Le concept de sous-développement et la Géographie

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Abstract
The concept of under-development in geography The concept of under-development in geography (Abstract). — The concept of underdevelopment often causes geographers to be réticent, and is also the object of confiicting opinions. By using strictly geogra-phical criteria it is possible to give an objective définition : — Underdevelopment is an internai imbalance between the growth of the population and the insufflciency of the increase in the resources which the population has at its-disposai. This insufficient économie growth is the resuit of a failure to utilise the natural potential to the full. This négative balance-sheet between peoples an& natural resources suberibes completely to the theory of « Possibilisme » of Vidal de La Blache. Obviously this theory does not exclude geographical determinism the rôle of which appears ail the greater when the facts are studied on a greater scale (local and régional circumstances). The study of underdevelopment accor-ding to régional geographical methods obviously remains essential. But it also seems more and more necessary to carry out comparative studies between the various parts of the underdeveloped areas and to examine the circumstances of underdevelopment in its world context. This cornes within the methods of gênerai geography which can be very usefully transformed by the adoption of the concept of underdevelopment as a fundamental geographical notion.

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