Debating development discourse : institutional and popular perspectives / edited by David B. Moore and Gerald J. Schmitz ; foreword by Colin Leys.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Foreword / Colin Leys -- 1. Development Discourse as Hegemony: Towards an Ideological History - 1945-1995 / David B. Moore -- 2. Democratization and Demystification: Deconstructing 'Governance' as Development Paradigm / Gerald J. Schmitz -- 3. Structural Adjustment and the Prospects for Democracy in Southern Africa / Manfred A. Bienefeld -- 4. From African Socialism to Scientific Capitalism: Reflections on the Legitimation Crisis in IMF-ruled Africa / James Ferguson -- 5. Urban Social Movements, the Housing Question and Development Discourse in South Africa / Patrick Bond -- 6. From 'Equity' and 'Participation' to Structural Adjustment: State and Social Forces in Zimbabwe / Lloyd M. Sachikonye -- 7. NGOs and the Problematic Discourse of Participation: Cases from Costa Rica / Laura Macdonald -- 8. Participation: Local versus Expert Knowledge at the Environmental Public Hearings for a Pulp Mill in Northern Alberta, Canada / Michael Gismondi, Joan Sherman and Mary Richardson.

The theory and practice of international 'development' reflect the precipices of crisis the world is currently poised upon. This book critically reflects on the current deadlock in institutional and academic development discourse, and analyses popular resistance to global 'development' strategies imposed by capital and bureaucratic state power.

The book uses Gramscian methodology to investigate how post-1945 development discourse has evolved as part of capital's efforts to manufacture hegemony in a changing, crisis-ridden global political economy, and illustrates how 'buzzwords' like equity, sustainability and participation have become integral elements in this ideological battlefield.

Continuing with impassioned and well-informed critiques of current neo-liberal economic and 'governance' policies, followed by studies of African moral opposition to structural adjustment's 'scientific capitalism', South African housing struggles, Zimbabwean development discourse, Costa Rican agrarian NGOs, and northern Albertan public environmental hearings, it advocates deepening popular participatory democracy to enhance global sustainability and equity.