Development, Security and Unending War - Softcover

Mark Duffield

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745635806 ISBN 13: 9780745635804

Publisher: Polity, 2007

Synopsis

This path-breaking book argues that development is not a way of bettering other people but of governing them. With examples drawn from Mozambique, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, the book analyses the NGO movement, humanitarian intervention, sustainable development, human security, fragile states, migration and the place of racism within development.

About this title

About the Author

Mark Duffield is Professor of Development Politics at the University of Bristol.

From the Back Cover

According to politicians, we now live in a radically interconnected world. Unless there is international stability – even in the most distant places – the West's way of life is threatened. In meeting this global danger, reducing poverty and developing the unstable regions of the world are now imperative. In what has become a truism of the post-Cold War period, security without development is questionable, while development without security is impossible.

In this accessible and path-breaking book, Mark Duffield questions this conventional wisdom and lays bare development not as a way of bettering other people but of governing them. He offers a profound critique of the new wave of Western humanitarian and peace interventionism, arguing that rather than bridging the lifechance divide between development and underdevelopment, it maintains and polices it. As part of the defence of an insatiable mass consumer society, those living beyond its borders must be content with self-reliance.

With case studies drawn from Mozambique, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, the book provides a critical and historically informed analysis of the NGO movement, humanitarian intervention, sustainable development, human security, coherence, fragile states, migration and the place of racism within development. It is a must-read for all students and scholars of development, humanitarian intervention and security studies as well as anyone concerned with our present predicament.

In this accessible and path-breaking book, Mark Duffield questions this conventional wisdom and lays bare development not as a way of bettering other people but of governing them. He offers a profound critique of the new wave of Western humanitarian and peace interventionism, arguing that rather than bridging the lifechance divide between development and underdevelopment, it maintains and polices it. As part of the defence of an insatiable mass consumer society, those living beyond its borders must be content with self-reliance.

With case studies drawn from Mozambique, Ethiopia and Afghanistan, the book provides a critical and historically informed analysis of the NGO movement, humanitarian intervention, sustainable development, human security, coherence, fragile states, migration and the place of racism within development. It is a must-read for all students and scholars of development, humanitarian intervention and security studies as well as anyone concerned with our present predicament.

Edition details

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745635806
• ISBN 13: 9780745635804
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272