Arresting development : the power of knowledge for social change / Craig Johnson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Johnson, Craig (Craig Anthony)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Economic development.

Social change.

Knowledge management.

Physical Description:

xiii, 194 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2009.

Summary:

Scholars have become increasingly concerned about the impact of neo-liberalism on the field of development. Governments around the world have, for some time, been exposed to the forces of globalization and macro-economic reform, reflecting the power and influence of the world's principal international economic institutions and a broader commitment to the principles of neo-classical economics and free trade.

This book is about the ways ideologies shape the construction of knowledge for development. The book's main objectives are twofold. One is to understand how neo-liberalism and related worldviews of neo-classical theory and rational choice have framed and defined the 'meta-theoretical' aims and assumptions of what is deemed relevant, important and appropriate to the study of development. The second is to explore the theoretical and ideological terms on which an alternative to neo-classical theory may be theorized, idealized and pursued. By tracing the impact of Marxism, postmodernism and liberalism on the study of development, Arresting Development contends that development has become increasingly fragmented in terms of the theories and methodologies it uses to understand and explain complex and contextually specific processes of economic development and social change. Outside of neo-classical economics (and related fields of rational choice), the notion that social science can or should aim to develop general and predictive theories about development has become mired in a philosophical and political orientation that questions the ability of scholars to make universal or comparative statements about the nature of history, cultural diversity and progress.

To advance the debate, a case is made that development needs to re-capture what the American sociologist Peter Evans once called the 'comparative institutional method.' At the heart of this approach is an inductive methodology that searches for commonalities and connections to broader historical trends and problems while at the same time incorporating divergent and potentially competing views about the nature of history, culture and development. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Development, Social and Political Studies and it will also be beneficial to professionals interested in the challenge of constructing 'knowledge for development.'

Contents:

1 Deconstructing 'knowledge for development' 1

Introduction 1

Neo-liberalism in theory and practice 4

The debt crisis and the 'Washington consensus' 6

Neo-liberalism with a human face? 'The post-Washington consensus' 7

Neo-classical theory: a 'colonizing' concept? 9

Re-politicizing development: the elusive quest for unified theory 12

Arresting development? From development studies to area studies 15

After Marxism: 'what is to be done?' 17

Post-structuralism, postmodernism and 'post-development' 19

Outline of the book 22

2 The 'poverty of history' in neo-classical discourse 24

Introduction 24

The 'problem' of history in social science research 25

History and positivist social science 27

Debating positivism 29

The tragedy of the commons 31

Avoiding the tragedy: institutions, incentives and 'common property regimes' 32

The poverty of history 36

Inequality, efficiency and the commons 38

Poverty, inequality and the commons: 'entitlement approaches' 40

Privatizing the commons: rights, incentives and rational choice 43

Ships in the night: history and science in commons scholarship 45

Concluding remarks 49

3 Exporting the model 51

Introduction 51

Theorizing the transition: Marxism, dependency and (capitalist) development 52

Exporting the model 53

The dependency debate 55

World systems theory 57

After dependency 60

'Hermeneutic Marxism': problems of agency, identity and alienation' 62

The postmodern turn 64

Postmodern politics: class, social consciousness and (class) struggle 66

The development 'impasse' 68

Beyond the impasse: the end of ideology? 69

The 'people without history': weapons of the weak or a weak weapon? 71

Concluding remarks 76

4 Development as discourse 79

Introduction 79

'The Foucault effect': history, genealogy and 'bio-power' 81

Debating Foucault 83

Development as discourse: the politics of post-development 86

Post-development histories 88

Normalization and discourse 89

Visions of change 91

Debating post-development 93

Romanticism, relativism and representation 96

Encountering James Ferguson 99

Discourse, agency and power 100

Policy, discourse and praxis 103

Concluding remarks 106

5 Development as freedom of choice 109

Introduction 109

Poverty as 'capability deprivation': theorizing the work of Amartya Sen 111

Bridging structure and agency: Sen's theory of entitlement 114

Sen's theory of public action 115

Restricting the freedom to choose: Sen's theory of 'social commitment' 116

Political action and the freedom to choose . . . what exactly? 119

Participatory approaches: from 'PRA' to 'the SLA' 121

Creating capabilities: the 'sustainable livelihoods approach' 123

Assessing the SLA 126

Concluding remarks 129

6 Advancing knowledge for social change 132

Introduction 132

'Making services work for the poor' 133

Debating the discipline: big theories, local processes and the art of comparison 136

'Analytic narratives' 138

An 'anti-history machine'? 141

Bringing history back in: advancing knowledge for social change 143

Concluding remarks 148.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [163]-179) and index.

ISBN:

9780415381543

0415381541

9780415381536

0415381533

9780203086018

0203086015

OCLC:

232656047