International Development Studies and Ethical Dilemmas in Academia

Abstract

ABSTRACT Since its onset in the early 1960s, Development Studies (and International Development Studies) has been a field in search of a discipline, clearly subordinated to various governmental and international agencies' development policies and practices. Born during the Cold War in a post-colonial setting and under the confinements of a Western academic environment, the field has also carried some of the peculiar ideological traits of its founding disciplines: economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology. These historical traits have been compounded by a progressive closure of academic debate and critical analysis that have rendered the field increasingly void of critical content and ethical reflection. The essence of the current crisis of development studies has been the result of the convergence of two factors. One is the hegemony of an almost tautological paradigm: neo-liberal structural adjustment policies. The other is the transformation of academic institutions from a “critical outsider” role to that of bidder for development monies. In this context, the need to reformulate development thinking towards a more holistic, “outside the box,” analytical and ethical perspective is both a practical and theoretical imperative.