New Issues, New Perspectives: Implications for International Development Studies

This paper examines the introduction of “new” contextual issues and analytical concepts within International Development Studies (ids) that have shaped the current penchant for the “development and other” focus. Contextual issues (e.g., poverty, aid, health, education, hiv/aids, new information and communication technologies [icts], peacekeeping, and conflict resolution) and highly contested analytical concepts (e.g., gender, environment or sustainability, civil society, globalization, good governance, social capital, capacity building, participation, empowerment, and security) have been wedded to core development questions. This paper examines both how this “development and…” focus has shaped development studies and provided the foundations for a new and invigorated generation of development theories. It analyzes how the introduction of “new” contextual issues and analytical concepts has challenged, or failed to challenge, our conceptual understanding of development issues. It provides a chronology of how and when such issues and concepts are introduced, and how and why they are taken on and off the development policy agenda set by multilateral and bilateral agencies.