and capital for other sectors.

3. Takeoff

   Industrialization becomes rapid and self-sustaining. Manufacturing grows, cities expand, and urbanization speeds up. Great Britain is the classic example.

4. Drive to maturity

   Industry diversifies, technology spreads, skilled labor grows, and services become more important.

5. Age of high mass consumption

   High incomes, widespread consumer goods, and a dominant service sector. The U.S., Canada, Japan, and much of Western Europe are common examples.

South Korea often fits parts of this model, though not perfectly.

Wallerstein’s World-Systems Theory

Immanuel Wallerstein saw one capitalist world economy with an unequal division of labor. Countries do not develop separately. They develop in relation to each other.

The map below shows the classic core, semi-periphery, and periphery pattern that this theory describes.

World-systems core, semi-periphery, and periphery

• Core

  High-value manufacturing, finance, technology, and political power. Examples include the U.S., Japan, and Western Europe.

• Semi-periphery

  In-between position. Some manufacturing and influence, but less control than the core. Examples include China, India, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa.

• Periphery

  Raw materials, low-wage labor, and externally controlled production. Many are former colonies.

A common AP example is copper from Zambia. Zambia may mine it, but more profit is often captured in refining, manufacturing, branding, and finance elsewhere.

Dependency Theory

Dependency theory says underdevelopment is produced, not just inherited from an earlier stage. Poorer countries can stay poor because they depend on wealthier countries, firms, lenders, and markets.

This grew out of colonialism and neocolonialism, where outside powers still shape economies after formal empire ends. Key ideas include foreign ownership, profit repatriation, export dependence, and outside control of technology and capital.

The cycle works like this:

1. Export raw materials or low-value goods
2. Earn low or unstable returns
3. Lack money for diversification, education, and infrastructure
4. Keep relying on outside capital and markets

Commodity Dependence

Commodity dependence is a more specific idea. A country relies heavily on one or a few primary commodity exports such as coffee, cocoa, copper, oil, or timber.

• Zambia and copper
• Venezuela and petroleum

The problem is vulnerability. Prices swing, export income rises and falls, and the economy may stay narrow instead of diversifying. If little processing happens locally, most value added is captured elsewhere.

How These Theories Explain Uneven Development

All four theories explain uneven development, but they point to different causes.

• Rostow says development comes from internal structural change over time.
• World-systems says core development is tied to lower-value roles in the periphery.
• Dependency says outside control blocks full development.
• Commodity dependence says narrow specialization creates instability and discourages diversification.

The same country can fit more than one lens. Commodity exports might look like a foundation for takeoff in Rostow, but in dependency or world-systems they may look like a trap that keeps value and power elsewhere.

Strengths, Limits, and Common AP Comparisons

The exam shortcut is simple:

• Linear stages = Rostow
• Core / semi-periphery / periphery = Wallerstein
• Outside control causing underdevelopment = dependency
• One or few export reliance = commodity dependence