Abstract
The central aim of the present paper will be to provide thorough analysis of urbanization and education as factors contributing to development not only on a global level but also on individual, regional, national, and continental one. The paper is separated in two basic parts. The first one will try to clarify the concept of development and why it is important to understand it in the conditions of the today’s world. Moreover, a vital target of the first part of the paper will be to identify what the international community is doing to promote general development and what additional actions should be carried out for the future. Afterthat, the paper will undertake the aim of analyzing the education and urbanization in regards to their political, social, economic, environmental and cultural implications for the progress of societies and countries. According to the author, the understanding of development as a concept and the adequate knowledge of two vitally important development factors enables people to live in the conditions of the interdependent world, and to work together for the achievement of more just and sustainable humanity in which resources and power are more equitably shared. The acute awareness of the issue of development with all of its complexity is critical for the success of countries, nations, and individuals.

I. What is development? Theory and analysis

1. Definition
Development has been identified through (and used interchangeably with) the concepts of growth, progress, and improvement. All of the three terms imply something that is continuously evolving and moving forward, thus development should be understood as a process not as one-time act. There is no start- or end-point in the course of development, and it is extremely multidimensional. Development is observable in every part of life and is not solely economic, but social, cultural, political, environmental, technological, business, etc. Exactly this complexity of the issue requires efforts and changes in internal and external levels in the global structure so that the desired upward movement of the social system can be effectively achieved.
The concept of development has highly positive connotation and is often associated with idealistic and everlasting desires of the humanity such as healthier and happier life for everyone, fair distribution of the world’s wealth, availability of consumer goods, general provision of at least the basic needs for all, political stability, benign relations among countries and nations, etc. But for the attainment of all of this first some basic qualities should be achieved. These qualities as generally agreed are: live substance; self-esteem; and freedom . On individual level a person can not develop him/herself if not having at the first place food, shelter, protection and safety. Moreover, a person who has been continuously tortured or persuaded in personal malfunction does not possess the will and belief in success needed to actually achieve it. And finally, a person who is living in highly censored and limited environment is not free to achieve his/her personal desires (if they spread beyond the officially recognized borders), thus this person is unable to develop. Though explained on an individual level all of the three basic qualities required for development are important on national and international level as well. That is why greater efforts are needed by the international society to extent the live substance for more people around the world, to decrease (and eventually extinguish) the states/nations living in the conditions of authoritarian regimes, and finally to assure that every person is living in an environment in which he/she can develop his/her self-esteem.
In order to develop a country must concurrently pay attention to social, economic, political, cultural and environmental issues to ensure that development is sustainable and beneficial to all. Reaching an acceptable standard of living for all people includes giving everyone access to the basics: Food, Housing, Jobs, Health Services, Education, Safety and Security . In this context even in the most economically developed countries development issues are occurring on daily basis (In the mid-90s one of the leading European economies Germany has almost 2% of the population, mostly minorities living on the edge of poverty ). Thus, in comprehending the concept of development it should be realized that development is not only about the Third World.
2. Sustainable development
In the last decade considerable emphasis has been put on environment and nature sustainability . Thus, in order to highlight these new considerations and trends the international community has been increasingly using the term “sustainable development”. Sustainable development is "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." . Sustainable development implies economic growth together with the protection of environmental quality. Many observers believe that participatory democracy, undominated by vested interests, is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development . There are five main targets that clarify the concept of sustainable development. The so called Five Es of Sustainability are Economy, Ecology, Equity, Education, and Evaluation. Overall these five targets aim at the achievement of economy compatible with nature. They promote economic development plans that protect natural resources through improvements in management practices, technology, efficiency, and changes in life-style, as well as creating societal well-being for all people with equal access to jobs, education, natural resources, and services . Moreover, these targets strive for achieving life-long learning, awareness and training that will assist people make more informed choices.
2. Why understanding development is important?
There are 6 billion people alive today: One billion people live in developed countries. The other 5 billion live in developing countries where they barely survive on less than a dollar a day. The one billion who live in developed countries control 80% of the global resources. This leaves the other five billion people to get by on 20% of the world’s resources .
This simple statistic provides the answer to the question why development is important for the live of people. In the conditions of the 21st century with its unprecedented economic growth and technological breakthroughs across cultures it is critically important greater justice and equality to be spread around the world and the acute imbalances between rich and poor to be corrected. The understanding of the meaning behind the development concept will enable people to understand the links between their own lives and those of people throughout the world, will help them comprehend the economic, social, political and environmental forces which shape their lives, and will bring cultures together . Moreover, 21st century welcomed a world which is completely interdependent. All countries are linked by trade, finance, environment, drugs, crime, migration, diseases/epidemics, etc. Problems in one country inevitably affect other countries. For example, internal conflict in one country puts in motion a slew of problems that transcend borders: diseases and epidemics can spread, refugees start moving, and trade is disrupted . Thus, in the interest of the developed countries is to cope with the development issues within their affluent realms, and to help the developing nations catch up faster. The aim of development is to help people become more productive and to improve the quality of life for individuals, families, communities and countries as a whole. As people become more productive, a country is in a better position to trade with other countries, and more trade means more goods and services to continue improving living conditions.
3. Present actions, Challenges and Future Issues.
Development requires education and equality, as well as greater participation by the citizenry, better infrastructure worldwide, and higher environmental standards . Thus, the first challenge to engaging wider public with the development issue is connecting to the financial implication of this endeavor. Spending should be increased. Moreover, stereotypical images, connected to limited knowledge and understanding of the issue, and racial and cultural prejudices should be changed . The surveys showed a lack of understanding of the real issues of development . Moreover, the limited knowledge people possess is heavily weighted to those countries that had large scale disasters, respectively were covered by the media sources in the developed communities . There is existent lack of education in schools covering development issues and in most of the cases pupils tend to view developing countries negatively and later on as adults have no desire for radical change .
Key to progress has to be an engaged and informed active citizenry. This will not be achieved merely by communicating messages or organizing more campaigns. Providing opportunities for the public to learn and gain real understanding of global and development issues will ensure a more informed citizenry. Governments, NGOs and civil society bodies have to collectively invest in ensuring that people have the opportunities to learn about and engage in development. This includes enabling people to be able to make connections between their own lives and those of people elsewhere in the world and to have the knowledge, confidence and skills to make informed choices for positive change . Andrew Darnton in his research concludes that “formal education is best placed to deliver understanding of the complex issues of development.” People need the opportunity to learn, understand and develop the skills to actively engage in support of development issues. People need the knowledge and value base on which to critically assess how global development issues have been tackled. The widespread research on development issues identified the three basic challenges that need to be addressed in order greater understanding of the development issue to be achieved. These are:
• negative images and patronizing attitudes that are still prevalent in too many areas of the society in the developed world towards the South
• lack of opportunities for people to learn more about the issue
• voices of peoples from the South too often ignored in consultations on policy initiatives relating to development and education in developed countries .
Steps should be taken to raise the awareness and understanding of how global issues affect the lives of individuals, communities and societies. This aim can be achieved by widespread education about the subject which will bring global perspectives into all aspects of learning - the school classroom, universities, local community activities, and the media. Lifelong learning will help people in the developed countries understand the links between their own lives and those of people throughout the world. Moreover, it will motivate people to work towards achieving a more just and a more sustainable world in which power and resources are more equitably shared.

II. Urbanization and education as factors affecting the process of development

After clarifying the concept of development the paper will continue with examining two particular factors that contribute to development. These factors will be explored separately and the structure of the second part of the paper will follow the guidelines in the first one. First an attempt for an appropriate definition of the term will be made and afterthat the relevance of the concept in the today’s world will be considered with examples of present issues connected to the particular factor as well as suggestions (made by the author but based on extensive research on the topic) for future endeavors for promoting the factor will be made. At the end of the paper along with the final remarks the interdependence of the two factors will be explored with the hope that till that stage of the paper it will be more than obvious for the reader that the factors are completely inter-reliant.
1. Education
Definition
The word education is derived from the Latin educare meaning "to raise", "to train", "to rear", via "educatio/nis", bringing up, raising, leading forth . Education was chosen as a factor of research in this paper because according to the author this is the most powerful mean through which development occurs on all levels of society – individual, national, and international. Education is the key factor and achievement in the developmental progress of people and countries. Education is the lubricant of development . It empowers people, strengthens nations, and is a key to attaining the Millennium Development Goals . Without education a person is not able to function properly in society and respectively a nation that has poor or irrelevant education is generally less developed than nations famous with their educational institutions. Education is necessary for absolutely every aspect of life and development, thus according to the author it affects all of the other factors of development. Education is necessary for regulating the birth rate and for better health and safety (families learn to make family planning and take contraception, thus the explosive demographic growth in some developing countries is managed and the person’s health and live expectancy increased); for helping countries industrialize faster and make the appropriate market choices (thus helping them develop functioning market economy which is critical for success in the capitalist world); for helping people make the right migration choices and find better jobs and assure themselves higher standard of living (thus education will assist mitigating the urbanization problem occurring in the last century); for improving the agricultural practices, increasing production and income(agricultural production is 25% higher among those with even 4 years of schooling ). Knowledge gives powerful advantages to those who possess it. Thus usually people with higher educational degree earn higher incomes, have leading positions in the professional hierarchy, and have more comfortable life than people on the opposite side of the educational scale. The analyses on country level follow the same logic. In some countries the educational content is outdated and the quality of education is dubious, respectively the development of those countries is hindered since their education is not sufficient or relevant to the international situation . In some places even rudimentary equipment such as writing facilities and paper are limited . Ethiopia is infamous with its development problems and when one looks closer at its educational system maybe part of the explanation for its problems is hidden in the poor didactic methods used in the country. America on the other hand is considered the dominant power of the century and again the universities in the USA are recognized as the best educational institutions in the world . The fundamental reason for the pre-eminence of the United States as a source of innovation in the 20th century is the pre-eminence of its universities. The most consequential technological breakthroughs have been the fruits of public investment in the scientific talent of universities. The author is not arguing that only the difference in education is explanation for the different developments of the states and individuals, but part of the explanation for these disparities may be found in the various educational systems. In developing countries people are sometimes unaware of the importance of education, and there is economic pressure from those parents who prioritize their children's making money in the short term over any long-term benefits of education . A lack of good universities and a low acceptance rate for good universities is evident in countries with a relatively high population density. In some countries there are uniform, overstructured, inflexible centralized programs from a central agency that regulates all aspects of education . In order the development of these countries to gain momentum the educational systems should be decisively transformed and this should be made with the join efforts of both the policy makers and nations in these countries themselves, and the relevant help of developed countries and international organizations.
Why education is important for development?
115 million children around the world are not in school. Poor kids often can’t go to school because they need to work to help their families survive. Two-thirds of the kids who don’t go to school are girls. More than 70% of the out-of-school children are in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Of those who go to school, one-third drop out before they learn to read, write and count. Over 15% of children in developing countries don’t complete a course of primary education . In Sub-Saharan Africa, less than 60% of children complete a course of primary education. Nearly 1 billion adults in the world are illiterate. Women account for 2/3 of all illiterate adults. Enrolment in tertiary education in poor countries was less than 10% in 1997, compared to 57% in rich countries . Rich countries spend $4,000 on a student each year, while developing countries spend $40 . In South Asia, 36 million of children are out of school—22 million of them are girls. In East Asia and the Pacific, there are 12 million children out of school—6 million of them are girls. In the Arab States, there are 7.4 million children out of school—4.5 million of them are girls. In Latin America, there are 2.5 million children out of school—1.2 million of them are girls .
Education is important because of the figures quoted above and because in the 21st century it is unacceptable millions of people around the world not to be able to enjoy the breakthroughs and advances the rest of the mankind is taking for granted. Education is important because it provides widespread employment opportunities plus higher income for people and develops a more productive workforce within the country. It is outrageous that in the century of the machine in some countries children are deprived of their childhood and forced to work. This should be changed and the next part of the paper is analyzing what steps are currently taken and what future issues should be tacked so that in the next decade piecemeal more people will start improving themselves through education. Because education helps people strengthen their skills, learn their rights, and find their voice, which effectively will transform the developing countries and reduce the economic and social gap between the nations in the world .
What should be done? Present situation and future challenges
Presently the most significant step taken in regards increasing the educational levels in developing countries is the agreement reached by world leaders from 180 countries at the World Education Forum in 2000 that by 2015 all boys and girls should be enrolled in school and be able to complete primary education . This international commitment to give every boy and girl in developing countries a good, free and compulsory primary school education is called Education for All (EFA) . To help all countries accomplish the EFA goals, donors partnered up with the countries most in need to help them develop good education plans and help all kids complete their schooling. Donors provide financial and technical support while countries work to develop sound national education plans. As of June 2005, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Madagascar, Mauritania, Moldova, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Niger, Vietnam, and Yemen are receiving support from FTI .
Except this initiative private organizations such as the World Bank are funding educational development . The Bank works closely with governments, United Nations, donors, civil society organizations, and other partners to help developing countries enroll all children, especially girls and disadvantaged children, in school and enable them to complete a primary education .
Thanks to such initiatives overall, illiteracy has greatly decreased in recent years. For example, the percentage of population without any schooling decreased from 36% in 1960 to 25% in 2000 . Among developing countries, illiteracy and percentages without schooling in 2000 stood at about half the 1970 figures. Among developed countries, illiteracy rates decreased from 6 % to 1 %, and percentages without schooling decreased from 5 to 2 . Illiteracy rates in less economically developed countries surpassed those of more economically developed countries by a factor of 10 in 1970, and by a factor of about 20 in 2000 . Illiteracy decreased greatly in LDCs, and virtually disappeared in MDCs. Percentages of the population with no schooling varied greatly among LDCs in 2000, from less than 10 % to over 65 %. MDCs had much less variation, ranging from less than 2 % to 17 % .
Despite of these positive achievements further reform of education is necessary in order all of the problems connected to lack of education to be solved. One way of action should be directed towards the educational programmes and their relevancy. In some countries though advance in attendance and literacy has been made the material studied in schools is outdated and irrelevant. Current achievements in the realm of education (such as increased spending) should be strengthened and extended. Obvious from the data provided above is that the educational levels among women are lower, thus improvement for female attendance and opportunities is critical for advancement in the area. Moreover, education still reflects inequalities among countries, regions, and races. There is the clear divide between South and North and respectively the disparity in literacy rates is striking (see above). Moreover, within countries different regions has different access to educational opportunities. In a developing nation like Indonesia the disparity between people from bigger and central for the country cities and people from the suburbs and more isolated villages is huge with literacy within the core regions going up 87% compared to 2% in the villages ! Inequality is existent even in the most developed countries and it reflects the gap between the majority and minority groups (often different races). In America the difference between the majority (white non-Hispanic) and minority (Hispanics and Blacks) in educational levels is approximately 49% .
Other aspect of improvement in education globally will be decisive action for the increase of the education connected to change in employment or need of new work-occupational skills. Also, family improvement education – knowledge, skills, attitudes towards family planning and contraception should be reexamined. Furthermore, in developing countries quite acute problem is the gap in training, equipment, and shortages of entrepreneurs which does not allow these countries to compete internationally and push them into the vicious cycle of dependency and poverty. Education can help these nations escape from this cycle and develop rapidly.
In addition, steps should be taken in order the so-called knowledge-economy to be shared on a global scale. The knowledge cartels owned by the US, the EU, and Japan in software, pharmaceutical, chemical, and entertainment industries privatize knowledge which grants them the power to discipline markets and harass the nations which do not have access to this knowledge . An example of the drawbacks coming out of these knowledge cartels was the situation in India in the 1960s. Despite having one of the poorest populations in the world, India had some of the world's highest drug prices . Thus, only the small minority of rich Indians had access to drugs and pharmaceuticals, which eventually led to growing social disparities in the country. Nowadays though, the pharmaceutical drug cartel has been effectively broken by the will of international organizations and the Indian nation itself. Increasing political stability and technological development, gave India the capacity to produce quality affordable drugs locally, cheaply, and legally. Further steps should be taken in this direction so that the knowledge cartels can be effectively destroyed and widespread access to products and services should be assured.
A very positive example has been presented again by India with the launch of EDUSAT. EDUSAT is an education satellite that can reach most of the country at a greatly reduced cost . There is also an initiative started by a group out of MIT and supported by several major corporations to develop a $100 laptop. The laptops should be available by late 2006 or 2007. The laptops, sold at cost, will enable developing countries to give their children a digital education, and to close the digital divide across the world . Another praiseworthy initiative takes place in Africa. NEPAD has launched an "e-school programme” to provide all 600,000 primary and high schools with computer equipment, learning materials and internet access within 10 years . Hopefully more countries will be willing to develop such programmes and respectively more international organization will turn their attention to these problems and increase the financing of these initiatives.
2. Urbanization
Definition
Urbanization is a natural expansion of an existing population, namely the proportion of total population or area in urban localities or areas (cities and towns), or the increase of this proportion over time . Cities, large and small, are at the heart of a fast changing global economy—they are a cause of and response to world economic growth. The world’s cities are growing because people are moving from rural areas in search of jobs and opportunities to improve their lives and create a better future for their children . Cities grow by natural increase and by migration. People migrate in hope of improving material status, having access to better schools and health services, and enhancing their opportunities for social contact and diversity . Moreover, the existence of war or famine in a country gives additional stimulus for people to migrate to more affluent and stable community. The constant influx of migrants together with the arrival of nationals from the countryside and the natural increase of cities gathered together result in serious problems such as infrastructure inadequacy, cultural differences, social isolation, growing unemployment, insufficient housing, polluted environment, worsening health, and increasing gaps between rich and poor. 21st century witness massive growth of urban population and the emergence of the metropolis. Presently the statistics show that the majority of the world’s population lives in urban areas and this rate will be increasing throughout the next decades . Respectively the problems connected to intensified urbanization eventually will be worsening.
Why urbanization is important as a factor contributing to development?
* 3 billion people—half the world’s population—live in cities
* Two-thirds of all people will live in cities by 2050. (In 1800, only 2% of people lived in cities and towns. In 1950, only 30% of the world population was urban.)
* Almost 180,000 people move into cities each day.
* 60 million people move into cities each year in developing countries. This rate of movement will continue for the next 30 years
* Over the next 15 to 20 years, many cities in Africa and Asia will double in size
From the facts stated above and from extensive research done on urbanization it became evident that city populations are growing faster than city infrastructure can adapt. Many urban areas are growing because their rural hinterlands are depressed, which forces impoverished rural people to move to the cities in search of work . These newcomers often end up not finding the opportunities they are looking for, but become part of the urban poor. Upon arrival to the city, they often encounter lack of housing and set up shelters on city outskirts, usually on public owned land. This land tends to be dangerous and inhabitable, such as flood plains, river banks, and steep slopes or reclaimed land . The other problem is the lack of infrastructure services and the slum dwellers often live without electricity, running water, a sewerage system, roads and other urban services. Moreover, as illegal or unrecognized residents, slum dwellers have no property rights to the land they inhabit . Besides, people living in slums are at particular risk to disease: on top of dealing with pollution from dirty cooking fuels, primitive stoves, and poor access to water and sanitation, they are exposed to modern environmental hazards such as urban air pollution, exhaust fumes and industrial pollution. Another concern in the urbanist literature is the rising number of female-headed households and their difficult economic situation, respectively the growing poverty rates among children . Poverty among female-headed households is mostly a problem of the cities. In the USA in 1990, 26.6 percent of children under 18 in cities were poor, whereas in the suburbs the rate was 11.0 percent .
Table 1:These 19 cities had 10 million or more
inhabitants in 2000,
according to UN Habitat.
Rank City Millions
1 Tokyo 26.4
2 Mexico City 18.1
3 Bombay 18.1
4 Sao Paulo 17.8
5 New York 16.6
6 Lagos 13.4
7 Los Angeles 13.1
8 Calcutta 12.9
9 Shanghai 12.9
10 Buenos Aires 12.6
11 Dhaka 12.3
12 Karachi 11.8
13 Delhi 11.7
14 Jakarta 11.0
15 Osaka 11.0
16 Metro Manila 10.9
17 Beijing 10.8
18 Rio de Janeiro 10.6
19 Cairo 10.6
Since more than half the world’s poor will live in cities by 2035, according to some estimates, the world’s welfare system would be put under increased constraint . Over the last 50 years the global population living in slums has risen from 35 million to over 900 million. Slum dwellers make up the majority of the urban population in Africa and South Asia. Thus, on continental level striking social and cultural disparities exist which additionally hinder the development of the respective nations living there. On national level countries that are characterized by increasing rates of urbanization like Nigeria experience as well difficulties in their economic development since the demand of goods supplied in the cities increased dramatically and the supply cannot catch as faster . Moreover, the rapid increase of particular regions within a country brings with it drastic health and housing imbalances and job inadequacy. Rather, they reflect new industrial structure shifts that favor knowledge-based advanced service industries in metropolitan areas. A case in point here can be the Bulgarian capital Sofia which tripled its population for the last 40 years . Though presently the problems are almost solved in the mid-90s the boom of the capital population led to serious problems connected to rising unemployment, homelessness and hospitals inadequacy. Despite of these problems though Sofia managed to develop quite rapidly, and to suffice the increased demand for jobs and housing. The example was followed by the rest of the urban areas in the country. This development though led to drastic regional imbalances in the country. The urban areas attracted huge flows of Foreign Direct Investment and appeared to be the place for the best education, health care, social opportunities, culture and business. They provided welfare services and high level education, which led to the drastic imbalances between the people living into or close to the urban university areas and the countryside. At the same time the privatization process left the production factories in the industrial regions empty and respectively the work-force there unemployed. Since no wide-spread re-orientation and re-training campaign took place the work force was left on the edge of poverty. Particular hardships were experienced by the minority Muslim and gipsy population in the south-eastern part of the country. Less educated than the Bulgarian majority they were not able to find employment in the bigger cities thus contributed to the development of ethnic shanty towns, slums-overcrowdedness and criminal activity. Duality between rich mostly white Bulgarian population and the poor mostly Muslim and gipsy minority was exacerbated and evident in the landscape. In summary, urban and regional restructuring has created sharper economic and demographic growth distinctions across regions and metropolitan areas (and this is not just the case of Bulgaria). They shape evolving patterns of minority and poverty concentrations in broad regions and metropolitan areas as well as in selected central cities . The changing structure of the global economy is increasingly concentrating poverty and unemployment among racial minorities on continental and national scale. For example in the USA, the joblessness, and the children in poverty and poor health rates are highest among the African-American population. These new minority-majority patterns are likely to continue during the new century, leading to wider disparities in the racial and ethnic compositions of regions, metropolitan areas, and communities .
The other side of the increasing urbanization process is the environmental setback. As cities grow so do environmental problems. Air quality worsens in cities. Each year 1 million people die from urban air pollution . One cause of it might be the MNCs who establish their production factories near developing countries’ urban areas in order to exploit cheap and qualified labor and to extract resources . They pollute and damage the local environment since the developing countries environmental regulations are looser than in the developed nations. Also, traffic increases, leading to more congestion and more road accidents. Half a million people die and 15 million are injured in urban traffic accidents in developing countries each year, according to the World Health Organization . Victims are mostly poor pedestrians and bicyclists. Those who survive are often left disabled. For example, in Bangladesh, it is reported that nearly 50% of hospital beds are occupied by road-accident victims . Even in highly developed nations urbanization and the concurrent environmental problems are existent. In the USA the growth in the amount and complexity of air pollution brought about by urbanization, industrial development, and the increasing use of motor vehicles, has resulted in mounting dangers to the public health and welfare, including injury to agricultural crops and livestock, damage to and the deterioration of property, and hazards to air and ground transportation . Another problem existent particularly in America is that the predominant part of the population is located in its rapidly expanding metropolitan and other urban areas, which generally cross the boundary lines of local jurisdictions and often extend into two or more States, thus makes it difficult for the smooth functioning of the jurisdictions of the neighboring states .
The problems connected to urbanization such as homelessness, welfare dependency, crime, drugs, gangs, and violence reduce national and world’s economic growth through the loss of human resources and labor productivity . Moreover, they diminish the quality of life throughout metropolitan areas.
What should be done? Present situation and Future Challenges
As became evident from the previous part urbanization brings with it problems which eventually will hinder the development and economic growth of the urbanized regions. The overcrowdedness, mounting unemployment and pollution, together with the explosive growth of city slums are problems that occupy the mind of policymakers and international organizations. Common problems connected to urbanization exist but the developed world is better positioned to cope with them, thus higher concentration of efforts should be directed towards the developing countries . Presently international agencies are working with poor countries to build adequate infrastructure, such as roads, houses, electricity, water and sanitation services, public transportation, schools and health clinics; to transform slums into legitimate communities; to strengthen urban governance; and overall to improve the lives of poor people and promote equity .
Urban poverty has emerged as a major policy concern over the last decade. Rising poverty rates in central cities and the increasing concentration of the poor in specific areas of cities have captured the attention of researchers and policymakers . The director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University Jeffrey D. Sachs, observed that the world’s cities will have to succeed on three policy dimensions to ensure all citizens have adequate living conditions in the urban areas. First, the cities have to be subject to urban planning, such as carefully laying out water, sanitation, transport and public health systems. Second, each city has to have urban development strategy, through tailoring their goals to their circumstances of their own regions. And lastly, cities have to have urban governance with legal procedures enabling better coping with developmental problems .
The low-income urban residents must be brought back into the mainstream of success and opportunities with decent jobs, stable families, adequate health care, affordable housing, and accessible transportation . A very positive example of this approach was posed by Peru. In the past decade the government of Peru issued property titles to 1.3 million urban households. Secure property rights enabled parents to find jobs rather than staying home to protect their property. Similarly, children can now attend school. As a result, the incidence of child labor has fallen by nearly 30% !
Also in the future more efforts should be directed towards answering some basic questions connected to urbanization, namely where will the new urban residents live? Which schools will their children go to? How will their rubbish be collected? Where should they vote? Who will protect them? Answering to these questions in an adequate and responsible manner is vital to the future development of urban areas and to tackling the problems connected to urbanization.
The primary responsibility of governments and international organizations should be the air pollution prevention as well as promotion of the public health and welfare and the productive capacity of the population . The financial assistance directed towards the developing world is essential for weak states to cope with the mounting dangers brought by urbanization. Another important endeavor would be an increase in the research and development programmes for prevention and control of air pollution first on regional, and then on national, continental and international level. The developed world should encourage and assist the developing countries with establishment and operation of air pollution prevention and control programmes.

Conclusion

The basic aim of this paper was to present a brief analysis of the concept of development and to expose its importance in the 21st century. The research presented in the paper aims to raise awareness and understanding of how global issues affect the everyday lives of individuals, communities and societies and how all of us can and do influence the global. Development is a complex and multidimensional issue, thus in order to be properly understood it should be investigated and each factor contributing to development analyzed individually with its own implications to the process of development and collectively with other factors so that the dependency on factors on each other to be clearly revealed.
Here special attention was paid to two factors, which according to the author are among the most important contributors to development. Education is as already mentioned the lubricant of development. It benefits people, society, and the world as a whole. It enables people to read, reason, communicate, and make informed choices about their lives. A more educated person often has more opportunities in life, earns more and has a higher standard of living . Without education an individual cannot realize his/her potential and develop all of his/her skills. Skilled workers enable a country to develop and become wealthier as a nation, which benefits all. A country whose education is irrelevant and poor is destined to be exploited and servile to other nations that thanks to good educational systems and relevant knowledge and skills are able to occupy dominant (even hegemonic) positions into the world’s realm. A skilled labor force creates, applies and spreads new ideas and technologies. Continent no matter how large it is in which the highest percentage of population does not have good education does not have a strong say internationally and is servile to continents/nations with smaller size but better education (case in point Africa - huge area with uneducated population).
The same logic may be applied to the urbanization analysis. Though, urbanization is connected to increased and more efficient economic activity it can be extremely harmful for the environment and the less competitive and skillful parts of the urban residents. On regional level urbanization may be beneficial for the development of the urbanized regions and destructive for the sub-urban areas. On national level urbanization may lead to high imbalances among urban and suburban regions in respect to education, healthcare, security, and poverty concentration. Moreover, urbanization can destroy the urban environment, pollute the national air and water and overall harm the population. On continental level, a case in point may be the most urbanized nation in the world – America and despite of the fact that it is vital economic power it experience mounting environmental and minority poverty problems.
Education and urbanization are interconnected to the extent that one of the factors leading to urbanization is the search of better education. Regional and metropolitanwide industrial restructuring has created new dynamics of growth and decline across the national landscape, favoring locations that include corporate headquarters and advanced service centers, knowledge-based industries, resort and recreation facilities, and before all good schools and universities . Thus, the establishment of good educational institutions is a powerful pull factor for migration. On the other side good educational institutions will be established in central and urbanized areas. Hence, one of the factors cannot possibly develop its full potential without the other. Respectively attempts for coping with development problems and issues connected to these factors cannot be made individually without considering the implications a possible reform will have on the development of the other factor. Getting an education is one of the best things a person can do to ensure a better, more fulfilling and prosperous life for him/herself. Moreover a good multidimensional education will assist people increase their knowledge about development issues and enhance their participation in alleviating the developmental problems of our century. In that line of thinking better educated global population will be able to find solution to the escalating and seeming insurmountable urbanization problems.
To conclude with, the paper will point out one more time that development and the factors contributing to it is not only problematic concept for the Third world, and as clearly shown in the paper even the hyper power of the last decades – America faces difficulty in coping with some developmental problems. Stress should be put though on the fact that in developing countries, the number and seriousness of the problems faced is naturally greater. Thus, greater attention and efforts should be exerted by the powerful countries, international organizations, as well as the developing nations themselves to correct the development quandary in which the southern countries find themselves presently.

~ The End ~

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Abstract*

The central aim of the present paper will be to provide thorough analysis of three of the main political ideologies in western Europe with regard to their origins, economic and social views, as well as their different interpretations on what should be the basic functions of the government, and to what extent (if any) should the government intervene into the economic and social life of the country. Afterthat, the paper will undertake the risky aim of comparing parties from the analyzed ideological families in a nascent eastern European democracy - Bulgaria with their counterparts in western Europe. The target of this comparison will be to identify to what extent the Bulgaria parties are actually pursuing the same objectives and policies as their counterparts in western democracies. The case study of Bulgaria was motivated by the fact that so far, to the best of the author’s knowledge, no such comparison has been made and at the same time the development of the Bulgarian parties is representative about the ideological shift worldwide. It should be mentioned here, however, that the political parties are increasingly moving towards the centre of the political arena, therefore their differences are becoming less observable. This tendency is even more pronounced in the condensed political space of Bulgaria, where for a population of less than 8mln. the number of political parties approximates 200, and the accession process to the EU is putting severe constrains on the economic, political, and social behavior of the country and of the parties within it. Due to these factors any comparisons between parties on national or/and international level tend to be risky and uncertain.

I. Ideological families of parties in Western Europe: origins, economic and social views, attitudes towards the government.

In the first part of the paper the emphasis will be put on distinguishing the main features of three political parties in western Europe using as a separation criteria their attitudes towards a set of variables, namely the economy, society, and government. It is important to be pointed out at this stage that similarities may arise in one or more of the chosen criteria even in the “ideal” types of the different parties. This tendency is even more distinct today , since in the globalized world extremes are rarely tolerated, and it is politically relevant to move towards the center. Moreover, in order to receive wider political support, enter government, and exercise political power parties are forced to form coalitions, and to compromise some of their strongest beliefs, which is largely the case with the coalition between NMS (liberals), BSP(socialists), and MRF(Turkish ethnic party) formed in Bulgaria after the 2005 parliamentary elections . The analysis will start with the social-democratic parties and will move along the political scale to the liberal and christian-democratic parties. The paper is not going to identify the far-left/communist, and far-right/fascist parties, as well as the agrarian and green movements, since they are not adequately represented in the Bulgarian political spectrum which will be taken as a case study at the second part of the paper .

Social democrat/labor parties
The social democrat parties were inspired by the Marx ideology and the commitment to classless society. The social democrats put an emphasis on social reform and gradual, democratic change . The socialists acknowledge the need of government involvement into the economy in order to ensure smooth performance and lack of economic shocks. The government should also eradicate poverty, ameliorate the disadvantages of the less fortunate classes, immunize the society against the whip of the market and set conditions in which everyone is able to develop his potential to the fullness . The rhetoric on abolition of capitalism(characteristic for the communists) has been effectively changed by one stressing on humanizing it. Socialists believe in society working together cooperatively and morally as a community rather than each individual pursuing competitively his material self-interest.
Today the social democrats have effectively met the challenges posed by the economic globalization and the rise of the achievement culture. They have not abandoned the characteristic values of freedom, equality, solidarity, just redefined and represented them in terms of current problems instead of past struggles, which will become clear in the second part of the paper with the example of the Bulgarian Socialist Party .

Liberal parties
With the state building process initiated at the late 18th century, and with the cult towards individualism emerged the liberal parties. The liberals believe the society is comprised from a collection of individuals with individual beliefs and values that should be respected. For the liberals the economy should be free with no state intervention into its functioning . There is fierce opposition and distrust towards “big government“ and special relations with the Church. Liberals endorse the idea of constitutional and representative government in which the constitution is such developed as to limit the intrusion and absolute power of the government . Another important characteristic of the liberal party is the centrality of meritocracy within its societal attitudes. According to the liberal ideas given equal opportunities each individual’s achievements are solely based on his/her personal merits and skills. Thus, the role of the government should be only to secure social justice, equal opportunities, and to provide minimum safety net for the less able, those who failed to compete successfully in the market. The government is seen as a solution of last resort when all the other options (family, market, etc.) have failed to provide the minimum living standards for the individual. Thus, the social provisions are attached to stigma for the beneficiaries .
The liberal ideology has undertaken a considerable transformation and adopted some socio-democratic ideas. Most liberal parties today believe that government should be responsible for delivering welfare services, such as health, pensions and education . The Bulgarian liberals National Movement Simeon 2 presents a hybrid between the liberal and socio-democratic ideology, and is an example of the altered creed of the liberal parties today.

Christian democrat/conservative parties
The conservative parties have emerged as reaction against the mass movement for change and revolution. The conservatives believe in hierarchical society, human imperfection and in the need of state-prescribed morale, and strong connections with the Church . The government should support the established institutions of authority, family values, tradition and undertake only incremental reform. Moreover, the government should not be responsible for the welfare of the citizens, and can help only the less able on its own discretion, such help should not be expected as its responsibility .
The Christian democrats today are amongst the most pro-European parties, that put strong emphasis on morality, education, laizzes-faire economy, and minimalist state. The dramatic change the conservative ideology has undertaken is obvious when a close look is taken at the programme of the Bulgarian UDF. Being a truly opportunistic party the UDF has almost abandoned most of the christian-democratic principles and adopted the liberal and socio-democratic ideology.

What is apparent from the short overview above is that parties have been moving towards each other along the political scale. Thus, today the parties that represent the different ideologies are closer in their views than their ideological labels actually allow them to be. This will become clear in the next part, where a case study of the three most influential parties in a young democratic system will be undertaken. The Bulgarian party system will be identified based on the criteria proposed by Meny&Knapp, the strength of the political parties within the system will be briefly evaluated based on the internal(constitutional) and external (international organizations, namely EU and IMF) constraints, and finally an attempt will be made to identify to what extent the Bulgarian parties have moved away from the characteristics of the ideology they have been following in the last 17 years .
II. Ideologies in Practice: The Bulgarian political parties
In developing countries, the parties created and organized often bear no more than a formal resemblance to the models claimed to inspire them, thus it is extremely difficult to make comparisons . In this second part of the paper, though, an attempt for a comparison between the parties in a young democracy, and the established models in western Europe will be made. The structure of the second part of the paper will start with identifying the formation of the Bulgarian party system, the institutionalization of the political parties, the basic functions that they exercise, and the public support they are receiving . Afterthat a closer study will be undertaken for the most influential players in the present Bulgarian political arena, and respectively their attachment to the values characteristic for their counterparts in western Europe.

Bulgarian Party System

The party system in Bulgaria is a combination of numerous factors, the most important of which historical divisions, impact of international events, and the disability of existing parties to adapt and discourage the emergence of new competitors .
It was the case in Bulgaria for almost a decade after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 to have a duopolistic party system. There were not just two parties but there was always one of the two main in power. Gradually Bulgarian party system moved to multipartism, in which a propensity to form coalitions between different parties, even when they favor different programmes has been existent .
The parties in Bulgaria are constitutionally recognized and granted with almost unrestricted power. The age and the size of the parties seems to be of minor importance for the electorate in Bulgaria, thus the traditional parties that emerged after 1989 have constantly been changing or decomposing, and new parties have been emerging literally each month . The party manifestos which are the basic point for comparison between the various political groups, in Bulgaria proved to have identical ends .
The functions of the parties in Bulgaria have been to organize and express the choices of citizens. Since Bulgaria is a representative democracy, what government does should be affected by the parties who compose it . Though all of the parties irrespective of their ideology proved to be inadequate in answering the popular demands. This inadequacy has numerous explanations, but the most important one would be the decreased by the international organizations, such as EU and IMF, state’s ability to control its own affairs, respectively the space for maneuver for the political players is quite limited . In the present time the link between the citizens and the parties has been broken which is evident from the low turnout in the 2005 elections(53.8%) and overall disenchantment of the nation with any political party.

The formation of the political parties in Bulgaria and development of their ideas.

The fall of the communist regime in 1989 presented a unique point of history for the Bulgarian political system when the process of state building started from the real beginning. New institutions have been build, new opportunities for expansion of the economy provided, and new political parties formed based on the already approved western models . Since the nation has been over-exhausted with the centralized government and planned economy everything that was different and supposedly democratic was associated with better development. Thus, the Christian-democratic UDF (United Democratic Forces) emerged. The founding members of the new party designed a populist programme which stigmatized the big government and controlled economy, and promised rapid economic recovery due to free market forces. The general goals of the programme were: a civil society, market economy, privatization of industries, open relations with the rest of the world, multiparty system, individual liberty and constitutional government . The cult to capitalism was established and any government intervention into the economy severely reprimanded. UDF developed the idea of capitalist welfare where the state should just provide the legal framework within which everyone will be able to pursue his/her own individual welfare. Appropriate areas for state intervention were just defense, rule of law, and the maintenance of certain public works and institutions that the market cannot fully provide, and relief from destitution . The UDF believes that the state with its bloated bureaucracy should “roll-back” and increased agencification for the provision of services should take place. Since at the beginning of the transitional period the UDF was willingly associating itself with the West, which proved to be a winning ticket, in time the mood of the public changed. The western capitalism was linked to exploitation and spoiled morale. Thus, the UDF met the popular electoral disillusionment. It was viewed as the party of the rich and utter individualists which are not fit for the communal mentality of the Bulgarian nation . In the last parliamentary elections UDF was unable to enter government.
The main opponent of the UDF has been BSP (Bulgarian Socialist Party) - the transformed communist party. As expected, immediately after the fall of the regime the BSP was not amongst the most prominent parties. In a few years, though, BSP gained momentum, altered its programme, and used the popular disillusionment with the UDF for expanding its electorate. BSP effectively designed its party manifesto including in it the approval of the market economy, individual liberty and open relations with the rest of the world. In the BSP platform underlining is the desire for mixed economy and higher commitment on the side of the state to welfare provisions. BSP presently is strongly pro-European with emphasis put on preservation of the national values, traditions and humanity into the new community . Politics in a stable multi-party democracy is a battle over the political center, and the last parliamentary election results demonstrated the BSP’s ability to move further to the center and form coalition with its former rivals .
The June 2001 parliamentary elections welcomed the emergence of a new party within the Bulgarian party system. The National Movement Simeon II (NMS) won half of the seats in parliament, even though it was established less than three months before the elections . NMS is a personally-oriented, organizationally-weak and non-issue based movement with little programmatic identity . The strong side of the NMS was the charisma of its leader. Deeply attached to its history and past glory, the Bulgaria nation was trustful and sympathetic with the ex-Bulgarian Tsar. Moreover, the new liberal party challenged the established left-right prism which was overused throughout the years, and presented new alternative to the tired voter. NMS was formed largely from an economic team of young, highly-successful, Western-educated financiers who presented themselves as the bright future of the country. NMS supports the EU integration process and put incredibly strong emphasis on market economy . The ex-Tsar promoted a policy of honesty in government, and a free-market programme to improve living standards within 800 days, stable economic growth, drastic reduction of unemployment together with promises for increase in welfare expenditures . NMS believes in social justice, equal opportunities and state strong only in the sphere of welfare provisions. Clearly there is some similarity between the liberalism in the West and the immature liberal movement NMS in Bulgaria, though the platform of the NMS is so abstract as to make it almost impossible to compare it to an established ideology.

Conclusions

The sole aim of the present paper was to identify three of the main ideological families of political parties in western Europe, and practically to show to what extent the parties in an eastern European democracy share the features of the model they have been following.
The party which proved to be closer to the western ideology is the socio-democratic Bulgarian Socialist Party. The emphasis on mixed economy, humane capitalism and classless society, together with the social responsibility of the state to grant social justice and equal welfare provisions for the society is identical between the western prototype and its eastern adherent.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the party which deviated most from the prescriptions of the ideology it has been following is the Christian-Democratic United Democratic Forces. UDF favors constitution such designed as to limit the powers of the government, which is one of the main elements within the liberal ideology. The strong UDF opposition against the state bureaucracy, and intervention into the economy has similar elements with the western new-right rather than with the Christian Democratic ideology . Contrary to the CDPs in the west UDF favors reform, transformation of existent institutions, and clear separation between the state and the Church. The only characteristic which UDF shares with the conservative ideology is the opposition to the state’s welfare provisions, though even in this field this opposition is more implicit than clearly stated in the UDF programme . Thus, programmatically UDF has almost no resemblance to the Christian Democratic ideology, and has abandoned the basic principles of this ideology. The example posed by UDF is that the CDPs are increasingly adopting principles characteristic for the Socio-Democratic and Liberal ideologies.
It proved to be extremely difficult to distinguish the main points within the programme of the third analyzed party NMS, and to compare it with the established western liberal ideology. Apparently, NMS is following to a certain extent the basic tenets of the liberal ideology, such as strong support for the free market economy and opposition towards the big state. In regards to its view about society and welfare, NMS is closer to the socio-democrats than to the liberals, since it considers the state as responsible for assuring adequate living conditions for the population, and envisions the government as the first provider of ample living conditions.

Political parties have been increasingly moving towards each other programmatically. They are abandoning the prescriptions of the ideological models they have been following, and there is obvious propensity among the parties to mix their ideologies in order to stay politically relevant and appealing to the electorate. The case of Bulgaria effectively showed that the parties are progressively moving towards the center, away from the ideal ideological model they have been following, and ready to compromise their principles. According to the author the development of the Bulgarian parties is to a greater extent representative of the political revision of ideologies on a macro level, and the hope behind the paper is that it managed to exemplify and prove this ideological transformation.

Bibliography:
1. Deschouwer, K . (1996) “Political Parties and Democracy: A mutual Murder?”, European Journal of Political Research 29(3)
2. Gallagher, Michael. (1995) Representative Government in Western Europe, Ch.8 - From Governments to Public Policy; New York: McGraw Hill
3. Gillespie&Peterson(eds.).(1993) Rethinking social democracy in Western Europe. Ch1: Paterson- Reprogramming Democratic Socialism, Ch9: Taylor-Trade Unions and the Politics of Socio Democratic Renewal, Ch.11: Gillespie- A programme for Socio Democratic Revival. London: Frank Press
4. Heywood, A. (1998) Political Ideologies: an Introduction. Chs 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
5. Meny, Y.,and Knapp. Government and Politics in Western Europe: UK, France, Italy, Germany. Ch.2 - Political parties, Ch.3 - Interest groups. 3d edition, 1998
7. http://www.bsp.bg/en/program.php
8. http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/bulgaria/political_profile.htm
9. Ex-King Simeon returns to power in Bulgaria available : http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/european_news_file/76405 [accessed 16 March 2006]
10. http://www.answers.com/topic/bulgaria
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12. http://www.country-studies.com/bulgaria/the-union-of-democratic-forces.html
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Some minor insights taken out from:
1. George, Vic. (1996) “The future of the welfare state” in George&Taylor-Gooby(eds) European Welfare Policy. Squaring the welfare circle, Besingstoke:Macmillan
2. Esping-Anderson, Gosta.(1990)The Three worlds of welfare capitalism. Cambridge: Polity Press
3. Esping-Anderson, Gosta.(1985) Politics against markets. Ch.5 Princeton: Princeton University Press.
4. Weir, Margaret and Theda Skocpol(1985) “Sate structures and possibilities for Keynesianism” in Evans, Peter, Skocpol, Theda (eds) Bringing the state back in, Capbridge: Cambridge University Press

Competences and skills obtained after one-week intensive training on project management.

Yana Popkostova

In the Training Course on Volunteer Resource Management I had the objective to acquaint myself better with the youth programmes around Europe and the opportunities for volunteer work provided to young people. My aim was to meet young people from different countries, with diverse backgrounds and cultures, to learn from their volunteer experience, and to share ideas and expertise with them. Furthermore, I wanted to get more practical knowledge presented in non-formal way about the process of volunteer work, from the development of the project, through recruitment of volunteers, to its finalization. I also acquainted myself with different strategies of conflict resolution, time management, and networking. After this training course I consider myself better prepared to meet the challenges of preparing and organizing youth volunteer projects.

The Training Course on Volunteer Resource management gave me in addition to the academic knowledge on project management the opportunity to meet and interact with people from different countries who had different worldviews and perspectives than me. This was extremely useful for me since I learnt even better to work together in team with different people, to make compromises and to understand worldviews which are contradictory to mine. I feel my social skills improved after this training course regarding ability to talk, interact, work, and play with diverse people and to communicate with them even without knowing each other’s language.

The Training Course gave me a lot of useful information and background on how to be more active and motivated in developing youth programmes, and on how to be successful in motivating young people to participate in youth initiatives. My civic consciousness is improved now in regards to the need of young people to represent their interests in the policy-making domain and to influence decision-making. After this course I am more aware of the rights and power young people can have in their hands in regards to developing initiatives and projects with universal importance, such as anti-racism campaigns, environmental projects, youth networks and parliaments, etc. After the Course on Volunteer resource management I know my rights as a young person and I feel better prepared and encouraged to participate actively and to promote greater participation by my peers in various youth initiatives.

The Training Course on Volunteer Resource Management gave me valuable insights into how to organize and develop youth initiatives by myself. I learnt how to recruit volunteers, how to answer to their needs and provide them secure and ambivalent work environment, how to make individual psychological profiles and to better understand people. I also have understanding now of the needs of the organization and how to make cost-benefit analyses on how to invest in new programmes, volunteers, trainings, projects, etc.

Furthermore, in the Training course I had the opportunity not only to express my cultural identity and to present to the others my country, my religion and the various traditional characteristics of the Bulgarian nation, but also to learn more about other nations and their peculiarities. Personally for me this was the best part of the course, and the most valuable asset I got from participating in it. The opportunity to understand in depth the worldview, values and needs of the other, and to work with him/her irrespective of her-his nationality and religion gives more to the personal development than any kind of academic programme or formal knowledge. This experience improves the tolerance, humanity, and open-mindedness of people and I appreciate it highly.

I think this course provided me with some important insights into how to develop my interests and research on the topic of humanity and intercultural communication. Now I am really more motivated to develop youth initiatives and I feel myself better prepared to do this, since I have more competences and knowledge on how to theoretically and practically develop a youth project on various topics and how to motivate larger part of the youth population to participate in such projects and initiatives. I am really enthusiastic now to start organizing my next project, developed together with people I met at this training course.

I consider the Training Course on Resource Management extremely useful. It gave me as I already mentioned unique skills and knowledge into how to be more active and motivated in developing youth projects, how to manage and organize such projects, how to work with volunteers from different countries and with diverse backgrounds and religions. The course also gave me the opportunity to realize the importance of youth work in the context of European development and make me more aware of the crucial importance of youth initiatives for development of active civil society.