Development

Abstract

The relationship between globalization and development is a problematic one, not only in the real world, but also because there is a lack of clarity over both terms in the debate. For example, the study of development rose to prominence in the period after 1945, but classical political economy's focus on the wealth of nations had been effectively concerned with development. In the postwar period, development was something which largely focused on the nation‐state, but it was also a global phenomenon, much of which was concerned, as we will see, with whether the global context hindered or boosted developmental prospects. Most of the debate, however, is concerned with the relationship between the globalization of the past 30 years, and developmental prospects for poorer countries. But even this is complicated by the fact that there are different meanings of development, particularly as in recent years some critical thinkers have questioned the idea that development is desirable (Escobar 1995). The bulk of this entry will focus on the relationship between globalization and development in recent years, but to do this, some consideration of the postwar period is also needed. There are therefore three sections: the first examines development in the postwar period up until the neoliberal turn in the late 1970s and early 1980s; second, the question of globalization is briefly examined, and related to the development debate and, specifically, renewed modernization theory; and third, the relationship between contemporary globalization and development is examined in some depth, in part through a defense of the debates over development theory that are too often regarded as being out of date in the global era.