The Debate Between Post-Development and Its Critics

Abstract

The field of development studies witnessed an important debate between
post-development critics and their opponents. The article presents this
debate and focuses on neopopulism in post-development, or more
particularly on romanticization, essentialization, the rejection of modern
technologies and cultural relativism. It discusses the problem of the
homogenization of the development discourse, practice and agency in
‘development’. It reacts to the criticism from the field of practice that postdevelopment aims at the old fashioned development discourse instead of
focusing on the current discourse on globalization and that it ignores
changes within ‘development’. And finally, the article deals with the political
orientation of post-development, its alleged affinity with neoliberalism, the
way it uses statistical indicators and its normativity. The conclusion answers
the questions whether post-development is meaningful and whether it can
remain an important approach under the light of this debate.