New development alternatives or business as usual with a new face? The transformative potential of new actors and alliances in development

The state, market and civil society constitute the three main institutional domains of the ‘development’ landscape. Perceptions of these three actors have evolved over time alongside conceptualisations of what constitutes and best promotes ‘development’. The array of contributions in this special issue points towards a worrying implication for the transformative potential of development activities and interventions. While the new diversity in actors and alliances brings new opportunities for development, we see the majority placing the responsibility for development in the hands of the state and market. Furthermore, the hollowing out of civil society – apparent from the lack of priority given to it in the Global South and the promotion of development as ‘responsible consumerism’ in the North – represents a missed opportunity for consolidating the progress made in the commitment to poverty reduction since the UN Millennium Declaration. Reaching greater transformative potential would require focusing as much on inclusive social development as on inclusive economic development. Doing so would tackle the big questions of power and inequality that remain among the root causes of poverty today.