scholarly journals Conceptualizing Development and Underdevelopment: From Classical Modernization to Contemporary Post-Development Discourse

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
M. Saiful Islam
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
The People ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Global And Local ◽  
Development Discourses ◽  
Dynamic Trajectory ◽  
The Way

Development, as an ideology and practice, has been a matter of much contestation since its inception at the enlightened period. The way development has been understood, explained and practiced has undergone various experiments and directions over the time. Yet, what development is theoretically and what it should be in practice remains as contested and vague. This article is an attempt to examine the trajectory of development from its origin in the classical modernization to the more contemporary neo-liberal and post-development discourses. It is argued that the way development has been propagated by the modernists as economic growth and positive change has been vehemently challenged by the post-modernists on the ground that development is not only hegemonic, authoritative and dependency creating mechanism that routinely fails and but also produces unintended consequences on the lives of the people. Thus, there has been a growing realization that development needs to be rethought in a way that would promote an alternative development or even an alternative to development. Such a shift in perspectives and continuing deliberations on development has given rise to the question whether development has reached an impasse which needs to be pushed forward. By reviewing the existing literature, this article aims at unfolding the dynamic trajectory of development both as theory and practice, and argues that development is and continues to be an interesting and stimulating topic in social sciences given its vibrant engagement with and implications on various stakeholders both at the global and local contexts.

A Response

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 1103-1108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martti Koskenniemi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Profession ◽  
Social World ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Specific Relationship ◽  
The Social ◽  
Constant Source ◽  
The Way

From the preceding essays, but also from the general discussion around From Apology, two themes emerge as a constant source of puzzlement, not least to myself. How does the argument in that book affect – if at all – the way we do international law? And what does the claim to be “critical” really mean? These are, I suppose, aspects of one larger set of problems that permeate the whole of that work. “Oh yes, it does describe the argumentative patterns pretty well. But it does not really change anything, does it?” One might approach this sort of query in different ways. It might be thought of as an expression of the classical theme about the relations of theory and practice in the social sciences. How do academic works influence the social world to which they are addressed? Or one might be more interested in the specific relationship between (academic) doctrines and legal practice – the “outside” and the “inside” of the legal profession.

Introduction

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Sasges
Keyword(s):  
Colonial Rule ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Popular Resistance ◽  
Ethnic Chinese ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
The People ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Global And Local

Indochina’s alcohol monopoly was financially unproductive and politically disastrous. Making sense of this seemingly senseless policy requires placing the monopoly in both global and local contexts. Global contexts include advances in microbiology, the consolidation of the distilling industry, and the spread of new fiscal and administrative technologies. Local contexts include Indochina’s complex physical and human geographies, the contested and incomplete nature of French rule, the dominant position of ethnic Chinese in the Indochinese economy, and widespread popular resistance to the monopoly. As a result, Indochina’s alcohol regime simultaneously transcends and confirms its colonial setting: made possible by developments in industry and government worldwide, at the same time the alcohol regime was indelibly marked by the people and spaces of Indochina and by the authoritarian and racist nature of colonial rule.

Learning on “The Longest Street in the World”

2019 ◽  
pp. 21-55
Author(s):  
Naomi A. Moland
Keyword(s):  
Production Process ◽  
Sesame Street ◽  
Boko Haram ◽  
International Network ◽  
Local Chapter ◽  
The People ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Global And Local

Chapter 2, “Learning on the Longest Street in the World,” explains the history of the international versions of Sesame Street. In the early 1970s, Sesame Workshop began working with local teams around the world to create “co-productions” of Sesame Street that are tailored to local contexts. The international network—which has grown to more than thirty co-productions viewed in over 150 countries—provides a fascinating example of a media program that is both global and local. Chapter 2 also describes how Sesame Square came to Nigeria and discusses the program’s focus on helping northern children, who were believed to be the most susceptible to recruitment by Boko Haram. It describes the details of the Sesame Square project: the goals of the program; the people involved; the steps of the production process; and the episode content. It also includes numerous examples from other Sesame co-productions to compare with Sesame Square.

Colonized by the development discourse: life and living heritage in the shadow of antiquities

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olga Bialostocka
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Heritage Management ◽  
Development Discourse ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The People ◽  
Management And Development ◽  
Cultural Spaces ◽  
Theban Necropolis ◽  
The Impact

PurposeTangible and intangible aspects of living heritage shape the identity of communities whose daily experience is integrated into heritage cultural spaces. Interference in this intricately woven, historically rich context may have significant sociocultural and material consequences for the people inhabiting it. Using the example of the ancient Theban Necropolis and “modern” Gurna, the paper looks at the loss of contemporary cultural heritage in favor of Pharaonic antiquities to question the model of heritage management and development practiced through violence in Egypt.Design/methodology/approachWritten from a decolonial perspective, the paper is positioned within the post-development school of thought. It applies subjectivist epistemology to argue for pluriversality.FindingsFocusing on the historical context of the community of Gurnawis, the paper highlights power inequalities among heritage stakeholders and discusses the violence of coloniality that challenges the freedom of human experiences and representations.Social implicationsDecolonial in nature, the paper has a futuristic horizon. It calls for decolonization of the discourse of development, which remains marred by the Western understanding of “civilizational advancement” seen as modernization, industrialization and economic growth. It further argues for imagining alternatives to the current social realities, which would account for the diversity of human experiences and consider a pluriverse of meanings.Originality/valueThe paper applies a decolonial perspective to the study of heritage to demonstrate the impact of colonial rationality on the theory and practice of the discipline of archaeology, as well as its consequences for heritage management in Egypt. Speaking from the standpoint of the marginalized population of Gurna, the paper further reveals the damage done by the colonial discourse of development to those who dare to create and live their own reality.

The Trouble with Class

2012 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 263-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
James G. Carrier
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
The Other ◽  
The People ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Way

AbstractThis article considers aspects of the use of class in sociology and anthropology since the period around 1970, when Neo-Marxism became important in the social sciences, and is concerned primarily with Marxist and Weberian uses of the concept. It considers changes in the use of class in terms of two dimensions. One is the degree to which class is placed in a more macroscopic or more microscopic frame. The other is the degree to which class is defined in more objectivist terms or relies more on the way that the people being studied use the term. It is argued that since around 1970 writing on class has tended to become more microscopic and subjectivist. This tendency is related to changes within the two disciplines and within society more generally. The article closes with a consideration of some of the costs of this changing scholarly orientation to class.

Vérités et Mensonges

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 188-224
Author(s):  
Erik Gunderson
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Self ◽  
Faithful Representation ◽  
Political Subject ◽  
Concrete Reality ◽  
Hermeneutic Process ◽  
The Way

This is a survey of some of the problems surrounding imperial panegyric. It includes discussions of both the theory and practice of imperial praise. The evidence is derived from readings of Cicero, Quintilian, Pliny, the Panegyrici Latini, Menander Rhetor, and Julian the Apostate. Of particular interest is insincere speech that would be appreciated as insincere. What sort of hermeneutic process is best suited to texts that are politically consequential and yet relatively disconnected from any obligation to offer a faithful representation of concrete reality? We first look at epideictic as a genre. The next topic is imperial praise and its situation “beyond belief” as well as the self-positioning of a political subject who delivers such praise. This leads to a meditation on the exculpatory fictions that these speakers might tell themselves about their act. A cynical philosophy of Caesarism, its arbitrariness, and its constructedness abets these fictions. Julian the Apostate receives the most attention: he wrote about Caesars, he delivered extant panegyrics, and he is also the man addressed by still another panegyric. And in the end we find ourselves to be in a position to appreciate the way that power feeds off of insincerity and grows stronger in its presence.

A Donor Influenced by Local Dynamics

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Setsuko Matsuzawa
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Alleviation ◽  
Rural Poverty ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Local Dynamics ◽  
Grant Program ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
National Model ◽  
Management Project ◽  
Development Discourses

This article explores the relations between a foreign aid donor and local actors in the context of the dissemination of development discourses and practices in an authoritarian context. It addresses the question “To what extent may the local dynamics alter the original goals of a donor and lead to unintended consequences?” Based on archival research, interviews, and secondary literature, this case study examines the Yunnan Uplands Management Project (YUM) in 1990–95, the Ford Foundation's first grant program on rural poverty alleviation in China. While the Foundation did not attain its main goal of making YUM a national model for poverty alleviation, the local actors were able to use YUM to develop individual capacities and to build roles for themselves as development actors in the form of associations and nongovernmental organizations, resulting in further support from the Foundation. The study contributes to our understanding of donor-local actor dynamics by highlighting the gaps between the original goals of a donor and the perspectives and motivations of local actors. The study suggests that local dynamics may influence the goals of donors and the ways they seek to disseminate development discourses and practices to local actors, despite the common conception of donors as hegemonic or culturally imperialistic.

Aristocracy about 1760: Theory and Practice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. R. Palmer
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Political Freedom ◽  
Social Utility ◽  
Class Consciousness ◽  
General Consensus ◽  
The People ◽  
Important Sense

This chapter considers the prevailing notion in the eighteenth century that nobility was a necessary bulwark of political freedom. Whether in the interest of a more open nobility or of a more closed and impenetrable nobility, the view was the same. Nobility as such, nobility as an institution, was necessary to the maintenance of a free constitution. There was also a general consensus that parliaments or ruling councils were autonomous, self-empowered, or empowered by history, heredity, social utility, or God; that they were in an important sense irresponsible, free to oppose the King (where there was one), and certainly owing no accounting to the “people.” The remainder of the chapter deals with the uses and abuses of social rank and the problems of administration, recruitment, taxation, and class consciousness.

SOME BASIC AND BEGINNING ISSUES FOR KHMER ETHNIC COMMUNITY, NOW

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vu Thi Thanh Minh
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Community ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Education Quality ◽  
Traditional Religion ◽  
Knowledge And Skills ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
The People ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Economic Trends ◽  
The Ideal

With the majority of the population working in agriculture, the economy of Khmer people is mainly agricultural. At present, the Khmer ethnic group has a workingstructure in the ideal age, but the number of young and healthy workers who have not been trained is still high and laborers lack knowledge and skills to do business. Labor productivity is still very low ... Problems in education quality, human resources; the transformation of traditional religion; effects of climate change; Cross-border relations of the people have always been and are of great interest and challenges to the development of the Khmer ethnic community. Identifying fundamental and urgent issues, forecasting the socio-economic trends in areas with large numbers of Khmer people living in the future will be the basis for the theory and practice for us to have. Solutions in the development and implementation of policies for Khmer compatriots suitable and effective.

LEADERS AND TIMES OF CRISIS: JEREMIAH 5:1–6 A CASE IN POINT

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 657-677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilhelm J. Wessels
Keyword(s):  
Ordinary People ◽  
Covenant Theology ◽  
The People ◽  
History Of ◽  
Book Of Jeremiah ◽  
Definitive Role ◽  
Ethical Obligations ◽  
Moral Demands ◽  
The Way ◽  
Crisis Situations

The book of Jeremiah reflects a particular period in the history of Judah, certain theological perspectives and a particular portrayal of the prophet Jeremiah. Covenant theology played a major role in Jeremiah’s view of life and determined his expectations of leaders and ordinary people. He placed high value on justice and trustworthiness, and people who did not adhere to this would in his view bear the consequences of disobedience to Yahweh’s moral demands and unfaithfulness. The prophet expected those in positions of leadership to adhere to certain ethical obligations as is clear from most of the nouns which appear in Jeremiah 5:1–6. This article argues that crisis situations in history affect leaders’ communication, attitudes and responses. Leaders’ worldviews and ideologies play a definitive role in their responses to crises. Jeremiah’s religious views are reflected in his criticism and demands of people in his society. This is also true as seen from the way the people and leaders in Judah responded to the prophet’s proclamation. Jeremiah 5:1–6 emphasises that knowledge and accountability are expected of leaders at all times, but in particular during unstable political times.

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