ABSTRACT
Post-development has the merit of unconditionally criticising development and declaring the impossibility of its reformulation. This is unique to this current of thought. No other authors or movements have proposed the abandonment of development. Even the anti-globalisation movement, probably the widest and most heterogeneous opponent to the current predominant socio-economic model in the world, while opposing corporate-led globalisation, capitalism and neoliber-alism, make no explicit reference to opposing development. Post-development, on the other side, says that ‘the idea of development stands like a ruin in the intellectual landscape; development has become outdated … it has grown obsolete’ (Sachs 1992: 1). The immediate question that arises in the development debate is: what comes after development? The expectation is that the answer will constitute an alternative discourse to that of development. But, is this possible? And more important, is it desirable?
