Government Impact on the Relationship Between Economic and Social Development
- Economic development provides the means (capital and human resources) to drive and sustain social development
- If a country has more income, they can improve the social well-being of its population through investment:
- In healthcare
- Improves the population’s health of its population
- Increases life expectancy
- Creates a more productive workforce
- In education
- Increases literacy rates
- Empowers women
- Creates a more skilled workforce
- In healthcare
- It is the government that determines how much of a country’s wealth is spent on healthcare and education, so their attitude to improving social progress is crucial
- This ranges from welfare states with high levels of social spending to totalitarian regimes run by elites who spend little on health and education
Government characteristics and attitudes towards economic and social development
- There are many ways to characterise the different government systems.
- The following four government characteristics are based on the Democracy Index
Global Democracy Index (2017)
- Full stable democracy:
- Governments are elected
- Laws to protect human rights
- A market economy
- A welfare state to focus on citizens’ well-being
- Higher government spending on
- Education
- Health (free health service)
- Welfare
- Allows more social development
- E.g. The UK
- Flawed democracy:
- Elections are often rigged
- Doesn’t fully protect individual rights and freedoms
- Economic development and spending on infrastructure for industries is a bigger priority than social development
- Citizens might have to pay more for healthcare and welfare
- E.g. Romania
- Hybrid regime:
- Adopt some characteristics of democracy but the opposition is very weak and provides little competition to the ruling party
- Little respect for basic political and civil rights
- Governments have a range of spending priorities, including people’s education and health
- However, due to a lack of funding, these social services might not be effective
- E.g. Kenya
- Authoritarian government:
- Also known as totalitarian government
- The country is run by the elite
- Requires the population to be obedient to the state
- Allocates a smaller budget to education and healthcare
- Larger budgets awarded to:
- Defense and security
- Supporting the economy
- Controlling the population
- E.g. Russia
Government spending on social development
Country |
Government type |
Government spending (% of GDP) |
|
Education (2020) |
Healthcare (2020) |
||
The UK | Full stable democracy | 10.6 | 11.94 |
Romania | Flawed democracy | 8.8 | 6.2 |
Kenya | Hybrid regime | 4.8 | 4.3 |
Russia | Authoritarian government | 8.9 | 7.6 |