Critical Development Theory: Contributions to a New Paradigm

244 Pages·1999·36.417 MB·English

by  Denis O'Hearn, Ronaldo Munck

Development
THEORY
contribution s ro a new paraaigm
EDITED BY
Ronaldo Munck Denis O'Hearn
e)

/^
About the Editors
DrRonaldo Munck is an Argentinian sociologist, currently reader
in sociology at the University of Liverpool, who has previously
held appointments at the University of Ulster and the University
of Durban-Westville in South Africa. He has written extensively
in the field of political sociology, especially on labour and de-
velopment issues, including ten books, among them Politics and
Dependency in the Third World (Zed Books, 1984) and Marx@2000:
Late Marxist Perspectives (Macmillan, 1999). He has also recently
co-edited major volumes on Labour Worldwide in theEra of Global-
ization:Alternative UnionModels in theNew World Order(Macmillan,
1998) and Postmodern Insurgencies: Political Violence, Identity Forma-
tion and Peace-making in Comparative Perspective (Macmillan, 1998).
At Liverpool he is director of the Rowntree Project researching
social exclusion and empowerment on Merseyside and is co-
ordinator of the inter-university Labour Studies Seminar Series
which is funded by the Economic and Social Science Research
Council. He is currently researching and writing on globalization,
labour flexibility and worker organizations in Latin America.
DrDenis O'Hearn is both an economist and a sociologist. He was
educated at the Universities of New Mexico and Michigan. For
several years he taught at the University of Wisconsin, Madison,
where he was associate professor of sociology. Currently, he is
reader in sociology at Queen's University, Belfast. He is editor of
the Irish Journal of Sociology and chair of the West Belfast
Economic Forum. His recent books include States, Firms and Raw
Materials: A Casefrom the International Aluminium Industry (with
Bradford Barham and Stephen Bunker) (University of Wisconsin
Press, 1995) and Inside the Celtic Tiger: Irish Economic Change and
the Asian Model (Pluto, 1998).
t

Critical Development Theory: Contributions
to a New Paradigm
Edited by
Ronaldo Munck and Denis O'Hearn
(
I
&
Zed Books
LONDON AND NEW YORK
Critical Development Theory: Contributions to a newparadigm
was first published by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street,
London Nl 9JF, UK and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New
York, NY 10010, USA in 1999.
Distributedexclusivelyinthe USA bySt Martin's Press, Inc.,
175 FifthAvenue, NewYork, NY 10010, USA.
Editorial copyright © Ronaldo Munck and Denis O'Hearn, 1999
Copyright © individual contributors, 1999
Cover designed by Andrew Corbett
Set in Monotype Garamond by Ewan Smith
Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Biddies Ltd,
Guildford and King's Lynn
Therightofthe editors andcontributorstobe identifiedasthe
authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN 1 85649 637 6 cased
ISBN 1 85649 638 4 limp
5
Contents
About the Contributors ix
Preface xiii
1 The Myth of Development: A Critique of a Eurocentric
Discourse 1
Vincent Tucker
Imaginingdevelopment /2 Progress and civilization /4
The genealogy of development thinking /6 The invention
of traditional society /8 Modernity andits discontents /9
Modernism and the end ofhistory /10 The limits of
dependency theory /12 Cultures ofresistance /14
Rehabilitatingthe concept ofdevelopment /1
Development as dialogue /17 The indigenous
perspective /19 By way of a startingpoint /21
PART ONE Critical Perspectives 27
2 On Oppositional Postmodernism 29
Boaventura de Sousa Santos
The problem /29 Possible causes /32 Towards a
postmodern critical theory /36 Conclusion /42
3 Development and the Locations of Eurocentrism 44
Ziauddin Sardar
The West /44 Eurocentrism /47 The disciplines /49
Science and technology /53 Non-Western concepts /57
Conclusion /60
4 Critical Hohsm and the Tao of Development 63
Jan NederveenPieterse
Remedying remedies /63 Wholeness, holism /66
Modernity and its contradictions /68 Development and
high modernism /70 Shortcuts and otherremedies /72
Towards the Tao of development /75
PART TWO Political Economy 89
y
Reintegrating Production and Consumption, or Why
Political Economy Still Matters 91
DianePerrons
Subjects andobjects ofsocial scientific inquiry /92 Methods
of analysis: the role oftheory andreal abstractions /94
Contemporary analyses of consumption /98 Integrating
production andconsumption: commodity chains, gender
and class /102 Conclusion /107
Tigers and Transnational Corporations: Pathways from
the Periphery? 113
Denis O'Hearn
From 'developmentproject' to 'globalizationproject' /116
Old tigers /118 New tigers and old tigers: the role of
TNCs /121 Results: sustainability and desirability /126
y
The Place of Development in Theories of Imperialism
and Globalization 135
Boh Sutcliffe
Development: a model andthree critiques /135 Two
waves ofimperialism theory /139 Globalization in
different strengths /145 Development, imperialism and
globalization /150
PART THREE Polemical Perspectives 155
Is it Possible to Build a Sustainable World? 157
Richard Douthwaite
Definingsustainability /157 Problems of 'weak
sustainability' /160 The way ahead /171 Conclusion /176
Cultural Politics and (post) Development Paradigm(s) 178
G.H. Fagan
Theoretical location /178 From cultural analysis to cultural
politics/ 184 Locatingculturalpolitics in postdevelopment
discourse /188
»10
Deconstructing Development Discourses: of Impasses,
> Alternatives and Politics 196
/ RonaldoMunck
Beyond what impasse? /196 Alternatives in/to
development? /200 Bringingpoliticsbackin? /204
m
Index 211
For Vincent Tucker
Cara agus comhchealgaire