Development: History and Power of the Concept.
This article provides an alternative reading of the history of development by tracing how the concept of development has accumulated its present power. It starts from the premise that whatever development is, it is also a concept which is deeply ingrained in our 'Western' habitus and can inform and...
| Published in: | Forum for Development Studies Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 1 - 22 |
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| Format: | Article |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Mar2020
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| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=142223678&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 142223678 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 08039410 RH3 jtl: Forum for Development Studies issn: 08039410 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: Mar2020 vid: 47 iid: 1 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 142223678 10.1080/08039410.2019.1654542 ppf: 1 ppct: 21 formats: tig: atl: Development: History and Power of the Concept. aug: au: Koponen, Juhani affil: Development Studies, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland su: Resource exploitation Conceptual history Structural frames World War II Western films sug: subj: Resource exploitation Finish Carpentry Contractors Framing Contractors Conceptual history Structural frames World War II Western films keyword: colonialism conceptual history development developmentalism history colonialism conceptual history development developmentalism history ab: This article provides an alternative reading of the history of development by tracing how the concept of development has accumulated its present power. It starts from the premise that whatever development is, it is also a concept which is deeply ingrained in our 'Western' habitus and can inform and guide our actions. Contrary to suggestions that it was 'invented' once – at whatever date – and then spread elsewhere, I argue that it emerged gradually by being born and reborn several times in different contexts. Thus, its history is not of direct genealogical continuities from a single origin but rather of parallels generated by similar structural circumstances. Although development is commonly criticised for its ambiguity, I argue that much of its power actually stems from its linguistic polyvalence: its different meanings make it useful for many different purposes. Yet the concept is held together by a more coherent structural frame which combines three main senses: ideal, processual and intentional. Building on research on colonial history, I locate a birth of development in European colonialism, where it worked as an unacknowledged condition of colonial exploitation. It also has other antecedents that remain insufficiently understood. Having been introduced in the South as a notion for colonial exploitation of local resources, after World War II its function changed again. At the dissolution of the colonial empires, it was taken into its present use as soft power by Western powers and anti-colonial nationalists alike and was transformed into the foundational concept of developmentalism. But its power has limits. Ultimately, while concepts can and do affect people's behaviour, they work within the dynamics of material and mental interests. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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