IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v23y2023i3p344-353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Purposive Action Under Conditions of Unpredictability: Lessons from Development Practice and Some Suggestions

Author

Listed:
  • Adam Fforde

Abstract

The commentary addresses, with constructive suggestions, the tension between common beliefs that development knowledge is not predictive and the general requirement that it be used to support instrumental action (using devices such as the log frame or theories of change that embody ideas that X will lead to Y). I suggest that this tension is best resolved differently from much current practice, which tends to fudge the issue. I draw two central implications: first, that stakeholders to a possible development intervention decide formally, before proceeding, whether the context and knowledge of it suggest that it is wise to proceed instrumentally or not; second, that a positive aspect of the ‘fudge’ is that a significant share of development interventions, whilst organized according to instrumental principles (such as the log frame or theories of change), in fact lack suitable knowledge and so are, in reality, non-instrumental. In such contexts, development professionals, in fact, have well-developed but informal methods for acting ‘non-instrumentally’.

Suggested Citation

  • Adam Fforde, 2023. "Purposive Action Under Conditions of Unpredictability: Lessons from Development Practice and Some Suggestions," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 23(3), pages 344-353, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:23:y:2023:i:3:p:344-353
    DOI: 10.1177/14649934231171985
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14649934231171985
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/14649934231171985?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. Adam Fforde, 2005. "Persuasion: Reflections on economics, data, and the 'homogeneity assumption'," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 63-91.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Adam Fforde, 2019. "Yes, but what about the authority of policy analysts? A commentary and discussion of Perl et al., ‘Policy-making and truthiness: Can existing models cope with politicized evidence and willful ignoranc," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 52(1), pages 153-169, March.
    2. Michael Waibel, 2011. "Review: Adam Fforde: Coping with Facts: A Skeptic’s Guide to the Problem of Development," Journal of Current Southeast Asian Affairs, Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, Hamburg, vol. 30(1), pages 125-128.
    3. Katsushi Imai & Raghav Gaiha & Woojin Kang, 2011. "Poverty, inequality and ethnic minorities in Vietnam," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(3), pages 249-282.
    4. Adam FFORDE, 2020. "Towards a theory of ignorance," The Journal of Philosophical Economics, Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, The Journal of Philosophical Economics, vol. 13(2), pages 137-161, November.
    5. Adam Fforde, 2017. "Confirmation bias: methodological causes and a palliative response," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(5), pages 2319-2335, September.
    6. Adam Fforde, 2021. "Engineering, economics, Heidegger … and Mariotti: a note," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 48(4), pages 589-600, December.

    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:sae:prodev:v:23:y:2023:i:3:p:344-353. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.