Fifty Key Thinkers on Development

The essential guide to the world’s most influential development thinkers, this authoritative text presents a unique guide to the lives and ideas of leading contributors to the contested terrain of development studies.

Reflecting the diverse, interdisciplinary nature of the area, the book includes entries on:

* modernisers like Hirshman, Kindleberger and Rostow

* dependencistas such as Frank, Cardoso and Amin

* progressives like Prebisch, Helleiner and Streeten

* political leaders enunciating radical alternative visions of development, such as Mao, Nkrumah and Nyerere

* progenitors of religiously or spiritually inspired development, such as Gandhi and Ariyaratne

* development-environment thinkers like Blaikie, Brookfield and Shiva.

This is a fascinating and readable introduction to the major figures that have shaped the field, ideal for anyone studying or working in the area.

David Simon is Professor of Development Geography and Director of the Centre for Developing Areas Research at Royal Holloway, University of London. He is the co-editor of The Peri-Urban Interface: Approaches to sustainable natural and human resource use (Earthscan, 2005).