1. Theories and Models of
Development
A brief synopsis
GEO 210 Aimee Kelly

2. Questions they Address
Why are some countries more developed than
others?
What should a country do to become more
developed?

3. The Classical Model of
Development
Created by Walt W. Rostow
Development is the result of investment
Need investment to diversify the economy
Five stages would transform the country
from a preindustrial society into a
modernized service-oriented economy

4. Stage 5: Age of Mass
Consumption
Rostow’s Classical Consumer oriented
Service sector dominated
Development Stage 4: Drive to Maturity
Model Diversification
Less Reliance on Imports
Stage 3: Take-Off
Industrialization
Growth in new
technologies
Stage 2: Pre-conditions
for Take-off
The country transitions
Specialization in key
areas from a primary to a
Elites start innovation tertiary sector
dominated economy.
Stage 1: Traditional Society
Subsistence/agricultural

5. Dependency Theory
Forget about stages, development is a result of
relational processes.
International trade is the central piece of the relational
process.
Some states have more power in international trade
and are dominant states.
Other states do not have the resources or power and
are dependent states.
Dominant states develop at the expense of
dependent states.

6. World-System Theory
Developed by Immanuel Wallerstein.
The capitalist world economy causes
underdevelopment.
Capitalism creates an international division of
labor, or a hierarchy of states.
Core, semiperipheral, and peripheral regions.
System of unequal trade relationships that support
the growth of the core at the expense of the
peripheral and semiperipheral states.
States can change their role in the international
division of labor.

7. Current Map of World
According to World-System
Theory
Fig 9.15b from Greiner

8. Neoliberal Model of
Development
Based on the liberalist ideas of Rousseau, T.
Jefferson, and Adam Smith.
Suggests that capitalism can help countries
develop as long as markets were free and open.
Suggested underdevelopment was the result of
government policies that prevent economic
growth.
So, countries should engage in structural
adjustment programs that involve strategies for
market reform and deregulation.