DEVELOPMENT

The discourse surrounding development has for some time created a well circumscribed paradigm for states to work within in order to be seen to progress. Moreover, the increasing demand to keep up with globalization has further given weight to this discourse. However, the notion of development itself is arguably inextricably linked to western ideas of ‘progress’. As a result, the development discourse is deployed as a strategic means of propagating imperialistic endeavors. Thus, to begin to consider if we can think beyond the paradigm of development, this article will deconstruct the contemporary version of imperialism whereby western states are able to grow influence in economic, political and cultural terms.

Capitalism is experiencing a prolonged crisis and is forcing structural changes in the global economic system to perpetuate its hegemony. Increasing financialization of the global economy is producing ever increasing concentration of wealth and inequity. These changes are devastating livelihoods of people across continents with many consequences on people’s health. This article analyzes the global governance for health, the social determination of health and, finally, its commodification. It highlights the need of a global mobilization of civil society to build a transnational movement able to defend health in all its aspects.

Ever since the adoption of TRIPS, it has become increasingly clear that the intellectual property provisions of the WTO do not effectively support the needs of developing countries. Instead, they principally serve transnational corporate interests disproportionately. We discuss some pathologies of the system for public health, especially the challenge of effectively overcoming micronutrient deficiencies. We discuss the use of public health exceptions in WTO law and argue for greater use of tools such as compulsory licensing, especially with regard to affordably addressing malnutrition.

The United Nations views cooperatives as a key contributor to advancing the global development agenda, and seeks to work with cooperatives for the greater social good. Given their record of social empowerment and economic resilience, cooperatives promote a solidarity economy and people-centred development. Various potential areas of action are identified for further cooperative endeavours, including a Global Cooperative Development Bank for financing, expansion, research, learning and coordination.

After the generally acknowledged failure of privatization, public–private partnerships (PPPs) have been promoted as a better means for private interests to secure lucrative rents at public expense. PPPs are supposed to reduce the fiscal burden, fill the resource gap for much needed investment to achieve economic development and to better provide infrastructure and services. These claims are grossly exaggerated in light of actual experience. The private sector, for example, is supposed to be better in risk assessment and management; but all too often, the public sector ends up bearing the bulk of the risk, worsening fiscal burdens contrary to what has been promised. Through revenue guarantees to the private partner, PPPs socialize risks, enabling private gains. PPPs in social sectors, such as health, are particularly problematic as they tend to adversely affect access, thus undermining universal health coverage. PPPs have also distorted national investment and development strategies. Thus, by and large, PPPs generally do not serve the public interest well. Hence, public alternatives, including procurement, have to be considered, before governments commit to PPPs. Instead of promoting PPPs, such as ‘blended finance’ arrangements for aid delivery, sincere development partners should empower governments through appropriate strategic capacity building and budget support.

In 2010, Ghana celebrated its first commercial oil production from its large Jubilee field. However, the establishment of no-go buffer zones around oil infrastructures offshore to enhance oil and gas development has led to conflicts over the use of ocean space and the exclusion of small-scale fishers from former fishing grounds in the western region of Ghana. From a theoretical perspective, the resource curse theory would explain this conflict between fishing and oil activities in Ghana as an inevitable outcome of natural resource development. Using the conflict between small-scale fisheries and the oil and gas industry in Western Ghana as the case study, the resource curse theory and its application is contrasted with alternative approaches to understand the conflict.

Privatization of state owned enterprises (SOEs) has been a key plank of the neo-liberal counter-revolution against economic development since the 1980s. Privatization’s promoters promised improved efficiency and improved fiscal balances, both supposedly contributing to higher economic growth. Privatization was also supposed to ensure improved consumer welfare through increased competition and lower prices. Empirical support for these claims is scant and often contradictory. Thus, in many cases, privatization has been worse as a solution to the ills it purported to overcome. The problems of SOEs are not necessarily due to public ownership per se. In any case, there are alternative governance, management and organization means to improve SOE performance without privatization.

Reflecting on the 1980s origins of negative trends in CARICOM economies, Antrobus’ analysis considers the current social outcomes of neoliberalism. These include evidence from the shredding of social safety nets as well as governmental deregulation policies that make way for profit making at the expense of vulnerable human communities and ecosystems. She argues that increasing inequality and poverty, crime, violence against women, and environmental deterioration are systemically related. Drawing on examples of activist resistance among progressive national and regional organizations she suggests that forward-thinking leadership among all sexes in a growing LGBT movement, environmental activists raising public awareness of unregulated commerce, Indigenous resilience—all point to a cultural/intellectual shift in thinking set about by a new generation working toward transformative feminist politics in the region.

It is already clear that we are not on track to meet the SDGs. Getting back on track will require significant reforms of the global financial and economic system. This article examines the features of different development financing sources, systemic issues in the global economy and the way it is governed and sets out a programme of global economic governance reform to support the achievement of the SDGs.

As editor of the Development journal for 23 years, Wendy Harcourt takes a walk down memory lane in order to review the main themes that stand out for her as we consider what lies ahead. She reflects on four major themes which she argues informs development’s past and future: diversity, body politics, post-development and sustainable development.

Traditional knowledge is an invaluable basis for developing adaptation and natural resource management strategies in response to environmental and other forms of change. Significance of indigenous traditional knowledge has been recognized for resilience to climate change. The biotic diversity in genetic and biochemical components has been harnessed to secure life-sustaining food and medicinal sources. Traditional knowledge is therefore indispensable for human well-being and provides all or a significant number of the remedies required in health care.

Due to an unfortunate mistake, the authors’ affiliation has been omitted. Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience; Ryton-on-Dunsmore, UK

Peasant farming persists despite centuries of attempts to make it disappear. Revisiting Daoism, the duality between nature and culture in Western philosophy, the archetypes and myths in Jungian psychology, and emotions in neurophysiology, new attributes are suggested for peasant farming, providing some indication of why peasant farming cannot be compared to any other form of farming. It is because peasant farming has been excluded for centuries, and because it has been spared the contradictions and shortfalls of a Western productivist model, that it still keeps, often intact, the essence of what could become a new Social Contract for humanity.

This study encompasses a thorough literature review of studies on the concept of alternative capital, community currency, time banking, time exchanges and how Time Banks impact the cultural, emotional and social elements of individuals. It also tries to emphasize if alternative money is an inherent need to achieve wholesome capital and if so what factors influence it. The study starts by trying to find various forms of capital and if there exists an inherent need for individuals to look beyond existing currency to alternate forms of capital in order to achieve wholesome satisfaction from capital. It goes further encompassing a thorough literature review of research done on the concepts of alternative capital, community currency, Time Banking, time exchanges and factors dominating the need for such alternate currency exchange systems. The findings focus on the ways in which Time Banks impact the cultural, emotional and social fabric of individuals while, exploring if the concept of Time Banking could be a missing solution for integrated social inclusion of vulnerable communities.

The United Nations’ development function is vital to its purpose. Although the UN has many outstanding development achievements to its credit, its development-related organizations do not meet their full potential. They often do not work together, choose priorities that are well funded over those that have strategic potential, and fail to challenge or to shape development priorities and ways of thinking defined elsewhere. The UN should focus on activities to which its unique characteristics make it best suited and undertake changes that enable it better to act boldly, for example by acting as a convener of unruly but productive debates and by being a truthteller rather than a score keeper. The current process of reforming the governance of the UN’s development function holds promise, even in the present difficult political conditions, but is a mere beginning.

Virtually all areas of policy are commonly justified by reference to history. This article examines claims in literature which discusses the feasibility of ‘another Green Revolution’ and shows that almost all of the ‘history’ it deploys is poorly constructed. Moreover, since the authors in question arrive at a wide range of conflicting policy recommendations, the literature is of little use to policymakers. It concludes, however, not that history is useless for policy, but that if carefully done, it can indeed provide valuable orientation.

Due to an unfortunate mistake, the authors’ affiliation has been omitted. The affiliation is: Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience; Ryton-on-Dunsmore; UK