IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/prodev/v2y2002i2p93-111.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A survey of the World Development Reports I: discursive strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Emma Mawdsley

    (Department of Geography, University of Durham, UK, e.e.mawdsley@durham.ac.uk)

  • Jonathan Rigg

    (Department of Geography, University of Durham, UK, j.d.rigg@durham.ac.uk)

Abstract

This is the first of two surveys of the World Development Report series. Here we focus on the discursive strategies adopted by the Reports. We begin by setting the Reports within the wider milieu of development theory and practice. Behind the pragmatic, problem-solving image that the Reports aim to promote we identify a narrow and pre-framed position that eschews radical or alternative agendas. The Reports engage in numerous discursive ploys to undermine, ignore or manipulate other positions and establish the Reports (and, by extension, the World Bank) as the repository of development ‘common sense’. While the Reports are impressive synthesizing documents, they have lost their ability to play a truly leading role in thinking about development because of their failure to debate alternative positions or fully acknowledge the mistakes of the past.

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Mawdsley & Jonathan Rigg, 2002. "A survey of the World Development Reports I: discursive strategies," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 2(2), pages 93-111, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:prodev:v:2:y:2002:i:2:p:93-111
    DOI: 10.1191/1464993402ps026ra
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1191/1464993402ps026ra
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1191/1464993402ps026ra?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. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1999. "The World Bank at the Millennium," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(459), pages 577-597, November.
    2. Guy Standing, 2000. "Brave New Words? A Critique of Stiglitz’s World Bank Rethink," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 737-763, September.
    3. Fox, Jonathan A & Brown, L. David, 1998. ""Introduction", in The Struggle for Accountability: The World Bank, NGOs and Grassroots Movements," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt2gn108dn, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    4. Gore, Charles, 2000. "The Rise and Fall of the Washington Consensus as a Paradigm for Developing Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 789-804, May.
    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. van Helden, Jan & Uddin, Shahzad, 2016. "Public sector management accounting in emerging economies: A literature review," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 34-62.

    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. Lisa Jordan & Keith Griffin & Jane D'Arista, 2001. "Democratizing Global Economic Governance: A PERI Symposium," Working Papers wp26, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    2. Eric Berr & François Combarnous & Eric Rougier, 2005. "Too much consensus could be harmful : measuring the degree of implementation of the Washington consensus and its impact on economic growth," Documents de travail 116, Groupe d'Economie du Développement de l'Université Montesquieu Bordeaux IV.
    3. Fox, Jonathan A, 2000. "The World Bank and social capital: Lessons from ten rural development projects in the Philippines and Mexico," Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, Working Paper Series qt1vj8v86j, Center for Global, International and Regional Studies, UC Santa Cruz.
    4. Meagher, Kate, 2015. "Leaving no-one behind? Informal economies, economic inclusion, and Islamic extremism in Nigeria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 62140, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/5a5m6mrpgl8dlbhfjigc98ug8o is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Fine, Ben, 2002. "Economics Imperialism and the New Development Economics as Kuhnian Paradigm Shift?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(12), pages 2057-2070, December.
    7. Sierra, Jazmin & Hochstetler, Kathryn, 2017. "Transnational activist networks and rising powers: transparency and environmental concerns in the Brazilian National Development Bank," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 79089, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Stephen Knack, 2001. "Aid Dependence and the Quality of Governance: Cross‐Country Empirical Tests," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 68(2), pages 310-329, October.
    9. Erlend Krogstad, 2007. "The Post-Washington Consensus: Brand New Agenda or Old Wine in a New Bottle?," Challenge, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(2), pages 67-85.
    10. Christopher Pallas & Johannes Urpelainen, 2012. "NGO monitoring and the legitimacy of international cooperation: A strategic analysis," The Review of International Organizations, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, March.
    11. Mansour Omeira & Simel Esim & Sufyan Alissa, 2008. "Labor Governance and Economic Reform in the Middle East and North Africa: Lessons from Nordic Countries," Working Papers 436, Economic Research Forum, revised 09 Jan 2008.
    12. repec:lib:00johs:v:10:y:2014:i:1:p:46-58 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Stéphane Straub, 2000. "Factores determinantes empíricos de las buenas instituciones: ¿sabemos algo a ciencia cierta?," Research Department Publications 4216, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    14. Julia Cage, 2015. "Measuring Policy Performance: Can We Do Better than the World Bank?," Post-Print hal-03392964, HAL.
    15. Luiza Kostecka-Tomaszewska & Monika Krukowska, 2021. "China's Economic Statecraft: The Role of the Belt and Road Initiative," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 1019-1036.
    16. Michal Lyons & Colman Titus Msoka, 2010. "The World Bank and the Street: (How) Do ‘Doing Business’ Reforms Affect Tanzania’s Micro-traders?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(5), pages 1079-1097, May.
    17. Michael Tribe & Andrew Sumner, 2006. "Development economics at a crossroads? Introduction to a policy arena," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(7), pages 957-966.
    18. Deborah J. Yashar, 2007. "Resistance and Identity Politics in an Age of Globalization," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 610(1), pages 160-181, March.
    19. Jairo Guillermo Isaza Castro & Carlos Arturo Meza Carvajalino, 2004. "La demanda de trabajo:Aspectos teóricos y evidencia empírica para Colombia," Serie de Documentos en Economía y Violencia 2965, Centro de Investigaciones en Violencia, Instituciones y Desarrollo Económico (VIDE).
    20. Dorado, Silvia & Ventresca, Marc J., 2013. "Crescive entrepreneurship in complex social problems: Institutional conditions for entrepreneurial engagement," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 69-82.
    21. R. Jerome Anderson, 2006. "Industrial firm linkages in a post-Soviet urban economy: implications for development policy and programmes," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 6(3), pages 224-241, July.
    22. Ocampo, José Antonio, 2001. "International asymmetries and the design of the International Financial System," Series Históricas 7776, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).

    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:2:y:2002:i:2:p:93-111. 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.