ABSTRACT
The postwar era witnessed a near-absolute commitment to the idea of development. In this sense, the aims if not the achievements of the First and Second Worlds became the received wisdom of the Third World. There have been occasional murmurs about the shortcomings, even evils, of “ Western” development; but even in a nation such as India, where under Mahatma Gandhi such fears had a certain political currency, the idea of development has taken deep root. Hence, the present sense of the limits of modernity, found in nations as diverse as Iran, Poland, and the United States, must be seen as a largely unexpected, if not entirely unwelcome, reaction by those who have endured the dogmas of develop ment while remaining untouched by the tremors of real development.
