Content deleted Content added
Cleanup 1 reference: convert <ref>URL {{webarchive}}</ref> to <ref>{{cite web}}</ref>. NB: title etc is missing, and will display error msg |
I'm mender (talk | contribs) impose shortened footnote style on inconsistent refs, alphabetize bibliography |
||
Line 1:
{{use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}
{{Short description|Sociological theory}}
{{More citations needed|date=February 2010}}
Line 15 ⟶ 16:
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 we understand development is rooted in the earlier colonial discourse that depicts the North as "advanced" and "progressive", and the South as "backward", "degenerate" and "primitive".
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."
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."
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 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 western 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 west. Postdevelopment theorists promote more pluralism in ideas about development.
Line 26 ⟶ 27:
===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
[[Majid Rahnema]] cites [[Helena Norberg-Hodge]]
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 demands acknowledgment of diversity of cultural perspectives and priorities.
Line 39 ⟶ 40:
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 west, 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 Escobar, 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."
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,
A recent survey claims that as alternatives to development, "the practice of postdevelopment is already being carried out by actors in and out of development".
===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."
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?"
===Arturo Escobar===
Line 55 ⟶ 56:
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 postdevelopment 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.
===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."
===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
===Wolfgang Sachs and ''The Development Dictionary''===
Line 69 ⟶ 70:
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-development 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."
''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.
Line 77 ⟶ 78:
==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.
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[...]"
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[...]"
==Notable development critics==
Line 153 ⟶ 154:
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Al-Kassimi
| first = Khaled
| date = 2018-11-12
| title = ALBA: A Decolonial Delinking Performance Towards (Western) Modernity – An Alternative to Development Project
| journal = Cogent Social Sciences
| publisher = Informa UK
| volume = 4
| issue = 1
| doi = 10.1080/23311886.2018.1546418
| url = https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/23311886.2018.1546418
| format = PDF
| doi-access = free}}
* {{cite book
| last = Bodley
| first = John H.
| date = 2008-04-11
| orig-date = 1st pub. 1972
| title = Victims of Progress
| edition = 5th
| ___location = Lanham
| publisher = AltaMira Press
| isbn = 978-0-7591-1148-6
| ol = 16833983M}}
* {{cite journal
| first = Peter
| last = Bunyard
| title = Can Self-sufficient Communities Survive the Onslaught of Development?
| publisher = Edward Goldsmith
| ___location = Cornwall
| journal = The Ecologist
| volume = 14
| issue = 1
| pages = 2–5
| date = 1984
| url = https://www.resurgence.org/download.cgi?isid=1984-01&serial=ecologist
| format = PDF}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Crush
| editor-first = Jonathan
| title = Power of Development
| url = https://archive.org/details/powerofdevelopme0000unse
| url-access = registration
| date = 1995-09-12
| publisher = Routledge
| editor-link = Jonathan Crush
| ___location = London
| isbn = 978-0-415-11177-5
| ol = 1114728M}}
* {{cite book
| 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
| ol = 7929259M
| isbn = 978-0-8047-3693-0}}
* {{cite book
| last = Escobar
| first = Arturo
| title = Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World
| ___location = Princeton
| publisher = Princeton University Press
| date = 1995
| isbn = 978-0-691-00102-9
| ol = 1096429M
| url = https://archive.org/details/encounteringdeve00esco
| url-access = registration
| author-link = Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)}}
* {{cite book
| last = Escobar
| first = Arturo
| title = Designs for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds
| date = 2018-03-15
| doi = 10.1215/9780822371816
| isbn = 978-0-8223-7181-6
| ol = 29790732M
| publisher = Duke University Press
| author-link = Arturo Escobar (anthropologist)}}
* {{Cite book
| last = Ferguson
| first = James
| title = [[The Anti-Politics Machine|The Anti-Politics Machine: "Development," Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho]]
| date = 1994
| publisher = University of Minnesota Press
| isbn = 978-0-521-37382-1
| ol = 2213259M
| ___location = Minneapolis}}
* {{cite book
| last = Gandhi
| first = Mohandas K.
| title = Hind Swaraj: or, Indian Home Rule
| date = 1939
| edition = 2nd rev.
| orig-date = 1st pub. 1938
| isbn = 9788172290702
| publisher = Navajivan Publishing House
| ___location = Ahmedabad
| author-link = Mahatma Gandhi}}
* {{cite book
| last = Ginzburg
| first = Oren
| date = 2008-07-01
| orig-date = 1st pub. March 2005
| title = There You Go!
| publisher = Hungry Man Books
| url = http://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/470/There_you_go.pdf
| edition = 2nd
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220121013421/http://assets.survivalinternational.org/documents/470/There_you_go.pdf
| archive-date = 2022-01-21
| access-date = 2022-06-27
| author-link = Oren Ginzburg
| isbn = 978-0-946592-22-7
| ol = 32967132M}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last1 = Gregory
| editor-first1 = Derek
| editor-last2 = Johnston
| editor-first2 = Ron
| editor-last3 = Pratt
| editor-first3 = Geraldine
| editor-last4 = Watts
| editor-first4 = Michael
| editor-last5 = Whatmore
| editor-first5 = Sarah
| date = June 2009
| section = Post-development
| title = The Dictionary of Human Geography
| ___location = Hoboken
| publisher = Wiley-Blackwell
| ol = 17103524M
| isbn = 978-1-405-13288-6}}
* {{cite book
| last = Illich
| first = Ivan
| author-link = Ivan Illich
| date = 1973
| title = [[Tools for Conviviality]]
| ___location = New York, Evanston, San Francisco, London
| publisher = Harper & Row
| isbn = 978-0-06-012138-9
| ol = 5289380M}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Kiely
| first = Ray
| title = Development theory and industrialisation: Beyond the impasse
| journal = Journal of Contemporary Asia
| publisher = Informa UK
| volume = 24
| issue = 2
| date = 1994
| doi = 10.1080/00472339480000101
| pages = 133–160}}
* {{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 = 1999-06-01
| volume = 11
| issue = 1
| pages = 30–55
| doi = 10.1080/09578819908426726
| s2cid = 143454475}}
* {{Cite book
| editor-last1 = Klein
| editor-first1 = Elise
| editor-last2 = Morreo
| editor-first2 = Carlos Eduardo
| date = 2019-04-23
| title = Postdevelopment in Practice: Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies
| isbn = 978-1-138-58867-7
| ol = 34663311M
| publisher = Routledge}}
* {{cite book
| last = Latouche
| first = Serge
| author-link = Serge Latouche
| title = In the Wake of the Affluent Society: An Exploration of Post-Development
| ___location = London
| publisher = Zed Books
| date = 1993
| ol = 1405704M
| isbn = 978-1-85649-171-6}}
* {{cite book
| last = Norberg-Hodge
| first = Helena
| author-link = Helena Norberg-Hodge
| title = Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh
| date = 1991
| publisher = Sierra Club Books
| isbn = 978-0-87156-643-0
| ol = 8348621M}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Pieterse
| first = Jan Nederveen
| date = 2010-08-25
| title = After Post-Development
| journal = Third World Quarterly
| publisher = Informa UK
| volume = 21
| issue = 2
| page = 175–191
| doi = 10.1080/01436590050004300}}
* {{cite book
| author-last1 = Rahnema
| author-first1 = Majid
| editor-last1 = Rahnema
| editor-first1 = Majid
| editor-last2 = Bawtree
| editor-first2 = Victoria
| title = The Post-Development Reader
| date = 1997-03-01
| publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing
| ___location = London
| isbn = 978-1-85649-473-1
| ol = 987562M
| author-link1 = Majid Rahnema}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Rapley
| first = John
| date = 2004-10-01
| title = Development Studies and the Post-Development Critique
| journal = Progress in Development Studies
| volume = 4
| issue = 4
| pp = 350–354
| doi = 10.1191/1464993404ps095pr
| s2cid = 145323059}}
* {{cite book
| last = Rist
| first = Gilbert
| author-link = Gilbert Rist
| title = The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith
| edition = Expanded
| date = 2003
| orig-date = 1st pub. 1997
| ___location = London
| publisher = Zed Books
| isbn = 978-1-84277-180-8
| ol = 3561498M}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Sachs
| editor-first = Wolfgang
| author-last = Sachs
| author-first = Wolfgang
| display-authors = etal
| title = The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power
| date = 1992-01-02
| publisher = Bloomsbury Academic
| ___location = London
| isbn = 978-1-85649-043-6
| ol = 8996501M}}
* {{cite journal
| last = Sidaway
| first = James D.
| date = June 2007
| title = Spaces of Postdevelopment
| journal = Progress in Human Geography
| publisher = SAGE Publications
| volume = 31
| issue = 3
| doi = 10.1177/0309132507077405
| pages = 345–361
| citeseerx = 10.1.1.123.7542
| s2cid = 15793383}}
* {{cite book
| last = Thoreau
| first = Henry David
| author-link = Henry Thoreau
| date = 1854-08-09
| title = [[Walden|Walden; or, Life in the Woods]]
| edition = 1st
| ___location = Boston
| publisher = Ticknor and Fields
| oclc = 4103827
| ol = 16793205M}}
* {{cite speech
| author-link = Harry S. Truman
| title = Four Point Speech
| url = https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/public-papers/19/inaugural-address
| event = Presidential inauguration
| ___location = United States Capitol
| language = en
| date = 1949-01-20
| access-date = 2022-06-27
| last = Truman
| first = Harry S.}}
* {{cite book
| editor-last = Ziai
| editor-first = Aram
| date = 2007-04-29
| title = Exploring Post-Development: Theory and Practice, Problems and Perspectives
| ___location = London
| publisher = Routledge
| doi = 10.4324/9780203962091
| isbn = 978-0-203-96209-1
| ol = 34587175M}}
{{refend}}
{{Indigenous rights footer}}
|