Progress beyond development : reclaiming the active individual

Abstract

This thesis follows in development theory's post-impasse attempts to theorise an understanding of social change according to which people in developing countries would be active producers of their own development without this descending into the relativistic impotence of post-development; that is, the search for an understanding of development in which the field can retain its normative commitment and contribution to a better world for all without the neo-imperialistic implications this has had in the past. To do so we must first overcome prevalent caricatures of twentieth century development's 'we develop it' mentality and recognise that this search is not a uniquely modern one: it has been an implicit concern of development theory since the field's conception. The concept of 'development' itself, particularly the way in which it theorises the relationship between the internal and external aspects of social change, lies at the heart of development theory's failures to meet this challenge. A reconceptualisation of the internal-external problem, based on the concept of 'progress' from which development was initially differentiated and which puts the active individual at the heart of social change, can provide a way forward, with important implications for development policy and theorists.