Post-Development Theory and the Question of Alternatives: a View From Africa (original) (raw)
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Replacing Development: An African Theoretical Alternative.pdf
In this article, I consider whether there are values intrinsic to development theory and practice that are dubious in light of a characteristically African ethic. In particular, I focus on what a certain philosophical interpretation of the sub-Saharan value of communion entails for appraising development, drawing two major conclusions. One is that a majority of the criticisms that have been made of development by those sympathetic to African values are weak; I argue that, given the value of communion, development should not be rejected because it is essentially, say, overly materialistic and scientistic, or insufficiently spiritual and local. The second conclusion, however, is that three criticisms of development are strong from the perspective of Afro-communalism and are particularly powerful when set in that context. I argue that development theory and practice are characteristically anthropocentric, individualist and technocratic, and that a reading of the sub-Saharan value of communion provides a unitary foundation for rejecting these features and for grounding an alternative, more relational approach to social progress and to what justice demands from the West in relation to Africa.
Thinking Beyond Development: The Future of Post-Development Theory in Southern Africa
This paper examines how post-development theory can inform current debates on development and the search for alternatives to the post-WWII development paradigm. With few exceptions, global economic growth and increasing exploitation of human and natural environments for profit has not produced broad-based socioeconomic development in post-colonial societies that is any way sustainable. The paper begins by outlining central tenets of post-development theory, how they have been rejected and marginalized by critics in the development community, and the difficulty of translating the post-development idea of moving away from development based on ever-increasing growth, accumulation and consumption into actual politics and policy. This is however an urgent task: what is perceived as the great failure of Africa to live up to its post-independence challenge in terms of development and emancipation has resulted in a debilitating 'Afro-pessimism' in both scholarly and popular commenta...
The persistence of development and the legacy of post-development theory in 21 st Century Africa
This article examines the legacy of post-development theory, in particular its relevance and applicability to debates about Africa's future. It scrutinises post-development theory, and its claims about the end of development, through the prisms of Africa's continued pursuit of development and its political economy of energy. It considers the impact of these aspects of Africa's developmental efforts on the ability of post-development theory to remain relevant in light of recent developments. Revisiting basic claims of post-development theory provides insights into the enduring disconnect and incommensurability between Africa's twenty-first century socioeconomic trajectories and the core assumptions of post-development theory.
2012
This special issue attempts to further a line of critical inquiry in African politics, administration and development discourse, which we refer to here as the 'posts'. In our terminology, the 'posts' constitute a body of narratives, which critique the heterogeneous assortment of orthodoxies in the mainstream African development discourse. The 'posts' , although part of the mainstream thinking, interrogate themes within that discourse for their disingenuous intellectual and policy approaches to African problems (see Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1999 for a general discussion of the subject). The 'posts' charge that mainstream discourses, far from being beacons of enlightenment about Africa, often reflect a broad intellectual inertia, manifested in failed policies to address poverty-alleviation, the region's main development challenge.
Colonised minds? Post-development theory and the desirability of development in Africa
While post-development theory is very concerned with the ways in which development has impacted upon the countries of the Global South, there has been relatively little written on post-development theory from an African perspective. This paper identifies some of the ways in which post-development theory fails to adequately understand the African experience of development. In particular, I explore the difficulty that post-development theory confronts when faced with the continued desire on the part of many people in Africa for development. In his introduction to the new edition of The Development Dictionary, Wolfgang Sachs discusses this desire, noting that despite development’s many failures, many still associate the concept with self-affirmation and redress. He explains this continued desire for development as being indicative of the need for the decolonisation of the imagination. In this paper, I show some of the problems with this explanation and present alternative ways of understanding the persistence of the desire for development in Africa.
Rethinking and Unthinking Development in Africa
2019
T intellectual and academic task of rethinking and unthinking development in Africa arises from the reality of how development has continued to be elusive in Africa. The development imperative has remained caught up in ten discernible paradoxes and contradictions that were recently delineated by Odomaro Mubangizi (2018: 1): (1) rich and complex cultural diversity; (2) ever-simmering ethno politics that underlie contemporary conflicts; (3) underdevelopment amidst enormous resources; (4) a brain drain amidst limited capacity and financial illicit flows; (5) nascent democratic and governance institutions to anchor sustainable development; (6) longstanding tensions between tradition and modernity; (7) centrifugal and centripetal political and economic forces; (8) longstanding contradictions between the sacred and the secular; (9) an ever-widening gap between rich and poor people; and (10) the quest for homegrown solutions to African problems while relying heavily on foreign aid, foreign...
Africa and development from discourse to reality
From the years of independences to the present era, many debates took place about Africa and its capacities for change, progress and development. This is evidenced through the implications of the United Nations and its specialised institutions, National programs like USAID, Regional organisations as OECD, and private institutes as McKinsey Global Institute, universities and research programs, International banks and so on, to help Africa in making possible the so desired development. It seems that the entire world systems are working to help Africa to achieve the aforementioned goals. Throughout the history of this continent researchers have discovered, as in other continents, different dynamics for change, progress and well-being which characterise all humans around the planet. Imperialism and colonialism have slowed down these movements initiated by Africa but have not stopped them (movements). Since the Conference of Berlin to nowadays, the problematic of development in Africa is one of the main debates in the scientific literature of development studies. In this essay, we want to try to understand some aspects of that problematic by analysing a critical article of one of the most radical theories of the development, namely the post-development theory.We want to explore issues that this theory put on debate on the basis of the critical article of Jan NederveenPieterse “After post-development”. The first part of this essay will help us to understand and discuss the development theory and its critics as well as negations put forth by some radicals as the post-development theory. In the second part of this essay, the contemporaneous debates about African development and its (new) mechanisms will be explored by regarding another article entitled “The ‘New Scramble’ and Labour in Africa”by Roger Southall. In this way, we want to understand the recent debates about Africa and the possibilities of its “development”.
TRANSCENDING THE IMPASSE: RETHINKING THE 'STATE' AND 'DEVELOPMENT' IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
This paper contributes to the ongoing debate on alternative development strategies in Africa by considering some of the alternative theories of 'development' that have been advanced in response to the developmental impasse faced by African states. It argues that a serious re-evaluation of what 'development' entails is now required that should involve a clear theoretical break with mainstream development theory. After a brief overview of the main alternative theories of development that have been proposed, the paper argues that the way to transcend the development impasse in Africa is through the concept of the 'developmental state'. It then discusses the major concepts of the developmental state before considering the feasibility of the developmental state in Africa and the key issues of state strength, state autonomy, authoritarianism and the role of the bourgeoisie. The paper argues for the centrality of democratic rural development for the feasibility of developmental states in Africa and concludes with a call to rethink the concept of development and the developmental state from the point of view of democracy and the collective.
Rethinking African development: Beyond impasse, towards alternatives
African Affairs, 2005
is the pioneer and premier African social science research organization. Its founders envisaged it as a force to transcend the dispersal and fragmentation of knowledge production on the African continent, to foster a Pan-African community of scholars, to provide an autonomous space insulated from donor and other pressures, to break down gender and generational boundaries in the academy, and generally to strengthen African higher education and develop the skills and capacities to further the cohesion, well-being, and development of African societies. Among its many achievements the Council has, since its genesis, produced pamphlets and working papers, six academic periodicals, and more than 250 books. It awards grants for PhD research and supports a variety of national, regional, and transnational research programmes and projects. Its research agenda is shaped by its membership, delegates from which meet triennially at the General Assembly, the biggest gathering of its kind in Africa, to present papers, elect an executive, and discuss the future direction of its research activities. The ultimate aim is to create a research agenda that produces theoretical and empirical knowledge dealing with and accounting for African realities, grounded in a commitment to Pan-Africanism and democracy. The 10th General Assembly was held in Kampala, and the 11th, reflecting a deliberate policy of rotating through Africa's regions, in Maputo. The scientific sessions of the 11th Assembly, entitled 'Rethinking African Development: Beyond impasse, towards alternatives', comprised six plenary sessions, 24 parallel panel sessions, and two special lectures, with around 150 papers being presented in all. The tone for the sessions was set in the opening plenary by CODESRIA's executive secretary, Adebayo Olukoshi, who, in a paper titled 'Africa in search of development: what went wrong?', gave a qualified defence of the African post-colonial state and urged that development be rethought through a notion of 'citizenship'. Carlos Cardoso