Discussion Papers 1999.
Spatial Research in Support of the European Integration 135-144. p.
SOME ASPECTS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM BELOW
135
SOME ASPECTS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
FROM BELOW
EVA G. FEKETE
"What do the terms democracy, freedom, human dignity, standard of living, self-
realisation, accomplishment mean? Are they a question of assets or of humans?
Naturally humans. However, people can live their own life only in small, transparent
groups. Thus we have to learn to think, in the concepts of an articulated structure
which is able to melt in itself great numbers of its units. Economic thought is useless
we are unable to grasp it. If it cannot forget its extreme abstractions, the national
income, the rate of increase, the capital accumulation, the capital/production ratio, the
input-output analysis, the labour mobility and it cannot establish contact with the
human reality of poverty, disillusionment, alienation, despair, failure, crime, escape,
tension, crowdedness, ugliness and mental death then let us throw away the economy
and start everything from the beginning." (Schumacher 1991, p. 76)
UPS AND DOWNS
The development of human societies can be explained in an ever-expanding geo-
graphic space. The space marked out by economic and social relations, and interac-
tions determining development processes is continuously increasing. Today, everyday
life and the future even of the most peripheral area are deeply influenced by factors
from outside the area. Certain authors identify the general globalisation of the world
with the fact that the external determination of progress is increasing. (Ldszlo 1974)
Others call attention to the cyclical character of development's internal and external
controls. (Lewis 1978, Rostow 1978, Schumpeter 1939) We believe that externally-con-
trolled (from above) and internally-controlled (from below) phases of regional devel-
opment have traded places throughout human history. In 'rational' periods of history
strongly determined by the economy, and focused on the possession of material goods,
the impact of external control was stronger; whereas in the more emotional periods of
metaphysical character, when emotions and human relations gained greater impor-
tance, the impact of internal control could be more intensively felt. (Greenbie 1976,
Hall 1966, Laszlo 1977)
Since the 1970s, changes in the paradigms of theories on regional development and
of development policies aimed at influencing progress have started to evolve all over
the world. The failure of development initiatives in the countries of the third world
called attention to the deficiencies of neo-classical development concepts and of the
G. Fekete, Éva: Some Aspects of Regional Development from Below.
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EVA G. FEKETE
Table 1
Characteristics of development controlled from above and from below
Development controlled from above
Development controlled from below
Theory of
Monolithic theory of development, backed by Different elements can be the vehicle
development
a uniform system of values and a concept of of development in the case of different
human happiness, which automatically or by communities, the systems of value are
political pressure infiltrates the entire society
variable and multicolour
Prevailing theory Neo-classical concept of development, theory Alternative theories of development
of growth pole
Development
Development starts pursuant to external need Stimulated and controlled from below
model
from relatively few dynamic sectors and
geographic areas and expands to the other
sectors and areas
Driving force of
Competition based on the exploitation of
development
comparative advantages
Development
Economic growth
To satisfy the basic need of those living
target
in the given area
Development
Large companies arc thought to be the engine Small and medium-sized ventures: civil
target group,
of development
society
and
production
sectors
beneficiaries
controlled
by
and
co-operating
therewith
Women, people of decreased ability to
work, minorities, informal participants
of economy
Development
Large, basically city-like, mainly industrial Small projects utilising the local
methods and
capital-intensive projects connected to high resources, country-centred,
labour-
tools
technology
intensive projects utilising the
technology most appropriate under the
circumstances, instead of high
technology
Basic hypothesis
Functional or regional integration
Regional inequalities arc basically due
of development
to the differences in living conditions
Widc range of organisations intermediating owing to the fact that the major
development
economic
interventions
are
not
prepared for
Serious re-distribution mechanisms:
•
development is generated by a few Development potential is determined
selected participants;
by the cultural and natural resources
•
the remaining part of the population is and only to a small extent by the
unable to initiate development;
nameless market mechanisms
•
only a few participants arc able and arc
ready to allow others to take part in the It is not obligatory that the poor
development process;
develop only in the ways the rich think
•
others arc ready to take over the to be good, thus the only way of
intermediated development model;
development is not necessarily to
•
the initiated development is the most increase the production (but with
appropriate for every member of the reduced casts) for the markets of the
system
becoming
more
and
more developed, with technology, capital
interactive
and organisational model taken over
from the developed
Spatial networks, Vertical, hierarchical spatial organisation, not Horizontal spatial organisation:
disadvantages
taken into consideration :
•
the multi-colouredncss of systems of •
more difficult to organise, to
values and intentions;
follow;
•
the variability of natural resources;
•
its management is time and labour
•
the fact that the underdeveloped groups
consuming;
will progress to an even more •
professional soundness can he
disadvantageous situation if they take over
jeopardised
the system of values of the developed;
•
dependency is generated, the adversary
effects of defencelessness
G. Fekete, Éva: Some Aspects of Regional Development from Below.
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SOME ASPECTS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM BELOW
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regional policies built upon them. The regional differences did not decrease at all as a
result of external ' development (from above); instead, the gap widened further.
(Friedmann-Weaver 1979, Myrdal 1956, Schumacher 1991) Alternative development
strategies presented themselves as a way out. Among them some applications of the
self-reliant development model have appeared. These aim to satisfy local needs by
mobilising local resources, by local organisation and control of external supports.
(Galtung 1980)
After the spectacular public failure of third world development policies, and the
failure of attempts to reduce first world internal regional differences, attention turned
to self-reliant development strategies. Since the 1980s new national regional policies
have been created one after the other on the basic principles of decentralisation of the
decision-making process and acknowledgement of the importance of local initiatives.
The creation of national policies, including some applications of self-reliant develop-
ment models and strengthened by the invigorating activity at grass-roots levels, forti-
fied civil societies and their intentions to take part in regional development.
NOT ONLY DECENTRALISATION
The difference between regional policy from below, complying with the concept of
internally-controlled progress based on local initiative, and regional policies from
above is not limited to the decentralisation of decision-making. A brand new philoso-
phy shall support it. The most important elements of these two development models
can be compared in Table 1.
In reality the two development models are rather mixed when the development
strategies are elaborated and realised, nevertheless there are common elements in the
strategies elaborated on the basis of the two development models. For example:
-
more attention is paid to developing human resources;
-
serious efforts are made to decrease population growth in developing
countries;
more support is urged for the spread of agrarian innovation;
-
planning is based on functional economic regions;
-
emphasis is placed on creating or improving transport and communica-
tion networks necessary to improve the flow of innovation and local
products between the functional economic regions.
FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FROM BELOW
A few important elements of development strategies from below, drawn from the
examples of third world countries (Galtung 1980, Stohr 1981):
providing the possibility to receive land, thus promoting the equalisation
of incomes indispensable to the creation of an internal market for the
G. Fekete, Éva: Some Aspects of Regional Development from Below.
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EVA G. FEKETE
basic services and the establishment of comprehensive decision-making
structures;
introducing new decision-making structures organised by regions or
reviving the old forms;
restructuring the existing local institutions or setting up new ones to pro-
mote and organise the execution of the development tasks the communi-
ty has set for itself;
-
selecting technology appropriate to local characteristics (e.g. high labour
requirements, environmentally-friendly);
-
determining the priority of the projects aimed at satisfying the basic
requirements;
-
a price policy ensuring more favourable sales possibilities for agricultural
and other characteristic products of the peripheries;
-
external help without further strengthening dependence, aimed at:
• utilising human and natural resources of the region,
• satisfying the basic needs of the population,
• developing transport and communication systems within the region,
• elaboration of social or economic projects defined locally, aimed at
utilisation of local resources and satisfying basic needs;
-
developing production (export) activities to meet local needs, which
should result in improvement of living standards in the region;
-
reorganising the town and transport system;
-
developing transport and communication networks between the settle-
ments;
-
reinforcing the community non-governmental organisations.
We can draw important conclusions from the realisation of such strategies which
include the above-listed elements, as have been summarised in much professional liter-
ature. (Esman-Uphoff 1984, Stohr 1987, Zala 1990) The following issues are worth con-
sidering:
(1) Self-achieved development strategies from below cannot alone solve the
problem of underdevelopment.
(2) The government will continue to play an important role in directing
regional development and in putting alternative strategies into practice.
Communities should sensibly co-operate with the government and not
work against it.
(3) The effect of the community's spontaneous actions is limited without the
external help which forms a link with the external world and acts as a cat-
alyst for directing ideas and resources in the region. Furthermore, a
nation-wide network of allies is necessary.
(4) Development can never be local: the entire region must be considered.
(5) The community organisations act as a link between state and civil society.
However, sooner or later they will have to become institutionalised and
G. Fekete, Éva: Some Aspects of Regional Development from Below.
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officially employ their workers. As a result of the uninterrupted and for-
malised relationship with state offices and of mediating state funds for
local projects, more and more time and energy will be invested in project
evaluation and document preparation. The organisations lose some of
their independence during this process of institutionalisation. They have
to set up various teams for documentation and administration tasks, for
field work and maintaining contact with the external world, whilst contact
with the community lessens as the organisation is often unable to per-
form all the tasks at the same level. In this process the organisations deal-
ing with local development and experiencing some political charge may
be marginalised, particularly if they are in opposition to the government.
(6) The state can err in trying to realise the local development projects
directly as in this case the control is not from below. The state should
provide the political, legal, financial and institutional background and not
intervene directly.
(7) In the case of regional development from below the leading role is that of
the local communities. It is a long process requiring much patience from
community initiatives, their formation and elaboration, but this process is
indispensable to successful and lasting development. The external assis-
tant shall only act as assistant, catalyst and mediator, while the state
should participate only by setting rules and the general conditions.
(8) Unity of local development ambitions varies greatly. Development solu-
tions are very similar in the underdeveloped areas, but vary according to
local characteristics.
REALISATING DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES FROM BELOW IN TODAY'S
HUNGARY
With the Regional Development Act, the necessity of enforcing local initiatives and
decentralisation in the field of regional development has been officially acknowledged
in Hungary. In the traditionally strongly centralised Hungary a regional policy front
below is more frequently discussed. And the question emerges whether the introduc-
tion and realisation of a regional policy from below has any chance in today's Hungary.
There are several preconditions that should be fulfilled before development strate-
gies from below can be born and implemented. (Hautamiiki 1991) Let us outline the
implementation of these preconditions on the basis of experience in the field of
preparing local and small area strategies.
(1) Accepting the philosophy of development from below and combining it
with the determining system of values
Among theoreticians dealing with regional development it is more
and more widely accepted to follow development strategies from
below. The spirit and the text of the law allow this. However, among
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EVA G. FEKETE
those dealing with the practical side of regional development, the
development theory focusing on economic growth still dominates.
Moreover, the local bodies of development only pay lip-service to
increasing the role of local decision-making and to emphasising the
importance of taking local characteristics into consideration.
However, they prefer (in accordance with the former deeply-rooted
system of values) the large, externally-controlled projects which
introduce high technology and are realised with the help of redistrib-
ution by the state. It is especially true in underdeveloped regions
where they do not want to change the characteristics of develop-
ment, where they prefer benefiting from the system of development
to changing it. An accurate picture of the situation, however, cannot
be given without conducting an opinion poll.
(2) Further conditions within the communities
•
Shared motivation for change and joint action
The progress of the small area development organisations
between 1989-1996, which retained its spontaneous character
despite the stimulating effect of the tender conditions, shows
that it was the communities in the poorest regions of the country
who most quickly understood the need for changes. At the same
time, in the more developed areas, with greater opportunities
for individual prosperity, the communities were less motivated
to take joint action. It is not by chance that the possibility for
implementing the first development strategy based on joining
forces emerged in the Cserehat region.
•
Public activity and the pace of change
Inhabitants of poorer regions often chose passive resistance,
quiet resignation or escape from the region. In underdeveloped
regions, despite the greater motivation, it is more difficult to
identify and organise the efficient activity of those persons who
can be mobilised, who are willing to actively participate in the
local development activities. The example of a number of
regions shows not only are a proportion of people ready to take
an active part in the development processes, what is more, they
are ready to direct them. This core activity can snowball with
community development techniques. Even the most underdevel-
oped regions with repeatedly contra-selected population owing
to the intensive migration have enormous human resources. An
excellent example of this is the establishment of the Cserehat
Association of Settlements. Since its establishment, almost 100
private persons have joined the association and that year they set
G. Fekete, Éva: Some Aspects of Regional Development from Below.
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1999. 135–144. p. Discussion Papers. Special
SOME ASPECTS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM BELOW
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up social work committees which are now in operation. These
committees are made up of local experts from the various devel-
opment areas; one of the greatest advantages of this system
being the bringing together of people fighting similar problems,
in order to provide a framework for joint action. This solution
proved to be fertile soil for the growth of local initiatives.
•
Knowledge: what to do and how to do it
The major problem for communities which have already taken a
few steps along this road is the lack of information and expertise.
It is a basic characteristic of development controlled from below
that it takes a different form in each community. The communi-
ties find the solution which is best for themselves alone. Thus
every local initiative is at the same time an innovation. The com-
munity's ability to innovate can be developed by training pro-
grammes, drawing on the examples and experiences of other
regions and with the help of visiting external experts. A training
syllabus has been developed for this purpose with the help of
American experts, and piloted in 16 regional development
groups. In passing on strategy formation, teamwork, and com-
munication techniques we enjoyed spectacular success, particu-
larly in the groups of real community type.
•
Co-operation
In the poorest regions, where there is nothing to lose or to envy,
co-operation is reasonably prevalent. However, quarrels and
jealousy between neighbours can cast a shadow on the everyday
activities of many development organisations and endanger the
success of development.
Further extra-community conditions
( 3 )
•
Government attitudes
— General characteristics of the controlling system
It is very difficult to break through the controlling limits
of a traditionally centralised state. The role of civil organi-
sations in the development processes in Hungary is far
from clear. Nevertheless, the relatively independent local
councils of settlements have appeared in the regional con-
trolling system. Enforcement of the principle of self-gov-
ernment is certainly extremely positive from the
perspective of development from below. But owing to the
restricted financial options, and the priority of basic needs
in this regard, the freedom of local councils and the
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EVA G. FEKETE
chances of realising their strategies are rather restricted.
Only the most developed settlements have any chance of
success. Others can get supplementary funds from the
state or international budgets by tenders. However, the
tendering system presupposes a certain 'state of pre-
paredness' with regard to local financial and intellectual
resources. In the absence of these the role of linkage capi-
tal intensifies and diverts attention from the other local
resources. The anxiety of the ministries about their posi-
tions and the resulting quarrels hinders the chances of
approach to development from below.
— Governmental regional policy
Theoretically, the 1996 Regional Development Act allows
development from below and evolution of a regional poli-
cy based on local initiatives. In the course of the imple-
mentation of this European-style law a number of
tendencies developed which created obstacles. Firstly, the
establishment of associations according to statistical areas
promoting the spontaneous organisation of small areas.
Control from above over the establishment of associa-
tions alone would not be a problem if we considered the
associations as elements of the institutional system of
regional policy. The problem emerges when these artifi-
cial associations are regarded as the sole form of the
enforcement of local initiatives, thus excluding the devel-
oping committees organising themselves from below and
making their situation untenable.
The problems of regional planning represent the other
difficulty. This is partly because this profession disinte-
grated during the political and social changes, and now
has to be re-organised, and partly because it cannot be re-
organised according to the old schemes. It is an important
methodological challenge for the planners to acknowl-
edge the freedom of local communities in planning and
developing a new mechanism for reconciling the various
plans and methods of displaying initiatives from below.
• Role of large companies
Large companies which used to be the key participants in former
development strategies have reacted in an interesting manner. As
my experience lies in the underdeveloped areas I cannot analyse this
G. Fekete, Éva: Some Aspects of Regional Development from Below.
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SOME ASPECTS OF REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT FROM BELOW
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factor in depth, as one of the major characteristics of underdevel-
oped areas is the lack of such companies. Thus the emerging local
initiatives will not conflict with the interests of large companies.
• Other communities
—
Chance for the development of nation-wide networks
Building up a nation-wide network of the small area
development organisations was able to start after much
heralding. Typically, the organisations bearing some ele-
ments of real communities could first feel the importance
thereof. The National Association of Intercommunity
Development Organisations has 25 members. NAIDO
aims to extend channels for information flow, to promote
projects originating from direct connections with some
economic results, thereby strengthening professional
knowledge and managerial skills applicable in develop-
mental strategies from below. This organisation was built
up from below but at the same time the initiative from
above in setting up a national network can also be felt and
will be felt more intensively in the future.
-
Co-operation
A precondition of a national network's operation is the
co-operation between organisations and regions. In addi-
tion to the "good Hungarian mentality" the establishment
of partnerships is further hindered by the fact that the
development organisations depend on central funds and
consequently the competition for the development funds
is increasing.
External helpers
The preparedness and availability of external help is of crucial
importance in the process discussed, and here we have arrived at
the basic tasks of the universities and research institutes. How
the helpers can prepare themselves, the role of science in this
process, and the subsequent ways of making use of this help,
could be subjects of a whole other lecture.
To sum up, we can say that the regional development strategies from below can only
work well when a general decentralisation occurs. Those regions have the chances to
implement this kind of development where:
-
there are people on the directing boards who have already heard of this
concept and their value system harmonises with the facts described
above;
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EVA G. FEKETE
-
development planning and management is not thought to be the mayor's
privilege but intuitively or consciously the involvement of more and more
people is aimed at;
-
the intellectual background necessary to elaborate the strategy and some
starting capital are at their disposal and they also have the appropriate
system of connections to attract additional external funds.
Of more than 200 small area development organisations there are maximum 10
which satisfy the above criteria. From the perspective of the future of regional develop-
ment towards the twenty-first century, it is mandatory to monitor these activities, to
help them from outside and to create the general external conditions.
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