This book debunks the foundations of contemporary government-led development policy. The author questions the predictability of success when using mainstream development doctrines and its underlying assumptions, approaching development from a sceptical standpoint, as opposed to the more common optimistic view. The book uses international development and aid as a case study of how rich countries define how change should happen. Further, it suggests alternative ways of thinking about and organizing social change.

Auteur
Adam Fforde is a Professorial Fellow at the Victoria Institute of Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, Australia. He was an advisor to the Swedish Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, and from 1992-2013 ran his development consultancy, Adam Fforde and Assoc, p/l.

Contenu
1.Introduction .- 2. Development today: Its Facts .- 3. Development in the Early Years and the Facts of Underdevelopment Since WWII .- 4. The Facts behind Development's Facts: The Epistemological Assumptions of Mainstream Development .- 5. Christendom, Its Companions and the Question of Knowability: The Flaw at the Core of Classic Epistemology .- 6. Contesting Classical Development Doctrines: Explaining the Movement Away from Them .- 7. Option 1: Reconstructivist Development Doctrines .- 8. Option 2: Sceptical Development Doctrines .- 9. The Reinvention of Development.