The Development Project in Theory and Practice: A Review of its Shifting Dynamics

This paper traces the evolution of ideas associated with the development project over the six “development decades” (from 1948 to the present), focusing on the changing contexts that gave rise to identifiable shifts in thought and practice. Part I reviews the ideas associated with theories of economic growth and modernization that dominated the launching and evolution of the development project. Part II explores the major shift in development theory and practice associated with the 1970s, most notably the dependency perspective. By 1980, development theory can no longer be seen simply in linear terms. Diverse positions on theory and practice were emerging both within and cutting across three major paradigms. Part III focuses on the mainstream or neo-liberal counter-revolution, along with the mainstream approach to alternative development and the political economy perspective. Part IV examines the development impasse, anti-development, and the emergence of critical alternative development in the 1990s. Finally, the paper explores the implications of these various approaches to development, concluding that the multi-vocal “confusion” and “chaos” is not a hindrance, but, rather, offers much needed nuance and complexity to development theory and practice.