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Development studies and policy studies: in the short run we are all dead
Author(s) -
Apthorpe Raymond
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of international development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.533
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1099-1328
pISSN - 0954-1748
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1328(199906)11:4<535::aid-jid603>3.0.co;2-u
Subject(s) - poverty , mainstream , politics , culture of poverty , futures contract , development economics , economic growth , economics , social change , mainstream economics , political science , sociology , basic needs , positive economics , applied economics , law , financial economics
Development Studies has been dominated by a mainstream economics‐based agenda that has failed to study and recognise the importance of social and political processes and patterns of poverty. Agencies and institutions within development and aid are beginning to acknowledge this deficiency, but in Africa and elsewhere poverty is still increasing and welfare decreasing. Changing from Development Studies to Poverty Studies offers an opportunity to incorporate ideas and methodologies from other disciplines into the social analysis of poverty, including the politics of patronage and decision‐making in organizations with responsibility for issues where there are immediate implications for poverty and wealth. This article analyzes the alternative futures for Development Studies according to how far and how urgently its exponents are prepared to accept this change. The establishment of an African Tertiary educational facility for the social analysis of policy is proposed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.