The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power (Development Essentials) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1786997517 ISBN 13: 9781786997517

Publisher: Zed Books, 2019

Synopsis

The original critical guide to key concepts in development studies from some of the world's most eminent critical development scholars and practitioners. Each essay in this now classic collection examines one key development concept, from “environment” to “needs” and “progress” to “production.” Each concept is reviewed from a historical and anthropological point of view, with particular bias and intellectual flaws being highlighted. Overall, the authors argue that we must bid farewell to the whole idea of Eurocentric development in order to liberate people’s minds in both North and South and to mobilize for bold responses to the environmental and ethical challenges now confronting humanity. The result is an indispensable resource for scholars, practitioners, movements and students of development which invites us to recognize the tinted glasses we put on whenever we participate in the development discourse.

About this title

About the Author

Wolfgang Sachs is research director at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in Germany. He has been chair of the board of Greenpeace Germany, a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is currently a member of the Club of Rome. He teaches at Schumacher College and is honorary professor at the University of Kassel. His other books include Planet Dialectics: Explorations in Environment and Development and Fair Future: Resource Conflicts, Security, and Global Justice Edited, both from Zed Books.

Review

“Unique. . . . The book is a scream of pain from the receiving end of a process experienced as cultural genocide.” (Praise for previous editions Guardian)

“A series of remarkable, concept-blasting essays by brilliant commentators on the modern world and the delusions and illusion of the processes of ‘development.’ . . . Read this dictionary and the scales will really fall from your eyes.” (Praise for previous editions Peter Bunyard, cofounder of the Ecologist)

“Immensely stimulating stuff, written with verve and unity of purpose, and it is to be thoroughly recommended to anyone interested in development or environmental issue.” (Praise for previous editions Environmental Values)

Edition details

• Publisher: Zed Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 1786997517
• ISBN 13: 9781786997517
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 352
• Editor: Sachs Wolfgang