The crisis in 'development theory'

New Political Economy

Volumn 1, Issue 1, 1996, Pages 41-58

  Leys, Colin ^a  

^a QUEEN S UNIVERSITY   (Canada)

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EID: 0010705242     PISSN: 13563467     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/13563469608406237     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. 'The academy's enforcement of McCarthyism ... silenced an entire generation of intellectuals and snuffed out all meaningful opposition to the official version of the Cold War'. Ellen W. Schrecker, No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 341. See also Lionel S. Lewis, The Cold War on Campus (Transaction Books, 1988).
2. 'The academy's enforcement of McCarthyism ... silenced an entire generation of intellectuals and snuffed out all meaningful opposition to the official version of the Cold War'. Ellen W. Schrecker, No Ivory Tower: McCarthyism and the Universities (Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 341. See also Lionel S. Lewis, The Cold War on Campus (Transaction Books, 1988).
3. This revealing formulation comes from the conclusions of the World Bank's view of 'the evolution of approaches to development' in its 1991 World Development Report under the heading 'The Way Forward'. As the real consequences of structural adjustment became inescapably obvious towards the end of the 1980s, especially in Africa, official policy veered back towards an emphasis on the importance of the state, but without reconciling this with the continued official emphasis on the superiority of markets over state action - in a word, official policy became contradictory, as any thoughtful reader of the 1991 World Development Report can see.
4. André Gunder Frank, 'The Underdevelopment of Development', Special Issue of Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives, Vol. 10, No. 3 (1991), pp. 48-9. The situation is not essentially different in the industrialised countries, as Susan Strange remarks: 'Political leaders and their opponents like to pretend that they are still in control of their national economies ... But recent years have shown again and again how the politician's plans have been upset by changes that they could not have foreseen in the world outside the state'. Casino Capitalism (Blackwell, 1987), p. 3.
5. André Gunder Frank, 'The Underdevelopment of Development', Special Issue of Scandinavian Journal of Development Alternatives, Vol. 10, No. 3 (1991), pp. 48-9. The situation is not essentially different in the industrialised countries, as Susan Strange remarks: 'Political leaders and their opponents like to pretend that they are still in control of their national economies ... But recent years have shown again and again how the politician's plans have been upset by changes that they could not have foreseen in the world outside the state'. Casino Capitalism (Blackwell, 1987), p. 3.
6. Robert Kaplan's 'The Coming Anarchy', The Atlantic Monthly, February 1994, pp. 48-76, registered a thoughtful journalist's recognition of the instability now characterising the global system, though without any apparent understanding of, or even curiosity about, its causes. A more insightful account is Christopher Hitchens, 'African Gothic', Vanity Fair, November 1994, pp. 92-117. It can hardly be irrelevant that before the outbreak of genocide in Rwanda in 1994, per capita incomes, already among the lowest in the world, had fallen by 50% in one year as a result of a collapse in coffee prices, followed by a drastic rise in food prices imposed by an IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programme.
7. Robert Kaplan's 'The Coming Anarchy', The Atlantic Monthly, February 1994, pp. 48-76, registered a thoughtful journalist's recognition of the instability now characterising the global system, though without any apparent understanding of, or even curiosity about, its causes. A more insightful account is Christopher Hitchens, 'African Gothic', Vanity Fair, November 1994, pp. 92-117. It can hardly be irrelevant that before the outbreak of genocide in Rwanda in 1994, per capita incomes, already among the lowest in the world, had fallen by 50% in one year as a result of a collapse in coffee prices, followed by a drastic rise in food prices imposed by an IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programme.
8. W. A. Lewis, 'Development economics in the 1950s', in: Gerald M. Meier & Dudley Seers (Eds), Pioneers in Development (World Bank and Oxford University Press, 1984), p. 137.
9. Frans J. Schuurman (Ed.), Beyond the Impasse: New Directions in Development Theory (Zed Books, 1993).
10. David Booth, 'Marxism and Development Sociology: Interpreting the Impasse', World Development, Vol. 13, No. 7 (1985), pp. 761-87; see also, among others, Peter Vandergeest & Frederick H. Buttell, 'Marx, Weber and Development Sociology: Beyond the Impasse', and Leslie Sklair, Transcending the Impasse: Metatheory, Theory, and Empirical Research in the Sociology of Underdevelopment', both in World Development, Vol. 16, No. 6 (1988), pp. 683-95, 697-709.
11. David Booth, 'Marxism and Development Sociology: Interpreting the Impasse', World Development, Vol. 13, No. 7 (1985), pp. 761-87; see also, among others, Peter Vandergeest & Frederick H. Buttell, 'Marx, Weber and Development Sociology: Beyond the Impasse', and Leslie Sklair, Transcending the Impasse: Metatheory, Theory, and Empirical Research in the Sociology of Underdevelopment', both in World Development, Vol. 16, No. 6 (1988), pp. 683-95, 697-709.
12. David Booth, 'Development research: from impasse to a new agenda', in: Schuurman, Beyond the Impasse, pp. 49-76. This summary is necessarily too crude. Among various judicious reservations, Booth points out the obvious problems of defining for whom and to what development theory should be relevant.
13. For an exemplary review of a great deal of this work, see Frederick Cooper, Florencia E. Mallon, Steve J. Stern, Allen Isaacman & William Roseberry, Confronting Historical Paradigms: Peasants, Labor, and the Capitalist World System in Africa and Latin America (University of Wisconsin Press, 1993).
14. The most explicit references are in Schuurman's Introduction where he refers to 'the conviction that the world market is an overarching whole which cannot be approached using development policies oriented at the national level' and 'the growing recognition of differentiation within the Third World' (p. 10). There are also passing statements in the chapter by David Slater on 'The political meanings of development' (e.g. 'Couched within a certain tradition one might even suggest that we are living the "end of development"' (p. 93)) but neither author pursues the apparent implications of these remarks.
15. John Toye, Dilemmas of Development: Refections on the Counter-Revolution in Development Economics, 2nd edn (Blackwell, 1993).
16. Cf. David Moore: 'It might be ... apropos to call the next phase [of development discourse] ... one of pseudo-eclecticism. In it, theoretical and political jostling over such issues as sustainable development, state and/or market-led economic policies, and participation (or 'democratic governance') will take much of the public stage. The World Bank, the IMF and their lesser kin will appear to take pragmatic and consensual approaches to their hearts, much like in the 1970s, but will rest assured that their real neo-liberal agenda remains intact ...' David B. Moore, 'Development discourse as hegemony', in: David Moore & Gerald G. Schmitz (Eds), Debating Development Discourse: Institutional and Popular Perspectives (Macmillan, 1995), p. 9.
17. An exemplary exposition of dependency thinking as a central dimension of the analysis of the impact of global market forces on the periphery is to be found in a long series of influential papers by Manfred Bienefeld, some of which have already been cited. Others include, notably, 'Dependency in the Eighties', IDS Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1980), pp. 5-10; 'The international context for national development strategies: constraints and opportunities in a changing world', in: Manfred Bienefeld & Martin Godfrey (Eds), The Struggle for Development: National Strategies in an International Context (Wiley, 1982); 'The Significance of the Newly Industrialising Countries for the Development Debate', Studies in Political Economy, Vol. 25 (1988), pp. 7-39; and 'Structural Adjustment: Debt Collection Device or Development Policy?', ADMT Series No. 5, Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Japan, 1993.
18. An exemplary exposition of dependency thinking as a central dimension of the analysis of the impact of global market forces on the periphery is to be found in a long series of influential papers by Manfred Bienefeld, some of which have already been cited. Others include, notably, 'Dependency in the Eighties', IDS Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1980), pp. 5-10; 'The international context for national development strategies: constraints and opportunities in a changing world', in: Manfred Bienefeld & Martin Godfrey (Eds), The Struggle for Development: National Strategies in an International Context (Wiley, 1982); 'The Significance of the Newly Industrialising Countries for the Development Debate', Studies in Political Economy, Vol. 25 (1988), pp. 7-39; and 'Structural Adjustment: Debt Collection Device or Development Policy?', ADMT Series No. 5, Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Japan, 1993.
19. An exemplary exposition of dependency thinking as a central dimension of the analysis of the impact of global market forces on the periphery is to be found in a long series of influential papers by Manfred Bienefeld, some of which have already been cited. Others include, notably, 'Dependency in the Eighties', IDS Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1980), pp. 5-10; 'The international context for national development strategies: constraints and opportunities in a changing world', in: Manfred Bienefeld & Martin Godfrey (Eds), The Struggle for Development: National Strategies in an International Context (Wiley, 1982); 'The Significance of the Newly Industrialising Countries for the Development Debate', Studies in Political Economy, Vol. 25 (1988), pp. 7-39; and 'Structural Adjustment: Debt Collection Device or Development Policy?', ADMT Series No. 5, Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Japan, 1993.
20. An exemplary exposition of dependency thinking as a central dimension of the analysis of the impact of global market forces on the periphery is to be found in a long series of influential papers by Manfred Bienefeld, some of which have already been cited. Others include, notably, 'Dependency in the Eighties', IDS Bulletin, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1980), pp. 5-10; 'The international context for national development strategies: constraints and opportunities in a changing world', in: Manfred Bienefeld & Martin Godfrey (Eds), The Struggle for Development: National Strategies in an International Context (Wiley, 1982); 'The Significance of the Newly Industrialising Countries for the Development Debate', Studies in Political Economy, Vol. 25 (1988), pp. 7-39; and 'Structural Adjustment: Debt Collection Device or Development Policy?', ADMT Series No. 5, Institute of Comparative Culture, Sophia University, Japan, 1993.
21. Frank, 'The Underdevelopment of Development'.
22. See Clive Hamilton, Capitalist Industrialisation in Korea (Westview, 1986); Gordon White, Developmental States in East Asia (St Martin's Press, 1987); Alice Amsden, Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization (Oxford University Press, 1989); and Robert Wade, Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization (Princeton University Press, 1990).
23. See Clive Hamilton, Capitalist Industrialisation in Korea (Westview, 1986); Gordon White, Developmental States in East Asia (St Martin's Press, 1987); Alice Amsden, Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization (Oxford University Press, 1989); and Robert Wade, Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization (Princeton University Press, 1990).
24. See Clive Hamilton, Capitalist Industrialisation in Korea (Westview, 1986); Gordon White, Developmental States in East Asia (St Martin's Press, 1987); Alice Amsden, Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization (Oxford University Press, 1989); and Robert Wade, Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization (Princeton University Press, 1990).
25. See Clive Hamilton, Capitalist Industrialisation in Korea (Westview, 1986); Gordon White, Developmental States in East Asia (St Martin's Press, 1987); Alice Amsden, Asia's Next Giant: South Korea and Late Industrialization (Oxford University Press, 1989); and Robert Wade, Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization (Princeton University Press, 1990).
26. See The East Asian Miracle: Economic Growth and Public Policy (World Bank and Oxford University Press, 1993).
27. Besides his useful extension of the analysis to include two Latin American NICs, Haggard has had a greater impact on US political scientists than Amsden or the writers of the 'Sussex school', which is a further reason for focusing particularly on his work here. Haggard also dissociates himself from the ritual attacks on dependency theory that seem to have become almost a test of soundness for many US political scientists; see Stephan Haggard, Pathways from the Periphery: The Politics of Growth in the Newly Industrializing Countries (Cornell University Press, 1990), p. 19.
28. Jean-Francois Bayart, 'Finishing with the idea of the Third World: the concept of the political trajectory', in: James Manor (Ed.), Rethinking Third World Politics (Longman, 1991), pp. 53-54.
29. Gunnar Myrdal, Asian Drama: An Enquiry into the Poverty of Nations (The Twentieth Century Fund, 1968).
30. Douglass C. North, Structure and Change in Economic History (W. W. Norton, 1981), p. 57.
31. Ibid., p. 61.
32. Ibid., chapter 5.
33. 'Institutions are the rules of the game in a society, or, more formally, are the humanly devised constraints that shape interaction', Douglass C. North, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 3.
34. Ibid., p. 107.
35. See Samuel L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam (University of California Press, 1979); and more recently, Popkin, 'Public choice and peasant organization', in: Robert H. Bates, Toward a Political Economy of Development, (University of California Press, 1988), pp. 245-71.
36. See Samuel L. Popkin, The Rational Peasant: The Political Economy of Rural Society in Vietnam (University of California Press, 1979); and more recently, Popkin, 'Public choice and peasant organization', in: Robert H. Bates, Toward a Political Economy of Development, (University of California Press, 1988), pp. 245-71.
37. Manor (Ed.) Rethinking Third World Politics, p. 2.
38. Manor's statement was doubly odd given that only five of the 12 contributions to the book actually conformed to it. One contributor, Garreton, was explicitly concerned with the conditions for democracy in Latin America, and four (Medard, Crook, Clapham and Sandschneider) were concerned with familiar development themes. Two more (Samudavanija and Hawthorn) argued, in effect, that Third World governments have generally been less interested in economic development and more interested in securing authority, defining national identity, and so on, than Western students of development would like: which is true, though not something that has entirely escaped the attention of students of development hitherto.
39. Jean-François Bayart, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (Longman, 1993).