“An island of the Third World”? Decolonization, solidarity and the critique of development during the long Sixties at the Institut Africain de Genève

This paper examines the transformations at the Institut Africain de Genève (IAG; later Institut universitaire d’études du développement, IUED) during the long 1960s, juxtaposing the tenures of its first two directors, Henri-Philippe Junod (1961–1962) and Pierre Bungener (1962–1975). Transcending its founding premises, IAG became more than a training facility for government officials; it evolved into a site of critique and experimentation. The article explores how engagement with the concept of the Third World led to a critique of Eurocentric development models. Internationalist in outlook, these critiques framed struggles in the Third World as intimately linked to exploitative economic and asymmetrical political structures benefiting the West.