Weberian theoretical implications on development banking historical research: past, present and future
RIS ID
12092
Abstract
Fijian development banking history exposes the paradox between the community based upon orthodox authority and those in which relations are governed by the commercial ideology introduced by the British colonial powers to foster growth within the Fijian traditional setting. Fijian development banking were adapted to the traditional Fijian village economy, ultimately providing the means by which existing structures of power on land ownership and class were significantly enhanced. This conflict between the Fijian culture and the modern growth of development banking can be filtered through the Weberian theoretical framework. Fiji since the earliest days of interaction with European merchants and later colonisation by the British and has had implications for the latter decades of the 20th century where traditional forms of legitimate authority exercised by native chiefs over their clans as the essence of Fijian government and society has highlighted the problems caused by the coexistence of market values with traditional values and rationalities associated with communal ownership of land, the foundation of traditional Fijian society. Land is the primary productive asset, the tangible expression of economic and hence political power (Eckholm, 1980, p. 55). Struggles over land in Fiji from the mid 19th century which saw the native Fijians progressively alientated from their land, especially during the colonial era between 1874 and 1969, have been the determining factor in Fiji’s development (Ali, 1980; Naidu, 1980; Overton, 1987; Routledge, 1985).
Publication Details
Deo, H. N. & Funnell, W. N. (2005). Weberian theoretical implications on development banking historical research: past, present and future. Journal of the American Academy of Business, Cambridge, 6 (2), 191-196.