Prospects for Development Thinking and Practice

Description

The idea of this paper originated in a conversation with Janet Maughan, Director of the Global Inclusion Program of the Rockefeller Foundation. The conversation began with her question on whether a new unifying idea or new meta-narrative was emerging as a sequel to the Washington Consensus, but this soon expanded into a questioning of the basic idea of international development itself. Why does the defining idea of development continue to posit that all of the world’s people and societies can (and should) achieve more or less the same material standards of living as advanced Western countries when there is so much evidence that this is an impossibility? Are there new and alternative ideas and conceptualizations of what it may mean to be ‘developed’? How does development deal with the claims of the globalization enthusiasts (of whom there are many) that the world is converging towards a Ricardo comparative advantage paradise? And how does it deal with those who take the opposite position (of whom there are also many) that globalization is creating a Marx army of surplus labor hell with all manner of human tragedies such as structural unemployment, homelessness, marginalization and a clash of civilizations? What are the prospects for development thinking and practice in these turbulent times? And do we have the right kinds of spaces to explore and debate these questions where participants can spend time and creative energy talking to one other rather than, as is more generally the norm, past one another? The upshot of the conversation was a request from Janet on behalf of the Rockefeller Foundation that we explore these questions and prepare a synthesis paper that the Foundation might consider in looking to the possible roles that it might play over the next few years. This was a daunting challenge but a welcome one. It has allowed us the luxury of examining a vast, rich and growing literature, to consult with and benefit from many very thoughtful people, and to grapple ourselves with at least some of the most central and intriguing questions about the human condition and its future prospects. Although our hope is that we have managed to cast at least some light, the richness of today’s ideas and debates on development serve to confirm in our view the elusive and illusory nature of the search for development itself. We cannot claim, therefore, to have answered the questions that are summarized above and that led to this project; our efforts have been compacted into a few short weeks and the results are very much a work in progress. Preface ....................................................................................................................................3 1. Introduction and background to development thinking and practice.................................5 1.1. The idea of progress: prelude to development...................................................................5 1.2. The architecture of modern development thinking and practice .......................................5 2. Policy prescriptions and lessons in development thinking and practice............................7 2.1. From ‘silver bullets’ to acknowledging complexity ..........................................................7 2.2. Lessons of experience and the search for new meanings and interpretations of development.......................................................................................................................9 3. Emerging and reemerging debates: a repertoire of ideas to renew development thinking and practice ......................................................................................................................12 3.1. Initial conditions ..............................................................................................................12 Historical inertias.............................................................................................................13 Geography........................................................................................................................14 3.2. Policy choices ..................................................................................................................15 Globalization....................................................................................................................15 Institutions .......................................................................................................................20 Knowledge .......................................................................................................................26 Environment.....................................................................................................................29 Participation .....................................................................................................................34 3.3. Taking stands...................................................................................................................37 Human rights....................................................................................................................38 Culture..............................................................................................................................41 4. The Evolution of Development Cooperation...................................................................46 5. Renewing development thinking and practice.................................................................50 6. Bibliography ....................................................................................................................55 ANNEX A: Development Approaches (1950s-80s)................................................................79 About the authors.....................................................................................................................81