The Holistic Approach to Development Research

Abstract

While recognising the contribution of the traditional approaches and the vital role of the economic components of development, this article is an attempt to explore the need for a radical shift from partial understanding of development, as purely economic phenomena, to a comprehensive and integrated appreciation of development as a multidimensional socio-economic process. In an integrated system nothing can be clearly understood and analysed in isolation. Although components of the interconnected system have separate functions, their compositions, cooperative collectiveness, interrelations and interdependencies, that represent the characteristics of the whole, may not be studied and analysed in isolation and require a multidisciplinary or holistic approach. This paper will discuss a paradigm which considers the economic system as a subsystem of the complex social system. It will emphasise that development research must adopt a holistic approach which considers the political, social, cultural, environmental, religious, geographical, educational and economic dimensions of ecologically sustainable development. It will also argue that the present global conditions necessitate a paradigm shift to include social and moral in addition to economic dimension in development research and studies.