The History of Development
From Western Origins to Global Faith
2nd Edition
Published on 1. October 2002
Book
Hardback
304 pages
978-1-84277-180-8 (ISBN)
Description
For years we have believed in development. Indeed, with all its hopes of a more just and materially prosperous world, development has fascinated societies in both North and South. Looking at this collective fancy in retrospect, Gilbert Rist shows the underlying similarities of its various theories and strategies, and their shared inability to transform the world. He argues persuasively that development has always been a kind of collective delusion which in reality has simply promoted a widening of market relations despite the good intentions of its advocates.
Now this era is over. Globalisation has taken over. Former development promises have been shelved and replaced by a new but narrower slogan, 'the struggle against poverty'. Yet in spite of the failures of development, aggravated now by globalisation, we are told that growth -- which nobody would risk abandoning -- is still the only means of salvation. It is clear that the need for belief is stronger than any doubts about its actual wisdom.
What, then, are the origins of this naive faith? Why have people put so much energy into proclaiming it and seeking to make it a reality? Why has it proved an illusion, and what future does it now have? These are some of the questions which this thoughtful and penetrating history of the concept of development explores.
This book is an invitation to rethink contemporary problems and to prepare ourselves for what might be called the post-development era.
Now this era is over. Globalisation has taken over. Former development promises have been shelved and replaced by a new but narrower slogan, 'the struggle against poverty'. Yet in spite of the failures of development, aggravated now by globalisation, we are told that growth -- which nobody would risk abandoning -- is still the only means of salvation. It is clear that the need for belief is stronger than any doubts about its actual wisdom.
What, then, are the origins of this naive faith? Why have people put so much energy into proclaiming it and seeking to make it a reality? Why has it proved an illusion, and what future does it now have? These are some of the questions which this thoughtful and penetrating history of the concept of development explores.
This book is an invitation to rethink contemporary problems and to prepare ourselves for what might be called the post-development era.
Reviews / Votes
'If you want to understand the ideological forces that have shaped North-South relations for half a century, you need this remarkable book.'Susan George
'At a time when globalization and humanitarian interventions are taking over from development, this book should help us understand why development has led so many well-intentioned people astray?. It presents complex debates with great clarity, provides an excellent opportunity to get acquainted with the literature and should prove essential reading for students and others interested, or involved, in development.'
Marie-Dominique Perrot, IUED
'There is no comparable book available in English.'
Professor Martin O'Connor, economist
'Compelling and exciting reading?. Rist's book, written with deliciously mild irony, is an account of the most crucial moments in which the rites of a belief embraced by millions were elaborated and canonized.'
Olga Nieuwenhuys, European Journal of Development Research
'A much needed corrective to the work of the cheerleaders of the newly globalized order?. This book does an outstanding job.'
Jan Knippers Black, Journal of Developing Areas
'An excellent and challenging book?. It should be required reading for all interested in development, and particularly the economists among them.'
Peter de Valk, International Journal of African Historical Studies
'This book is one of the most astute of its genre available today?. [It] is exact in its scholarship and profound in its clear account of the philosophies and consequences of the Western example.'
Rapport
More details
Series
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-1-84277-180-8 (9781842771808)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Book
04/2009
3rd Edition
Zed Books Ltd
€106.66
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Previous edition
Book
01/1997
Zed Books Ltd
€100.47
Article exhausted; check for reprint
Person
Gilbert Rist has for many years been a leading Swiss scholar of development. Before joining the staff of the Graduate Institute of Development Studies (IUED) in Geneva, where he has been a professor since 1986, he first taught in Tunisia and then spent several years as Director of the Centre Europe-Tiers Monde. One of his principal intellectual interests has been to construct an anthology of modernity in which he sees Western society as being every bit as traditional and indeed exotic as any other.
Professor Rist is the author of a number of intellectually pathbreaking books highly critical of conventional thinking in the field. These include:
Il etait une fois le developpement (with Fabrizio Sabelli et al.), Editions d'En Bas, Lausanne, 1986.
Le Nord perdu: Reperes pour l'apres-developpement (with Majid Rahnema and Gustavo Esteva), Editions d'En Bas, Lausanne, 1992.
La mythologie programmee: L'economie des croyances dans la societe moderne (with Marie-Dominique Perrot and Fabrizio Sabelli), PUF, Paris, 1992.
La culture, otage du developpement? (ed.), l'Harmattan, Paris, 1994.
La mondialisation des anti-societes: Espaces reves et lieux communes (ed.), Les Nouveaux Cahiers de l'IUED, No. 6, IUED, Geneve; PUF, Paris, 1997.
The present book is his first to be published in English. It has also been published:
in French: Le developpement: Histoire d'une croyance occidentale, Presse de Sciences Po., Paris, 1996 (2nd edition, 2001).
in Italian: Lo Sviluppo: Sotira di una credenza occidentale, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 1997.
in Spanish: El desarrollo: Una ideologia del siglo XX, Los Libros de la Catarata, Madrid, 2002.
Professor Rist is the author of a number of intellectually pathbreaking books highly critical of conventional thinking in the field. These include:
Il etait une fois le developpement (with Fabrizio Sabelli et al.), Editions d'En Bas, Lausanne, 1986.
Le Nord perdu: Reperes pour l'apres-developpement (with Majid Rahnema and Gustavo Esteva), Editions d'En Bas, Lausanne, 1992.
La mythologie programmee: L'economie des croyances dans la societe moderne (with Marie-Dominique Perrot and Fabrizio Sabelli), PUF, Paris, 1992.
La culture, otage du developpement? (ed.), l'Harmattan, Paris, 1994.
La mondialisation des anti-societes: Espaces reves et lieux communes (ed.), Les Nouveaux Cahiers de l'IUED, No. 6, IUED, Geneve; PUF, Paris, 1997.
The present book is his first to be published in English. It has also been published:
in French: Le developpement: Histoire d'une croyance occidentale, Presse de Sciences Po., Paris, 1996 (2nd edition, 2001).
in Italian: Lo Sviluppo: Sotira di una credenza occidentale, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 1997.
in Spanish: El desarrollo: Una ideologia del siglo XX, Los Libros de la Catarata, Madrid, 2002.
Content
Preface to the Second Edition
Introduction
1. Definitions of Development
Conventional Thinking
A Methodological Word of Caution
Elements of a Definition
A Scandalous Definition?
'Development' as an element in the Religion of Modernity
2. Metamorphoses of a Western Myth
What the Metaphor Implies
Landmarks in the Western View of History
Conclusion
3. The Making of a World System
Colonization
The League of Nations and the Mandate System
Conclusion
4. The Invention of Development
President Truman's Point Four
A New World View: 'Underdevelopment'
US Hegemony
A New Paradigm
The ?Development? Age
5. The International Doctrine and Institutions Take Root
The Bandung Conference
The New International ?Development? Agencies
6. Modernisation poised between History and Prophecy
A Philosophy of History: Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth
Anti-communism or Marxism without Marx?
Dissident Voices: Francois Perroux and Dudley Seers
7. The Periphery and the Understanding of History
Neo-Marxism in the USA
The Latin American dependentistas
A New Paradigm, but Age-old Presuppositions
8. Self-Reliance: The Communal Past as a Model for the Future
Ujamaa and the Tanzanian Experience
The Principles of Self-Reliance
Possible Futures for Autonomy
9. The Triumph of Third Worldism
The New International Economic Order
An Original Voice: The 1975 Dag Hammarskjold Foundation
Report on Another Development
In the Wake of the NIEO: Further Proposals
The Basic Needs Approach
Conclusion
10. The Environment or the New Nature of ?Development?
The Return to Classical Economics, plus a few humanitarian extras
'Sustainable Development' or Growth Everlasting?
The Earth Summit
Reflections on Deliberate Ambiguity
11. A Mixture of Realism and Fine Sentiments
The South Commission
UNDP and 'Human Development'
12. The Post-Modern Illusion: Globalisation as a Simulacrum of ?Development?
On the Usefulness of Talking at Cross-purposes
Organisations on Reprieve or in Mutation?
Globalisation or a Return to Normal?
Virtual Reality as a Refuge for Continuing Belief
Beyond Development
13. Some Thoughts on What is to be Done
14. The Struggle Against Poverty: Slogan and Alibi
What's the Problem?
What really is a poor person?
An Alibi?
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Introduction
1. Definitions of Development
Conventional Thinking
A Methodological Word of Caution
Elements of a Definition
A Scandalous Definition?
'Development' as an element in the Religion of Modernity
2. Metamorphoses of a Western Myth
What the Metaphor Implies
Landmarks in the Western View of History
Conclusion
3. The Making of a World System
Colonization
The League of Nations and the Mandate System
Conclusion
4. The Invention of Development
President Truman's Point Four
A New World View: 'Underdevelopment'
US Hegemony
A New Paradigm
The ?Development? Age
5. The International Doctrine and Institutions Take Root
The Bandung Conference
The New International ?Development? Agencies
6. Modernisation poised between History and Prophecy
A Philosophy of History: Rostow's Stages of Economic Growth
Anti-communism or Marxism without Marx?
Dissident Voices: Francois Perroux and Dudley Seers
7. The Periphery and the Understanding of History
Neo-Marxism in the USA
The Latin American dependentistas
A New Paradigm, but Age-old Presuppositions
8. Self-Reliance: The Communal Past as a Model for the Future
Ujamaa and the Tanzanian Experience
The Principles of Self-Reliance
Possible Futures for Autonomy
9. The Triumph of Third Worldism
The New International Economic Order
An Original Voice: The 1975 Dag Hammarskjold Foundation
Report on Another Development
In the Wake of the NIEO: Further Proposals
The Basic Needs Approach
Conclusion
10. The Environment or the New Nature of ?Development?
The Return to Classical Economics, plus a few humanitarian extras
'Sustainable Development' or Growth Everlasting?
The Earth Summit
Reflections on Deliberate Ambiguity
11. A Mixture of Realism and Fine Sentiments
The South Commission
UNDP and 'Human Development'
12. The Post-Modern Illusion: Globalisation as a Simulacrum of ?Development?
On the Usefulness of Talking at Cross-purposes
Organisations on Reprieve or in Mutation?
Globalisation or a Return to Normal?
Virtual Reality as a Refuge for Continuing Belief
Beyond Development
13. Some Thoughts on What is to be Done
14. The Struggle Against Poverty: Slogan and Alibi
What's the Problem?
What really is a poor person?
An Alibi?
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index