"...[D]evelopment has brought disenchantement to many parts of the world...Any development studies worth its salt should reflect on alternative accounts of the good life, and should not dismiss out of hand the claim that a good life is lived locally, in contact with the soil, and in accord with Gandhian notions of beauty, frugality and simplicity.
But these nods to power and truth should not be made uncritically. Proponents of post-development [my note: another word for alternative development, or de-growth] too often trade in non-sequiturs (the failure of development project A, B or C condemns development in all its manifestations), in unhelpful binaries (Modernity is bad, anti-modernity is good), in false deductions (the problems of poor countries are always and everywhere the result of a surfeit of capitalism or development and not their relative absence), in wobbly romanticism (only the rich get lonely, only the poor live hospitably and harmoniously), in self-righteousness (only the simple life is a good life), or in implausible politics (we can all live like the Mahatma, or would want to)."
Quote reference:
Corbridge, S (1998). "Beneath the pavement only soil": the poverty of post-developement, Journal of Development Studies, 34 (6): 138-149
I really enjoy this kind of discussion...I am considering starting another blog to focus specifically on "Development and its Discontents" (I forget who I'm quoting here). Something like the AidWatch blog....only Canadian ;) This blog could have tags...I could find examples of each critique (they apply to both common development and post-development misconceptions). e.g.
- Non-sequiturs (Dambisa Moyo's claim that all foreign aid is bad comes to mind)
- Unhelpful binaries (All capitalists are bad...all activists are good. Or vice-versa.)
- False deductions (All I see on TV is war and poverty and kids with extended bellies in Africa...therefore all of Africa must be in war and poverty and all kids must have extended bellies.)
- Wobbly romanticism (Jeffrey Sachs' claim that we can `fix` what `ails` developing countries...basically by treating them like a disease to be "cured".*Um, hello,...notice how we love technical solutions to everything*)
- Self-righteousness (Countless examples...also known as the White Man's Burden (re Bill Easterly), or "Whites in Shining Armour")
- Implausible politics (I could be a pessimist and say that Ché's famous "Soyons réalistes. Exigeons l'impossible." is an example of implausible politics. But I really like that quote, so let's go instead with Lennon's Nutopia project. Sorry Lennon, I like you too, but do you really think this is good foreign policy? Just sayin').
