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Post‐Development: Premature Burials and Haunting Ghosts
Author(s) -
Ziai Aram
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/dech.12177
Subject(s) - development (topology) , development theory , criticism , epistemology , heading (navigation) , polysemy , history , convergence (economics) , sociology , linguistics , political science , philosophy , law , geography , economic growth , economics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , geodesy
While the Post‐Development school in development theory tried to bury the concept of ‘development’, this attempt turned out to be unsuccessful. A closer investigation reveals that different post‐development texts reproduce the polysemy of ‘development’ in their criticism of it, attacking different phenomena subsumed under this heading. Development theory, on the other hand, was also premature in declaring post‐development obsolete fifteen years ago. By examining the works of two prominent authors, this contribution shows that the critics of post‐development have adopted central arguments of that approach. It concludes by identifying some points of convergence between post‐development and its (progressive) critics in development theory.