IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v50y2019i2p458-467.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards a More Critical Theory of ‘Development’ in the 21st Century

Author

Listed:
  • Aram Ziai

Abstract

In response to the article by Horner and Hulme which opens this Debate section, this contribution argues that while the call for a shift from international to global development by Horner and Hulme is justified, their approach is confined to what has been called traditional or problem‐solving theory. On the levels of concepts, theory and metatheory, it fails to transcend orthodox approaches in development theory. Concerning concepts, it employs the traditional concept of ‘development’ without recognizing its ambiguity, referring at different times to social change, positive social change or social change according to the European model. Concerning theory, it is based on the nation state as a unit of analysis, not differentiating between different socio‐economic groups or classes, and neglects questions of power. Concerning metatheory, its knowledge interest, epistemology and methodology also remain within orthodox boundaries, for example reproducing the measurement of aggregate per capita income and its evaluation as progress. In the last section of this article, the author presents an outline sketch for a more critical theory of ‘development’.

Suggested Citation

  • Aram Ziai, 2019. "Towards a More Critical Theory of ‘Development’ in the 21st Century," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 458-467, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:50:y:2019:i:2:p:458-467
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12484
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12484
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.12484?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klaus Deininger & Derek Byerlee & Jonathan Lindsay & Andrew Norton & Harris Selod & Mercedes Stickler, 2011. "Rising Global Interest in Farmland : Can it Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits?," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2263.
    2. Jason Hickel, 2016. "The true extent of global poverty and hunger: questioning the good news narrative of the Millennium Development Goals," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(5), pages 749-767, May.
    3. Kees Biekart & Wendy Harcourt, 2013. "Transnational Feminist Engagement with 2010+ Activisms," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 44(3), pages 621-637, May.
    4. Ulrich Brand & Markus Wissen, 2013. "Crisis and continuity of capitalist society-nature relationships: The imperial mode of living and the limits to environmental governance," Review of International Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(4), pages 687-711, August.
    5. Sally Matthews, 2017. "Colonised minds? Post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(12), pages 2650-2663, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Liao, Chuan & Jung, Suhyun & Brown, Daniel G. & Agrawal, Arun, 2024. "Does land tenure change accelerate deforestation? A matching-based four-country comparison," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    2. Rabah Arezki & Klaus Deininger & Harris Selod, 2015. "What Drives the Global "Land Rush"?," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 29(2), pages 207-233.
    3. Klaus Deininger & Denys Nizalov & Sudhir K Singh, 2013. "Are mega-farms the future of global agriculture? Exploring the farm size-productivity relationship for large commercial farms in Ukraine," Discussion Papers 49, Kyiv School of Economics.
    4. Glover, Steven & Jones, Sam, 2019. "Can commercial farming promote rural dynamism in sub-Saharan Africa? Evidence from Mozambique," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 110-121.
    5. Klaus Deininger & Songqing Jin & Yanyan Liu & Sudhir K. Singh, 2018. "Can Labor-Market Imperfections Explain Changes in the Inverse Farm Size–Productivity Relationship? Longitudinal Evidence from Rural India," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 94(2), pages 239-258.
    6. Thomas Vendryes, 2014. "Peasants Against Private Property Rights: A Review Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(5), pages 971-995, December.
    7. Vivek Pandey & Natalia Vidal & Rajat Panwar & Lubna Nafees, 2019. "Characterization of Sustainability Leaders and Laggards in the Global Food Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Simone Borghesi & Giorgia Giovannetti & Gianluca Iannucci & Paolo Russu, 2019. "The Dynamics of Foreign Direct Investments in Land and Pollution Accumulation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 72(1), pages 135-154, January.
    9. Ali, Daniel Ayalew & Deininger, Klaus & Goldstein, Markus, 2014. "Environmental and gender impacts of land tenure regularization in Africa: Pilot evidence from Rwanda," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 262-275.
    10. Sara Balestri & Mario A. Maggioni, 2021. "This Land Is My Land! Large-Scale Land Acquisitions and Conflict Events in Sub-Saharan Africa," Defence and Peace Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(4), pages 427-450, May.
    11. Gloria Novovic, 2022. "Can Agenda 2030 bring about “localization”? Policy limitations of Agenda 2030 in the broader global governance system," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 40(4), July.
    12. Kym Anderson & Anna Strutt, 2014. "Emerging economies, productivity growth and trade with resource-rich economies by 2030," Australian Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society, vol. 58(4), pages 590-606, October.
    13. Jayne, T.S., 2014. "Land dynamics and future trajectories of structural transformation in Africa," International Journal of Agricultural Sciences and Technology (IJAGST), SvedbergOpen, vol. 53(3), October.
    14. Lay, Jann & Nolte, Kerstin & Sipangule, Kacana, 2021. "Large-scale farms in Zambia: Locational patterns and spillovers to smallholder agriculture," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    15. Susanne Väth & Michael Kirk, 2014. "Do property rights and contract farming matter for rural development? Evidence from a large-scale investment in Ghana," MAGKS Papers on Economics 201416, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    16. Rémy, Clémentine & Cochet, Hubert, 2020. "“Win-win” agricultural investment projects put to the test: the case of the IDSP project as promoted by the World Bank in Zambia," Review of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Studies, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), vol. 101(2-3), August.
    17. Giger, Markus & Mutea, Emily & Kiteme, Boniface & Eckert, Sandra & Anseeuw, Ward & Zaehringer, Julie G., 2020. "Large agricultural investments in Kenya’s Nanyuki Area: Inventory and analysis of business models," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Kleemann, Linda & Thiele, Rainer, 2015. "Rural welfare implications of large-scale land acquisitions in Africa: A theoretical framework," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 269-279.
    19. Klaus Deininger & Harris Selod & Anthony Burns, 2012. "The Land Governance Assessment Framework : Identifying and Monitoring Good Practice in the Land Sector," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2376.
    20. Spash, Clive L., 2014. "Better Growth, Helping the Paris COP-out? Fallacies and Omissions of the New Climate Economy Report," SRE-Discussion Papers 2014/04, WU Vienna University of Economics and Business.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:50:y:2019:i:2:p:458-467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.