What, then, should we do?

If the ‘towering lighthouse’ of development was not already in ruins when Sachs (1992) called for its dismantlement, the sustained attacks it has undergone since have certainly brought some of its edifices tumbling down. But now, the dust is settling, and in the ‘silence after the act of deconstruction’ (Blaikie 2000: 1039) an insistent whisper is becoming increasingly audible: ‘what then should be done?’ ² If, as post-development theorists suggest, development was not the medicine but rather the disease, what is the appropriate response to the problems development initiatives purport to address — problems such as poverty, inequity and injustice?