Development and its Discontents

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Development and Its Discontents offers a timely and critical examination of the study of development. While the field has become increasingly institutionalised and internationally prominent, this book argues that Development Studies is marked by growing fragmentation along three interlinked fault lines: the framing of development, the scope of its focus, and its onto-epistemological foundations. These divergences are conceptualised as a set of continua that reflect competing ‘modes of thought’. In revisiting and extending debates associated with the so-called ‘impasse’ of the late twentieth century, the book contends that Development Studies is facing fundamental questions about the field’s coherence, purpose, and future. Drawing on a global history of development thinking, from the post-war rise of classical development economics and the anti-colonial momentum of the Bandung Conference era to the rise of decolonial critiques, the book maps the historical and contemporary diversity of intellectual currents that have shaped Development Studies. Rather than calling for a synthesis, it offers a framework for recognising the field’s pluralism and promoting interdisciplinarity. Development and Its Discontents is essential reading for scholars and students seeking to understand the intellectual history, tensions, and future trajectories of Development Studies.</jats:p>