Varieties of development: On the plurality of political economies and how to harness it

Development models are disputed in the global South and North, as evidenced by recent protests advancing different desirable social ends and means. The diversity of development ideas suggests it is a wicked problem, requiring clumsy solutions. Employing grid group cultural theory, this article elucidates that plurality and indicates ways to harness it. Four irreducible, ideal‐typical notions of development are found: market‐led individual prosperity, state‐led system‐wide welfare, alternatives of community‐led equal welfare with ecological conservation and a mirage. Clumsy development models secure legitimacy and effectiveness by engaging all worldviews, including their distinct pathways to clumsiness or messy institutions.