Development Beyond Neoliberalism?

Development's current focus - poverty reduction and good governance - signals a turn away from the older neoliberal preoccupation with structural adjustment, privatisation, and downsizing the state. Policies of poverty reduction, good governance, social inclusion and well-being now dominate, and for some, these new emphases constitute a decisive break with the past, and a whole set of new development possibilities beyond neoliberalism. Taking a wider historical perspective, this book...
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Development's current focus - poverty reduction and good governance - signals a turn away from the older neoliberal preoccupation with structural adjustment, privatisation, and downsizing the state. Policies of poverty reduction, good governance, social inclusion and well-being now dominate, and for some, these new emphases constitute a decisive break with the past, and a whole set of new development possibilities beyond neoliberalism. Taking a wider historical perspective, this book charts the emergence of poverty reduction and governance at the centre of development. It shows that the Poverty Reduction paradigm does indeed mark a shift in the wider liberal project that has underpinned development: precisely what is new, and what this means for how the poor are governed, are here described in detail. The unique book, ideal for students of development studies, geography and sociology, is among the first to take the poverty reduction paradigm as its central focus, offering a comprehensive introduction, overview and critique.; It traces the emergence of the framework and illustrates its consequences with stories and cases from first hand experience in Pakistan, New Zealand, Vietnam, Indigenous Australia and Uganda. It combines close, ethnographic experience of everyday development programs with analysis based in political economy, critical and 'governmentalities' perspectives, to show how problems of governing the poor and delivering services are framed in current development practice.