Deconstructing Development Discourse: Buzzwords and Fuzzwords

This collection is based on the contents of Development in Practice, Volume 17, Numbers 4 and 5. Most will also appreciate that Deborah Eade was editor of this journal until the end of 2010. The chapters therefore largely reflect work produced up to 2007 when that volume was published. This does not detract from their intrinsic value. It does, however, rule out reflections on the recent international financial turmoil, the ‘Arab spring’ of 2011 and the widespread push for more democratic institutions, and deeper questioning of the linear ‘world view’ that has informed much neo-liberal economic thinking. Arguments about direction have moved on since then, as people question the nature of ‘development’ and the more visible contradictions in the development of capitalism. The negotiations about the role of the state versus the role of the market hinge on such things as the limits to privatisation.
 

The full book review is available here:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09614524.2011.590894