by Ashish Kothari
“Hola, Gustavo, como estas?!”
“Hola, Ashish … bien, y tu?”
“Bien, Gustavo!”
Continue reading ““Hola, Gustavo!”- A personal tribute to Gustavo Esteva”
Tag: post-development
Urgencies and imperatives for revolutionary (environmental) transitions: from degrowth and postdevelopment towards the pluriverse?
by Jorge Garcia-Arias and Julia Schöneberg
Ontological transitions from the ‘one’ world to ‘a world in which many worlds fit’
There can be no doubt: revolutionary steps are needed to build just alternatives to the failed mainstream model of hegemonic ‘development’ and the universal conception of the ‘one world’ that have proven themselves to ultimately be destructive (Büscher 2019). ‘Pluriverse. A Post-Development Dictionary’ and ‘The Case for Degrowth’ provide clues and inspiration as to where, how, who, with whom, and by what means to start walking. Neither book disappoints, although they leave important questions open.
Beyond human rights ‘promotion’: reimagining the EU-South Caucasus relation
by Laura Luciani
The EU’s policies of human rights ‘promotion’ in the South Caucasus region are loaded with coloniality. Rather than projecting a pre-set agenda with homogenising outcomes, the EU should recognise the ‘right to opacity’ of South Caucasus communities and create space for locally meaningful, emancipatory claims to emerge.
Continue reading “Beyond human rights ‘promotion’: reimagining the EU-South Caucasus relation”
On the Colonial Problem in the EU’s ‘Sustainable’ Trade Agreements
by Camille Nessel
This contribution is part of a blog series seeking to explore how postdevelopment approaches can inform, infuse and potentially transform the study of EU (development) policies and relationships with the Global South.
European colonialism describes a complex period of economic exploitation, racial ideologies and cultural domination. In the last stages of colonialism towards the 1880’s, ideas of a philanthropic civilizing mission were institutionalized. During this civilizing mission, EU member countries like France began to systematically civilize indigenous people through Western “superior” values. This logic shows surprising parallels with sustainable development ideas in the EU’s trade agreements, as I will argue.
Continue reading “On the Colonial Problem in the EU’s ‘Sustainable’ Trade Agreements”
EU trade policy and the “meta-participation” challenge
by Diāna Potjomkina
This contribution is part of a blog series seeking to explore how postdevelopment approaches can inform, infuse and potentially transform the study of EU (development) policies and relationships with the Global South.
The ways in which citizen participation is currently organized for “development” purposes have been questioned by critical observers including the post-development community but also by representatives of the mainstream development world, such as some of the World Bank’s lead economists. Criticism is – justifiably – directed at top-down approaches of the donors, ignoring local power relations, and at participatory fora which lack real impact. In too many cases, the search of “fast policy” and easy solutions has led to uncritical adoption of one-size-fits-all solutions which can easily fail in foreign contexts, even if they were genuinely successful in their place of origin.
Continue reading “EU trade policy and the “meta-participation” challenge”
Development Cooperation in a Post-Growth Era
by Ulla Puckhaber & Tanja Brumbauer (NELA -Next Economy Lab)
“Without growth – no investments, without growth there are no jobs, without growth there is no money for education, without growth there is no help for the weak”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said when introducing the Growth Acceleration Act in November 2009. However, in times of massive ecological overshoot and increasing inequalities worldwide, this growth dependency is increasingly questioned, particularly the notion of ”green growth”. Critics ask: Is economic growth really indispensable for wellbeing and (global) justice? Or is it, on the contrary, rather a source of global inequalities, severe environmental crises and- even a possible economic decline in the long run?
Continue reading “Development Cooperation in a Post-Growth Era”
An African Renaissance perspective on EU-Africa relations
by Valentina Brogna
In this blog Valentina Brogna explores how the concept of African Renaissance (AR) may reshape the relations between the European Union (EU) and Africa. Partly building on African and diasporic perspectives, she argues that EU-Africa relations are still imbued with coloniality, that there is unclarity as to what delinking from Western modernity would entail for Africa, and that the EU should first and foremost listen rather than proactively seek agreements.
This contribution is part of a blog series seeking to explore how postdevelopment approaches can inform, infuse and potentially transform the study of EU (development) policies and relationships with the Global South.
Continue reading “An African Renaissance perspective on EU-Africa relations”
In times of crises: Why there is no place for ‘development’ in imagining a just future for all
by Adriana Cancar
In these current times of crises, and I purposely use crises in the plural, fatal misconceptions of ‘development’ and ‘growth’ are becoming even more blatantly apparent. Any given day we can see the consequences of ‘development’. Humans are forced to look for a safe place to live as their homes are simply inhabitable due to environmental degradation, land grabs, extractivism, heat waves, floods, droughts and fires. All the while, it feels like the climate crisis is only taken seriously by young people most likely to experience the devastating consequences of a fossil-based, mass consumptive and resource-intensive lifestyle. Slowly but surely global warming is also hitting the global North – and that means crises also affect ‘us’, the (relatively) ‘privileged’. By ‘privileged’ I mean those that for decades have profited from a fossil-based, mass-consumptive lifestyle all the while externalizing its costs. Continue reading “In times of crises: Why there is no place for ‘development’ in imagining a just future for all”
The What and the How of Teaching Global Development
by Anke Schwittay
A little over two years ago, this Convivial Thinking blog started with a collective conversation about decolonizing teaching pedagogies. Since then a number of posts have further added to the discussion, and especially its decolonial dimension. Since John Cameron wrote in 2013 about the ‘broader failure in the academy to subject our teaching to serious critical reflection and to consider it worthy of serious writing and publication,’ things are slowly changing in Development Studies, not in small part due to efforts to decolonize the development curriculum. This is both encouraging and important, for as bell hooks has argued, ‘the classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.’ Many of these contributions have focused on what we are teaching development students, often looking to diversify reading lists. That is not enough, however – how we teach is just as important as what we teach.
Continue reading “The What and the How of Teaching Global Development”
Cosying up the desirability of EU democracy support in Africa to postdevelopment: a bridge too far?
by Nathan Vandeputte
This contribution is part of a blog series seeking to explore how postdevelopment approaches can inform, infuse and potentially transform the study of EU (development) policies and relationships with the Global South.
In 2018, Freedom House recorded the 13th consecutive decline in ‘global freedom’, otherwise described as an ‘unfolding third wave of autocratization’. A notable factor has allegedly been the complacency of the international community, in particular the US, Russia, and China. Yet, also the EU is admonished, particularly since its new foreign policy instrument – the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument that was approved by the European Council in July 2020 – does not convincingly emphasize democracy.