New vistas for development management: Examining radical–reformist possibilities and potential

This article provides an overview of contemporary development management scholarship, suggesting that a longstanding division between radical and reformist development management research continues to exist. The article offers a closer examination of critical development management (CDM), the most recent example of radical development management thought that is connecting scholars in critical management studies to those identifying with post‐development theory. CDM's suggestion that all development management is perniciously managerial is scrutinised and challenged on both theoretical and normative grounds. Overall, an argument is sketched out to support a future for development management that is neither defined nor destined for failure. The future of development management scholarship can and should concern itself with a non‐managerial development practice that bridges the divide between radicals and reformers.