INternational development : IDEAS AND ACTORS

Its 2045. Write a blog about the world you\’re living in, looking back at the last 30 years of international development and the challenges ahead – what you\’ve seen change, what you\’ve done, where you find yourself now…

THIS ASSIGNMENT IS FOR A PORTFOLIO
Key readings for the module

Here\’s a list of readings that will give you a longer-term perspective on development – and which scotch the myth that development began with President Truman\’s post-war speech. Some are old, but no less classic: at the very minimum Hirshmann and Wolf should be read by every development student.

Hirschmann, Albert (1967) Development Projects Observed, Washington: The Brookings Institution. This is a brilliant book with timeless lessons about development. See particularly his discussion of the desire for a myth of progress to believe in as a driving motivational force for those who work in development.

Lange, Matthew (2004) British Colonial Legacies and Political Development, World Development, Vol 32(6): 905-922. This very interesting article explores the impact of British colonialism on development, highlighting a number of significant differences in the type and extent of colonialism and effects that continue to be felt in the countries that were colonised by the British Empire.

Fialho, Djalita (2012) Altruism but not Quite: the genesis of the least developed country (ldc) category, Third World Quarterly, 33:5, 751-768. This article looks at the history of the creation of the label \’least developed country\’ and the politics that surrounds the use of this category.

Fletcher, Robert (2012) \’The Art of Forgetting: imperialist amnesia and public secrecy\’, Third World Quarterly, 33:3,423-439

Moyo, Dambisa (2008), A Brief History of Aid in Dead Aid: Why Aid is Not Working and How there is Another Way for Africa,London: Penguin, pp10-28. Told by a former World Bank economist, this is another narrative on the decades of development assistance, with figures to match.

Rist, G. (2002) The History of Development: FromWestern Origins to Global Faith, London: Zed Books

Robb, C. (2004) Changing power relations in the history of aid, in Inclusive Aid: Changing Power and Relationships in Development,ed. Rachel Hinton and Leslie Groves, London: Earthscan. This is a short and easy to read piece that scans some of the significant landmarks in the history of aid.

Syed, Jawad and Faiza Ali (2011) \’The White Woman\’s Burden: from colonial civilisation to Third World development\’, Third World Quarterly, 32:2, 349-365

Wolf, Eric (1982) Europe and the People Without History, Berkeley: California University Press.

Visual resources:

Take a look at our YouTube channel (www.youtube.com user: sussex0development, password: sussexuni) and dip into the clips there. I\’ve bookmarked clips and films that exemplify the best and the worst in representations of development. Bookmark your favourites and make it a resource for us all.

Check out TED talks such as this one by Andrew Mwenda http://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_mwenda_takes_a_new_look_at_africa.html

YOU CAN ADD SOME OF YOUR OWN SOURCES TOO

THANK YOU