Discussion Of Development Research Articles

Guatemalan Discourses and Practices of Development and Social Categories - On Our Own Terms: Development and Indigeneity in Cold War Guatemala. By Sarah Foss. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2022. Pp. 234. $99.00 cloth; $29.95 paper; $22.90 e-book.

Guatemalan Discourses and Practices of Development and Social Categories - On Our Own Terms: Development and Indigeneity in Cold War Guatemala. By Sarah Foss. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2022. Pp. 234. $99.00 cloth; $29.95 paper; $22.90 e-book.

The interplay of normative, descriptive, and prescriptive discourses in shaping student teacher development: an analysis of physical education inspection reports

Purpose: This study aimed to analyze physical education (PE) inspection discourse for insights into mentoring practices and teaching quality improvement. Examining reports provided perspective into normative, descriptive, and prescriptive evaluation aspects shaping student teacher development. Methods: The study involved 29 Tunisian inspectors of student teachers at the High Institute of Sport and Physical Education during the Fall 2022 academic term. In total, 117 pedagogical reports were obtained confidentially for discourse analysis. The analysis focuses on three types of discourse that may be present in the inspection reports: normative, descriptive, and prescriptive. The objective is to extract the most frequently used words and verbs by inspectors and to quantify the frequency of terms related to these three dimensions. Results: Analysis of verb and word frequencies within different discourse types revealed a significant association (χ² test, P= .0013, Cramer's V= .17, moderate effect size). Pedagogical inspectors predominantly employed normative language, with 78.1% of words and 62.7% of verbs falling into this category. This dominance suggests a focus on guiding, advising, and encouraging teachers through references to specific standards and practices. Notably, verbs like "guide" and "suggest" (14% and 12% frequency, respectively) were prevalent, highlighting a collaborative approach over direct imposition. Conclusions: This study challenges the singular focus on discourse modalities in inspector reports, revealing a multifaceted discourse ecosystem. While normative language sets standards and benchmarks, descriptive language captures classroom realities, and prescriptive language offers targeted guidance. This interplay fosters critical reflection, professional autonomy, and continuous improvement in student teachers. Inspectors, therefore, emerge as more than evaluators; they are facilitators.

Privilegios del sector privado y el discurso desarrollista del turismo. Análisis del contexto internacional y colombiano

The growth of tourism at the international level is the highest in history. As a result, the institutional framework of this activity has positioned a discourse that makes tourism be seen as a source of development for the territories, but what is proposed in the study is that in reality this discourse hides a series of economic interests. Thus, the objective of this article is to identify the economic and political interests that are found within tourism policies or in the developmentalist discourse of tourism. To this end, a critical analysis of the discourse of legislation and official information from institutions at different scales of geographic incidence is carried out. The main result is that support for the economic interests of some central actors is disguised through a series of social ideas that in reality are not fulfilled. In this sense, the contribution and originality of the work focuses on the methodological approach applied from the critical analysis of the discourse to official documents of organizations that lead tourism, to show that there are some interests that are being favored there.

Weaving a Dense Web: A (Decolonial) Study into the Contributions of Host Organizations of Development Volunteers in Jalisco, Mexico

Despite increasing interest in the role played by global South receiving organizations of development volunteers, their agency and efforts are rarely investigated in detail. Our qualitative study explores the involvement of receiving partners in international volunteering spaces, using the German Weltwärts programme in Mexico as an example. By applying decolonial theory, and politics and ethics of care lens to our data, we explore how these organizations are ‘weaving’ a dense assistance and safety web around the volunteers. Such assistance is usually not monetized and mainly invisible in the discussion of volunteering for development. Our findings challenge the development discourse and the positionality of northern volunteers within the development architecture.

Environmental criteria when assessing the effectiveness of projects and development programs: Ensuring sustainability and economic security

Currently, the study of environmental criteria when assessing the effectiveness of development projects and programs has deep relevance in the modern environment of sustainable development discourse. At its core, the theme is a cross-cutting issue where environmental imperatives converge with socio-economic needs, embodying the imperative to combine environmental protection with economic prosperity. Understanding the environmental criteria embedded in project evaluation is critical because of the inherent interdependencies between human activities and ecological systems. Moreover, the study of environmental criteria contributes to a more detailed understanding of the dynamics of sustainability, outlining pathways towards sustainable and regenerative development trajectories. Sustainable development depends on reconciling environmental integrity with socio- economic progress, which requires the adoption of holistic approaches that go beyond simple mitigation of environmental impacts. By clarifying environmental thresholds and tipping points associated with development projects and programs, integrating environmental criteria facilitates the identification of sustainability bottlenecks and the formulation of adaptive management strategies.

INNOVATIONOLOGY: A GOUNDBREAKING TRANSDISCIPLINARY FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE AND EQUITABLE DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA

The development landscape in Africa has been shaped by persistent challenges and unmet aspirations, with traditional, top-down approaches frequently failing to address the complex, context-specific needs and potentials of African societies. In response to this, the innovationology paradigm, a pioneering transdisciplinary framework, has emerged as a promising new approach to driving sustainable and equitable development across the continent. This article presents a comprehensive exploration of the innovationology framework, drawing on rigorous qualitative analyses to demonstrate its transformative potential. Through in-depth case studies, the study unpacks the key components, theoretical underpinnings, and practical applications of innovationology, highlighting its capacity to empower marginalized communities, foster collaborative innovation, and catalyze systemic change. The findings reveal the multifaceted ways in which innovationology-informed initiatives have addressed pressing development challenges, such as access to clean water, sustainable agriculture, inclusive entrepreneurship, maternal and child health, and renewable energy, across diverse African contexts. Importantly, the article underscores the versatility of the innovationology approach in leveraging virtual and online platforms to overcome logistical and infrastructural barriers, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. By synthesizing the theoretical foundations, empirical insights, and critical success factors, the article presents an integrated conceptual model that offers a comprehensive, transdisciplinary framework for understanding the transformative potential of innovationology. The implications of this framework are farreaching, as it challenges traditional development models, champions frugal and inclusive innovation, encourages transdisciplinary collaboration, and embraces decolonial and postcolonial praxis. The study's findings have significant implications for the development discourse and practice in Africa, with the potential to reshape trajectories towards more sustainable, equitable, and self-determined pathways. By pursuing future research and implementation directions, the innovationology paradigm can continue to evolve, adapt, and contribute to the realization of a more inclusive and prosperous future for the African continent.

Dialectics of Opportunities and Challenges in Disciplinary Shifting of ‘Rural Development’ into ‘Development Studies’

This paper aims to discuss the emerging trend and scope of Development Studies as an academic discipline. Methodologically, the paper is based on secondary sources of data. A comparative and argumentative method has been followed in a continuum approach to Rural Development and Development Studies. It argues that conventional particularistic approaches to development are being upgraded in the more general domain of Development Studies. Therefore, going with some national and international trends of studies in both disciplines, this paper offers a strong recommendation for the adoption of Development Studies with exploration and extended continuity of Rural Development. The paper does not, however, conclude with the immortality of the discipline of Development Studies but stands with its continuous evolution and contestation. Taking the reference of Nepal, the paper has highlighted different issues, opportunities, and challenges of such shifting in terms of quality of the program, courses and faculties, career and exposure, and research potential and policy dilemma. The paper is expected to contribute to the studies of different paradigms and discourses of development in their given contexts and conditions of socio-political realties.

Sago and Rice are Ambiguous: Food Security Under the Food Hood of Development Discourse in Mentawai Islands

This article discusses the food polemic that occurs in Mentawai due to development programs. Since the New Order era until now, development programs have enveloped the lives of Mentawai people, disrupting the balance, especially food security issues. Analysis from FSVA (Food Security and Vulnerability Map) shows that Mentawai Islands regency is the only area that experiences food insecurity in West Sumatra province. Through a descriptive approach and elaborating on the results of previous research, it shows the factors of development programs carried out by the government that are fatal to the food security of the Mentawai people, especially the transition from sago to rice. The result shows that the food security of Mentawai people is disrupted through the development process with the mission of 'modernizing' Mentawai people. Thus, making them far away and even switch from local food, namely sago, taro and banana sourced from the forest to rice. This is due to the government intervention through the 'resettlement program', social assistance, limited forest access and weak economic capabilities that put them under the pressure of development discourse and as if they need help. Whereas it is not what Mentawai people want and need. As a result, their access to food, which has been sourced from the forest, has been replaced by the rice paddy printing program. However, as an ethnic group that has a culture of gathering and hunting and farming, they do not have the ability to grow crops (agriculture). Therefore, the Mentawai people are still in the poverty line and the dilemma between eating sago or rice, both of which are not easy to obtain.

Beyond binaries: a comparative analysis of police reform in Jamaica and Canada

ABSTRACT This article challenges the developed-developing binary when understanding police reform by comparing two cases – Jamaica and Canada. Grounded in critical development studies and criminology literatures, it demonstrates divergences in police organizational structures/mandates and some convergences in police reform efforts, failures, and resistance to systemic change despite vast context variations. Therefore, it creates room for questioning the challenges of police reform in the development discourse as primarily a feature of a nation’s development, or lack thereof, and instead prompts us to rethink how we conceptualize, understand, and address police institutional structures that affect both developing and developed countries alike.

Gender-Based Development Discourse and Its Impact on Women Informal Workers in Yogyakarta

Gender-based development in its implementation has challenges along with its characteristics, to be specific in efforts to achieve gender equality. Gender discrimination still occurs in Indonesia. It has become a culture in society which increasingly places women in a marginalized position. In this case, gender-based development is one of the main goals of the country’s development, as stated in the 2005-2025 RPJPN. Gender-appropriate roles need to be supported by efforts to optimize the role of women to bring about active participation in the development and eliminate inequality experienced by women. One way to realize gender-based development is through empowering women in informal work. The method used is qualitative, and data collection is carried out through semi-structured interviews and content analysis on media which that refer to the topic. The data is analyzed using the Miles and Huberman models with data reduction, data display, conclusions drawing/ verification, and given recommendations. The results of this study indicate that gender- based development in D.I. Yogyakarta has yet to succeed in reaching the understanding of the community, especially women informal workers.

Community forestry in a changing context: A perspective from Nepal’s mid-hill

Community forestry (CF) is one of the major forest management modalities in the world. A growing body of literature documents various outcomes and interactions of people with CF, but limited studies have assessed the mode of forest-people interaction considering changing socio-economic and environmental contexts by employing a broader theoretical framework. Our study employed Ostrom’s social-ecological system (SES) framework accompanied by a meta-synthesis of peer-reviewed literature (n = 74), review of policy documents and census reports (n = 28), interviews with four stakeholder groups (n = 47) and group discussions with district-level forest user groups (n = 20), to explore the changed context in Nepal’s mid-hills since 1990 s. The study revealed transformational changes in socio-economic and environmental contexts of Nepal’s mid-hills compared to the conditions in which the CF was developed during 1990 s. Changes in the forces (or factors) of SES, including demography, socio-economic development, government policy and environmental discourse are so pronounced that its feedback to the social-ecological system is discernible. For example, the evolving dynamics have changed the mode of forest-people interaction and their relationship by altering land use practices, resource use patterns, farm-forestry linkage, and pool of human resources, which is reflected in diminishing participation, social capital, collective action, and (voluntary) contribution to CF management. Such (emerging) dynamics in the social-ecological system could further jeopardise CF institutions and their deliberation, weaken the forest-food security nexus, augment leadership gaps in forest management, and impede the country’s efforts in achieving global climate and development goals. To revitalize CF in this changing context, we suggest that community forests should be managed in three different models: urban, protection and production by putting payment of ecosystem services in place. As Nepal is a global leader in CF and its policies are informing forest and land use policies around the world, the outcomes of our study could offer an insight to the decision-makers of other countries for recalibrating land use policies by considering evolving local and global dynamics and their feedback to SES.

Development Policies and Subjective Economic Wellbeing: Evidence From India

In recent years, there has been a significant expansion in India’s development policy discourse accompanied by rights-based approach, grassroots transformation and socio-economic change. Consequently, impact evaluation has become central to development interventions. However, the evaluation of subjective measures within development policy discourse remains under-studied. The purpose of this article is to examine the impact of development policies on subjective economic wellbeing (SEWB) in India. Utilising household data from India human development survey and applying ordered probit regression, we test medium-term impact of development policies on SEWB. The findings show that while development policy does have significant impact in driving SEWB, interaction among development policies also curates interesting perspectives. Moreover, evidence suggests that relative social and economic considerations are significant in driving SEWB. The article attempts to combine insights from the development discourse and an empirical approach to go beyond a critique and draw emphasis on SEWB in an emerging economy context. JEL Codes: O11, O53, R28

Challenging the Growth Paradigm: A Multifaceted Examination of Development, Disparity, and Environmental Concerns in Modern Economies

In the intricate landscape of developmental dynamics, understanding growth requires a deep dive into diverse factors, including urban-rural imbalances, dual economies, environmental ramifications, and gender disparities. Historically, colonial policies often favored urban development, exacerbating rural-urban divides, as seen in movements like Brazil's Landless Workers'. Furthermore, the dichotomy in economic structures elevates societal equity challenges, especially between traditional and modern sectors. As exemplified by India's Chipko movement, the environmental aftermath of colonial resource extraction lingers. The gender discourse has matured, with campaigns such as #MeToo spotlighting workplace equity. China, post-1976, epitomizes the potential and pitfalls of swift industrialization, providing invaluable insights for emerging economies. Given these multifaceted considerations, the essence of growth has become a pivotal research topic today. Dissecting the nuances of development encompasses disparities, regional variances, and environmental hurdles, weaving a complex tapestry that underscores the criticality of comprehensive developmental evaluations. As nations evolve, differences intensify, leading to significant socio-environmental challenges. This essay unravels these complexities, merging historical insights with present-day implications and setting the stage for future discourses in development.

“Bien Vivir” Entre el “desarrollo” y la Des/Colonialidad del Poder

In this essay, one of the last he published, Aníbal Quijano opens the debate on a fundamental issue to understand the world in which we live: the root crisis of the colonial/modern/Eurocentric pattern of power and good living as a historical option for the future . After questioning the development discourse, which sought to modify power relations in Latin America, it examines the new historical period characterized by “the root crisis of the global coloniality of power” and by the emergence of a new resistance that aims at the /coloniality of power. In the midst of the crisis of coloniality/modernity/Eurocentricity, a new horizon of historical meaning is emerging: good living as “the continuous democratic production of social existence” that implies the emergence of another possible world, that is, equality. social, reciprocity in work relationships, communal association as the mode of direct production and management of collective authority.

Neoliberal Multiculturalism and Changing Colonial Racial Hierarchies in International Development

This research examines a shift in international development discourse away from more overtly colonial and abject depictions of people from the Global South toward foregrounding positive portrayals of people from the Global South who are self-reliant and empowered through entrepreneurship and market labor. Through interviews, observations, and content analysis of university-based development programs and development organizations, we examine the racial meaning and consequences of this shift. We argue that this discourse reformulates colonial racial hierarchies in development by suturing racial value to adherence to free market ideals, such as freedom and fulfillment through markets, while legitimizing these changes through affirmations of multiculturalism. This shift in development aligns with a broader context of neoliberal multiculturalism, which has reconfigured racial hierarchies based on adherence to multicultural global citizenship and free market principles. This research illustrates the changing intersections of race, colonialism, neoliberalism, and development and speaks to the importance of universities and development organizations in shaping racial meaning and inequalities in a global context.

Social Development: Synthesizing Theory and Practice

This paper traces the trajectory of my thinking on social development shaped, initially, by the huge changes that swept South Africa in the 1990s. It describes my early focus on discerning what the policy-driven changes to a developmental welfare system meant for social work and the subsequent critical turn, as social development proved extremely difficult to translate to practice. It traces the changes in my thinking on coming to Australia in 1999, when the country was undergoing a period of massive welfare reform, firmly embedding neoliberal privatization policy. In reflecting on switching concepts in the social development discourse, the discussion turns to its embrace of neoliberalism. Thereafter, it considers three models to highlight the turn from centralized planning, which held the government responsible for social development, to social enterprise, which divested government of its responsibility, and a critical development model that linked national policy to the wider international system. Noting critiques of neoliberal social development, the discussion ends with the current trajectory of my thinking outlined in a critical model for developmental practice with the core foci being the structural–political, cultural–contextual, critical–developmental, and environmental–spiritual dimensions of social development.

Sustainable development policies and interventions: A bibliometric analysis of the contributions of the academic community

Sustainable development has become a global watch phrase among policymakers, policy implementers, development practitioners, academic and non-academic institutions, governments, and non-governmental organizations for pursuing and creating a just and sustainable future for all. Here, a descriptive bibliometric analysis of the contributions of the academic community to the sustainable development discourse was carried out. The results indicate that between 1999 and 2022 over 160,076 works were published by academics on sustainable development, with a huge proportion of these publications being research articles. Most of these publications are in the areas of environmental science, energy, and social sciences, among others. Furthermore, majority of the publications on sustainable development in Africa are on social sciences compared to the environmental science focus for the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Regarding publications on sustainable development policies, there are 1781 publications between 1998 and 2022 with the majority focusing on environmental sciences, energy, and social sciences. Only 37 publications were recorded across the world between 2000 and 2022 with a focus on sustainable development interventions, and the majority were on social sciences and environmental science. In conclusion, the academic community has made a noticeable but imbalanced contribution to the sustainable development discourse and global transformation agenda.

«Islamic Socialism» in Pakistan: Evolution, Implementation and Legacy in Domestic and Foreign Policy

The article examines the phenomenon of "Islamic socialism" in Pakistan and its impact on the nation's current domestic and foreign policies. Employing critical theory, the author delves into an analysis of the political class's objectives and how the environmental context influenced the political process, offering insights into the perceptions held by higher echelons. The application of elite theory allows for a deconstruction of the Pakistani statehood, unveiling the specific social groups shaping developmental trajectories. By leveraging historical sociology in international relations, the article investigates the influence of historical underpinnings on the decision-making of social groups, shedding light on their endeavors to construct the past for political purposes.The study meticulously traces the origins of "Islamic socialism," exploring the discourse's evolution in the initial decades following the country's independence. It identifies the driving forces that led the state leadership to adopt the model of "Islamic socialism." Focused on the tenure of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (1971-1977), the article examines the implementation of the "Islamic socialism" policy and the subsequent reasons for its failure, culminating in a military coup. The author contends that the principles of "Islamic socialism" introduced in Pakistan's domestic and foreign policy retained relevance even after its rejection.Conclusively, the article posits that the "Islamic socialism" constructed by Pakistani elites, often viewed through an orientalist lens, emerged not only as a response to the crisis in Pakistani statehood but paradoxically, became a crucial driver in shaping Islamabad's foreign policy determinants. Notably, this development forged integral relationships with China and the Islamic world, evolving into pivotal imperatives in Pakistan's grand strategy.This study highlights the interplay between "Islamic socialism," the crisis in Pakistani statehood, and its unforeseen impact on foreign policy, ultimately forming the bedrock for Islamabad's strategic engagements with China and the Islamic world.

The Missing Link

For the vast majority of agricultural workers in the tenant peasantry class, the direct relation to a landscape valorized by a plantation economy is simultaneously a constantly mediated, ever-precarious economic relation to global capital. Since 1945, discourses of development have only deepened extractive and deeply unequal modes of governance and sociality in this context and across the Global South*. It is in this context that I aim to assess the politicized technics of precarity, weather prediction, and economics of agriculture in the Philippines under the authoritarian rule of Ferdinand Marcos. In studying the Philippines during its violent neoliberal transformation period, I hope to extract an ideal portrait of the environmental, technological, and economic logics of postcolonial globalization. To do so, I will assess a subtle yet crucial point in the Philippines’ history of science, technology, and the environment: the implementation of a meteorological telecommunications network and Marcos’s reordering of these stations as the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, or PAGASA (meaning “hope” in Tagalog). By understanding the several scales of political economy at work in direct relation to such a network, this paper seeks to illuminate the multiple dimensions of social instability rooted in the Philippine government’s neoliberal conflation of environment and economy. The architectures and technologies of network, then, highlight the numerous ways in which weather forecasting, agricultural production, and political control intersect in infrastructural development.

Contesting Development Practice and Discourse in Cold War Guatemala

Contesting Development Practice and Discourse in Cold War Guatemala