Industrialization vs. Agrarian Reform: West German Modernization Policies in India in the 1950s and 1960s

Abstract

Industrialization or Agrarian Reform? West German Modernization Policies in India in the 1950s and 1960s

This article takes into view different West German positions on Third World modernization and studies how they translated into development programmes in India in the 1950s and 1960s. Two projects serve as case studies: The steel mill Rourkela embodies the industrialization approach favoured by representatives of West German business and economic interests, most of whom were convinced of the need for and the advantages of, industrialization as the most effective path toward overall modernization. The other case study is the agricultural co-operative project Mandi, which, in part, mirrored the anti-modern (and, in some instances, anti- American) critique of the Western modernization model and focused on gradual improvement instead of radical change. This approach rested on the belief in the need for a stable Third World order able to withstand communism and, linked to that, the fear of ‹overpopulation›. India's development and modernization policies and programmes are integrated into the discussion of the two case studies. In conclusion, the article considers the role of the Cold War and decolonization in modernization policies as well as the contrast between modernization theory and practice.