ABSTRACT

The republication of this article provides an opportunity for self-justification. Yet rereading the paper, I cannot avoid the impression that it was written by someone else. So of course it was. It was composed by somebody living nearly a decade ago who had only recently returned to academic life after many years spent mostly in ‘operational’ roles. Its author had naturally no foreknowledge of the rapidly evolving world of the 1970s, nor of the professional jobs that would modify once more his attitude to ‘development’. I shall take this opportunity to draw the lessons of what has happened in the intervening years for how we should view ‘development’, and to suggest the practical implications.