Technology and the Development Debate: Limitations of NIEO Strategy

Abstract

Technology has become the new central factor in the debate about development. The means to achieve development (which, it is assumed, must necessarily be in the image of a few industrialized countries, whether of the West or the East) is conceptualized simply as the transfer of technology, regardless of the certain mismatch between imported, culturally determined, technology and the historically given structural and institutional frameworks of the importing societies. On the international level, transferred technology tends to create dependency; on the national level, it leads to distortions and undesirable developments. This paper explicates the relationship between technology and social systems, and discusses its implications for development strategies.