Growth and Development

Is the balanced development of a society, a nation the result of good governance, cultural influences, will of people to develop or successful policy? I know that the answer is all of the above and some more factors not mentioned earlier. I am just trying to understand which, is a catalyzing factor which adds to the strength of other factors or even out a missing factor. Most important point to note is that we are discussing not just development but ‘balanced’ development, by which I mean along with growth and prosperity we also see a very low disparity of wealth.
I believe cultural influences and resolve of the people are the very basic initiators of development. Especially for the nations which experienced development in the early era, the developed nations of Europe and Americas. This is what drove the explorers to explore new lands, the traders to travel far and wide and conquerors to seek new victories. The early start advantage these nations got still stay with them though the rest of the world, especially the third world countries like India and Brazil are fast catching up.
Successful policy at the Governmental level is very important factor too. And this has been demonstrated very effectively by the emerging nations like India and China. Some very important policy changes in the nineties fueled the rapid growth in both these countries. What once were cumbersome bureaucracies have now been transformed into agile sprinters that are poised to leave behind the mighty giants of the world economy. The growth has been almost all round in both these countries. Along with the healthy statistics like GDP growth, currency valuation and stock market indices etc, there has been considerable improvement in the per capita income and most importantly the standard of living of the common masses. Yes, there still exists a vast gap between the haves and have-nots in these two countries, but it is much smaller than what it used to be and is shrinking by the day. There is also an increase in the number of rich and middle class while the number of poor is reducing. The governments are trying new policies to alleviate poverty.
Good governance and political will holds the key to the development of the underdeveloped nations in the world now. The developed and emerging nations certainly extend a hand of help to help the underdeveloped nations, but it is the Government which can translate this foreign aid into all round development. The Governments of these countries need to decide their priorities in terms of human development and economic growth factors and formulate a roadmap to achieve their goals. The recipe of development will need all the ingredients, Good governance and political will to make efficient use of the assistance available from developed countries, policy level determination to avoid siphoning of funds and utilizing the funds in the best possible way and the will of the people to keep the Government in check and keep analyzing the performance of their leaders. Let us hope that one day we will see entire humanity standing on equal grounds, reaping the benefits of technological advancements and having equal opportunities.