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Sustainable Development and the Making and Unmaking of a Developing World

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  • Richard Perkins

    (Department of Geography and Environment and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, England)

Abstract

The idea of a group of developing countries with shared characteristics, challenges, and needs, distinct from those of developed countries, has been central to sustainable development discourse and policy for decades. However, in the years since the original Rio conference it has become increasingly apparent that it is difficult to sustain this notion of a single developing world. Within the context of unfolding diversity, a central claim of the present paper is that lumping all countries together under the expansive category of ‘developing’ risks obfuscating the complex challenges, solutions, and fragmented geopolitics of sustainable development. Instead, it is necessary to use the terms developing country, countries, or world far more selectively, mindful that they may conceal just about as much as they reveal. In the paper I proceed to consider a number of alternative national, subnational, and transnational spatial categorisations which might be deployed to better describe and/or analyse the evolving nature, effective governance, and politics of sustainable development challenges across space.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Perkins, 2013. "Sustainable Development and the Making and Unmaking of a Developing World," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 31(6), pages 1003-1022, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envirc:v:31:y:2013:i:6:p:1003-1022
    DOI: 10.1068/c12286
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Rory Horner & David Hulme, 2019. "From International to Global Development: New Geographies of 21st Century Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 50(2), pages 347-378, March.

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