Social Development in the Global South

Introduction

Determinants of social development in the developing world are unclear just as the ones facilitating economic development and industrialization. The subject has remained a controversial one for a while, at least among academics, and might remain that way for years to come. From McGuire to Haggard and Kaufman to Huber and Stephens, different theories have been put forward to explain the origin or causes of social entitlements in the global South, as well as its development over time, with no central point of agreement among the authors.

Even though there is a lack of agreement as to the main determinants of social development in the developing world among the authors, they all agree that, raising the human capital of individuals mainly through investments in education, as well as provision of social insurance, services, and assistance are necessary and important in the fight against poverty and inequality.

In this paper, I will focus and analyse the different explanations of social development, offered by Huber and Stephens in their book “Democracy and the Left” and by Haggard and Kaufman in “Development, Democracy and the Welfare States”. I will argue that while both explanations seem to have their merits and limitations, Haggard and Kaufman’s argument seem to be more convincing, as their explanation of factors influencing social development could be easily applied to most regions of the developing world than the one put forward by Huber and Stephens. However, this not to suggest, as I will demonstrate in the paper, that explanations offered by Huber and Stephens are completely inadequate as it rightly described to an extent, the development of social benefits in the region they focused on –Latin America.

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...ntrast among the various regimes –communists, conservatives, and the left– based on their three previously discussed determinants of social development in the developing world. By focusing on only one region- Latin America, Huber and Stephens arguments on the importance of democracy and ‘left’ parties for social development, might for instance, be difficult to apply to Eastern Europe.

Moreover, while both literatures have some areas of agreement, Haggard and Kaufman seem to offer better explanations based on the following points:

Works Cited

Haggard, Stephan and Kaufman, Robert. Development, Democracy, and Welfare States: Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008

Huber, Evelyne and Stephens, John. Democracy and the Left: Social Policy and Inequality in Latin America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012