Content deleted Content added
I'm mender (talk | contribs) impose shortened footnote style on inconsistent refs, alphabetize bibliography |
See also: Alter-globalization |
||
(35 intermediate revisions by 26 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}▼
{{Short description|Sociological theory}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2010}}
▲{{use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
'''Postdevelopment theory''' (also '''post-development''' or '''anti-development''' or '''development criticism''')
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==
Line 9 ⟶ 11:
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
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
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."{{sfn|Truman|1949}} 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.
Line 21 ⟶ 25:
==Postdevelopment theory==
Postdevelopment theory arose in the 1980s and 1990s through the works of scholars like
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
===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)
Development is seen as a set of
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]].
Postdevelopment theory is
===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
In his works,
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,{{sfn|Al-Kassimi|2018}} 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,{{sfn|Al-Kassimi|2018}} as a [[decolonial]] [[delinking]] performance, ALBA proposes an alternative to development project that embodies the spirit of Bandung and principles of South-South
===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."{{sfn|Ferguson|1994}} 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?"{{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."{{sfn|Ferguson|1994}} Ferguson argues that there is value to understanding and thinking about the [[unintended consequences]] for an environment.
===
{{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.
<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.{{sfn|Sachs|1992|p=185}}</blockquote>
===
{{Further|Majid Rahnema}}
===
{{Further|Serge Latouche}}
===
{{Further|Wolfgang Sachs}}
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."{{sfn|Sachs|1992}}
Line 74 ⟶ 78:
''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
==Criticisms==
There is a large body of works which are critical of postdevelopment theory and its proponents.
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[...]"{{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[...]"{{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}}
Line 94 ⟶ 100:
*[[Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)]]
*[[Gustavo Esteva]]
*[[James Ferguson (anthropologist)]]
*[[Masanobu Fukuoka]]
Line 103 ⟶ 108:
*[[Martin Heidegger]]
*[[Ivan Illich]]
*[[Derrick Jensen (activist)|Derrick Jensen]]
*[[Theodore Kaczynski]]
*[[Ruhollah Khomeini]]
Line 110 ⟶ 115:
*[[Ned Ludd]]
*[[Maria Mies]]
*[[MOVE (Philadelphia organization)|MOVE]] organization
*[[François Partant]]
Line 124 ⟶ 128:
==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}
* [[Alter-globalization]]
* [[Anarcho-primitivism]]
* [[Critical theory]]
Line 165 ⟶ 170:
| issue = 1
| doi = 10.1080/23311886.2018.1546418
| doi-access = free}}
* {{cite book
| last = Bodley
| first = John H.
| date = 2008
| orig-date = 1st pub. 1972
| title = Victims of Progress
Line 198 ⟶ 201:
| url = https://archive.org/details/powerofdevelopme0000unse
| url-access = registration
| date = 1995
| publisher = Routledge
| editor-link = Jonathan Crush
Line 231 ⟶ 234:
| first = Arturo
| title = Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds
| date = 2018
| doi = 10.1215/9780822371816
| isbn = 978-0-8223-7181-6
Line 260 ⟶ 263:
| last = Ginzburg
| first = Oren
| date = 2008
| orig-date = 1st pub.
| title = There You Go!
| publisher = Hungry Man Books
Line 283 ⟶ 286:
| editor-last5 = Whatmore
| editor-first5 = Sarah
| date =
| section = Post-development
| title = The Dictionary of Human Geography
Line 327 ⟶ 330:
| editor-last2 = Morreo
| editor-first2 = Carlos Eduardo
| date = 2019
| title = Postdevelopment in Practice: Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies
| isbn = 978-1-138-58867-7
Line 361 ⟶ 364:
| issue = 2
| page = 175–191
| doi = 10.1080/01436590050004300
}}
* {{cite book
| author-last1 = Rahnema
Line 370 ⟶ 374:
| editor-first2 = Victoria
| title = The Post-Development Reader
| date = 1997
| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing
| ___location = London
Line 384 ⟶ 388:
| volume = 4
| issue = 4
|
| doi = 10.1191/1464993404ps095pr
| s2cid = 145323059}}
Line 406 ⟶ 410:
| display-authors = etal
| title = The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power
|
| publisher = Bloomsbury Academic
| ___location = London
Line 417 ⟶ 421:
| title = Spaces of Postdevelopment
| journal = Progress in Human Geography
| publisher =
| volume = 31
| issue = 3
Line 428 ⟶ 432:
| first = Henry David
| author-link = Henry Thoreau
| date = 1854
| title = [[Walden|Walden; or, Life in the Woods]]
| edition = 1st
Line 449 ⟶ 453:
| editor-last = Ziai
| editor-first = Aram
| date = 2007
| title = Exploring Post-Development: Theory and Practice, Problems and Perspectives
| ___location = London
|