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Since evolving into an established science in the 1990s, the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) has seen unprecedented and fast-growing rates of publication, curriculum venues, and development projects around the globe. To this effect, ICT4D's development literature is informed by a variety of theories (e.g., capability approach, livelihoods, participatory development, etc.). In the process of asserting its body of knowledge, however, ICT4D has tended to dismiss the theory of modernization. For example, under theories such as technology fix, technology transplant, a computer per child, etc., the theory of modernization has been equated with the failures of and threats against development. Consequently, reduced to one aspect of its myriad applications, the theory of modernization has lost its value among development practitioners and theorists. This paper traces the theory of modernization. There is no such thing as a developed society/nation without modernization. The paper derives some points of interest for ICT4D's research and managerial skills.

Virtually all of the existing literature on modernization is concerned with the virtues of modernity. It focuses on the gains to be derived from modernization—industrialization, material progress, social welfare, political rationality, etc. But experience suggests that gains are usually achieved at some cost: the drive toward modernity seems invariably to produce new social and personal problems. In the USSR—perhaps the world's most developed underdeveloped country—the modernization process has been accompanied by massive social costs.

Addresses Europeanization & ecological modernization, using the case study of Finnish agriculture & analyzing the assumption that there has been a general transition toward the policies of ecological modernization by examining changes in institutional arrangements, discourses, & policy practices since the 1970s. Qualitative analysis of documents & 1996/97 semistructured interviews with policymakers yield somewhat contradictory findings on Finnish agri-environmental policy. On one hand, especially in the policy discourses, there are signs of transition consistent with the ecological modernization theory. On the other, from the institutional & practice-oriented perspective, the evidence suggests only some minor changes, even stability in agrienvironmental regulation. The Finnish response to European Union regulation has been problematic from the viewpoint of agrienvironmental policy: the transition period of Finnish agriculture due to the entrance into the European market has retarded, at least temporarily, the policy process of ecological modernization that began to emerge in the late 1980s. 2 Tables, 68 References. Adapted from the source document.

Explores the political potential of recent postmodern scholarship on Third World women in terms of its significance for development policy & practice, which orient debates in the gender & development literature. The writings of A. Ong (1988) & C. Mohanty (1988) are considered representative of postmodernist scholarship that challenges liberal & socialist approaches for their universalist & hegemonic approaches. While much in these analyses is accepted, it is suggested that, in taking a stand against the political impact of previous scholarship, Ong & Mohanty position themselves as social critics par excellence & their framework as the only appropriate form of social criticism. In so doing, the moral issues of poverty, hunger, health care, & literacy, which historically have been at the heart of scholarship on women & development in the South, are virtually ignored in their work. Essentialist concepts are taken to be critical to feminism, because it is seeking to develop political strategies that might unite a diversity of experiences for political coalitions & alliances. D. M. Smith

The author attempts to compare some key aspects of modernization in Taiwan, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other hand. The aim is to understand what provided the efficiency of the Taiwan version and to what extent the Taiwanese experience can be useful for our country. Despite all differences between Taiwan and Russia, the author believes, the essence of modernization in both cases is common, because the general objectives are the same.