The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith

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Zed Books Ltd., Apr 10, 2014 - Business & Economics - 320 pages
In this classic text, now in its fourth edition, Gilbert Rist provides a complete and powerful overview of what the idea of development has meant throughout history. He traces it from its origins in the Western view of history, through the early stages of the world system, the rise of US hegemony, and the supposed triumph of third-worldism, through to new concerns about the environment and globalization. In a new chapter on post-development models and ecological dimensions, written against a background of world crisis and ideological disarray, Rist considers possible ways forward and brings the book completely up to date. Throughout, he argues persuasively that development has been no more than a collective delusion, which in reality has resulted only in widening market relations, whatever the intentions of its advocates.

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Contents

Preface to the Fourth Edition
Introduction
Metamorphoses of a Western Myth
The Making of a World System
The Invention of Development
The International Doctrine and Institutions Take Root
Modernization Poised between History and Prophecy
The Periphery and the Understanding of History
The Environment or the New Nature of Development
A Mixture of Realism and Fine Sentiments
Globalization as Simulacrum of Development
From the Struggle against Poverty to the Millennium Development Goals
The Great Turnaround?
From Downscaling to a Change in the Economic
Conclusion
Bibliography

The Communal Past as a Model for the Future
The Triumph of ThirdWorldism

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About the author (2014)

Gilbert Rist is professor emeritus at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. He previously taught in Tunisia, and spent several years as director of the Centre Europe-Tiers Monde. His other publications include The Delusions of Economics (Zed 2011). The History of Development was his first book to be translated into English, and has also been published in Spanish and Italian.

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