Social theorists have long debated the concept of what development means and how it is achieved. As Harrison (1988: 154–155) suggested, development has had several meanings including ‘economic growth, structural change, autonomous industrialisation, capitalism or socialism, self-actualisation and individual, national, regional, and cultural self reli- ance’. In examining questions of uneven development and socioeconomic and spatial inequalities in developing countries, especially in Africa, Konadu-Agyemang (2000: 470) outlines wide disparities in ‘incomes, access to health care, education, and other services not only between rural and urban areas but also between regions and genders’. The problems of underdevelopment have continued to perplex agencies and researchers, leading some to question the validity of development theorizing and others to search for new ground to break through the impasse in development theory (Schuurman, 1993). Analysing social change and social theorizing is an attempt to make sense of the social world (Preston, 1996). It is based on complex, interlinked claims on the nature of the social world (ontology), the nature of the knowledge in respect of the social world (epistemology),
the manner in which the knowledge is secured (methodology), and the manner in which the knowledge is put to use (practice) (Preston, 1996).
The various influences on theory and their links to practice have long been at the centre of the debate surrounding development. Hettne (1990) argues that development theory can be divided into development ideology (the means) and development strategy (ends). He also suggests that there can be no final definition of development, only suggestions of what development should imply in particular contexts. Thus, development involves structural transformation that implies political, cultural, social and economic changes (Hettne, 1990).
With the end of the Second World War and the formation of new nation states, there have been various distinct approaches to the issue of development, which have found practical expression through a variety of agencies responsible for social intervention and reform (Preston, 1996).
Tourism is one such method used by a variety of agencies (public, private and non-profit) to generate development. The pertinent question for this chapter then is what is the role of tourism in development and correspond- ingly who benefits from that development. Can community capacity be built through tourism development?
Preston (1996) suggests three approaches to characterize and secure development. The first approach presents arguments for state actions to secure order. This is advocated by agencies, including international ones linked to the United Nations (UN), which are committed to the develop- ment goal of effective statehood. The second approach is guided by a set of ideas, which argue for the spontaneous order of the marketplace.
A self-regulating market and minimum state interference are at the heart of this approach. The institutional vehicles of development under this are monetary organizations such at the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Finally, the third approach argues for the polity in achieving order and development. The ideas here relate to the power of the political community to secure rational goals for development. A central role is allo- cated to the public sphere with rational dialogue. The approach is oriented to securing formal and substantive democracy, and the institutional vehicles are non-governmental organizations (NGOs), charities and dissenting groups.
Changes in development theory since the end of the Second World War and the corresponding trends in the tourism industry have been examined by Telfer (1996, 2002a). Telfer (1996) used the following four categories for analysis of development and tourism: modernization, dependency, economic neo-liberalism and alternative development. Each paradigm can in part be seen as a reaction against the previous paradigm and certain paradigms have taken a position of hegemony over other devel- opment theories. The paradigms are also influenced to a certain degree by views from across the political spectrum. The following sections briefly
trace the evolution of development thought since the Second World War making reference to tourism and community development under these four paradigms, although this is only one way of classifying development thought. As indicated in the introduction, the potential for community development associated with tourism will be determined in part by the overriding paradigm guiding the development process.
Modernization
Modernization has been defined as a process of socioeconomic develop- ment that follows an evolutionary path from a traditional society to a mod- ern society such as North America (Schmidt, 1989). Sklair (1991) suggests that modernization theories of the global system are largely based on the distinction between the traditional and the modern. Within the moderniza- tion paradigm is the work of Rostow (1967) and his Stages of Economic Growth. He argued that for development to occur, a country had to pass through the stages of traditional society, preconditions for take off, the drive to maturity, and the age of high-mass consumption. Tourism has been offered as a solution to move a country from a state of underdevelopment to one of development. It has been promoted as a strategy to transfer tech- nology, increase employment, generate foreign exchange, increase the gross domestic product, and to attract development capital as well as a way to promote a modern way of life (Britton, 1982; Mathieson and Wall, 1982;
Cater, 1987). Large-scale mass tourism has been seen as a way to infuse for- eign capital and generate foreign exchange quickly. The notion of moving to a state of being developed can also be seen in the strategies of regional economic development theorists such as Perroux’s (1988) growth poles and Myrdal’s (1963) spread effects. Countries such as Mexico and Indo- nesia, for example, have also used tourism as a regional economic develop- ment tool, setting up tourism growth poles in the hope that the multiplier effect of tourism would spread throughout the region (Telfer, 2002b). Con- cepts on the evolutionary growth of tourism, in a format with parallels to the work of Rostow, have also been proposed by Butler (1980) and adapted widely in the tourism literature. As tourism grows over time, development proceeds; however, local control can be lost to outside forces and hence the community ends up playing a minor role. Depending on conditions in the destination, there may be limited potential for community development in the drive to modernize through large-scale mass tourism. Economic growth is often associated with modernization and in terms of tourism develop- ment it is important to understand whether the economic benefits reach the local community and help build community capacity. The difficulty with tourism as a development tool is further highlighted in Butler’s model when a destination stagnates and falls out of favour.
Dependency
The dependency paradigm gained prominence in the 1960s as a critique to modernization. North American Marxists or neo-Marxists and Latin American intellectuals concluded that the international system ‘far from guaranteeing the South’s prosperity, brought domination effects to bear upon it and locked it in dependence’ (Rist, 1997: 109). It is argued that there are internal political, institutional and economic structures in developing countries that keep them in a dependent position in the global economic system controlled by developed countries. The resulting inter- national capitalistic system of rich and poor countries leaves an unequal power relationship between the developed (centre) and the developing (periphery) (Cardoso, 1979; Frank, 1988; Todaro, 1994). The dependency paradigm has been raised in tourism in terms of the centre–periphery rela- tionships that have evolved within the industry. It has been argued that tourism generates a form of neocolonialism whereby large multinational corporations, such as airlines, tour operators and hotel chains, control the industry from the developed countries leaving the developing countries at the mercy of these global giants (Britton, 1982). Power structures emerge in the tourism industry reinforcing the dependency and vulnerability of developing country destinations (Telfer, 1996). Within the framework of neocolonialism, the power and control of the tourism industry is external, leaving limited potential for community development through tourism as destinations are exploited by the tourism industry. To counteract these forces, advocates of the dependency perspective argue for state inter- vention and protectionist policies. There have been attempts by some countries to develop their own state-sponsored tourism (e.g. state-run hotel chains) in an attempt to promote self-reliance (Curry, 1990), a concept that will be discussed below in the context of community development.
Economic neo-liberalism
The rise of economic neo-liberalism was developed in reaction to strong state intervention including that promoted by structural dependency theo- rists (Telfer, 1996). The movement favours supply-side macroeconomics, free competitive markets and the privatization of state enterprises as seen in the conservative government policies in the 1980s in the USA, Canada, UK and West Germany (Todaro, 1994). Agencies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have promoted the use of Structural Adjustment Lending Programmes directed at specific policy changes in the receiving countries. The impacts of structural adjustment have been explored by Mohanet al. (2000) and Konadu-Agyemang (2000). Campfens (1997b) noted the move to a global society in the context of community
development. While it is useful to examine community development at a national level, it also needs to be understood in an international context.
Mega-level changes are at work moving from an era of nation states towards a global society dominated by regional market economies and growing interdependence. Along with the trend of internationalized capital, ‘many governments are turning to neoliberal monetarist policies, and this has undermined the politics of social democracy that legitimated the rise of the welfare state in many countries throughout much of this century’
(Campfens, 1997b: 13). These neo-liberal strategies have been picked up within the tourism industry in the push for freer movement of people and capital between states. International agencies such as the World Bank and the European Union (EU) have provided funding for tourism develop- ment projects and some developing countries have passed laws allowing increased foreign investment to help foster the tourism industry (Inskeep and Kallenberger, 1992). Poirer (1995), for example, stated that the future of tourism in Tunisia centred on comparative advantage, economic think- ing and external pressures towards structural adjustment measures. Issues related to tourism and community development here again relate to issues of control outlined above. By attracting private multinational tourism corporations and borrowing funds for tourism infrastructure from inter- national agencies, control of the industry in the destination may be external. It is argued that it is only the local elite that benefit under the economic neo-liberal approach and the structural adjustment lending programmes have been criticized for the dire social consequences on the local population (Brohman, 1996). Unless funds are targeted to assist in community tourism development projects then the potential for commu- nity development may be lost in the pressures of the global economy. One such international funding programme which focuses on local support and involvement is the LEADER programme (Liaisons Entre Actions pour la Développement des Économies Rurales) of the EU which is intended to promote an integrated approach to rural development. Tourism has become one of the main concepts of business plans submitted for funding through this programme. In a successful case, Sharpley and Sharpley (1997) described the South Pembrokeshire Partnership for Action with Rural Communities (SPARC) in the UK, which covers some 35 rural communities and was able to provide help to over 100 different projects with many of them related to rural tourism.
Alternative development
Finally, the alternative development paradigm evolved out of criticisms of the Eurocentric, meta-narrative, economic models that preceded it and tends to be focused on basic needs, people and the environment (Schmidt,
1989). The approach is centred on a grass-roots, participatory approach, which empowers local people. Also included in this paradigm is the con- cept of sustainable development, which has come to mean meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the needs of future generations, a definition that gained prominence out of the 1987 World Commission on the Environment and Development. As Redclift (1987) suggested, the dominant modernization, dependency and neo-liberal para- digms did not incorporate the environment into development. Mitchell (1997) also points out that key aspects of sustainable development include empowerment of local people, self-reliance and social justice. Alternative tourism development strategies have tended to stress small-scale, locally owned developments, community participation, and environmental and cultural sustainability; however, the strategies need to be developed within the contexts of the individual countries (Brohman, 1996). The highly con- tested notion of sustainable development and the need for environmental protection and community involvement have quickly been brought into tourism research. Mowforth and Munt (1998) examined the evolution of sustainability and note the fact that the meaning of sustainability is disputed by international agencies, national governments, new social and environmental movements, tour operators and tourists. The rise of environmentalism has led to investigations into the highly debated term
‘ecotourism’ and the development of NGOs concerned over the impact of tourism, such as Tourism Concern. Other studies have focused on the role of indigenous tourism developments (Telfer, 2000a) and the implications of tourism development on gender (Sinclair, 1997; Apostolopouloset al., 2001). Within the alternative development framework, the potential to generate community development through tourism remains high. At the heart of the approach is local control and empowerment as indicated by Mitchell (1997) above. In the case of the village of Bangunkerto, Indonesia, the introduction of agritourism was found to generate community development as the villagers cooperated on the initiative and control was maintained at the local level (Telfer, 2000a). Some of the difficulties in trying to achieve community development through tourism under this paradigm are raised later in this chapter.
As highlighted briefly above, the concept of development is a contested notion that has long been debated. The debate has given rise to the following critique from those in the post-developmental camp:
Delusion and disappointment, failures and crimes have been the steady companions of development and they tell a common story: it did not work.
Moreover, the historical conditions which catapulted the idea into promi- nence have vanished: development has become outdated. But above all, the hopes and desires which made the idea fly, are now exhausted: development has grown obsolete.
(Sachs, 1992: 1)
Peet (1999) generalized the positions of those in the post-development camp into three categories that rejected the way of thinking and the mode of living produced by modern development. These categories include radical pluralism, simple living and reappraising non-capitalist societies. Peet (1999) suggests that support for local initiatives and the importance of community involvement in the development process are among the recurring themes from those in the post-development camp.
Having briefly traced the evolution of development thought and its relationship to tourism and community development, it is important to address the meaning of community development in more detail from the perspective of empowerment, participation, partnership, community capacity and community change.