Developmentalism : the normative and transformative within capitalism /
Graham Harrison.
- 2020.
- 282 p. ; 25 cm.
- Critical frontiers of theory, research, and policy in international development studies .
- Critical frontiers of theory, research, and policy in international development studies. .
Includes bibliographical references (p. 261-280) and index.
"Why do so few countries achieve development success? Achieving development requires many changes over a short period of time, generating instability and risk. It is a deep and integrated economy of change involving force, strategic thinking, and ideological conviction - it emerges when successful development is seen as necessary for the survival of a political order. 'Developmentalism' engages with the moral issues that this raises. 'Developmentalism: The Normative and Transformative within Capitalism' uses a historical comparative approach to understand development as a transformation which involves a deep and integrated political economy of change - a shift from a state of 'capital-ascendance' to 'capital dominance'. It is only through a transformation towards capital dominance that mass poverty reduction and the construction of a commonwealth are possible. However, capitalist development is extremely difficult and requires a highly exacting political endeavor. The politics of development is conceptualized as developmentalism: a strategy and ideology in which governments exercise heavy directive power, endure instability and crisis, and secure a rudimentary legitimacy for their efforts. This book argues that developmentalism requires a conflation of successful capitalist transformation with some form of existential insecurity of the state itself. It flourishes when capitalist transformation connects to profound questions of sovereignty, statehood, nation-building, and elite survival. 'Developmentalism' shows deep contextualisation of capitalist transformation as well as the massive improvements in material life that it has generated" --