DVM 2106 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Postdevelopment Theory, Eurocentrism, Geopolitics
21 Jun 2018
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LECTURE 5: POST DEVELOPMENT
Ahistoriacal: Neglect of the historical experiences of countries in the differentiated Global South in
theoretical frameworks
Eurocentric, Eurocentrism: A bias toward glorifying the values, practices and historical developmental
experience of Europe and the US
Homogenization: The tendency in dominant theories of development to portray the diverse societies
comprising the Global South as sharing the same history, cultural practices and political and economic
realities
Depoliticization: Conceptual practices that present political-economic issues as technical matters
requiring technical solutions
Universalizing logic: The representation of the European and American political, cultural and economic
histrocial developments as the reference point for all societies in the world
- Post-development school as a novel but controversial approach
- Approach engaged in destructive instead of constructive criticism of development theory…
“Development as an unburied corpse”
“Development as a ruin in the intellectual landscape”
- Thus, post-development emerged as a fundamental critique of development advocating for
“alternatives to development” instead of “alternative development”
The invention of development
- Conceive of “development” as a discourse
Way of representing the world that can be historically situated as is closely related to
relations of power
- US President Harry Truman’s program of development as a false promise of prosperity (1949)
Promise had humanitarian purpose, but also geopolitical motives
Poverty of these underdeveloped areas as a threat
From a world divided between exploiters and exploited to continuing presence of the
colonial powers in the ex-colonies
- Esteva: new perception of one’s own self, and of the other
The underdeveloped were judged using allegedly universal standards of the west
Development as an Amoeba
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- “Development became a shapeless amoeba-like word” (Sachs)
- Mean just about anything and take almost any form
- Allows any intervention to be sanctified in the name of a higher evolutionary goal
- Escobar: although development discourse has gone through a series of structural changes, the
architecture of the discursive formation laid down in 1945-55 has remained unchanged
Development characteristics
- According to PD, the constant features of development are:
a) Imperative of economic growth
b) Legitimation of intervention into societies defined as “less developed”
c) Based on the Eurocentric gaze of the “developed self” and its attribution of problems and
problem-solving knowledge
d) Based on a universal scale according to which societies can be compared
Anti-Politics Machine
- Ferguson: development depoliticizes questions of inequality… development projects seen as
technocratic, apolitical interventions
- Tanya Li: Development projects fail through neglecting political-economic causes of poverty and
reframing social and environmental problems with technical solutions
- Depoliticization of poverty and blindness toward relations of power as features of development
discourse as per post-development
Post Development
- Rejection of western models and paradigms (science, progress and development)
- Resentment: reaction against failures of development, corruption, imposition, environmental
destruction
- Emphasis on equity, self-subsistence, self-reliance
- Anti-modern stance: return to community
- Critical on homogenized view of development!
- No alternative development but ALTERNATIVE TO DEVELOPMENT
The end of development
Four reasons for the end of development (Sachs)
1. Productivity is an aberration rather than a model, and the pursuit of economic growth is leading
toward an abyss
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Ahistoriacal: neglect of the historical experiences of countries in the differentiated global south in theoretical frameworks. Eurocentric, eurocentrism: a bias toward glorifying the values, practices and historical developmental experience of europe and the us. Homogenization: the tendency in dominant theories of development to portray the diverse societies comprising the global south as sharing the same history, cultural practices and political and economic realities. Depoliticization: conceptual practices that present political-economic issues as technical matters requiring technical solutions. Universalizing logic: the representation of the european and american political, cultural and economic histrocial developments as the reference point for all societies in the world. Post-development school as a novel but controversial approach. Approach engaged in destructive instead of constructive criticism of development theory . Development as a ruin in the intellectual landscape . Thus, post-development emerged as a fundamental critique of development advocating for. Way of representing the world that can be historically situated as is closely related to relations of power.
