ABSTRACT
This chapter carries out a critical examination of the different approaches that dominate the field of study of development problems. It distinguishes four different approaches. First, an approach closely related to endogenous growth theories, which attempts to revise development theory by returning to the founding fathers. The second approach, institutionalism, is particularly concerned with market imperfections and studies the role and impact of institutions in the regulation and operation of underdeveloped economies. The third or post-Keynesian approach starts from its criticism of the orthodox foundations of models of stabilisation, and attempts to construct new strategies designed to stimulate internal demand. Finally, the cultural approach considers the failure of development strategies to be above all the failure of the North's attempts to Westernise the world following independence. The critical examination of the different approaches to post-adjustment development economics has demonstrated their inability to grasp and explain the mutations and evolutions in progress in the Third World.
