Debating Development Discourse

This book combines critical historical analysis and case studies of the theory and practice of post-1945 international development. Beginning with a Gramscian analysis of institutional and academic development discourse, continuing with critiques of international institutions' current neo-liberal economic and 'governance' practices, and followed by studies of African moral opposition to structural adjustment's 'scientific capitalism', South African housing struggles, Zimbabwean development strategies, Costa Rican agrarian NGO's, and northern Albertan public environmental hearings, it advocates deepening radical and popular participatory democracy.

Inhalt
Preface and Acknowledgements - List of Abbreviations - List of Contributors - Introduction - Development Discourse as Hegemony: Towards an Ideological History, 1945-1995; D.B.Moore - Democratization and Demystification: Deconstructing 'Governance' as Development Paradigm; G.G.Schmitz - Structural Adjustment and the Prospects for Democracy in Southern Africa; M.A.Bienefeld - From African Socialism to Scientific Capitalism: Reflections on the Legitimation Crisis in IMF-ruled Africa; J.Ferguson - Urban Social Movements, the Housing Question and Development Discourse in South Africa; P.Bond - From 'Equity' and 'Participation' to Structural Adjustment: State and Social Forces in Zimbabwe; L.M.Sachikonye - NGOs and the Problematic Discourse of Participation: Cases from Costa Rica; L.Macdonald - Participation: Local versus Expert Knowledge at the Environmental Public Hearings for a Pulp Mill in Northern Alberta, Canada; M.Gismondi, J.Sherman, M.Richardson