ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 shows that the three temporal perspectives discussed in Chapters 2, 3 and 4 – past, present and future, respectively – merge to implement the political function of the HDRs: the construction of a symbolic representation of the world to stabilize the status quo during the transition from the bipolar Cold War to the unipolar post-Cold War period. The inquiry in this chapter explains that the UNDP strengthened and consolidated the development–underdevelopment antagonistic division of the world that replaced the liberalism–communism antagonism of the bipolar period.
