spatial fetish rules: o. k.?

Spatial Fetish Rules: O. K.?The Development Process. A Spatial Perspective by Akin L. Mabogunje; Development fromAbove or Below? The Dialectics of Regional Planning in Developing Countries by Walter B.Stohr; D. R. Fraser TaylorReview by: J. Barry RiddellCanadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines, Vol. 17, No. 1(1983), pp. 119-123Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Canadian Association of African StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/484668 .

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Spatial Fetish Rules: O.K.?* J. Barry RIDDELL**

The implicit, but very loud message of these two books may be summarized in a brief

equation: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT = SPATIAL REORGANIZATION.

(or PLANNING) This shorthand obviously simplifies complex arguments about the nature, cause, and meaning of development in the Third World: to Mabogunje it implies the combination of "man-environment" and "spatial organization," two familiar, but separate, themes from earlier Geography; and to Stohr and Taylor (hereafter S-T) the message is that "top-down" development planning has failed to deliver the goods to the vast majority in the Third World, and the solution is an inverted "bottom-up" strategy with appropriate spatial closure.

Problems within national economies in Africa, unless they are to be examined in a

partial fashion, must consider influences which act upon the political economy and which emanate from four distinct levels within a nested hierarchy (Figure 1). First, the African

World System

Regional Economy

National Development 'Path'

Intranational

Figure 1. The four levels of spatial resolution

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country is situated within the world economy whose influence is profound everywhere in the world; within this international capitalist system African countries are peripheral dependencies in a core-periphery structure, and this dependent relationship affects their political economy and thus constrains the set of options open to development planning. This is even more striking when the facilitating role of the national elite in this relationship is considered. Secondly, individual countries exist within a regional or continental economy. The strongest, but by no means only, contemporary expression of this in tropical Africa is the dominance exerted by South Africa on its neighbourhood. Thirdly, a series of influences emerge at the level of the nation-state; every country is dominated by a set of goals, priorities, plans, and policies. These vary greatly but may be simplified as existing along a continuum characterized by peripheral capitalism at one extreme and independent socialism at the other. At the fourth level exists a collection of intra-national cleavages or competing interests (such as class, rural-vs-urban, region, and ethnic) which are reflected in the space economy of the African country.

Each influences the political, social, and economic arrangement of African countries. Unless this fact is recognized, and regional planning can specifically address them, the solutions, no matter how sophisticated and moralistic they sound, are incomplete. Regional policies within countries have to do with only the third and fourth levels of influence. It must be recognized that the other two have spatial effects also, and these are usually counter to, and more powerful than, the goals of national plans. To underline this fact, the spatial impact of the colonial impress on African countries in terms of disparities only need be considered. It is inadequate to bemoan the lack of serious regard paid to the spatial dimension of underdevelopment or to indicate that regional planning should be drastically revised. The implied message of these positions is that most problems related to the state of under-development are internal to the countries of the Third World and can be overcome with sufficient spatial engineering. In other words, they state that the conditions presented at the world and regional level are unimportant despite what much literature (some of which is referred to) states and despite the experience of the countries of southern Africa.

The S-T book is a serious effort to theme upon the vital issue of economic development in Third World countries; this is reflected in both the theme of the book and its internal organization. At the outset, the editors introduce the pressing issue that spatial inequalities are large in countries of the Third World and are becoming increasingly more so. The volume focuses upon whether such inequalities can be reduced by further "Development from Above," implying additional international integration, or by "Development from Below," with internal territorial integration and increased levels of self-reliance. "Development from Above" is rooted in neoclassical economic theory and is manifested spatially in the growth pole concept, from which there would be eventual "trickle down;" the implication of such a strategy is a focus upon urban- industrial phenomena, which are foreign-oriented, high technology, and large scale. In contrast, the alternative approach, "Development from Below," is based upon the mobilization of an area's resources (natural, human, institutional) in order to satisfy the basic needs of the inhabitants of the area. Policies must, therefore, be directed at benefiting the majority of the population, must be aimed at the problem of poverty, and must be motivated and controlled from the bottom by the people themselves. Develop- ment strategies will thus focus upon basic needs and technologies which are labour- intensive, small-scale, based upon local resources, and are rural centred.

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The volume addresses these contrasting development paths in an explicit fashion: five

chapters present conceptual arguments and twelve chapters detail the empirical ex-

perience with such strategies from countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The concrete examples range from countries following strategies which are outward-looking and market-oriented (Ivory Coast, Thailand, Brazil, Chile), through many blends, to socialist systems with inward-looking strategies (China, Tanzania). These case studies vividly indicate the wide variety of such strategies, ideology, time horizons, and areal scales throughout the Third World. These two parts are surrounded by introductory and concluding chapters written by the editors. In the former they set the context in terms of both theoretical positions and numerical characteristics while in the latter they evaluate the findings of the several examples and conclude that a new development paradigm, such as "Development from Below," is required and that it has to be accompanied by selective regional closure and political will.

In the set of conceptual papers, Hansen reviews the arguments which have been presented for a centre-down, growth-pole development strategy, and indicates the

growing problems to which such policies have led in developing countries (international dependence, urban primacy, unemployment, food shortages, increased rural poverty). Stohr's chapter is both a critique of centre-down strategies and a presentation of an alternative, "Development from Below" with selective spatial closure; an abstract case is made and historical evidence is presented, but there is not an evaluation of the possibility of such a strategy considering the extant political economy influences operating. Weaver critiques spatial planning in a thoughtful and stimulating manner. A review of basic needs strategies is provided by Lee who indicates the necessity of selective de-linking with the international system, the blockages to overcoming mass poverty, and the vivid dimensions of the poverty resulting from a centre-down strategy. Lo and Salih begin from the position that polarized strategies have failed to deliver the goods, especially when human well-being in the Third World is considered, and that policy must move away from an urban-industrial emphasis; they talk of the necessity of a "polarized reversal" and some degree of "regional closure" in a reformulated regional policy.

There is no doubt that the authors in this section all write from a profound concern with perpetuations and worsenings of underdevelopment (even the chapter espousing growth pole strategies indicates their failings). However, there is excessive redundancy here and much of the writing is stilted and obscure. The redundancy results from the fact that even though the five essays are by different authors addressing distinct themes, they are dominated by the need to move on from a development strategy which has proven inadequate. The obscurity results from the fact that the solutions possible under a revised development strategy do not face the basic cause of poverty and inequality in the Third World; this is likely why they contain much rhetoric and review, though little of substance. For example, to alter the productive system of a country from luxuries to mass needs is not simply a matter of altering the output of certain sectors of the economy and changing allocations; at the same time both the national political economy and the world capitalist system have to be revised. This has vividly been illustrated time and time again by the failures of well-intentioned revolutions to solve the basic difficulties of the economic system in Third World countries.

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The empirical chapters form the major portion of the volume and each considers the concrete developmental experience of an individual country in terms of regional planning strategies, explicitly addressing "top down" -vs- "bottom up." Every reader will find favorites. Because of their areal focus on tropical Africa, those on Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and Tanzania were most interesting. In terms of the intentions of the volume, Haddad's chapter on Brazil may be seen as highly successful, especially as it relates regional development to social equity. In my mind the most interesting and insightful chapter is that by Blaikie on Nepal; his message is that space is merely the reflection of the national political economy, and if planning efforts are to be effective, they must address the causes of the problem and not the superficial symptoms. Therefore, the focus on spatial/regional matters is obfuscatory in that it diverts attention away from the basic causes of underdevelopment.

The entire book leaves the impression that this is a well organized and thoughtful production, but the focus is of little ultimate import to Third World underdevelopment other than to indicate the problems of growth pole strategies once again. "Development from Below" will take its place in the development "business" alongside of Basic Needs, Informal Sector, etc., pointing out a very real difficulty, attracting research funding and agency publicity, but not leading to fundamental change. Thus, we can view the volume as the harbinger of yet another phrase suggesting a solution to Third World problems, while at the same time diverting attention from the real issues.

The Development Process stands in contrast. The S-T book is explicitly organized around one of the most pressing academic-programming themes of today; as such it will appeal to the mature reader with considerable background and interest in issues related to underdevelopment in the Third World. Mabogunje's book is directed at a much more junior audience, one with little background in the literature. As such, it is factually interesting and focused around several broad themes relating to rural, urban, and national issues. It takes the form of an extended essay which addresses the fundamental paradox of the development/underdevelopment experience in Africa: for the vast majority, economic and environmental circumstances are depressing and disastrous; while at the same time, for a few, especially in the metropolitan centres, wealth abounds. There is something wrong here! The situation is unjust and unfair, and is potentially explosive; the development process must be reappraised and Geographers have to move beyond the failed growth pole strategies to a revised perspective which incorporates two traditional geographical concerns, man-environment and spatial organization.

The reader will be constantly struck by the fact that the dependency critique is carefully explained and then blatantly ignored - as if some last minute dabs of this framework were added here and there in order to satisfy editorial demands. Such a perspective certainly isn't integrated into the body of the argument, and it isn't to be found in the conclusion. One example will illustrate. Comparisons are made with the historical agriculture experience of some of the now-industrialized nations, simply ignoring the fact that the international context is dramatically different. True, this was done to illustrate national level planned transformation which is necessary in order for meaning- ful advance, but to take up twenty-five pages to do so underlies the similarities to Rostow's infamous "stages" model.

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This evaluation is bothersome on two counts. Mabogunje is, without question, the best known and highly respected geographer from anglophone tropical Africa; he is Professor of Geography and Director of the Planning Studies Programme at the University of Ibadan. Secondly, most of his previous work - Urbanization in Nigeria and Regional Mobility and Resource Development in West Africa, for example - is highly praise- worthy. Any reader who has conducted research in migration, urbanization, development, or West Africa will acknowledge his earlier work as meritorious and profound; in contrast, this book will arouse disquiet.

If the reader were to ignore the world system of which West Africa is a peripheral and dependent part, and if the author suggested novel policies about the development process which would be considered as realistic, this would be a good book. However, the reader can't and he doesn't! But don't discount the book. The author is important and many issues are reviewed well - for example the growth and impact of transportation networks. In his conclusion a case is made for a total mobilization of both the population and resource bases, and for "selective closure" in order to overcome further dependency as well as regional integration. The book has come full circle in that the latter two conclusions suggest issues ignored previously.

*Akin L. MABOGUNJE, The Development Process. A spatial perspective. New York: Hutchison

University Library for Africa, 1980, 383p.; Walter B. STOHR and D.R. Fraser TAYLOR, eds., Development from above or below? the Dialectics of Regional Planning in Developing Countries. Toronto: John Wiley and Sons, 1981, 488p. **Department of Geography, Queen's University (Ontario).

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spatial fetish rules: o. k.?

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