ABSTRACT
Globalised discourses of childhood and youth have not been the only international influence on the lives of young people over the past half-century. The general development policies pursued by multilateral and bilateral donors, NGOs and Third World governments have been as, if not more, influential. A number of distinct conceptualisations of ‘development’ have inspired policy interventions. Few of these have given much attention to the interests of children and youth, but they have shaped the contexts in which young people live and grow up. This chapter begins with an examination of the key development paradigms pursued over the past 50 years, in relation to their impacts on children and youth, and then examines the broader contexts of globalisation, growing inequality and poverty that Third World children inhabit.
