The Origin of Development, Critical Juncture, and Institutional Inertia

Different from proposing many theories, it is difficult to identify the primary cause of nations’ backwardness. Scientists seek the main cause of nations’ backwardness. They seek a response to the questions of what causes nations’ rise and fall and why some countries are underdeveloped while others are developed. Historical-critical juncture is a point in a nation’s history where a development turnaround occurs. This chapter identifies three coordinates for the historical-critical juncture. First, the historical-critical juncture is not a multifactor but a single factor. In other words, the cause of development is not a set of correlated factors. This chapter cautions researchers not to consider development’s cause as a set of factors. Second, many historical-critical junctures created by humans in nations’ history are not historical determinism. For this reason, the historical quasi-experimental method rejects historical determinism hypotheses, such as geography and culture. Third, to find the cause of development, we must philosophize on the causation. Philosophizing the causes/effects brings us closer to the original cause. This chapter eliminates many causes, such as the difference between geography, culture, and institution, from the list of development causes and also argues that a critical juncture causes institutional inertia.