Development

The concept of development has never been in greater need ofanalysis and clarification than in the present era. Just abouteveryone is 'for' development as an assumed 'good', yet few seem tohave a concrete idea of what the term actually entails.
Development offers a comprehensive and wide-ranginganalysis of the various ways in which this important concept hasbeen used in social and political analysis over the past 200 years.Starting with the classical theories that sought to explain theinitial development of the industrialized world, the book moves onto consider the 'golden age' of development theory after 1945,before bringing debates right
up to date by assessing current and future trends in developmentthinking. The evolution of development theory is charted ininnovative ways, relating it concretely to the successes andfailures of development both in different eras and places. In afresh evaluation of the current debates on this concept, theauthors suggest that the time has now come to move away from aspecialist field of 'development
studies', and instead to re-ground the study of developmentsquarely within the intellectual project of a new politicaleconomy.
Written in a lively and engaging style, this book will provide avaluable point of access to past and current thinking on theconcept of development for students across all the main socialsciences.