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Bringing Development Back into Development Studies

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  • Andrew M. Fischer

Abstract

This article challenges Horner and Hulme's call to move from ‘international development’ to ‘global development’ with a reaffirmation of the classical traditions of development studies. With some adaptation to fit the changing contemporary context, these traditions not only remain relevant but also recover vital insights that have been obscured in the various fashionable re‐imaginings of development. In particular, development thinking and agendas in the past were much more radical and ambitious in addressing the imperatives of redistribution and progressive forms of transformation in the context of stark asymmetries of wealth and power. Such ambition is still needed to address the nature and scale of challenges that continue to face the bulk of countries in the world, particularly given the persistence if not deepening of asymmetries. This reaffirmation is elaborated by addressing three major weaknesses in Horner and Hulme's arguments. First, they do not actually define development, but instead treat it as simply poverty and inequality dynamics, which are better understood as outcomes rather than causes. Second, despite their assertion that the study of (international) development was primarily concerned with between‐country inequalities, this is not true. Domestic inequality was in fact central to both development theory and policy since the origins of the field. Third, the authors ignore the rise of neoliberalism from the late 1970s onwards and the profound crisis that this caused to development outside of East Asia and perhaps India, which the jargon of ‘global’ implicitly obfuscates and even condones. Rather, the experiences of East Asia and in particular China arguably vindicate classical approaches in development studies.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew M. Fischer, 2019. "Bringing Development Back into Development Studies," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 426-444, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:50:y:2019:i:2:p:426-444
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12490
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nayyar, Deepak, 2013. "Catch Up: Developing Countries in the World Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199652983.
    2. Tania Murray Li, 2017. "After Development: Surplus Population and the Politics of Entitlement," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 48(6), pages 1247-1261, November.
    3. Sumner, Andy, 2016. "Global Poverty: Deprivation, Distribution, and Development Since the Cold War," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198703525.
    4. Andy Sumner, 2010. "Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: What if Three-quarters of the World’s Poor Live in Middle-income Countries?," Working Papers 74, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
    5. Andy Sumner, 2010. "Global Poverty and the New Bottom Billion: Three-Quarters of the World’s Poor Live in Middle-Income Countries," One Pager 120, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth.
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    1. Sinha, Shreya & Narain, Nivedita & Bhanjdeo, Arundhita, 2022. "Building back better? Resilience as wellbeing for rural migrant households in Bihar, India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    2. Daniela Gabor, 2021. "The Wall Street Consensus," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(3), pages 429-459, May.
    3. Rob Calvert Jump & Jo Michell, 2023. "Dollar Liquidity, Financial Vulnerability and Monetary Sovereignty," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(5), pages 1087-1113, September.
    4. Andrew M. Fischer & Servaas Storm, 2023. "The Return of Debt Crisis in Developing Countries: Shifting or Maintaining Dominant Development Paradigms?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(5), pages 954-993, September.
    5. Noé Manuel Mendoza Fuente & Andrei Marin, 2024. "Changing Trees, Enduring Forests: Institutional Bricolage, Gradual Change and Community Forestry among Yucatec Mayans in Mexico," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 55(1), pages 97-122, January.
    6. Giles Mohan, 2021. "Below the Belt? Territory and Development in China's International Rise," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(1), pages 54-75, January.
    7. Jörg Wiegratz & Pritish Behuria & Christina Laskaridis & Lebohang Liepollo Pheko & Ben Radley & Sara Stevano, 2023. "Common Challenges for All? A Critical Engagement with the Emerging Vision for Post‐pandemic Development Studies," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(5), pages 921-953, September.
    8. Nikita Sud & Diego Sánchez‐Ancochea, 2022. "Southern Discomfort: Interrogating the Category of the Global South," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 53(6), pages 1123-1150, November.
    9. Andy Sumner, 2024. "Unity in Diversity? Reflections on Development Studies in the Mid-2020s," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 36(5), pages 1280-1298, October.

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