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{{Short description|Sociological theory}}

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'''Postdevelopment theory''' (also '''post-development''' or '''anti-development''' or '''development criticism''') holdsis thata thecritique wholeof the concept and practice of [[Modernization theory|modernization]] and [[international development|development]] isas apromoted reflection ofby Western-Northern hegemonypolitical overpowers the rest ofin the world[[Third World]]. Postdevelopment thought arose in the 1980s1990s<ref outname=":0">{{Citation |last=Matthews |first=Sally J. |title=Postdevelopment Theory |date=2010-03-01 |url=https://oxfordre.com/internationalstudies/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.001.0001/acrefore-9780190846626-e-39 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of criticismsInternational voicedStudies |access-date=2023-11-19 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.39 |isbn=978-0-19-084662-6|url-access=subscription }}</ref> as a set of criticisms against development projects led by Western nations and legitimized under [[development theory]], which justified them.

For postdevelopment theorists, "development" is an ideological concept that works to preserve the [[hegemony]] of the [[Global North and Global South|Global North]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Olatunji |first=Felix O. |last2=Bature |first2=Anthony I. |date=2019 |title=The Inadequacy of Post-Development Theory to the Discourse of Development and Social Order in the Global South |url=https://www.sociostudies.org/journal/articles/2344973/ |journal=Social Evolution & History |language=en |volume=18 |issue=2 |doi=10.30884/seh/2019.02.12 |issn=1681-4363|doi-access=free }}</ref> while increasing the dependency of the Global South.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Rist |first=G |title=The history of development: From Western origins to global faith |publisher=Zed Books |year=1997 |pages=20}}</ref> Thus, postdevelopment theory argues for "alternatives to development"<ref name=":0" /> or "bottom-up" approaches to development,<ref name=":1" /> as determined by the peoples in the Third World.

==Development as ideology==

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The postdevelopment critique holds that modern [[development theory]] is a creation of academia in tandem with an underlying political and economic ideology. The academic, political, and economic nature of development means it tends to be policy oriented, problem-driven, and therefore effective only in terms of and in relation to a particular, pre-existing social theory.

The actual development projects thus initiated, by both governments and NGOs, are directed in accordance with this development theory. Development theory itself, however, assumes a framework already set in place by government and political culture in order to implement it. The development process is therefore ''[[Social construct|socially constructed]]''; Western interests are guiding its direction and outcome, and so development itself fundamentally reflects the pattern of Western hegemony.

Development as an ideology and a social vision is ingrained in the ideals of modernization, which holds Western economic structure and society as a universal model for others to follow and emulate. Rooted in Western influence, the developmental discourse reflects the unequal power relations between the West and the rest of the world, whereby the Western knowledge of development, approach toward development, and conception of what development entails, as well as perceptions of progress, directs the course for the rest of the world.

Looking back on the circumstances of this paradigm's creation within the broader context of the material changes accompanying it, the scholar [[Nick Cullather]] frames development as "history." He sees it as a perspective on where the world has come from and where the places in it are going—as well as a period in time. He would have it that the concepts of modernization and development fused after 1945.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Cullather |first=Nick |date=2000 |title=Development? It's History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24914145 |journal=Diplomatic History |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=649–653 |jstor=24914145}}</ref> Cullather notes that many historicists who study or promote development construed as history think of the entries in its unfolding through this era in term of a ''discourse'' of signifiers. They do this rather than focusing on it as ''ideology'', which to them brings to mind ideas fixed across time. He does, however, point in his research to many scholars who do engage with the idea that it is ideology, such as Michael Latham and Michael Hunt''.''<ref name=":2" />

Development as an ideology and a social vision is ingrained in the ideals of modernization, which holds western economic structure and society as a universal model for others to follow and emulate. Rooted in western influence, the developmental discourse reflects the unequal power relations between the west and the rest of the world, whereby the western knowledge of development, approach toward development, and conception of what development entails, as well as perceptions of progress, directs the course for the rest of the world.

==Reviewing development==

Influenced by [[Ivan Illich]] and other critics of colonialism and postcolonialism, a number of postdevelopment theorists like [[Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)|Arturo Escobar]] and [[Gustavo Esteva]] have challenged the very meaning of development. According to them, the way wedevelopment understandis developmentunderstood is rooted in the earlier colonial discourse that depicts the North as "advanced" and "progressive", and the South as "backward", "degenerate" and "primitive".<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Demaria, Federico |title=The Barcelona School of Ecological Economics and Political Ecology: A Companion in Honour of Joan Martinez-Alier |author2=Kothari, Ashish |author3=Salleh, Ariel |author4=Escobar, Arturo |author5=Acosta, Alberto |publisher=Springer International Publishing |year=2023 |isbn=978-3-031-22566-6 |editor1=Villamayor-Tomas, Sergio |___location=Cham |pages=59–69 |chapter=Post-development: From the Critique of Development to a Pluriverse of Alternatives |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-22566-6_6 |editor2=Muradian, Roldan}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |author1=Esteva, Gustavo |title=The Development Dictionary @25 |author2=Escobar, Arturo |publisher=Routledge |year=2019 |isbn=9780429451386 |edition=1st |pages=14 |chapter=Post-Development @ 25: on ‘being stuck’ and moving forward, sideways, backward and otherwise}}</ref>

They point out that a new way of thinking about development began in 1949 with President [[Harry Truman]]'s declaration: "The old imperialism—exploitation for foreign profit—has no place in our plans. What we envisage is a program of development based on the concepts of democratic fair dealings."<ref>{{cite websfn|title=Truman Inaugural Address, January 20, |1949|url=https://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/50yr_archive/inagural20jan1949.htm|website=Harry S. Truman Presidential Library & Museum|access-date=6 January 2018}}</ref> While claiming that the "era of development" began at this point, postdevelopment theorists do not suggest that the concept of development was new. What ''was'' new was the definition of development in terms of an escape from [[underdevelopment]]. Since the latter referred to two-thirds of the world, this meant that most societies were made to see themselves as having fallen into the undignified condition of "underdevelopment", and thus to look outside of their own cultures for salvation.

Development, according to these critics, was now a euphemism for post-war [[American hegemony]]; it was the ideals and development programs of the United States and its (Western) European allies that would form the basis of development everywhere else.

==Postdevelopment theory==

Postdevelopment theory arose in the 1980s and 1990s through the works of scholars like [[Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)|Arturo Escobar]], [[Gustavo Esteva]], [[Majid Rahnema]], [[Wolfgang Sachs]], [[James Ferguson (anthropologist)|James Ferguson]], [[Serge Latouche]], and [[Gilbert Rist]]. Leading members of the postdevelopment school argue that development was always unjust, never worked, and at this point has clearly failed. According to Wolfgang Sachs, a leading member of the postdevelopment school, "the idea of development stands like a ruin in the intellectual landscape" and "it is time to dismantle this mental structure."<ref>Wolfgang {{sfn|Sachs, |1992|loc="Introduction" inby Wolfgang Sachs 1992: 1-5, citation |p. =1</ref>}}

To cite an example of this "mental structure", development theorists point out how the concept of development has resulted in the hierarchy of developed and underdeveloped nations, where the developed nations are seen as more advanced and superior to the underdeveloped nations that are conceived of as inferior, in need of help from the developed nations, and desiring to be like the developed nations. The postdevelopment school of thought points out that the models of development are often ethnocentric (in this case Eurocentric), universalist, and based on westernWestern models of industrialization that are unsustainable in this world of limited resources and ineffective for their ignorance of the local, cultural and historical contexts of the peoples to which they are applied. In essence, the problem postdevelopment theorists see in development and its practice is an imbalance of influence or domination by the westWest. Postdevelopment theorists promote more pluralism in ideas about development.

===Critique of ethnocentrism and universalism===

{{Essay-like|section|date=April 2021}}

Among the starting points and basic assumptions of postdevelopment thought is the idea that a middle-class, Western lifestyle and all that goes with it (which might include the nuclear family, mass consumption, living in suburbia and extensive private space), may neither be a realistic nor a desirable goal for the majority of the world's population. In this sense, development is seen as requiring the loss, or indeed the deliberate extermination (ethnocide) of indigenous culture<ref>''Ancient Futures: learning from Ladakh'' by Helena {{sfn|Norberg-Hodge. Sierra Club Books, 1992</ref>|1991}} or other psychologically and environmentally rich and rewarding modes of life. As a result, formerly satisfactory ways of life become dissatisfying because development changes people's perception of themselves.

[[Majid Rahnema]] cites [[Helena Norberg-Hodge]]:{{sfn|Bunyard|1984|p=3|postscript=, cited in {{harvnb|Sachs|1992|p=161}}}} "To take an example, Helena Norberg-Hodge mentions how the notion of poverty hardly existed in [[Ladakh]] when she visited that country for the first time in 1975. Today she says, it has become part of the language. When visiting an outlying village some eight years ago, Helena asked a young Ladakhi where were the poorest houses. 'We have no poor houses in our village,' was the proud reply. Recently Helena saw the same Ladakhi talking to an American tourist and overheard him say, 'if only you could do something for us, we are so poor.{{'"<ref>Majid Rahnema, }}{{sfn|Sachs|1992|loc="Poverty" in:by Sachs 1992: 158-176, citation p. 161</ref><ref>Majid Rahnema also refers to Peter Bunyard, "Can Self-sufficient Communities survive the onslaught of Development?", The Ecologist, Vol. 14, 1984, |p.3</ref>=161}}

Development is seen as a set of knowledges, interventions and worldviews (in short, discourses) which are also powers: to intervene, to transform and to rule. Postdevelopment critiques challenge the notion of a single path to development and demandsdemand acknowledgment of diversity of cultural perspectives and priorities.

For example, postdevelopment theorists argue that the politics of defining and satisfying [[needs]] is a crucial dimension of development thought, deeply entwined in the concept of [[agency (sociology)|agency]]. ButYet, questions of who voices development concerns, what power relations are played out among agents, and how do the interests of socially-constructed development "experts" (e.g., the [[World Bank]], IMF officials, professionals, and so on) rule the development priorities, andare whichnot voicesoften areaddressed excludedin asclassical adevelopment result?thought. The postdevelopment approach attempts to overcome the inequality of this discoursegap by opening up academic, practical, and other spaces for non-Western peoples and their concerns.

Postdevelopment theory is, above all, a critique of the standard assumptions about progress: who possesses the key to itprogress and how it may be implemented.

===Alternatives to development===

While the postdevelopment school provides a plethora of development critiques, it also considers alternative methods for bringing about positive change. The postdevelopment school proposes a particular vision of society removed from the discourse of development, modernity, politics, cultural and economic influences from the westWest, and market oriented and centralized authoritarian societies.

In his works, [[Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)|Escobar]] has outlined the common features of postdevelopment thought and societal vision. According to Escobarhim, the postdevelopment school of thought is interested (in terms of searching for an alternative to development) in "local culture and knowledge; a critical stance toward established scientific discourses; and the defense and promotion of localized, pluralistic [[grassroots]] movements.". Grassroots movements, Escobar argues, are "local, pluralistic, and distrust organized politics and development establishment".{{sfn|Escobar|2018|loc="<ref>[https://booksread.googledukeupress.atedu/books?hl=en&lr=&id=M0NRDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=arturo+escobar+designs+for+the+pluriverse&ots=NzHTavKElr&sig=4ypQm3eI3YI89k/book/chapter-4LshndRAXp7E&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=arturo%20escobar%20designs%20for%20the%20pluriverse&f=falsepdf/680258/9780822371816-ix.pdf Escobar,Preface 2017and Acknowledgements]</ref>"}}

Postdevelopment thought takes inspiration from vernacular societies, the informal sector and frugal rather than materialistic lifestyles. Furthermore, postdevelopment theorists advocate for structural changes. According to Escobar, postdevelopmental thinking believes that the economy must be based around solidarity and reciprocity; policy must focus on direct democracy; and knowledge systems should be traditional, or at least a hybrid of modern and traditional knowledge. Decolonial programmatics include [[ALBA]]: The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America,<ref>Khaled {{sfn|Al-Kassimi (|2018) ALBA: A decolonial delinking performance towards (western) modernity – An alternative to development project, Cogent Social Sciences, 4:1, DOI: 10.1080/23311886.2018.1546418</ref>}} initiated by [[Fidel Castro]] and [[Hugo Chavez]] in 2004 in response to neoliberal development projects such as [[FTAA]] and [[NAFTA]]. ALBA is analyzed and conceptualized using concepts elaborated by decolonial scholars of the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region. According to Al-Kassimi (2018),<ref>ALBA: A decolonial delinking performance towards (western) modernity – An alternative to development project, Cogent Social Sciences, 4:1, DOI: 10.1080/23311886.{{sfn|Al-Kassimi|2018.1546418</ref>}} as a [[decolonial]] [[delinking]] performance, ALBA proposes an alternative to development project that embodies the spirit of Bandung and principles of South-South Cooperationcooperation thereby contesting the ''a priori'' belief that only (westernWestern) knowledge systems informing modernity and civilization lead to economic and social development.<ref>Khaled {{sfn|Al-Kassimi (|2018) ALBA: A decolonial delinking performance towards (western) modernity – An alternative to development project, Cogent Social Sciences, 4:1, DOI: 10.1080/23311886.2018.1546418</ref>}}

AIn a recent survey claimsfrom that2019, as''Postdevelopment alternativesin to developmentpractice'', Elise Klein and Carlos Eduardo Morreo claim that "the practice of postdevelopment is already being carried out by actors in and out of development".<ref>{{Cite journalsfn|Klein|last=Morreo|first=Carlos E.|date=2019-01-01|titleloc=Postdevelopment"Introduction"}} inIn practice:their Alternativesbook, Economies,they Ontologiestry (Introduction)|url=https://www.academia.edu/62783756|journal=Postdevelopmentto inshow Practice: Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies}}</ref>how "Postdevelopmentpostdevelopment in practice begins with the insistence that an enduring diversity of socialities, a multiplicity of southern knowledges and nature/culture assemblages, and postcolonial political economies reveals already existing alternatives."<ref>.{{Cite booksfn|last1=Klein|first1=EliseMorreo|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snGPDwAAQBAJ&dq=Post+Development+in+practice+begins+with+the+insistence+that+an+enduring+diversity+of+socialities%2C+a+multiplicity+of+southern+knowledges+and+nature%2Fculture+assemblages+and+postco-lonial+political+economies+reveals+already+existing+alternatives.&pg=PT212019|titleloc="Postdevelopment in Practice: Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies|last2=Morreo|first2=Carlos Eduardo|date=2019-03-29|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-429-95998-1|language=en"}}</ref>

===James Ferguson===

{{Further|James Ferguson (anthropologist)}}

One of the leading anti-development writers, James Ferguson, contributed to what John Rapley termed "the most important of the opening salvos" of postdevelopment theory with his book ''The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho''. In ''The Anti-Politics Machine'' Ferguson describes the failure of the development project to properly understand the cultural and economic values of the people of Lesotho. This misunderstanding led to misappropriation of resources by the international community and myriad negative consequences for Basotho (residents of Lesotho), prompting Ferguson to comment that "Capitalist interests [...] can only operate through a set of social and cultural structures so complex that the outcome may be only a baroque and unrecognizable transformation of the original intention."<ref name="Anti-Politics">{{cite journalsfn|last=Ferguson|first=James|title=The Anti-Politics Machine: Development, Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho|journal=The Ecologist|date=September–October 1994|volume=24|issue=5|pages=176–181|url=http://exacteditions.theecologist.org/read/resurgence/ecologist-vol-24-no-5-sep-oct-1994-6241/18/3|access-date=9 April 2017}}</ref> Development projects cannot simply create a desired result, but instead have a number of unexpected consequences.

Ferguson suggests that although development projects often end in failure, they still produce tangible impacts in the physical and social-political environment. In ''The Anti-Politics Machine'', he asks, "What do aid programs do besides fail to help poor people?"<ref name="Anti-Politics"/>{{sfn|Ferguson|1994}} In the case of Lesotho, Ferguson proposes that, "while the project did not transform livestock-keeping it did build a road to link to Thaba-Tsea more strongly with the capital."<ref name="Anti-Politics"/>{{sfn|Ferguson|1994}} Ferguson argues that there is value to understanding and thinking about the [[unintended consequences]] for an environment.

===Arturo Escobar===

{{Further|Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)}}

Critics of development do not deny the need for change. They argue instead that to enact proper and effective change, change itself must first be conceived in different terms. Arturo Escobar, another leading member of the postdevelopmentpost development school, argues:

<blockquote>While social change has probably always been part of the human experience, it was only within the European modernity that 'society', i.e. the whole way of life of a people, was open to empirical analysis and made the subject of planned change. And while communities in the Third World may find that there is a need for some sort of organised or directed change—in part to reverse the damage done by development—this undoubtedly will not take the form of 'designing life' or social engineering. In this long run, this means that categories and meanings have to be redefined; through their innovative political practice, new social movements of various kinds are already embarked on this process of redefining the social, and knowledge itself.<ref name="Sachs1992">{{cite book sfn|last1=Escobar |first1=Arturo |author1-link=Arturo Escobar (anthropologist) |editor1-last=Sachs |editor1-first=Wolfgang |title=The Development dictionary : a guide to knowledge as power |date=1992 |publisher=Zed Books |___location=London |isbn=1-85649-043-2 |pagep=185 |chapter=Planning}}</ref></blockquote>

===Majid Rahnema===

{{Further|Majid Rahnema}}

Majid Rahnema addresses the question of which path to take directly in his conclusion to the ''Post-Development Reader''. Rahnema admits that it may be true that a large majority of people, whose lives are in fact difficult, do want change. But the answer he suggests is not development but the "end of development". He says that the end of development is not "An end to the search for new possibilities of change, for a relational world of friendship, or for genuine processes of regeneration able to give birth to new forms of solidarity". Rather, Rahnema argues, the "inhumane and the ultimately destructive approach to change is over. It should resemble a call to the 'good people' everywhere to think and work together."<ref>{{cite book sfn|last1=Rahnema |first1=Majid |last2=Bawtree |first2=Victoria |title=The Post-Development Reader |date=1997 |publisher=Zed Books |___location=London |isbn=1-85649-473-X |pagep=391}}</ref>

===Serge Latouche===

{{Further|Serge Latouche}}

Serge Latouche is a [[French people|French]] [[emeritus]] [[professor]] in economy at the [[University of Paris-Sud]]. A specialist in North-South economic and cultural relations, and in social sciences epistemology, he has developed a critical theory towards economic orthodoxy. He denounces [[economism]], [[utilitarianism]] in social sciences, [[Consumerism|consumer society]] and the notion of [[sustainable development]]. He particularly criticizes the notions of [[economic efficiency]] and [[economic rationalism]]. He is one of the thinkers and most renowned partisans of the [[Degrowth|degrowth theory]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.solutionslocales-lefilm.com/en/characters/serge-latouche|title=Serge {{webarchiveLatouche|website=www.solutionslocales-lefilm.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231170033/http://www.solutionslocales-lefilm.com/en/characters/serge-latouche |archive-date=December 31, 2012-12-31|url-status=dead|language=en}}</ref> Latouche has also published in the ''[[Mouvement Anti-Utilitariste dans les Sciences Sociales|Revue de Mauss]]'', a French anti-utilitarian journal.

===Wolfgang Sachs and ''The Development Dictionary''===

{{Further|Wolfgang Sachs}}

Wolfgang Sachs is a leading writer in postdevelopment thought. Most of his writing is focused on environmentally sustainable development and the idea that past notions of development are naturally unsustainable practices on our finite planet. However, in 1992 he co-authored and edited ''The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power'' which contributed greatly to the compilation of post-developmentpostdevelopment literature as a general theory.

This manifesto posits that the new era of development that emerged in the 1950s was created by the United States in order to secure its new hegemonic position in the global community. Sachs explains that the concept of "underdevelopment" was actually constructed in [[Harry S. Truman's 1949 inaugural address]], which popularized the term. Sachs argues that the creation of this term was a discrete, strategic move to secure American hegemony by reinforcing the idea that the United States is at the top, and other countries on a lower pillar, of a linear and singular trajectory of development. It created a homogeneous identity for these countries and stripped them of their own diverse characteristics. "It converts participation into a manipulative trick to involve people in struggles for getting what the powerful want to impose on them."<ref>{{cite booksfn|last=Sachs|first=Wolfgang|title=The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power|year=1992|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-85649-044-3}}</ref>

''The Development Dictionary'' describes a biological metaphor for development. This biological metaphor was transferred to the social sphere and perpetuated the ideal that there is one natural way to develop into the perfect form. To develop in a manner disparate from the "natural order of things" was to become a disfigured anomaly. This definition held the potential to provide morally ambiguous justification for imperialist behavior and can be connected to colonial discourse and mainstream development theories. Under such categorization, Sachs explains, development was reduced to a simple measurement of the economic growth of per capita production.

Sachs issues a cry for public awareness of the "limits of development.". He leaves the reader with the idea of the "New Commons" and posits that men and women should begin with this awareness before attempting to introduce new political policies with room for creativity and innovation in diverse development paths.

==Criticisms==

There is a large body of works which are critical of postdevelopment theory and its proponents. It has been noted that postdevelopment theory sees all development as imposed upon the developing world by the West. This dualist perspective of development may be unrealistic, and Marc Edelman notes that a large proportion of development has risen from, rather than been imposed upon, the developing world.<ref>{{cite booksfn|last=Edelman|first=Marc|title=Peasants Against Globalization: Rural Social Movements in Costa Rica|url=https://archive.org/details/peasantsagainstg0000edel|url-access=registration|year=1999|publisher=Stanford University Press|___location=Stanford, CA|isbn=978-0804734011}}</ref> Citing Jonathan Crush's point that "Development, for all its power to speak and to control the terms of speaking, has never been impervious to challenge and resistance, nor, in response, to reformulation and change."<ref>{{cite booksfn|last=Crush|first=Jonathan|title=Power of Development|year=1995|publisher=Routledge|___location=London|isbn=978-0-415-11176-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/powerofdevelopme0000unse/page/8 8]|url=https://archive.org/details/powerofdevelopme0000unse/page/8}}</ref> Ray Kiely argues that "The post-development idea is thus part of a long history within the development discourse."<ref>{{cite journalsfn|last=Kiely|first=Ray|title=The Last Refuge of the Noble Savage? A Critical Assessment of Post-Development Theory|journal=European Journal of Development Research|date=1 June 1999|volume=11|issue=1|pages=30–55|doi=10.1080/09578819908426726|s2cid=143454475}}</ref> In short, Kiely argues that postdevelopment theory is merely the latest version of a set of criticisms that have long been evident within writing and thought in the field of development. Development has always been about choices, Kiely explains. Choices with resulting losers and winners, dilemmas and destruction, as well as creative possibility.

Nevertheless, discussing the project of ''Postdevelopment in Practice'', Kelly Dombrowski notes "that postdevelopment scholars have consistently shown how development’s models of progress normalize individuals over collectives and capitalist economies over other forms of economy. They also note how postdevelopment scholars have identified powerful Eurocentric discourses in development that privilege Western expertise and systematically overlook and devalue traditional knowledges and social systems".{{sfn|Dombrowski|2024|loc="Caring for Life: A Postdevelopment Politics of Infant Hygiene"}}

Critics also argue that postdevelopment perpetuates cultural relativism: the idea that cultural beliefs and practices can be judged only by those who practice them. By accepting all cultural behaviors and beliefs as valid and rejecting a universal standard for living and understanding life, critics of postdevelopment argue, postdevelopment represents the opposite extreme of universalism, extreme relativism. Such a relativist extreme, rather than besting extreme universalism, has equally dangerous implications. John Rapley points out that "rejection of essentialism rests itself on an essentialist claim – namely, that all truth is constructed and arbitrary[...]"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Rapley|first=John|title=Development studies and the post-development critique|journal=Progress in Development Studies|date=1 October 2004|volume=4 | issue = 4|pages=350–354|doi=10.1191/1464993404ps095pr|s2cid=145323059|id={{ProQuest|218128258}}}}</ref>

Still, critics also argue that postdevelopment perpetuates cultural relativism: the idea that cultural beliefs and practices can be judged only by those who practice them. By accepting all cultural behaviors and beliefs as valid and rejecting a universal standard for living and understanding life, critics of postdevelopment argue, postdevelopment represents the opposite extreme of universalism, extreme relativism. Such a relativist extreme, rather than besting extreme universalism, has equally dangerous implications. John Rapley points out that "rejection of essentialism rests itself on an essentialist claim – namely, that all truth is constructed and arbitrary[...]"{{sfn|Rapley|2004}}

Kiely also argues that by rejecting a top-down, centralized approach to development and promoting development through local means, postdevelopment thought perpetuates neo-liberal ideals. Kiely remarks that "The argument — upheld by [[Dependency theory|dependency]] and post-development theory — that the [[First World]] needs the [[Third World]], and vice versa, rehearses neo-liberal assumptions that the world is an equal playing field in which all nation states have the capacity to compete equally[...]"<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kiely|first=Ray|title=Development Theory and Industrialisation: Beyond the Impasse|journal=Journal of Contemporary Asia|year=1994|volume=24|issue=2|pages=133–160|doi=10.1080/00472339480000101}}</ref> In other words, making locals responsible for their own predicament, postdevelopment unintentionally agrees with neo-liberalist ideology that favors decentralized projects and ignores the possibility of assisting impoverished demographics, instead making the fallacious assumption that such demographics must succeed on their own initiative alone. Kiely notes that not all grassroots movements are progressive. Postdevelopment is seen to empower anti-modern fundamentalists and traditionalists, who may hold non-progressive and oppressive values.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Kiely|first=Ray|title=The Last Refuge of the Noble Savage? A Critical Assessment of Post-Development Theory|journal=European Journal of Development Research|date=1 June 1999|volume=11|pages=30–55|doi=10.1080/09578819908426726|s2cid=143454475}}</ref>

Kiely also argues that by rejecting a top-down, centralized approach to development and promoting development through local means, postdevelopment thought perpetuates neo-liberal ideals. Kiely remarks that "The argument — upheld by [[Dependency theory|dependency]] and post-development theory — that the [[First World]] needs the [[Third World]], and vice versa, rehearses neo-liberal assumptions that the world is an equal playing field in which all nation states have the capacity to compete equally[...]"{{sfn|Kiely|1994}} In other words, making locals responsible for their own predicament, postdevelopment unintentionally agrees with neo-liberalist ideology that favors decentralized projects and ignores the possibility of assisting impoverished demographics, instead making the fallacious assumption that such demographics must succeed on their own initiative alone. Kiely notes that not all grassroots movements are progressive. Postdevelopment is seen to empower anti-modern fundamentalists and traditionalists, who may hold non-progressive and oppressive values.{{sfn|Kiely|1999}}

==Notable development critics==

Line 93 ⟶ 100:

*[[Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)]]

*[[Gustavo Esteva]]

*[[Julius Evola]]

*[[James Ferguson (anthropologist)]]

*[[Masanobu Fukuoka]]

Line 102 ⟶ 108:

*[[Martin Heidegger]]

*[[Ivan Illich]]

*[[Derrick Jensen (activist)|Derrick Jensen]]

*[[Theodore Kaczynski]]

*[[Ruhollah Khomeini]]

Line 109 ⟶ 115:

*[[Ned Ludd]]

*[[Maria Mies]]

*[[Yukio Mishima]]

*[[MOVE (Philadelphia organization)|MOVE]] organization

*[[François Partant]]

Line 123 ⟶ 128:

==See also==

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

* [[Alter-globalization]]

* [[Anarcho-primitivism]]

* [[Critical theory]]

Line 153 ⟶ 159:

==Bibliography==

{{refbegin}}

*Elise Klein and Carlos Eduardo Morreo, ''Postdevelopment in practice: Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies,'' London: Routledge, 2019. ISBN 9781138588677

* {{cite journal

*''The Post-Development Reader'', ed. by Majid Rahnema and Victoria Bawtree, London: Zed Books, 1997. {{ISBN|1-85649-473-X}}

| last = Al-Kassimi

*Arturo Escobar: ''Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World'', Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995, {{ISBN|0-691-00102-2}}

| first = Khaled

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{{refend}}

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