Before thinking about what next prerequisites for alternatives

Development Dialogue

Volumn , Issue 47, 2006, Pages 67-92

  Rist, Gilbert ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CAPITALISM; CRITICAL ANALYSIS; DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE; DEVELOPMENT THEORY; ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT; ECONOMIC HISTORY; ECONOMIC THEORY; ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION; MARKET SYSTEM; OECD; PARADIGM SHIFT; RELIGION;

NORTH AMERICA; UNITED STATES; USSR;

EID: 33846126955     PISSN: 03452328     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (48)

1. I would like to express my gratitude to my colleague Isabelle Schulte-Tenckhoff for her comments on earlier versions of this text as well as this one.
2. 'Nanobiotechnology ... refers to the merging of the living and non-living realms to make hybrid material and organisms.... The merging of biotech and nanotech gives researchers unprecedented potential to modify existing non-living material but also to create living organisms that have never existed before.' ETC Group 'Oligopoly, Inc.', Communiqué, No. 82, November-December 2003.
3. UNDP has repeatedly tried to show that great progress had been achieved in the fields of life expectancy and schooling. This may have been true in former decades and, of course, everything depends on the year of reference that is chosen for constructing the argument. But in Russia alone, life expectancy decreased by seven years between 1985 and 1993. In view of the growing importance of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the frequent transfer of the schooling system from the State to the private sector, signs of progress should be accepted with caution.
4. A recent survey carried out on behalf of the World Economic Forum among 7,900 young people in ten Asian countries reveals that the vast majority of them approve of globalisation and that only 2 per cent believe it may have a negative impact. Le Temps, 14 October 2003.
5. I include in these strategies what has come to be known as 'sustainable development', which is in fact an oxymoron (i.e. a contradiction in terms). Since 'development' is nothing but an increase in production with its corresponding increase in destruction (of matter and energy), its 'sustainability' is a purely rhetorical one. More often than not, 'sustainable development' can be summarised by the formula: 'Pollute less in order to pollute longer'.
6. The following paragraphs are largely taken from my book, The History of Development. From Western Creed to Global Faith, Zed Books, London, 2001 (1997),
7. and from my article 'Le "développement": la violence symbolique d'une croyance', Brouillons pour l'avenir. Contributions au débat sur les alternatives, Nouveaux Cahiers de I'IUED, No. 14, IUED, Geneva, PUF Paris, 2003, pp. 135-152. As I am obliged to summarise my point of view outrageously, I kindly refer the reader to these texts for a more detailed presentation of my position.
8. Emile Durkheim, Les règles de la méthode socloogique, PUF, Paris, 1983 [1895].
9. What follows is a summary. I offer a more detailed definition in my book (see note 6).
10. I should probably emphasise at this point that I am considering 'development' that has 'succeeded' in 'developed' regions rather than 'development aid' or international cooperation that is of marginal importance (0.22 per cent of OECD countries' GNP). Furthermore, no country has ever become 'developed' through foreign-assistance projects or programmes. Development must be envisaged as a global and sweeping movement rather than as a series of success stories about cooperatives, village pumps or vaccination campaigns.
11. The introduction of (private) property rights (vs. possession) entails significant consequences since the mortgaging of land is one of the major sources of credit and, hence, of economic growth. For a more detailed presentation of this critical point, see Rolf Steppacher, 'La petite différence et ses grandes consequences: possession et propriété', Brouillons pour l'avenir. Contributions au débat sur les alternatives, Nouveaux Confers de l'IUED, No. 14, IUED, Geneva, PUF, Paris, 2003, pp. 181-190.
12. It is necessary to condemn prostitution (in the narrow sense of engaging in sexual intercourse for money) in order to conceal the fact that, more generally, prostitution is extended to the whole of society, just as it is necessary to create natural parks in order to justify the plundering of natural resources, or to appoint committees on bioethics in order to legitimise further experiments on living material. Let us not be led astray by 'humanistic' or 'ethical' discourses.
13. My distinction between 'natural environment' and 'human beings' is perhaps obsolete. As Pat Mooney has shown, at a certain level there is no longer any difference between matter (atomic structure) and living matter (biology and genetics). The wholesale colonisation of the various 'resources' of our planet - in the name of profit - is well under way.
14. See Jeremy Seabrook, The Pace for Riches: The Human Cost of Wealth, Marshall Pickering, Basingstoke, 1988.
15. The italicised phrase in German means 'world history as salvation history' in English.
16. Durkheim has shown that religion is inseparable from society. Actually, the function of religion, understood as a set of beliefs, and of its corresponding social practices, is to create the unity of the group and to bind its members together (Les formes élémentaires de la vie religieuse. Le système totémique en Australie, PUF, Paris, 1960 [1912]. According to Durkheim, religion does not presuppose the existence of a god, nor of a divine being, nor of a 'supernatural' sphere. Buddhism is a case in point, since Buddha - although highly praised and respected - has never been turned into a god. There are, therefore, 'secular' or civil' religions whose function is perfectly similar to any other religion as long as it 'cements' the group that holds the same values to be true. Essentially 'religion' is therefore very different from ideology. Although ideologies may bind together those who claim to draw their opinions from them, they nevertheless remain subject to debate. Different ideologies may coexist in a given society, as is reflected in the various political parties that compete for power in a democratic State. But, according to Durkheim, in any society, it is religion that binds together those who profess different ideologies. I do not imply that 'development' is the unique value commonly shared in Western society. Human rights or democracy are also part of our religion in the Durkheimian sense, as they, belong to a common stock of values that can be drawn upon in order to legitimise actions.
17. Cf. Marie-Dominique Perrot, Fabrizio Sabelli, Gilbert Rist, La mythologie programmée. L'économie des croyances dans la société moderne, Paris, PUF, 1992.
18. In economics courses, for instance, critical voices are never mentioned.
19. References to symbolic violence are numerous in Bourdieu's work. See, in particular, Le sens pratique. Editions de Minuit, Paris, 1980,
20. and La domination masculine. Le Seuil, Paris, 1998.
21. I am aware that in many languages, particularly in Africa, there is no word that carries the idea conveyed by our use of the term 'development'. This is evidence of the mainly Western roots of the concept, and also shows the extent to which the religion of 'development' came to be accepted as a result of cultural imperialism.
22. Bourdieu, Pierre, Ce que parler veut dire. L'économie des échanges linguistiques, Paris, Fayard, 1982, p. 150.
23. This, of course, applies to beliefs (which are beyond dispute for those who hold them) and not to ideological stances, which can vary within a given society.
24. Suffice it to say that cultural relativism (or suspension of judgement) is a prerequisite for any anthropological fieldwork. It is not enough to rely on similarities between human beings of various cultures; differences also exist.
25. Salafism is a doctrine that promotes a strict observance of the principles of the Koran.
26. Of course, the opposite danger also exists. The pseudo-scientific theories elaborated by Samuel Huntington are a case in point.
27. 'Global proposals are necessarily parochial: they inevitably express the specific vision and interests of a small group of people, even when they are supposedly formulated in the interests of humanity' (Vandana Shiva, quoted in Gustavo Esteva and Madhu Suri Prakash, Grassroots Post-Modernism, Zed Books, London, 1998, p. 27).
28. Development aid is sometimes justified on the basis of a paradoxical formulation: we have an interest in being disinterested. In other words, we have an interest in making other people richer in order that we also acquire new customers. The statement sounds fine but, as we all know, what happens in practice is different, since development assistance mainly benefits donor countries.
29. The What Now report is a case in point; both its theoretical framework and its concrete proposals still stand. A great number of authors could also be mentioned: Gustave Esteva, Alain Gras, Ivan Illich, Serge Latouche, François Partant, Majid Rahnema, Pierre Thuiller and Wolfgang Sachs have all been concerned with what has come to be known as the 'post-development' school. Needless to say, many names could be added to the list and I apologise to those I have forgotten.
30. Pour un catasfrophisme éclairé. Quand l'impossible est certain, Le Seuil, Paris, 2002.
31. Most of the views that are put forward in this section rely on the aforementioned book as well as on Jean-Pierre Dupuy's article 'Pourquoi la peur peut être une bonne conseillère'. Brouillons pour l'avenir. Contributions au débat sur les alternatives, (Comelliau, Christian, ed.) Nouveaux Cahiers de l'IUED, No. 14, IUED, Geneva, PUF, Paris, 2003, pp. 159-169.
32. I hasten to say that I am not entirely satisfied with this word (even if it has become popular among critics of 'development'} because its negative prefix ('de-croissance) may carry the idea that what is needed is simply 'less of the same'.
33. Cf. Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, La decroissance, Preface and translation by Jacques Grinevald and Ivo Rens, Paris, Sang de la Terre, 1995, and also the proceedings of the symposium, 'La décroissance soutenable. Bioéconomie, écologie et simplicité volontaire', Lyon, 26-27 September 2003, www.decroissance.org.
34. The car industry is, of course, a case in point. Even in a country such as Switzerland (where there is no car factory) it accounts for 18 per cent of the GNP. A collective change of attitude vis-a-vis 'private mobility' (which could be brought about by increasing taxes on, or rationing, petrol) would entail not only a decrease in the GNP - and perhaps an increase in unemployment - but also a reduction of noise and pollution, a more convivial way of life, fewer road accidents, changes in consumption patterns (by making outskirt supermarkets less attractive), etc.
35. We cannot expect the World Trade Organization or individual governments to enforce trade restrictions on dispensable products. But international boycott campaigns could initiate the movement.
36. For example, we should stop confusing the 'standard of living' (which measures a level of production and consumption) with the 'quality of life'. What makes people happy is largely beyond their purchasing power.
37. For a more detailed presentation of this section, cf. Rist, Gilbert, 'Préalables à une théorie de l'échange', Pratiques de la dissidence économique, Yvonne Preiswerk and Fabrizio Sabelli (eds.), Nouveaux Cahiers de l'IUED, No. 7, IUED, Geneva, PUF, Paris, 1998, pp. 17-41.
38. Cf. Sahlins, Marshall, Stone Age Economics, Aldine, Chicago, 1972.
39. Cf. Polanyi, Karl, The Great Transformation, New York, Rinehart, 1944.
40. Cf. Grinevald, Jacques, 'Georgescu-Roegen, bioéconomie et biosphère', in Objectif décroissance. Vers une société harmonieuse, (Bernard, Michel, Cheynet, Vincent, and Clémentin, Bruno, eds.), Parangon, Paris, 2003, pp. 44-57. For relevant publication in English, see the works of Hermann Daly.
41. This has already been explored by Dudley Seers in a forgotten article: 'The Limitation of the Special Case', Bulletin of the Oxford Institute of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 25, No. 2, May 1963, pp. 77-98.
42. Cf. Brockway, George P., The End of Economic Man. Principles of Any Future Economics, Cornelia and Michael Bessie Books, New York, 1991.
43. Cf. Rahnema, Majid, Quand la misère chasse la pauvreté, Paris, Fayard, Actes Sud, 2003. A book that radically questions the criteria of the World Bank (and other international organisations) for defining poverty.
44. This is why I am not really convinced that 'development' will eventually come about thanks to the anarcho-hedonist virtues of 'civil society' (just as the suffering proletariat was expected to launch the 'final struggle' and open the path for Revolution) or thanks to the managerial virtues that came to be known as 'governance' (just another way of excluding politics from the debate). Firstly, 'civil society' does not exist per se, and it is difficult to define its constituency, Moreover, it lacks political legitimacy since its members are not easily identified (compare the debate between Gramsci and Lenin about this concept, which I cannot go into in such a short presentation). If civil society is what is left once the Prince-government and the Merchant-business have been 'subtracted' from global society, one should nevertheless recognise that any member of 'civil society' may also be a civil servant or a tradesman during working hours. Secondly, in the Western tradition, 'civil' refers to someone who is neither a soldier nor a member of the clergy. But this does not ensure that such a person is necessarily a supporter of democracy. Thirdly, if a tight network of associations (parents' associations, church choirs, trade unions, women's groups, etc.) and substantial social capital (in Putnam's sense) may indeed contribute to social change, the values on which 'civil society' is based (e.g. sacrifice of time or money for a common cause) stand in total contradiction to those of the dominant system and run the risk of being eroded by the very success of 'development' (cf. Rist, Gilbert, 'La cultura y el capital social: cómplices o víctimas del "desarrollo?"', Capital social y cultura: claves estatégicas para el desarrollo (Kliksberg, Bernardo, Tomassini, Luciano, dir.), Banco interamericano de desarrollo, Pundacfon Felipe Herrera, Universidad de Maryland, Fondo de cultura económica, Washington, Buenos Aires, 2000, pp. 129-150)
45. and also André-Marcel d'Ans: 'Société civile, gouvernance: nouvelles notions, nouveaux mirages?', La lettre du Forum de Delphes, No. 54, March-April 2004, pp. 2-3. This having been said, I readily admit that some social movements are working for positive social change.
46. 'Le développement ne profite qu'à une petite minorité', Le Courrier, 15 May 2004, p. 7.
47. This is also evident, to take just one other example, in Afghanistan, according to my colleague Alessandro Monsutti who documents this view in his book, Guerres et migrations. Réseaux sociaux et stratégies économiques des Hazaras d'Afghanistan, Neuchâtel, Institut d'ethnologie, Maison des sciences de l'homme, Paris, 2004.
48. Cf. Esteva, Gustavo and Prakash, Madhu Suri, Grassroots Post-Modernism, op.cit., p. 26.