ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the features of development theory, from their origins in liberal ‘modernisation and development’ theories produced in the United States from the 1950s, through their reproduction in a wide array of neo-Marxist and newer critical approaches, including post-colonial theory and subaltern studies. It presents the task of elaborating a different ontology and history of global development. From the start, the development project conceived of development as national growth. One of the most significant achievements of the development project was its success in producing and gaining wide acceptance of a profoundly erroneous account of Western historical development. Most perspectives on development take as their analytic starting point a conception of the ‘social’ as divided into a multiplicity of bounded national societies. The forging of ties of solidarity, identity, and unity, and the integration and expansion of markets—all are predominantly trans-national rather than national phenomena.
