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1/20
Development Reconsidered; New Directions in Development Thinking
Author(s): David SimonSource: Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 79, No. 4, CurrentDevelopment Thinking (1997), pp. 183-201Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and GeographyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/490357 .
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
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DEVELOPMENT
RECONSIDERED;
NEW
DIRECTIONS
IN
DEVELOPMENT
THINKING1
by
David Simon
Simon,
D.,
1997:
Development
reconsidered;
new directions
in
development
thinking.
Geogr.
Ann.,
79
B
(4):
183-201.
ABSTRACT. This
paper
offers broad and critical
perspectives
on
current
development
thinking.
A
brief
summary
of
different
meanings
of
development
and
a
thumbnail sketch of broad trends
over the
past twenty
to
thirty years
in
relation to
major develop-
ment indicators is
followed
by
a
discussion
of
reasons
for
the
emergence
of fundamental
critiques
of conventional
develop-
ment and developmentalism from perspectives known variously
as
post-structuralist, post-development
and
anti-development.
Connections are made
between
these and the
literatures
on
post-
modernism,
postcolonialism
and
post-traditionalism. Finally,
the
implications
of
these
rapid paradigm
shifts and
changing
realities
for future
research,
teaching
and action
across
the
South/North
di-
vide are considered.
Key
Words:
development
theory,
development
studies,
post-de-
velopmentalism,
postmodernism,
development
in
practice
Introduction
The
purpose
of this
paper
s
to
survey
currentde-
batesand rendsndevelopmenthinkingand obe
provocative
of
debate.
It
offers
my
own
insights
into some
of the
dramatic
paradigm
hifts of the
last two
decades,
andreflects n
partmy
recent
re-
thinking
of
the
potential
elevance o the
South
or
Third
World
of
concepts
of
postmodernism
nd
postcolonialism
see
Simon,
1997a).
In
one
sense,
at
least,
we
currently
ive
andwork
in an
age
where
anythinggoes:
the certainties
nd
universalizingmodernizing
thoswhichhave
char-
acterized mainstream
development
thought
and
policy,
and
which
persisted hroughout
he
Cold
War,havegivenwaytoaflowering f diverse,even
contradictory
heories
and modes
of
analysis.
While
by
no means
equal
or
perceived
as
of
equiv-
alent
theoretical
and
practical
value,
virtually
all
are
at
least tolerated
n that
hey
have been
able to
find
a
particular
iche.
This
apparently ostmodern
era s
commonly
characterized
s
transcending
he
so-called
'impasse'
n
development heory
which
was
identified
y
DavidBooth
(1985)
andothers n
the mid-1980s.
The
impasse
s
said to have arisen
as
a
resultof
widespread
isillusionmentwithcon-
ventional
development
and
development
ailure;
the
crisis
andeventual
clipse
of
the
various
trands
of
socialism
as
alternative
aths;
he
growing
eco-
nomic
diversity
of countries within the Third
World;
ncreasing
oncern
with the need
for
envi-
ronmental
ustainability;
he
increasing
assertive-
ness of voices
'from
below';
and
the
rise of the
postmodern
challenge
to
universalizing
heories
andconventional racticesof developmentSchu-
urman,
1993b).
Hopefully,
his
special
issue will
offer
insights
not
only
into
recent
theoretical
developments
nd
reconceptualizations
f
development
nd
he envi-
ronment
but,
equally
importantly,
rovide
an
op-
portunity
to
examine their
implications
for the
practice
of
development
n
different
ontexts.
The
importance
f this
is
twofold.
First,
here
undoubt-
edly
remains
significant
scope
for
improving
he
nature of
interventionsmade
by
Northernand
Southern
development
workersand
agencies,
both
official
and
non-governmental.This means en-
hancing
the
effectiveness-in terms of
specific
goals
and
objectives
as well as the
implementation
and
monitoring---of
oth direct nterventions nd
indirect
assistance
hrough
he
provision
of
funds,
for
example.
t
also means
challenging
he conven-
tional
practices
and
beliefs
which
serve to
perpet-
uate
inequality
and
the lack of effective
(em)pow-
er(ment)
n the name
of humanitarian ssistance
and
political feel-good
factors.
In
this
respect,
I
stress
the
scope
for
improvement
mong
Southern
as well as
Northern
nstitutions
and
workers,
be-
cause there s
a
widespread
nd
franklyunhelpful
implication
n the
literature
hat
most if not all
of
the
problems
can
be
blamed
on
misguided
North-
ern
theoriesand
policies.
While
the
simplistic
and
deterministic
onstructions
f
the
dependencistas
have
ong
been
discredited,
his intellectual
egacy
remains
quite angible
n
post-
or
anti-development
and
even some strands
f
postmodern
nd
postco-
lonial
writings.
It
has,
of
course,
also
been
rein-
forced
by
the
stronglynegative
social
impact
of
structural
djustment
nd
economic
recoverypro-
grammes
and the associated
aid conditionalities
Geografiska
Annaler
-
79
B
(1997)
-
4
183
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DAVID
SIMON
(e.g.
Cornia
et
al.,
1992; Woodward,
1992;
Simon
et
al.,
1995).
The
second
important
reason for
rethinking
de-
velopment
(in)
practice
is that
important
strands of
mainstream
post-structuralist,
postmodern
and
postcolonial
work would have us
disengage
from
practising
development
at
all.
Not
only
is 'the de-
velopment project'
deemed to have
failed but the
thrust of
'anti-development'
writings
asserts that
it
has undermined local
vitality
and social cohesion.
On the other
hand,
if
the
implication
of
the
more
extreme
postmodern
challenge
to
the
very
basis
of
collective
rationality
and identifiable social interest
is
accepted,
then even the
possibility
of state or
NGO interventions
in
pursuit
of
'development'
must be
illusory
and
reactionary.
The
emphasis
of
much
postmodern
literature
on
playful,
leisured,
heterodoxical
self-indulgence
also has little to of-
fer
those
who can still
only aspire
to
safe
drinking-
water,
a
roof
which
does
not leak and the
like.
How
convenient,
then,
to abandon
concern,
resource
al-
location
and
action
in
the
name of
fraternal
ethical
concerns
If
this
would
actually help
the
approxi-
mately
1.2
billion
people
living
in
absolute
poverty
to
improve
their
position,
this
might
be
defensible,
but
I
know of no evidence to
support
such an as-
sertion.
This
brand of
postmodernism
certainly
would
place
no more faith
in
trade
than in aid
as a
vehicle for
poverty
alleviation.2
So,
unless
we are
to leave these
people
and societies to their own de-
vices,
to
abrogate any responsibility
for both dis-
tant and often not-so-distant
others,
we need
to
re-
main
concerned
with
development
in
practice
as
much as with
development
in
theory.
Meanings
of
Development
It is
not
my
intention here to address
or
even com-
pare
the numerous and
very
different definitions or
conceptions
of
'development'
in the manner of
a
textbook.
These are
too
well known. For
present
purposes,
it is sufficient to remind ourselves that-
at least
for
even
vaguely
reflective and reflexive
theoreticians
and
practitioners-definitions
are
contextual
and
contingent upon
the
ideological,
epistemological
or
methodological
orientation of
their
purveyors. Many
of
these
are
evident
from
the
labels associated with the
multiplicity
of
approach-
es
to
development
proffered
over
the
last
fifty-odd
years by
those
concerned,
for
example,
with
're-
construction
and
development',
'economic devel-
opment',
'modemrnization',
'redistribution with
growth',
'dependent development', 'interdepend-
ent
development', 'meeting
basic
needs',
'top-
down
development', 'bottom-up
development',
'Another
Development',
'autochtonous
develop-
ment',
'autarchic
development', 'agropolitan
de-
velopment',
'empowerment',
and,
most
recently,
'post-development', 'anti-development'
and even
'post-modern
development'.
It is
therefore evident
that,
notwithstanding
what
some
postmodern
critics
and advocates of main-
stream
development
alike would
have us believe
(albeit
for
contrasting
reasons),
there has never
been
consensus
or
unanimity
about
the
meaning
or
content
of
'development'.
On the
contrary,
debate,
dissension,
contestation
and
negotiation
have been
ever-present,
both on the
ground
in
particular
lo-
calities and
among
the
numerous official
and unof-
ficial
agencies engaged
in
development
work.
In an
interesting
if inaccessible
archaeology
of
'develop-
ment',
Cowen and Shenton
(1996)
trace the
lineage
back
to
Malthus, Comte,
ecclesiastical
writings by
J.H. Newman
and
others
in the
early
decades of the
nineteenth
century,
when it
was
imbued with
spir-
itual
meanings
and interwoven with
ideas
of
'progress',
intent to
develop
and
stewardship.
However,
their frustration
at
what
they
see as the
incorrect
contemporary
usages
reflects
an unwill-
ingness
or
inability
to
accept
that
meanings
and us-
ages change
and/or
are
reconstituted over
time and
in
different contexts.
By
contrast,
for
example,
Leys
(1996)
is
quite explicit
about the differences
in
meanings adopted
since the Second World
War,
while
Escobar
(1995)
elaborates
the use and abuse
of
development
as
a
vehicle for
postwar
Western
economic
and
geopolitical
imperialism
(see
also
Watts
1995).
Of
course,
none of the
foregoing
gainsays
the
fact
that
one
paradigm,
that of
modernization
and
its
contemporary
incarnation
as
neoliberalism,
has
enjoyed long-standing
dominance on account of
the
power
of its institutional advocates and the
dis-
crediting
of interventionist
strategies
during
the
late 1960s and 1970s. If modernization/neoliberal-
ism
has been and remains the
orthodox,
there has
certainly
not
been
a
shortage
of heterodoxes.
We
have not had to wait for
the
postmodern
and
post-
colonial
challenges
for
this. After
all,
an
apprecia-
tion
of,
and
challenge
to,
existing
institutional
structures,
power
relations and
legitimizing prop-
aganda
(or
discourses,
as these are now
generally
described
post-Foucault)
have
long
been central
concerns
of the
approaches generally
known col-
lectively
as
political
economy.
Lehmann
(1997)
echoes this
point
with reference
particularly
to de-
184
Geografiska
Annaler
?
79
B
(1997)
?
4
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DEVELOPMENT
RECONSIDERED;
NEW
DIRECTIONS IN
DEVELOPMENT THINKING
pendency
theory'.
To
a
significant
xtent,
anti-de-
velopment,
postmodern
and
some
postcolonial
writers
have-to
modify
the
parabledeployed
by
Terry
McGee
(1997)
in
a recent ectureon
a similar
theme-set
up
a
straw
elephant
n
seeking
to
por-
tray
the
postwar
engagements
with
poverty
n the
Southas a
single
or
singular development
roject'
in order
o
be able
to
knock t down
more
easily
What hese
recent
heoretical
turns',
particular-
ly
with their
emphasis
on
deconstruction,
have
helpfully
highlighted
and remindedus
of is the
need
for
greater
elf-consciousness,
eflexivity
and
encouragement
of difference
and
heterogeneity
(Slater,
1997).
The
inherent
and
applied
value
of
indigenous
traditions,
histories
and
'knowledg-
es'-especially
those lost or
marginalized uring
the colonial
and
modern(ist)developmentaliste-riods
(the
latteroften
chronologicallypostcoloni-
al)-have
been
brought
entre
stage
as
a
counter-
point
to the often
arrogant
Westernization
which
deprecated
r
ignored
hem
as
ignorant,
primitive
or
simply
rrelevant.
Nevertheless,
t is also
impor-
tant
o
point
out
that,
especially
n
those
social sci-
ences with
strong
raditions f
fieldwork,
ncluding
social
anthropology
nd
geography,
here
have al-
ways
been sensitive
researchers
articulating
he
view
from
below,
with
the loss of
indigenous
ife-
styles
and
cultural
diversity.
Admittedly,
his was
sometimes
sentimental,
sometimes
Eurocentric
andoften
preservationist
n the senseof
seeking
o
create
iving
museums
as if
behind
glass.3
However,
t canbe no
accident hat t is
precisely
within hese
very
academic
disciplines
hat he rise
of
postmodernism
as
been most
hotly
debated nd
its
relevance
o
the
three-quarters
f the world's
population iving
in absoluteand relative
poverty
in
countries
of the
South most
frequently
esisted
and denied.
Most
postmodernists
nd
postcoloni-
alists have
great
difficulty
n
embracing
he con-
crete
development spirations
f the
poor
in
prac-
tice,
despite
heir
heoretical
ophistication.
artof
thistrend s a
growing
retreato the
cosy
Northern
pavement
caf6-a
favouredhaunt
of
those with
panoptic
vision(s) -from
the
rigours
and
chal-
lenges
of field research
n the
South,
by hiding
be-
hind the
conveniently
hyped
'crisis of
representa-
tion'
of who
has a/the
right
o
speak
or writeon
be-
half of ThirdWorld others'.This issue will
be
re-
turned
o
below
and is
also addressed n
a
slightly
different
way by
Mike
Parnwell
1997).
All that wish
to
addhere s
that,
or
me,
human
development
s the
process
of
enhancing
ndividual
and collective
quality
of
life in a manner hat sat-
isfies
basic needs
(as
a
minimum),
s
environmen-
tally,
socially
and
economically
ustainable
nd s
empowering
nthe sense
that he
people
concerned
have
a substantial
egree
of
control
because
otal
control
may
be
unrealistic)
over
the
process
through
ccessto the means
of
accumulating
ocial
power.
Given ts
important
ualitative
nd
subjec-
tive
content,
his
broad
definition
naturally
defies
easy
quantification
r cardinal
measurement.
t
also
drawson
major
contributions
o the field
over
the ast
wenty-five ears
or so
by
authors s
diverse
as
Dudley
Seers,
Paul
Streeten,
Muhbub
ul
Haq,
John Friedmann
and Michael
Redclift,
perhaps
slightly
ingedby
Wolfgang
Sachsand
GustavoEs-
teva.
Trends in basic needs and qualityof life
In
assessing
he
shortcomings
r failures
of devel-
opment
nitiatives,
postmodernists
nd some
post-
colonialcritics
downplay
or
ignore
he
compelling
evidence rom
around he
globe
that he
dominant
aspirations
f
poor people
and their
governments
remain
concerned
albeit
for
structurally
ifferent
reasons)
with
meeting
basic
needs,
enhancing
heir
living
standards nd
emulating
dvanced
ndustrial
countries
n
some variant f classic
modernization
strategies.
Similarly,
the
very tangible
achievementsof
many 'development'
programmes-albeit
to dif-
fering
extentsandat
different ates n
rural
and
ur-
ban
areasand n almostall
countries f
the
South-
in terms
of wider access
to
potable
water and in-
creasing literacy
rates,
average
nutritional evels
and life
expectancy,
or
example,
are
often over-
looked or
ignored.
A
glance
at
any
recent ssue of
the
Human
Development
Report
(UNDP,
annual)
or even the
World
Development Report
(World
Bank,
annual),
onfirms he
general
rend
over
the
last
twenty
to
thirtyyears
in
states
of
virtually
all
ideological
orientations.The
principal xceptionsare those
countries-many
of them
previously
seeking
o
implement
ome
form
of radical
ocial-
ist
programme-where widespread
or
long
civil
warshave
destroyed
hysical
andsocial
nfrastruc-
ture
and
disrupted
ocial
programmes.
hese
con-
flictswereoften
spawned
or
fanned
by
superpower
rivalry
during
he Cold
War;
xamples
ncludeAn-
gola,
Mozambique
nd
Sudan,
El
Salvador,
Grena-
da and
Nicaragua,
nd
Afghanistan
nd
Cambodia.
A morerecentand
worrying
rend
owards
alling
school enrolments
especially
at
secondary
evel),
literacy
evels and access
to
health care facilities
Geografiska
Annaler
?
79 B
(1997)
-
4
185
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
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DAVID SIMON
has
emerged
since the
early
1980s
in
countries
where
previously high
proportions
of state
expend-
iture on
education,
health and other
social services
have
been
severely
cut and
user
charges
introduced
in terms
of structural
adjustment
and
economic
re-
covery
programmes.
Two of the most clear-cut ex-
amples
are
Tanzania
and
Zimbabwe,
as even the
World
Bank now
readily
acknowledges
in
its
advo-
cacy
of
greater
attention
to the social
dimensions
of
adjustment
(e.g.
Cornia
et
al.,
1992;
Woodward,
1992;
Simon et
al.,
1995;
Husain
and
Faruqee,
1996; UNDP,
annual).
Overall,
the available
evidence
suggests
that,
de-
spite
debates about how best
to
implement
devel-
opment,
success
has
at best
been
uneven,
both
within
and
between countries. While
average
in-
comes
and the
quality
of
life
for a
substantial
pro-
portion
of
people
have been
rising
over the last two
or three
decades
in much
of South-east
Asia
and
parts
of Latin
America,
for
example,
the
reverse is
true in
most of
Africa,
parts
of South
Asia,
the Car-
ibbean,
and
latterly
also Central and
Eastern Eu-
rope.
Within
many
countries,
as well as between
countries in
particular regions,
disparities
have
been
widening
rather han
narrowing,
with
little
ev-
idence
that this trend will
shortly
be reversed
in
line
with
predictions
of conventional
modernization
(e.g.
Africa
Confidential,
1997).
This
is
one
pow-
erful
reason for the
growth
of so-called
anti-devel-
opment perspectives.
Development
discredited
4
Notwithstanding
the above
point,
the
way
in which
often diverse
programmes,
agendas
and even
prin-
ciples
espoused
by very
different
donor and
recip-
ient
governments,
non-governmental
organiza-
tions and
internationalfinancial
institutions
are
dis-
missed
by post-
or
anti-developmental
critics
using
the
fashionable
phrase,
'the
development
project'
(e.g.
Pieterse,
1991;
Esteva, 1992; Sachs,
1992;
Routledge,
1995), is
unhelpful,
as thereneitherwas
nor is
such a
monolithic
or
singular
construction,
even
during
the
heyday
of
modernization in the
1960s
and
early
1970s. Arturo Escobar
(1995)
ex-
emplifies
this trend in
a more sustained
manner
than
most,
by
globalizing
the
argument
from his
penetrating
and
in-depth
analysis
of
US
'develop-
ment'
interventions
in
parts
of Latin
America,
es-
pecially
through
USAID. Given his
post-
or
anti-
development
stance,
this rather
un-postmodern
universalizing represents
a
shortcoming
which
sig-
nificantly
reduces the
power
of his
critique.5
By
no means all authorshave succumbed
to
this
temptation
to universalize:
for
example,
several
of
the contributors to Crush
(1995),
especially
Porter
(1995),
Mitchell
(1995)
and
Tapscott
(1995),
pro-
vide
nuanced
analyses
of individual
countries,
agencies
or
projects
and
highlight
the
interplay
be-
tween metatheories
and broad
ideologies,
particu-
lar
discourses and
concrete contextual
applica-
tions.
However,
many poststructuralist
critics
of
conventional
development(alism),
e.g.
contribu-
tors to Sachs
(1992),
still need
to take far
greater
account
of the differences
in
objectives,
policy
and
practice among
the various
official bilateral
and
multilateral
donors
(cf.
for
example,
the
Nordic
countries
and the
USA;
or UNICEF
and the
World
Bank),
which
were
arguably
far
more
substantive
during
the 1970s
and 1980s than
in
today's
neocon-
servative,
market-oriented
climate).
In
addition,
many very
diverse
Northern and Southern
non-
governmental
organizations
(NGOs)
have
adopted
very
different
objectives
and
methods from
official
donors over the last
twenty years
or
so,
generally
working
with
community-based organizations
(CBOs)
and
so-called social
movements,
and
which
have
made
considerable
contributions to
both
community empowerment
and material
im-
provement
in
quality
of life.
Indeed,
such
organizations
and
movements
do
figure
centrally
in the
alternative
discourses
advo-
cated
by
Escobar and
others; however,
the
great
di-
versity
in
every respect
of
such
collectivities and
the
now-voluminous literature
on
NGOs warn
against
idealizing
them
uncritically
as
embodying
the
latest
'magic
bullet' of
development
(Walker,
1988;
Schuurman and Van
Naerssen, 1989;
Ekins,
1992;
Schuurman,
1993a;
Edwards and
Hulme,
1995;
Hudock,
1995).
Somewhat
bizarrely,
given
his
trenchant and detailed
critique
of
official dis-
courses and
development
policies
and
pro-
grammes,
Escobar
(1995)
adopts
a
sharply
con-
trasting
and
ingenuous
idealization
of
NGOs and
'new' social movements as authentic and
legiti-
mate
without
any
attempt
at evaluation or
decon-
struction. David
Lehmann
(1997)
has
recently
un-
derlined this
latter
point
most
forcefully
within
a
wider
critique
of Escobar's
book.
The
contrast
be-
tween
Escobar's
treatment
and
Schuurman's
equally
theoretically
informed
discussion
of
NGOs
is
sharp.
Conversely, developmentalists
all
too often
still
ignore
or
fail
adequately
to
internalize the reasons
for
widespread
'development
failure',
especially
in
poor
countries and
among
often
large
subordinate,
186
Geografiska
Annaler
-
79
B
(1997)
.
4
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
6/20
DEVELOPMENT
RECONSIDERED;
NEW
DIRECTIONS
IN
DEVELOPMENT THINKING
unpowerful
groups,
and therefore
the
potential
val-
ue of
postmodern,
postcolonial
and related
visual-
izations. It is indeed
ironic that the
absolute
or
rel-
ative failure of
many developmentalist
states and
state-led
development strategies
is
central to neo-
liberal and
post-
or
anti-development
approaches
alike.
Hence,
the
rolling
back of the
(generally
de-
velopmentalist)
state,
one of the
central tenets of
current
neoliberal
development
orthodoxy,
is
in-
creasing
the
political
and
symbolic spaces
for,
and
hastening
the evolution
of,
diverse NGO and CBO
initiatives
in
many
countries,6
which some
writers
see as
constitutive
of
postmodernity
(Bell,
1992;
Escobar,
1995).
Simply
to dismiss
postmodernism
and related
paradigms
as irrelevant or
esoteric
without
any attempt
at
serious
evaluation of or en-
gagement
with them is both
methodologically
and
practically unhelpful
(see below).
The
rapidly expanding
literatures
on
globaliza-
tion and 'flexible'
post-Fordist production
in the
world
economy
have been
quite
successful,
albeit
unevenly,
in
examining
the interconnectedness
of
the
divergent
economic fortunes
of different
coun-
tries and
regions
across the
globe
(see
recent
re-
views
by
Barff,
1995;
Thrift,
1995; Whatmore,
1995).
However,
these latter
perspectives
are still
dominated
unequivocally by
Northern-centric
world views. Little consideration
is
given
to
possi-
ble
alternative
perspectives focusing
on local world
views and
development strategies
or
ideologies
which
rely
rather less
on
external
determinants
(e.g.
Adedeji,
1993;
Himmelstrand et
al.,
1994).
Many
of the contributors
to these
two books
share
Afro-centric world
views,
and are critical
of
the
inequities
of
the
existing
world
order and the
colonial
or neocolonial relations which
have
given
rise to the current
crisis of
sustainability.
Yet their
perspectives
would
not be considered
as
'postco-
lonial'
by
adherents
of that
paradigm.
Indeed,
the
diffuse
literature
on
postcolonialism
connects re-
markably
little with
conventional
developmental
agendas
or-far more
surprisingly-with
post-
modernism,
despite
the
former's
valuable
focus
on
restructuring
nequitable
colonial
inheritances,
and
the cultural
politics
of
identity, especially
recover-
ing
the 'lost' identities
of
groups
subordinated
and
marginalized
by
colonial
practices,
official histo-
ries and Northern
feminist and
environmentalist
discourses.
This
fragmentation
of
discourse,
or
perhaps
more
accurately
the
politics
of discourse
and
labelling,
will be
returned
to below.
In view of their
very
different
points
of
departure
and
agendas,
it is somewhat ironic that
the two
dominant
occidental
development paradigms
of re-
cent
decades,
namely
modernization
and
political
economy/structuralism,
have
generally
shared the
characteristics of
being
rather
narrow,
often
econ-
omistic, top-down
and
overtly modernizing
in
ap-
plication. They
also share the characteristic of be-
ing overarching
metatheories,
firmly
rooted in the
discourses
of
intellectual
modernism,
and there-
fore
seeking
to
provide singular,
universal
expla-
nations for
poverty
and
underdevelopment
and
pre-
scriptions
for
overcoming
them.7
However,
it
is
worth
reminding
ourselves that
modern
develop-
ment is not a
totally
uniform or smooth
process,
and that
modernization
need not lead to
global
ho-
mogeneity, especially
if
undertaken
with
a
degree
of
politico-economic
and
cultural
autonomy,
as the
Japanese experience
illustrates
so
powerfully.
The
objectives
of conventional
developmental-
ism with
respect
to the South are
generally
articu-
lated at three
principal
levels,
although
the
partic-
ular
discourses,
agendas
and
processes
of
develop-
ment
may
differ
considerably
both within and
be-
tween them:
-
by
the
populations
of
poorer
countries,
ex-
pressed,
for
example,
in
voting patterns.
This
can be
illustrated
by
Peru's
President
Fujimori
winning widespread
popular support
in
that
country's
1992
general
and
presidential
elec-
tions
by
virtue
of
his relative success
in
clamping
down on Maoist
guerrillas
and
his
promises
of better
living
standards,
despite
the undemocratic
route
by
which
he seized
power
a
few
years
previously.
More
generally,
the
struggles
by poor
people
to
meet their ba-
sic needs and
their
aspirations
for an
im-
proved quality
of life are
strongly
influenced
by
the
demonstration
effects of
modernization
and the
consumptive lifestyles
of the
middle
and
upper
classes.
Different methods
and
routes to
achieve these
goals may
be
adopted,
but active
alienation,
rejection
and rebellion
are
normally only
last resorts.
-
by
nation
states,
in
terms
of their
political pro-
grammes
and
national
development
plans.
For
example,
the Zimbabwean
government
has
consistently sought
to
prevent
and
eliminate
squatting
and
informal urban settlement
on
the
grounds
that
it is
demeaning
and
unworthy
of a
progressive,
modemrn
and
until
recently
also
supposedly
socialist)
African
state. De-
pending
on the nature
of the state and
open-
ness of the
political
system, regional
and local
Geografiska
Annaler
?
79
B
(1997)
?
4
187
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
7/20
DAVID SIMON
state
institutions
may
shareor
oppose
the
cen-
tral
state's
agendas,
but extreme
measures
such as active rebellion
and
attempts
at
seces-
sion
may
be
increasing
in
frequency
as the
writ
of
ossified
and
corrupt highly
centralized
states faces
challenges
from
outlying
and im-
poverished
areas.The armed
resistance
by
the
Sudan
People's
Liberation
Army
and
other
Christianand
animist
groups
to
Islamicization
in
southern
Sudan
by
the
government
in
Khar-
toum,
the
Zapatista
rebellion
in
Mexico's Chi-
apas
State,
the
insurgencies against
Mobutu
Sese Seko's
kleptocratic
former
dictatorship
in
Zaire
(now
the
Democratic
Republic
of
Congo)
and the Karen hill
people's
struggle
against
the
brutal
military regime
in
Burma/
Myanmar
are all cases
in
point.
-
by
international financial institutions
(IFIs)
and
donor
agencies,
in
terms of
their
over-
arching
discourses,
lending
criteria and
fund-
ing priorities.
For
instance,
the
World
Bank
and
other donor
agencies
have
continued
to
promote
large-scale
dam
projects
and
other
infrastructural
programmes
in
order
to maxi-
mize
conventional
economic
benefits
despite
the
well-known
social and
environmental
costs and
evidence that
smaller
schemes,
built
with
greater
sensitivity
to local
people
and
their
environment,
are
often
also
economical-
ly
more successful. In fairness, rather
greater
attention
has
been
devoted to
the
social and
environmental
consequences
of
large
schemes
in
recent
years,
but-with one
or two
notable
exceptions-generally
still
predicated
on
the
assumption
that
construction
should
go
ahead,
e.g.
the
Narmada
River dams
in
India,
the
Turkwel
Gorge
dam in
Kenya's
West
Pokot
District
and the
Three
Gorges
Dam on
the
Yangtse
River in
China.
More
emphasis
by
donors
and
recipient
govern-
ments on alternative
delivery systems,8
processes
and
project
types
emerged
during
the
1980s,
not
least
because
of
funding
constraints
and
condition-
alities,
themselves
linked
to the new
deity
of eco-
nomic
efficiency
and
marketization.
However,
such
co-option
often
devalued more
radical
alter-
native
antecedents,
reducing
them from
agendas
for
change
and
empowerment
into
little
more
than
shopping
lists which
are
hawked to
donors
for im-
plementation,
commonly
more in
line with
donors'
than
recipients' priorities.
This
has been
particular-
ly
graphically
illustrated
with
respect
to basic
needs
philosophies
(cf.
Wisner,
1988; Bell, 1992;
Simon
et
al., 1995;
Streeten, 1995; Wolfe,
1996)
and,
I would
argue,
is
currently being repeated
in
relation
to the
ubiquitious
sloganizing
about
'sus-
tainable
development'.
As I
argued
some
years ago,
the
pedigree
of
the
sustainability
debate
stretches back
at least to
the
early
1970s
(Simon,
1989),
when the
impact
of
Rachel Carson's
(1962)
landmark
catalogue
of
de-
velopment's
environmental
woes
in the
USA,
The
Silent
Spring,
and neo-Malthusian
concerns
about
resource
exhaustion,
prompted
important
new
re-
search
agendas, major
international
conferences
and the establishment of the United
Nations Envi-
ronment
Programme
(UNEP).
Certainly,
today's
environmental
discourses
are
very
different
from
those evident
in The Limitsto Growth
(Meadows
et
al.,
1972),
A
Blueprint
or
Survival
(The
Ecologist,
1972),
Only
One Earth
(Ward
and
Dubos,
1972),
Small
is
Beautiful
(Schumacher,
1973)
or
The
So-
cial Limits
to Growth
(Hirsch,
1977)
and
indeed
from
the
development
agendas
informing 'Reshap-
ing
the
International
Order'
or the Brandt
Commis-
sion
reports.
However,
what at that
time was
still
widely
regarded
as
a
radical(?)
or
eccentric
fringe
concern
has become
progressively
more
accepted
and
acceptable
over
the
intervening years.
The
es-
tablishment
of the World
Commission on
Environ-
ment
and
Development
(WCED) (the
Brundtland
Commission)
in 1983 and the
publication
of its
re-
port,
Our Common
Future,
in
1987 both
reflected
this and
provided
a new landmark
in the
'fore-
grounding'
of sustainable
development
as
dis-
course,
objective,
process
and
fad. In the
same
year,
Michael
Redclift's
(1987)
elegant
little
book,
Sus-
tainable
Development,
appeared,
taking
conceptu-
al and
analytical
rigour
in the field
to a
far more
so-
phisticated
level.
Five
years
later,
the
WCED
report
had
a
sequel
in
the form
of the
1992 UN
Conference
on Envi-
ronment
and
Development
(UNCED)
in
Rio de
Ja-
neiro,
intendedto transformthe
concept
into more
concrete
international
commitments
and
agendas.
Notwithstanding
substantial
horse-trading
and the
watering
down of
the
intended
conventions for
ide-
ological
and domestic
political
reasons
by
the
US
(Republican)
and
British
(Conservative)
govern-
ments
in
particular,
a
process
which
generated
much
criticism
and
cynicism
among
many
environ-
mentalists
and
radical
NGO
critics,
the
conference
did result in
unprecedented
intergovernmental
and
NGO
commitments to
biodiversity
conservation,
greenhouse
gas
emission
reductionsand the
imple-
188
Geografiska
Annaler
?
79
B
(1997)
?
4
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
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DEVELOPMENT
RECONSIDERED;
NEW
DIRECTIONS
IN
DEVELOPMENT
THINKING
mentation
f
Agenda
21 at
local
as well as
national
and
international
evels
(Middleton
et
al.,
1993).
Subsequently,
here
has
been
widespread
vidence
of
greater lexibility
and
commitment o more di-
verse
project
ypes
and
scales and
to
greater
nvi-
ronmental
prioritization
n various
policy
arenas
(Hurrell,
995;Reed,
1992).
Nevertheless,
t is
also
certainly
rue that most official
agendas
envisage
little
fundamental
hange,focusing
on
promoting
more efficient
resource
and
energy
valuationand
use,
recycling
and
reduced
pollutionbroadly
with-
in
existing
parameters
atherhanon radical
hang-
es to
lifestyles
and
economic
systems.
At the ex-
treme,
ustainable
evelopment
as become a con-
venient
slogan
to
signalpolitical
correctnesswith-
out the
corresponding
commitment to
change.
Such
expediency
s
usually
associatedwith estab-
lishmentnstitutions, s wasonce
again
underlined
by
the failure
of
the 'Rio
Plus
Five'
summitat
UN
Headquarters
n
New York
n
lateJune
1997.
Many
government
ministers and
NGO
activists
alike
were
very
criticalof the ackof
commitment
y key
Northern
overnments,
nddubbed he
event 'Rio
MinusFive'
(Independent,
8 June
1997).
Perhaps
such official
cynicism
prompted
Escobar's
1995:
192-3)
condescendingly
dismissive
assertions
about ustainable
evelopment
nd he
Brundtland
Commission
Report,
to which David Lehmann
(1997: 574-5)
has
ustifiably
aken uch
exception.
The dominantmodernist
evelopmental
thos s
still for the most
part
obsessed
by
the
agenda
of
economic
efficiency,
articulated
argely through
privatization
nd iberalization
rogrammes.
hese
programmes
ave
long pedigrees
but
derive
their
immediate
mpetus
from aid conditionalities
m-
posed by
the IFIs andotherdonor
organizations
s
strategies
or
overcoming
heThirdWorlddebt
cri-
sis and
promoting
free'
international
rade.The
logical-and
indeed
desired--outcome
has been
the
almostuniversal
olling
back
of the
state cou-
pled
with a
resurgent
ole for
domestic and
espe-
ciallyinternationalapital, ven nperipheral ost-
socialist states
(Hanlon,
1991, 1996;
Sidaway
and
Power,
1995).
The ultimate
prescription
as been
to maximize rade
hrough xport-orientedroduc-
tion
based
on
supposed
nternational
omparative
advantage.
While
this
approach
may
improve
he
delivery
of certain
goods
and
services,
t
generally
and de-
liberately
ails
to
address
quity
ssues
adequately
and is
likely
to
undermine
he
ability
of
develop-
mental states to deliver on their
political pro-
grammes
or
social
development,
romwhich heir
legitimacy
has been
sought
andderived.
Moreover,
there s a
deep-seated
ension
betweenthe
cutting
of
social
expenditures
n
line
with
donor ondition-
alities
(despite
some more recent
palliativepack-
ages
to address
he
social dimensions
of
adjust-
ment)
and he
promotion
f literate,
healthy
andac-
tive
participants
n
expanding
democraticstruc-
turesand
civil
society (e.g.
Simon
et
al.,
1995).
In
effect,
it
also has to be realized
hat,
particularly
n
their
earlier1980s
formulations ut also more re-
cently,
conventional
nalyses
of the debt
crisis and
the
most
effective solutionsamounted o
blaming
the
victims of
development,
he vast
majority
of
whom
had
little if
any say
in
the
policies adopted
by
theirstates
or
the
transnational anks
andother
financial institutions and
official donor bodies.
This is
closely
linked
to
'Afropessimism'
nd its
equivalents
n other
regions. Similarly,
SAPs and
conditionalities ave been
described
by
their
pre-
scribing
doctorsas
harshmedicine
required
o
ef-
fect a
systemic
cure.
Yet,
like most
conventional
Westernmedicine,
they
are
directedat the
symp-
toms rather
han
the
underlying
causes
(Simon,
1995b).
In termsof the
prevailing
onventional conom-
ic
development
wisdom,
greater
market
rientation
would
actually
nhance he
prospects
or
attaining
modernity y
achieving
conomic
growth,
which s
widely regarded
s
being
an
essential
prerequisite
for
subsequent
edistribution nd the widerfulfil-
mentof basicneeds
and
popular spirations
Slater,
1993,
1995b).
The one dimension
of
equity
which
has
generally
received
ncreasing
attention s that
of
gender:gender
awareness
s
now
accorded
x-
plicit recognition
n
most
policy
and
programme
documents,
lbeitstill
frequentlymerely
at the ev-
el of
lip-service
or
superficiality
n the
'women
n
development'
mould. More
thorough-going
nte-
gration
f
gender
ssues n
accordance
with
'gender
and
development'
pproaches
s
still
inadequate
n
practice,
despite
the now
increasingly
prominent
positionof various eministdiscoursesn
develop-
ment
debates,
especially
around
ndigenous
ights
and
identitiesas
well
as
communityparticipation
and
he environment
Shiva,
1988;Minh-ha,1989;
Moser, 1993;
Nesmith and
Radcliffe, 1993;
Rad-
cliffe and
Westwood,
1993; Bell, 1994;
Marchand
and
Parpart,
995;Townsend,
1995).
Post-
everything
The current heoretical
turns'
arecharacterized
y
the
prefix post-'
n relation o most
periods
or
par-
Geografiska
nnaler
-
79
B
(1997)
-
4
189
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DAVID
SIMON
adigms,
as in
postcolonial, postmodern, post-Cold
War,
postdevelopment
and so forth.
Clearly they
are
used
to
signify
differences,
either
in
terms of
periodization
or
conceptual
and
methodological
approaches.
We
could therefore
be
forgiven
for suf-
fering
a
degree
of
post-itis,
of
feeling
past
it,
post-
everything
After
all,
even
history
has
ended,
if
Francis
Fukuyama's
simplistic triumphalist
credo
were to be believed.
In
a similar
vein,
some recent
discussions about
time-space compression
in
the
context of
globalization
and the
role of telecommu-
nications have
suggested
the end of
geography,
as
if
space
were somehow to
triumph
over
place
in
the
sense
of
localities
being
imbued with
specific
so-
cio-cultural
meanings.
What I
am
suggesting
is
the
importance
of
a
healthy scepticism
towards some of the
more
sweeping
andemotive formulations of
post-every-
thing,
which
may
universalize
from
particular
case
studies
in
a
manner reminiscent
of modernist the-
orizing,
be elitist
as
practised
by
its
advocates
de-
spite
the
supposed
concern with
precisely
the
op-
posite,
and
may
actually
be of
little
practical
use in
addressing poverty
and
providing
basic
needs.
Moreover,
critiques
of conventional
developmen-
talism and the search for more
meaningful, appro-
priate
and
socially grounded
and
bottom-up
alter-
natives are
not
new.
As with the different defini-
tions
of
development
and the
examples
of
basic
needs and environmental
sustainability
given
above,
there
is
a
long pedigree
of initiatives and
theoretical
formulations
stretching
back decades
and
including,
for
example, Reshaping
the
Interna-
tional Order
(RIO);
autarchy
as advocated
by
the
extreme
dependency
authors,
Andr6
Gunder
Frank
and
Samir
Amin;
the
Brandt
Commission;
Another
Development-as
articulated
by
the
Dag
Hammar-
skj6ld
Foundation
through
its
journal, Develop-
ment
Dialogue,
since the late 1970s
(e.g.
1978,
1980);
the
agenda
for
a New International Division
of
Labour articulated
through
UNCTAD;
and a
range
of
grassroots
and
bottom-up
strategies
from
different
perspectives,
of which
agropolitan
devel-
opment,
associated with John
Friedmann,
is
possi-
bly
one
of
the best known. More
recently,
Rose-
mary
Galli
(1992)
has
examined
anti-development
perspectives
which have little to do with
postmod-
em
or
postcolonial
critiques.
That
said,
and
as
I
have
recently argued
at
length
(Simon, 1997a),
it
is no
longer
appropriate
o
reject
these
perspectives
out of
hand
as
being
irrelevant to
societies in
the South.
Many
of the
problems
and
non-debates have arisen from
imprecisions
in
use
of the terms
'postmodem'
and
'postcolonial'.
I
dis-
cuss a threefold distinction between the
postmod-
ern
as
period
or
epoch,
as mode
of
expression
or
aesthetic
form,
and as
analytical
method or
prob-
lematic
(ways
of
seeing),
which is
very
helpful
in
disentangling
the
range
of
usages.
I
argue
that it is
the
last
of these three which has most
potential
in
relation to the South.
I
then
suggest
the
application
of
this same threefold
categorization
to the litera-
ture
on
postcolonialism; although
it
is
somewhat
more difficult to
separate
them,
it
is
again
the
post-
colonial
problematic
which
appears
to have
the
most
utility.
I
shall now
briefly
explain
why.
Postmodern
perspectives
What
distinguishes
the
present
period
is
that
the ex-
pression
of conventional
developmental
ideals and
the methods of
implementing
them no
longer
enjoy
universal
acceptance
and
legitimacy
within
target-
ed countries and
areas.
Increasingly,
individuals
and
groups
of
people
at
a
local level are either seek-
ing
the attainment of their
aspirations
for better liv-
ing
standardsoutside the realm
of the
state,
or
they
have
rejected
the
dominant
developmental
dis-
course(s)
and are
pursuing
alternative
agendas
with
very
different aims and
objectives.
In
the
former
case,
they
are still
seeking
the basic
needs
and other
fruits of modernization but have
despaired
of the
ability
of the state and official
development
agen-
cies
to
deliver on their
promises,
and have thus
tak-
en their own
initiatives.
In
the latter
scenario,
they
have
rejected
the basic
premises
and
trajectories
of
the
modem
developmental
state.
Hence,
urban and
other 'new'
social movements have arisen
in
a wide
variety
of
contexts and
countries
in
response
to a
vacuum
or,
more
generally,
as
alternative
modes of
organization
and
with
very
different
agendas
from
discredited official
local
government
or
communi-
ty
structures
(Walker,
1988;
Schuurman
and
Van
Naerssen, 1989;
Routledge,
1993; Bell,
1994;
Ed-
wards and Hulme, 1995; Hudock, 1995). Some-
times the
political,
social and
environmental di-
mensions
of
protest
and action have been
linked
(Schuurman
and Van
Naerssen, 1989; Schuurman,
1993a;
Radcliffe and
Westwood,
1996).
A
dramatic
recent
example,
which
integrates
development
and
environmental
concerns,
is the
citizens' rebellion
in
the
Mexican town of
Tepotzlain
in
late
1996,
when the
mayor
and town council
were
expelled
and a virtual
unilateral declaration of
independ-
ence was
proclaimed
over the
mayor's
efforts to
have a
major
US$400
million
upmarket develop-
190
Geografiska
Annaler
?
79 B
(1997)
?
4
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
10/20
DEVELOPMENT
RECONSIDERED;
NEW
DIRECTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT
THINKING
ment
comprising
a
golf
course,
other
sports
facili-
ties,
a
hotel and
condominium of
800
homes in the
name
of
'development',
while
ignoring
popular
de-
velopment
demands.
In
addition,
the
golf
course
would
have exacerbated
the
local
water
shortageand
put
valuable land
beyond
the reach of most res-
idents:
In
Tepotzlan,
however,
where
cars
must
squeeze
into cobbled
streets
meant
for don-
keys
...
the local residents
were not
buying
the
golf
club's
passport
to modem life.
Petitions
demanding
the cancellation
of
the
golf
club
turned
into street
protests,
and then
into dem-
onstrations
outside the town
hall. When
Mo-
rales
[the
mayor]
still
refused to
meet
his
an-
gry
constituents,
a
group
stormed
into
his of-
fices and held six officials
hostage.
The rebel-
lion
had
begun.
...
"It
began
as an
environmental
protest,"says Rodriguez
[the
protest
leader],
...
"but with
the
jailing
of four
comrades
over
the
past year,
and
two
deaths
in
clashes,
and all
the arrest warrants
hanging
over
our
heads,
it has become
much
more
complicated.
We
cannot
give
up
the
fight
now."... "A
unique
and
extraordinary
phenom-
enon
is
taking place
in
Tepotzlin,"Adolfo
Aguilar
Zinser,
an
opposition
congressman
and
longtime
resident,
wrote
in
the
daily
La
Reforma. "We, the residents of
Tepotzlin,
are
discovering
that no
government
is
better
than
bad
government.
Without
a
PRI
government,
without
municipal
police,
without
the
pres-
ence of
any
federal law
enforcement
agency,
we
enjoy
a far
higher
level
of
security
than
in
the
rest
of the state of
Morelos."
Not
everyone
shares
Aguilar
Zinser's
rose-
tinted views. Some
residents
say
the
town has
become more
polarised,
while
many
are tired
of the
endless
appeals
for
money
to
keep
the
rebel
government
afloat. Relatives of
ousted
officials who remained in
Tepotzlin
have suf-
fered
discrimination and
abuse
(Crawford,
1996).
This
example
illustrates well
how the
politics
of
lo-
cal
protest,
induced
by popular rejection
of
conven-
tional
development
agendas
which are
perceived
to
be
imposed
in a
top-down
manner
by unresponsive
elected officials and
developers,
can,
if
the senti-
ments are
deeply enough
felt and the authorities
sufficiently
inflexible,
progress
to more direct ac-
tion in
defence of
space,
place
and
popular aspira-
tions.The outcome
was
apparently
nforeseen
nd
unimaginedby
any
of the
protagonists,
but
the
stakeswere
raisedand he
resultwas
open
rebellion
and he
usurpation
f the local state
by
the
protest-
ers
and heir
upporters.
o
doubt
herewere
other
local
complexities,
and the article
says
nothing
about
he
socio-economic
profile
of the activistsor
community
at
large.
However,
hewritof the
hith-
erto
omnipresent
RI
no
longer
runs n
Tepotzlin.
Whether he standoff
will
persist
and
whether he
residents
will
be
able
o
organize
n
alternative
ys-
tem
of local
administration emains
to
be
seen.
However,
his
example
highlights
he
importance
of
contingency
nd
ocality
n
the
analysis
of
events
andmovements
or
change,
even n this
age
of
glo-
balized
communications nd
glocalized
conscious-
nesses
and
dentities.
A
very
different
xample
s
provided
by
there-
sponse
of
headman
Sebastian
Kamangwa
of the
4000-strong
Shitemo
community
iving
in
an iso-
lateddistrict
of
Okavango
Region
n
north-eastern
Namibia,
o the recent
opening
thereof a
primary
health
care
clinic
by
the
country's
Minister of
Health.At a
time
when
conventional nd
radition-
al
(bio)medical
systems
are
increasingly
coming
together
n
complementary
yntheses
(which
are
arguably
ostmodemrn-see
imon,
1997a)
n vari-
ous
parts
of
sub-Saharan fricaand
beyond,
he
re-
portedlyproclaimed
ategorically
hat
In
the
past
malaria
caused
a
lot
of
suffering
and
ighting
because
people
thought
t
was the
resultof
witchcraft,
utnow we have
seen that
the clinics
can solve these
problems.
Some
people
are
still
trying
to
cause trouble
by
de-
manding
that traditionalhealers be
revered,
but I
am adamant hat we cannot
have
tradi-
tional
healers
working alongside
modem
health
services
(The
Namibian,
6
June
1997:
8).
Such anovertlymodernist tance
might
seemrath-
er
outdated
r
even
quaint,
et
the
headman
learly
perceives
himself as
progressive.
This
exemplifies
my
earlier
points
about
ocial
conditioning-mod-
ern
or
otherwise-and the
powerful
demonstration
effect,
albeit
ubstantially
imelagged,
f
perceived
successfulmodem nnovationsn
otherwise
appar-
ently
conservative
ural
ommunities.
t also
raises
several
questions
about
representation
nd
legiti-
macy
withinlocal
communities;
n other
words,
how
representative
s
theheadman's tance of his
people's
perceptions,
and
will
their
practices
Geografiska
Annaler
?
79
B
(1997)
?
4
191
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
11/20
DAVID SIMON
change
in
view of his
attitude?There
is
also a
major
issue for social theorists
to
ponder.
The new
clinic
saves
people
a walk of
at
least 12 km and
helps
treat
malaria and other serious
illnesses.
Is it
therefore
legitimate
for
postmodern
and/or
postcolonial
crit-
ics to
decry
or dismiss the
significance
of such in-
novations
to
poor people's
lives? I
return
to
this
question
below.
These
contrasting
examples
also
demonstrate
that
there
is a
growing
disjuncture
between
mod-
ernist
developmental
rhetoric and
the
increasingly
diverse
experiences
of
such
programmes
on
the
ground.
While
spokespeople,
political
leaders and
even
many 'grassroots'
or
community
groups
re-
main
committed
to
the
grand
scale
and
'the
big
ide-
as' of
progress
and
development,
methods of
im-
plementation
invoke
strategies
which,
elsewhere
in
the
world,
have been associated with the
postmod-
em.
What is
therefore
emerging
is a
growing
accept-
ance of
heterodoxes,
diversities and
multiple
sys-
tems,
explanations
and modes/scales of institution-
al
organization,
which
are at least
partially super-
seding
the
conventional modernist traditions of
a
single
orthodoxy
in
state
ideology
and
practice.
However,
it is
by
no
means
certain,
or
even
desir-
able,
that this
trend
will
eventually
eliminate mod-
ern(ist)
development agendas.
Therefore,
it
may
well
be that the co-existence
and
simultaneity
of di-
verse
(and
even
divergent)
systems
and
practices
become an
enduring reality,
even
though
their re-
lationships
are
likely
to be flexible and
changeable,
and
perhaps
as much
symbolic
as substantive. This
condition
exemplifies
the
essence of
postmoderni-
ty
as understood
by analysts working
in
the
North
(Dear,
1988;
Folch-Serra,
1989;
Harvey,
1989;
Featherstone,
1991, 1995;
Soja,
1991; Bauman,
1992;
Berg,
1993;
Watson and
Gibson,
1995),
in
terms of which
the monolithic
modernist discours-
es,
both
liberal
and
Marxist,
have been or
are
being
discarded
in
favour of a
multiplicity
of
ideologies
and modes of
explanation.9
In terms of the schema
discussed
above,
this
represents
the notion
of
the
postmodern
as
problematic,
overlain with a distinct
element
of the
postmodern
as
epoch,
albeit without
a clear break from
the modem
and, indeed,
charac-
terized
by
the
co-existence of
and
overlap
between
the two.
10
In
many
respects,
this
conceptualization
appears
to offer a
far more
helpful
way
of
understanding
the
often
disjointed
and
conflicting processes,
phe-
nomena and
material and cultural
styles-both
ur-
ban and
rural-which are now so
typical
within
countries of the South
as well as a
way
to
help
re-
think
North-South relations
(e.g.
Slater,
1992a,
1992b, 1995a,
1997).
This will be
evident to
any-
one who has
encountered the
jarring
contrasts
on
stepping
out of an ultra- or
postmodern
urban
shop-
ping precinct
into untarredstreets lined with shan-
ties and
beggars,
or who has encountered
the
par-
adoxes
of
contemporary
tourist
landscapes
super-
imposed
on
poor
rural
communities in
the
Carib-
bean,
Latin
America,
Africa or the
Asia-Pacific
regions.
Indeed,
it
may
well be that this
condition
is far more
widespread
and
characteristic
of
the
South than the North. It is
also not
necessarily
a
very
new or recent
phenomenon-having
roots
at
least as far back
as
the
late colonial
period
in Afri-
ca,
Asia,
the Caribbean
Basin and Pacific
Islands-
but rather
a
different
way
of
seeing
and
interpreting
the
quite
long-standing phenomena
of
Southern
dislocation,
unemployment
and
poverty
previously
regarded
as
representing
incomplete
moderniza-
tion and the
iniquities
of
colonialism.
Moreover,
many
of the
contrasts,
contradictions and
fragmen-
tations
of
meanings
and
practice
within the
South
are at least
as
much
the result of deliberate
or
wilful
actions as is the case with
postmodern
showpieces
of
urban
design
and
other
forms of
expression
in
the North.
Postcolonialism-a Eurocentricconstruct?
Dani
Nabudere,
the
veteran radical
Ugandan
law-
yer,
social
scientist
and
politician,
takes issue with
the entire notion
of
postcolonialism
(personal
com-
munication,
14
January
1996).
He
regards
this as
too
Eurocentric,
implying
the
previous
hegemony
of
colonial
institutions,
social
structures and
iden-
tities as so
eloquently
elaborated
by
Blaut
(1993)
and
Corbridge
(1993a).
Consequently
the
experi-
ence of
colonialism is
the
defining
point
of
refer-
ence.
However,
in
many
parts
of the
former colo-
nial
world,
including
sub-Saharan
Africa,
indige-
nous values, social structures and identities sur-
vived-admittedly
to
differing
extents and with
differing
degrees
of
engagement
with or
transfor-
mation
by
colonial
impositions.
Hence,
in his
view,
the task of
evolving
and
promoting
new,
people-
centred
and
indigenously
generated
African alter-
natives to the
colonial
and the modern
should be
more
accurately
termed
'post-traditional'.
A
fascinating example
is
provided
by
the land-
mark
investiture of
Sinqobile
Mabhena,
a
young
female
trainee
primary
school
teacher,
as chief of
the
100,000
Nswazi
people
in
Zimbabwe in De-
192
Geografiska
Annaler
-
79 B
(1997)
?
4
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8/9/2019 3. DT. O Noua Directie in Gandirea Despre Dezvoltare
12/20
DEVELOPMENT
RECONSIDERED;
NEW DIRECTIONS IN DEVELOPMENT
THINKING
cember 1996. Under the
headline,
'The
chief who
wears
a
miniskirt',
Andrew
Meldrum
wrote thus
in
The
Guardian
(24
December
1996):
Surrounded
by government
ministers
and
trib-
al
chiefs,
Sinqobule
Mabhena
appears
a mod-
el
of female
subservience as
she
bows
her
head and
modestly
lowers
her
eyes.
But this
demure
23-year-old
has rocked Zimbabwe's
traditional culture