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448 political development
Policy, London: Routledge. �The most comprehensive
text on tourism and public policy.)
Hall, C.M., Jenkins, J. and Kearsley, J. �eds) �1997)
Tourism Planning and Policy in Australia and New
Zealand:Cases, Issues and Practice, Sydney: Irwin.
�Integrates tourism planning and policy issues,
with overview chapters on tourism policy in
international, nature area, rural area and urban
area context.)
Richter, L.K. �1989) The Politics of Tourism in Asia,
Honolulu, HA: University of Hawaii Press. �An
analysis of tourism policy and public administration
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C. MICHAEL HALL, NEW ZEALAND
political development
The linkage between tourism and political development
has become an important subject of social
science research in recent decades. As a subfield of
political science, the study of political development
became prominent in the period following
the Second World War when numerous territories
were struggling for political independence and
economic development. This period has also
been characterised by substantial growth in mass
tourism, with much of it directed toward those
same developing countries.
Political development can be defined generally
as the refinements that a political system makes in
its political institutions and processes to improve its
capacity to encourage and accommodate new
demands and functions. The objective of political
development is to keep the political system
responsive and effective. Tourism is a cluster of
human activities associated with the desire and
ability of people to travel outside their home
environment. Such travel places demands upon
political institutions in a given polity for regulation
of both inbound and outbound tourism and for
adjustments in various aspects of the society.
It is difficult to study political development
without also examining concurrent development in
social and economic processes and institutions.
Changes can be directly related to tourism, but in
the larger context they may be prompted by other
events or pressures. Separating tourism's impact
from the general forces of modernisation is usually
difficult. Political development's minimal task is to
maintain order in society or channel conflict in
manageable ways. As the complexity of a society
increases, the goals of political development
become more complicated. Political development
turns into the process whereby society refines its
political institutions to handle more diverse and
challenging tasks. Tourism can create new demands
for more effective government. Unfortunately,
some policies may contribute to political
decay rather than development if the system is
unequal to the pace or type of tourism or if the
government is corrupt.
Tourism has its critics, who argue that the
industry is the source of much political and
cultural friction, and that it has a negative effect on
indigenous values and moral character. At the
same time, tourism is seen by some as a catalyst for
positive political and cultural change, often
prompting political institutions to embrace new
ideas, to be more open to diverse values and to
accommodate new technologies. Both views offer
elements of truth. The influence on political culture
may depend on the system and the values of the
researcher. In closed political systems, the desire for
economic benefits from tourism may be stronger
than the willingness to protect the status quo in
terms of political culture. In such a case, persons
who believe in more open political systems would
likely say that tourism has a positive effect on
political development, but this would be a view
driven by predisposed political values.
There are a number of issues of political
development that are greatly affected by tourism.
Domestic tourism, for example, is a critical
input to national integration. It helps overcome
tense regionalism based either on geographic or
cultural identities. In a similar way, international
tourism encourages political development of
nation-states in terms of their conduct of foreign
affairs, and promotes an international political
climate conducive to travel and cultural exchange.
International tourism helps identify shared values
and common political needs among otherwise
diverse nations. The development of contemporary
international law and its corollary political institutions
has been a major factor in the growth and