IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v22y1991i1p5-29.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dilemmas of Development Discourse: The Crisis of Developmentalism and the Comparative Method

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Nederveen Pieterse

Abstract

ABSTRACT Developmentalism, or the theory of linear progress, has taken several forms — evolutionism, modernization theory, development thinking — which correlate with different epochs of western hegemony. The comparative method serves as its underpinnings in theoretically incorporating non‐western societies into the developmental paradigm. Developmentalism is universalist and ahistorical, teleological and ethnocentric. A discourse of power, it is presented and taken as a recipe for social change. The present crisis of developmentalism is both a crisis of development in the south and a crisis of modernism in the west. In the west, developmentalism is being challenged by new social movements and, in theoretical terms, by postmodernism; in the south, alternative development strategies test the limits of the developmental paradigm. Non‐western concepts of modernization have also been developed. This discussion concludes with two queries, one concerning the passage from the bi‐polar world of the Cold War to polycentrism, and one with respect to the deconstruction of the west as a prerequisite to the deconstruction of development. If ‘development’ itself has become a problem, and has sowed the seeds of discontent and ethnic conflict, a corrective to development can only come from other worldviews, other visions.

Suggested Citation

  • Jan Nederveen Pieterse, 1991. "Dilemmas of Development Discourse: The Crisis of Developmentalism and the Comparative Method," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 5-29, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:22:y:1991:i:1:p:5-29
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.1991.tb00401.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1991.tb00401.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1991.tb00401.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Rostow,W. W., 1971. "Politics and the Stages of Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521096539.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Simon, 2003. "Dilemmas of development and the environment in a globalizing world: theory, policy and praxis," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 3(1), pages 5-41, January.
    2. Rosario Espinal, 1992. "Development, Neoliberalism and Electoral Politics in Latin America," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 23(4), pages 27-48, October.
    3. Cheryl McEwan, 2001. "Postcolonialism, feminism and development: intersections and dilemmas," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 1(2), pages 93-111, April.
    4. Dixon, Keith & Gaffikin, Michael, 2014. "Accounting practices as social technologies of colonialistic outreach from London, Washington, et Cetera," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 25(8), pages 683-708.
    5. Van Alstine, James & Barkemeyer, Ralf, 2014. "Business and development: Changing discourses in the extractive industries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 4-16.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Margarita I. Zabelina & Valeriy V. Nikishkin & Nina T. Arefyeva & Svetlana V. Mudrova & Larisa G. Cherednichenko, 2017. "Theoretical Approaches towards Global Social Development," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2A), pages 338-345.
    2. Lechman, Ewa, 2014. "The ‘technological take-off’ and the 'critical mass'. A trial conceptualization," MPRA Paper 59506, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Komarov, Vladimir (Комаров, Владимир) & Kotsyubinskiy, Vladimir (Коцюбинский, Владимир), 2016. "The Implementation of the Concept of Sustainable Development in Russia [Реализация Концепции Устойчивого Развития В России]," Working Papers 1034, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration.
    4. Chien-Min Kang & Ming-Chieh Wang & Lin Lin, 2022. "The Dynamic Typology in the Development Process of Credit Union Movements," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21, April.
    5. Shawn Xiaoguang Chen & Yudan Cheng & Liutang Gong & Wenjia Tian, 2023. "A Big Push of Panda from the Ground: Land Subsidy and Structural Transformation in China," Economics Discussion / Working Papers 23-09, The University of Western Australia, Department of Economics.
    6. Harvey, Michael & Reiche, B. Sebastian & Moeller, Miriam, 2011. "Developing effective global relationships through staffing with inpatriate managers: The role of interpersonal trust," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 150-161, June.
    7. repec:gdk:wpaper:26 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Giorgio Brosio & Carla Marchese, 1988. "The Growth of Government under Different Redistributive Rules: A Long Term Study of the Italian Case," Public Finance Review, , vol. 16(4), pages 439-463, October.
    9. Magazzino, Cosimo, 2011. "The nexus between public expenditure and inflation in the Mediterranean countries," MPRA Paper 28493, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Hartmann, Dominik & Zagato, Ligia & Gala, Paulo & Pinheiro, Flavio L., 2021. "Why did some countries catch-up, while others got stuck in the middle? Stages of productive sophistication and smart industrial policies," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 1-13.
    11. Fogel, Kathy & Morck, Randall & Yeung, Bernard, 2008. "Big business stability and economic growth: Is what's good for General Motors good for America?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 83-108, July.
    12. Liliana Sabina Alecu, 2020. "Book review Taylor, S.: The psychology of pandemics: preparing for the next global outbreak of infectious disease, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019, p. 158," Journal of Community Positive Practices, Catalactica NGO, issue 1, pages 97-101.
    13. Rachel M. Gisselquist & Miguel Niño-Zarazúa & Melissa Samarin, 2021. "Does aid support democracy?: A systematic review of the literature," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2021-14, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    14. M.M. Ihnatenko & L.O. Marmul & D.S. Ushakov & S.P. Kuchyn, 2019. "Transformation of Approaches to Determine Influence Factors in the Economic Development Models," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(2), pages 290-301.
    15. Harney, Stefano & Hanlon, Gerard & Mandarini, Matteo, 2021. "Periphery and centre in comparative perspective: Opportunities for accounting praxis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    16. Magazzino, Cosimo, 2009. "Wagner's law in Italy: empirical evidence from 1960 to 2008," MPRA Paper 25526, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Magazzino, Cosimo, 2010. "Wagner's law and Italian disaggregated public spending: some empirical evidences," MPRA Paper 26662, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Feldmann, Horst, 1992. "Zur theoretischen Fundierung einer vorausschauend lenkenden Strukturpolitik," Tübinger Diskussionsbeiträge 22, University of Tübingen, School of Business and Economics.
    19. Zhu, Jinsheng (Jason) & Airey, David & Siriphon, Aranya, 2021. "Chinese outbound tourism: An alternative modernity perspective," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Keqiang Wang & Jianglin Lu & Hongmei Liu & Xin Fan & Lina Zhang & Silu Zhang, 2023. "A Study on Accounting for Suburban Agricultural Land Rent in a Chinese Context Based on Agricultural Ecological Value and Landscape Value," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-22, December.
    21. Mohamed K Haq, 2021. "Historical Evolution of Sustainable Community Economic Development in Business and Economics," GATR Journals jber210, Global Academy of Training and Research (GATR) Enterprise.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:22:y:1991:i:1:p:5-29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.