Hooshang Amirahmadi

Towards a Dynamic Theory of the State and Civil Society in the Development Process

This paper employs the concepts of the state and civil society to explain the development process. It theorizes development as a dynamic and non-continuous process of state- civil society interaction. It argues that sustainable development initially requires a strong developmentalist state that allows for the growth of a vibrant civil society. At some point in this process, civil society will muster enough strength to challenge the state. If this transitional stage is successfully managed, the two forces will reach a balance of power that allows the country to enter the sustainable development stage, also characterized by democracy. The paper illustrates the theory through historical analysis and concludes by drawing out the theorys planning and policy implications.

Tehran: Growth and Contradictions

Tehran, the capital and largest city of Iran, has witnessed two parallel trends: a rapid and multi-faceted socio-spatial growth, and increasing separation among social classes. The former is manifested by population increase, physical expansion, concentration of institutions, and administrative centralization. The latter is indicated by rapid accumulation of wealth and capital by a tiny layer, poverty of most of the population, and spatial segregation of social classes. These phenomena reflect the transformation from a pre-capitalist city in the 18th through the early 20th century to a transitional capitalist city in the 1920–1950 period, and to a dependent capitalist city after the 1950s.

Incongruities Between the Theory and Perception of Regional Development in Less Developed Countries: Toward Bridging the Gap

Planning education for less developed countries suffers from several interrelated problems, of which three are particularly significant. First, despite recent advances, most less developed countries still lack adequate educational resources, including universities, graduate programs, faculty, research facilities, and professional organizations, to educate and train their own planners. A number of publications have examined aspects of such inadequacies, particularly in regional development curricula and have advanced remedial proposals (Friedmann, 1967 and 1973; Dunham and Hilhorst, 1970 and 1971; Perloff, 1971; Kuklinski, 1971; Celestin, 1972; United Nations, 1972; Dix, 1980a). Fundamental to such inadequacies in less developed countries is the allocation of relatively small budgets to higher education in general, compared with defense spending, for example, and to the field of planning in particular (Amirahmadi, 1987a). Research on this aspect of the problem with planning education in less developed countries remains largely underdeveloped.