RETURN OF DEVELOPMENT: A POLYCENTRIC WORLD IN SEARCH OF A NEW EXISTENTIAL PARADIGM

Abstract

The article examines the evolution of the theories of socio-economic modernization at the end of the XX – first quarter of the XXI century. In the last century, creative rivalry took place between three main ideological and theoretical trends – West-centrist, national-statist and left-wing radical. The difficulties of transforming the complex socio-economic structure of transitional societies have predetermined the gradual loss of the influence of the West-centrist trend and the increasing importance of national-statist and left-wing radical сurrents of thought in the system of knowledge about developing countries. The “truncated globalization” and the “Washington consensus” resulted in the collapse of the monocentric world order and put the development paradigm at the center of the search for a new model of human evolution. Today, development is objectively becoming an imperative for the modernization of all societies, including those of the industrialized nations. The “Development agenda” is, therefore, emerging as an important precondition for the formation of a new, polycentric model of international relations, which is based on the principles of dialogue and interaction between States and civilizations.