International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   The word “development” has a vast array of connotations, even if we begin by limiting it to questions of socioeconomic development (broadly defined) and the often taken-for-granted labels of “Third World” and “First World” that seek to characterize uneven geographies of wealth and power across the globe. Three important contexts in which development is deployed are introduced here. First, as it is usually constructed within public discourse and media emanating from the Global North, development continues to be used as a marker of progress and modernity that distinguishes between an “us” who are civilized, modern, and progressive and a “them” who at worst are inherently backward, uncivilized, and threatening, or at best victims in need of tutelage and charity. Second, the notion of development as framed through development policy takes on additional meanings, although some would argue ones often not far from the assumptions embedded within most media representations of the subject. In short, development “experts” located within development institutions (from international development institutions to local nongovernmental organizations) tend to construct development as a set of active interventions within communities and regions assumed to be lacking – in opportunity, equality, wealth, or sustainability, among other factors. Third, in the academic realm, ... log in or subscribe to read full text