End of an Era? Rethinking Development in an Age of Geopolitics

By Richard Higgott

08/2023

The paper identifies five phases in post-World War Two development thinking and practice. In the 20th century: 1) the early days of paternalist modernisation theory; 2) the age of the semi-dirigiste Washington and Post-Washington Consensus; and 3) the heyday of globalisation in which the resolution of the problems of developing countries were to be addressed as but part of a neo-liberal, market driven, economic orthodoxy. In the first quarter of the 21st century: 4) development becomes increasingly tied to the question of ecological sustainability to be addressed by the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals; and 5) the final and current era – the age of geopolitics – where development and the interests of the developing countries have become increasingly squeezed, marginalised or even ignored in a bifurcating world order. This is an era and order in the grip of an emerging bifurcation between Transatlantic and Indo-Pacific worlds dominated by the US and China. It is a world that privileges the geopolitics of security rather than the economics of development. It is this fifth stage that is the focus of this In-Depth Paper.

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