 Hello, learners! Welcome to this lecture on the unit titled Political Modernization and Political Development from the BA Second Semester course in Political Science, namely Political Theory Part B. I am Dr. Abhijit Bhaya, Assistant Professor in Political Science at KK Handic State Open University. The unit titled Political Modernization and Political Development is the 14th unit of the course Political Theory Part B of BA Second Semester Political Science. In this unit, we shall learn about two very important concepts, namely Political Modernization and Political Development, centering on certain fundamental changes that take place in the structures and processes of political systems as a result of certain factors that have roots in the evolution of human societies through time. Essentially, political modernization involves changes in a range of spheres encompassing social, cultural, economic, and psychological dimensions. Generally speaking, the process of political modernization could be attributed to have started in Western Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries. Political Development, on the other hand, involves elements of state building and wider political participation and the origin of the concept can be traced back to the emergence of the newly independent countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America after the Second World War. Now, let us try to look at the learning objectives. After going through this lecture, you will be able to explain the meaning of political modernization, discuss the agents of political modernization, explain the meaning of political development, discuss the viewpoints of different scholars on the theme of political development. In this context, we shall discuss the views of scholars like Alman and Pavel, Rooster, Alfred German, Lucian Pai, among others, with regard to the concept of political development. Now, let us try to focus on the meaning and basic characteristics of political modernization. But before we actually proceed to discuss the concept of political modernization, it is essential to learn about the concept of modernization itself at the outset. Modernization implies change in all fields ranging from social, cultural, and economic to political and psychological fields. Modernization refers to a model of a progressive transition from a pre-modern or traditional to a modern society. Accordingly, modernization implies the progress on the part of the majority of people in the country from the traditional way of life to the modern way of life. Modernization is often associated with the processes of urbanization and industrialization and the spread of education. The concept of political modernization needs to be understood against this overall background of modernization. Generally speaking, the process of political modernization could be attributed to have started in Western Europe between the 16th and 18th centuries, particularly during the age of enlightenment, which laid emphasis on democratic values and institutions. Subsequently, it spread to other parts of the world, with the movement from the traditional to the modern, the old feudal and religious political order gave way to a more secular and democratic political order based on a set of legal rational rules embodying in the form of a constitution. Under the impact of political modernization, there occurs a transition from particularism to universalism, resulting in increasing rationalization, meaning replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society or the descriptive criteria with the achievement criteria. Structural functional specialization, equalization of power, and adoption of democratic processes and adherence to universal norms of equality, liberty in all spheres of public life. Political modernization paves the way for structural functional specialization characterized by the existence of a definite political institution to perform a definite role. For instance, the executive branch of the government would perform executive functions. The legislative branch would be entrusted with the power of legislation, while the judicial branch of the government would have the power to adjudicate disputes. At the same time, democratic values based on the concepts of liberty and equality begin to strike roots, paving the way for people's participation in the political processes and institutions. The main criterion for participation in the political system is the worth and dignity of the human personality, rather than any descriptive traits. As such, parochial loyalties based on caste, creed, ethnicity, race, etc. are substituted by universal democratic principles based on merit, equality, freedom, equity, and justice. A shift from a parochial political culture to a universal political culture takes place in a gradual manner. People then begin to identify themselves with national interests. Various organizations including political parties, interest groups, and other associational and professional groups are formed to raise people's demands and mobilize public opinion. As a result of political modernization, citizens get the opportunity to take part in the political process of the country. Efforts are made to ensure that the elections in the country are free and fair, and all the citizens have equal rights and opportunities to participate in the political processes. Thus, political modernization contributes to the growth of national identity bound by a spirit of national belongingness. One significant aspect of political modernization is the emergence of a secular state. A secular state means that the state will neither practice any official religion nor interfere in the practice of religion by its citizens. While it will create all religions equally, it will also not allow any citizen to misuse religion in order to gain political mileage. Political modernization is also characterized by the spread and development of modern techniques of mass media including newspapers, television, and radio broadcasts and usage of internet and social media. As a result, people become enlightened and politically conscious and start taking active part in politics. Now, let us try to analyze certain agents of political modernization. Political modernization is shaped by several agents. These are discussed as follows. Firstly, colonialism. One of the important agents of modernization is colonialism. Most of the European countries set up colonies in Asia and Africa. The colonists built roads, bridges, railways, telegraph and telephone services, banks, processing plants, oil and natural gas refineries and other necessary infrastructure in order to gain better control over the colonies and exploit their natural resources. However, when these countries gained independence, the infrastructural developments laid down by the earlier colonial powers were utilized by the national leaders of the newly independent countries to further modernize their countries. Elite. The second important agent of modernization is the elite. The colonialists set up educational institutions including schools and colleges to impart modern western education so as to create a class of people who would be western and liberal in outlook and tastes. After independence, this new elite class of people would serve as agents of social change in the social, cultural, economic and political spheres. Military leaders. The third important agent of political modernization happens to be military leaders. In some newly independent countries, military leaders managed to seize power. After consolidating their control over the country, these leaders embark upon the task of modernization. Secessionists and disintegrating tendencies are curved by the military rulers who try to strengthen unity among the people. For instance, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk captured power in Turkey and undertook the task of modernization and national unity. Political parties. The fourth important agent of political modernization happens to be political parties. Political parties also serve as agents of political modernization as they raise various issues of national and local importance and enable the citizens to take part in the public sphere. They also try to create a spirit of patriotism and nationalism. Thus, political parties help generate political consciousness among the masses and mobilize the people around various issues relating to governance and development. Birocracy. The fifth important agent of political modernization is the bureaucracy. Generally, the national governments of the newly independent countries undertake various programs to modernize their countries. In such a context, the national governments are bound to rely on the bureaucracy in order to implement such programs. The bureaucracy on its part is expected to remain committed to the philosophy embedded in the Constitution based on the principles of equality and social justice. Civil society. The sixth and the final agent of political modernization happens to be the civil society. In a politically modern society, the civil society is quite vibrant and works as a watchdog in the interests of the countrymen. Civil society organizations supplement the efforts of the state in nation-building activities and act as powerful agents of social harmony and social change. It may be mentioned here that ideally political modernization is related to democracy and as such the single most important factor leading to political modernization is the spread of democracy. Democratic values need to be inculcated at the level of the family leading up to the level of individual groups and communities. Democratic values spontaneously lead to political modernization as citizens start giving precedence to universal principles rather than parochial loyalties. Having discussed the concept of political modernization, now let us turn our attention to the concept of political development. The origin of the concept of political development is associated with the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Most of these countries secured independence after the Second World War. These countries subsequently attracted the attention of many political scientists in the 1950s, especially from America, who attempted to study the political dynamics of the newly emerging countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. Huge amounts of statistical and quantitative data on the social, political, economic and demographic aspects of these nations were collected to analyze their attitudes, values and behavior patterns. The names of Lucien Pye, Gabriel Alman, Bingham Powell, Rusto, Marin Weiner, David Apte, F.W. Riggs may be mentioned in this content. Let us analyze certain broad definitions of political development that have been put forward by eminent scholars. According to American scholars Rusto and Pye, political development aims at national unity and broadening the base of political participation. American political scientist Alfred Diamond holds that political development is not a process which aims at achieving a particular political condition, but one which creates an institution framework for solving an ever-widening range of social problems. Kenneth Ogensky saw political development in terms of four goals, namely political unification, industrialization, national welfare and abundance, meaning material influence. Gabriel Almond defined political development as the increased differentiation and specialization of political structures and the increased secularization of political culture. According to American political scientists Gabriel Almond and J. Bingham Powell, political development implies four problems. Firstly, that of state building. According to Gabriel Almond and Bingham Powell, the state must have modern institution structures, administrative apparatuses and agencies. These structures have specialized roles to play in order to deal with different socioeconomic, cultural and political problems which may crop up from time to time in any nation. The institution structures would include the executive, both the political executive in the form the government in power and the non-political executive including the civil bureaucracy and the police, then the legislature and finally the judiciary. Most importantly, it is the centralized bureaucracy which plays a significant role in implementing policies for socioeconomic development and contribute towards developing attitudes, obedience and compliance among the general population. Nation building. The second problem identified by Almond and Powell is that of nation building. Nation building implies giving up narrow and parochial loyalties such as loyalty to the tribal chief, family, caste, religion, ethnic group, region, etc. and embracing certain broad universal principles. The citizen instead must owe allegiance to the state. The citizen identifies himself or herself with national interests. This leads to national integration and development of national consciousness. State building and nation building may go hand in hand. However, in most developing countries, while state building has been achieved, the issue of nation building is yet to be fully resolved. Then another problem identified by Almond and Powell happens to be political participation. As a society develops politically, there is an increasing demand from the public to take part in the decision making process. The fourth problem identified by Almond and Powell is equitable distribution of welfare. Increased political participation leads to the demand for equitable distribution of benefits and national income among all sections of the society irrespective of caste, creed, race, sex, etc. Recruitment to high posts should be made only through merit and equal opportunities should be created for all. An emerging theory of political development, according to Almond, has to connect the ways in which particular political systems have encountered and solved these four problems of development with the prevailing patterns of structure, culture and performance. Political development is related by Almond to political structure and political culture. In a development approach, political development is measured by role differentiation and subsystem independence and political culture by secularization. According to Almond and Powell, political development takes place if a political system successfully copes with a challenge of developmental problems of state building and nation building, distribution and the like. Now let us look at Lucian Pi's interpretation of political development. Lucian Pi was an American political scientist and a comparative politics expert. According to Lucian Pi, there are three essential attributes of political development and the degree of development in any country can be assessed with the help of these characteristics. These three characteristics are equality. Firstly, these three characteristics are firstly, equality, secondly, capacity of the political system and finally, differentiation. Now let us examine what Lucian Pi meant by equality. The first characteristic is the attitude towards equality. The political system sees mass participation of citizens in political activities. Such participation may be either democratic or totalitarian. Equality also means laws are applicable to all and must be applied impersonally. Thus, there should be codified legal system. Recruitment to public office must be the basis of merit and qualification. Secondly, Lucian Pi talks about the capacity of the political system. The capacity of the political system to fulfill the needs and aspirations of the people by way of efficient management of public affairs, resolution of disputes and coping with the new demands of the people needs to be taken into consideration. Thus, capacity means effectiveness and efficiency in the execution of public policy, governmental performance, rationality and administration and secularization of public policies. Finally, Lucian Pi talks about differentiation. There occurs differentiation in the political system in terms of progressive separation and specialization of roles. It involves increase of structures, institutions, division of labor and specialization. For instance, legal norms will be separated from religion, administration from politics and so on. Again, there will be specialized structures for specialized roles based on an ultimate sense of integration. Thus, political development according to Lucian Pi is a three-dimensional process of equality, capacity and differentiation. He admits that these do not necessarily or easily fit together. Rather, acute tensions and problems are generated by them. Pressure for greater equality can challenge the capacity of the system and differentiation can reduce equality by stressing the importance of quality and special knowledge. From the above discussion on political development, we find that the concept has been defined variously by various scholars in various ways. There are many connotations to concept of political development encompassing aspects of state building and nation building to increase political participation, differentiation, capacity of the political system and efficiency in governance. Now, let us look at some of the important suggested references with regard to the concepts of political modernization and political development, which may be helpful for you to know more about the concepts of political modernization and political development. Firstly, R.C. Agarwal's book titled Political Theory, Principles of Political Science, brought out by S. Chandan Company. Then, there is another book by Eddie Ashidwartham and K.K. Mishra, titled Political Theory, brought out by S. Chandan Company. Again, we have a book written by A.C. Kapoor, titled Principles of Political Science, brought out by S. Chandan Company. And finally, we have another important book written by V.D. Mahajan, titled Political Theory, again brought out by S. Chandan Company. So, these four books will definitely help you know more about the concepts of political modernization and political development. Now, let us have a summary of the two concepts of political modernization and political development that we have discussed so far. Thus far, we have discussed the concepts of political modernization and political development. Modernization implies the progress and the part of the majority of people in a country from the traditional way of life to the modern way of life. Such social mobility leads to new types of social transformation, increasing literacy, adoption of new technology, urbanization, and industrialization. It is against this overall backdrop of modernization that a concept of political modernization could be understood. Under political modernization, a transition from particularism to universalism becomes evident, resulting in increasing rationalization. It involves the replacement of traditions, values, and emotions as motivators for behavior in society or the descriptive criteria with the achievement criteria. Structural functional specialization, equalization of power, and adoption of democratic processes and adherence to universal norms of liberty and equality in all spheres of public life. With the movement from the traditional to the modern, the old feudal and religious order give way to a more secular and democratic political order paving the way for emergence of a universal political culture. Further, there are many agents which shape the process of political modernization, including colonialism, elite, military leaders, political parties, bureaucracy, and civil society. With respect to the concept of political development, we find the concept is associated with developing countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, which attracted the attention of many political scientists in the 1950s, notably Lucian Pai, Gabriel Unmond, Bingham Powell, Rooster, and others. Different thinkers have defined political development in many different ways. Again, Rooster and Lucian Pai defines political development as national unity and broadening of the base of political participation. Kenneth Oganski saw political development in terms of four goals, namely political unification, industrialization, national welfare, and abundance, meaning material affluence. Gabriel Unmond defined political development as the increased differentiation and specialization of political structures and the increased secularization of political culture. According to Lucian Pai, there are three essential attributes of political development, including equality, capacity of the political system, and differentiation. According to Lucian Pai, the degree of development in any country can be assessed with the help of the characteristics of equality, differentiation, and capacity. According to American political scientists Gabriel Unmond and Bingham Powell, political development implies four problems, namely state building, nation building, political participation, and equitable distribution of welfare. Unmond and Powell have suggested that political development takes place if a political system successfully copes with the challenge of developmental problems of state building and nation building, distribution, and the like. Thus, the concept of political development has been defined and described variously by various scholars. So that brings us to the end of our lecture on political modernization and political development. Thank you.