Modernization/Development Theory, CORDS, and FM 3-24?

[ganulv]

The theory in its most basic outline postulated societies passing through certain stages in history, culminating with the "modern" age. […] For Karl Marx, the crucial transformation was from the stage of Feudalism to Capitalism.

http://www.culturefeast.com/china-th...zation-theory/

I don’t know how deeply you want to dig into the intellectual history of this stuff, but if you do… Marx’s stages of history draw upon Lewis H. Morgan’s ethnical periods outlined in his magnum opus Ancient society.* Over the past century+ of ethnological/archaeological/historical research Morgan’s reconstruction of human history has been convincingly shown to be wanting, ergo the Marxist work based upon Marx and Engels’s work based upon it is in need of reevaluation.† And that’s just the Marxist stuff. Dig into non-Marxist ideas about modernization and you’ll find analogous (and maybe homologous!) stuff going on.

If these theories are discredited, why do we continue to interact with nations based on such theories?

Short memories? Group think? Laziness? I second Bill’s recommendation regarding having a look at the U.S.’s past half century of interaction in Vietnam. The fact that a development project for the Mekong based upon the TVA was in the pipes for years speaks volumes to me. As a native of Western North Carolina the most charitable thing I will say about the TVA is that it overpromised and underdelivered.

*If you are interested in the relationship of Morgan’s upon Marx and Engels’ understanding of human history I strongly recommend the 1964 John Harvard Library edition of Ancient society edited by Leslie White. A big part of the value White adds to this versus previous editions is in his discussion of the relationship of LHM’s work to M&E’s.

†Which in no way invalidates the roles of Morgan—whose work and life I have a great affection for for a number of reasons—or Marx and Engels as great question askers. Some of their answers still hold up pretty well after all these years, too, just not on this particular score.