Fallacies of Development

The development delusion in a globalized culture is a fascinating subject for informed debate and discussion. Fallacies of Development critiques the contemporary interventionist approach to social development. It offers a hermeneutical system of linkages that seeks to connect certain dots out of the box.

The kitsch of developmentalism lacks legitimacy, coherence and relevance in a flattening complex world. From nation-building to globalization, dualities of triumphs and tribulations mark a neoglobal order that breeds de developmentality of chaos. If September 11 ominously heralded the end of a civil society, the hegemonic Iraq quagmire represents a perfect storm.

The present book signifies the symbiosis of human and social development as a mega project of global-social transformation. It attempts to offer a better understanding of the dialectics of oppression, exclusion, and other socio-political conundrums that incubate global unfreedom and dehumanization. In nine symbiotic chapters organized around three central themes, the book examines the paradoxy of development, unravels archeology of the axis of evil and presents a design of new social development--an argument for the conviviality of a post-ideological coexistence--as a synthesis of Human-Social Development toward global renaissance.

The book calls for Enlightenment II, a new epoch in the evolution of human history promoting counter-hegemonic analyses, policies and programs. In a hopelessly divided world, the re emergence of barriers and walls, ubiquity of terror and counter-terror, and pervasive malaise of arrogance will not deliver a world without the scourges of poverty, intolerance and war. It s not the culture of poverty, it s the poverty of culture that continues to bedevil humanity. The flickers of New Social Development offer a way out of the paralysis of hope that thwarts human and social progress. This book is a compelling reading for all scientists, intellectuals, professionals, policy makers and students who cherish a dream of the future worth living.

Brij Mohan is Professor and former Dean of the School of Social Work at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA. He obtained his Doctorate in Social Work in 1964 from Lucknow University. In 2004 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters by the Mahatma Gandhi Kashi University, Varanasi for his outstanding contributions to social sciences. He is the author of 15 books and over 200 articles and papers. His recent works include Reinventing Social Work, The Practice of Hope, Social Work Revisited, Unification of Social Work, Eclipse of Freedom and the Journal of Comparative Social Welfare.