Critical Analysis of the Application of Contemporary Global Development Indicators

Development is a sort of intervention in the social systems to improve them. Because of high complexity of the social systems, it is considered an extreme intricate knowledge of our era to conduct, control and direct such systems. So far, various approaches have been formulated and executed in order to intervene in these systems; but unfortunately the government and political and academic elites in Iran, as other so-called developing or under-developed countries have little used these scientific findings. Thus, either they are passive or take a uniform reaction when they encounter the strategies resulted from theses sciences applied by so-called developed countries. One of the most efficient and easiest strategies for managing and intervening social systems, including development, is to evaluate and control the indicators. This paper surveys the international organizations that design such indicators and reviews four contemporary viewpoints on the indicators in order to study their backgrounds. Moreover, scrutinizing chronological trend of development indicators and studying the uniform reactions of Iran’s development elites to them not only inform us on the designing mechanism of the indicators, as a hidden tool of globalization, but they also lead us to a hyperactive and influential action to finalize and manage the advancement and justice plans. Hence, the researcher has in mind a new view on design and application of the indicators.