The Critical Development Studies Handbook
Tools for Change
This handbook is a guide to ‘critical development studies’ (CDS)–the study of international development from the standpoint of social change, a critical perspective. As such the handbook provides a set of tools for entering and understanding the nature and scope of the interdisciplinary field of development studies. It is organized as a set of 50 short course modules. Each module is written by a well-known research specialist in the area; and each (a) identifies the six most critical questions or research theme in a particular area of CDS, (b) provides a succinct discussion of the central issues that surround these questions, and (c) makes substantive references to the most essential readings that explore these issues.
About the book
This handbook is a guide to ‘critical development studies’ (CDS)–the study of international development from the standpoint of social change, a critical perspective. As such the handbook provides a set of tools for entering and understanding the nature and scope of the interdisciplinary field of development studies. It is organized as a set of 50 short course modules. Each module is written by a well-known research specialist in the area; and each (a) identifies the six most critical questions or research theme in a particular area of CDS, (b) provides a succinct discussion of the central issues that surround these questions, and (c) makes substantive references to the most essential readings that explore these issues.
Contents
- : Preface
- : Introduction
- : Back to basics (Anthony H. O’Malley)
- : Critical development studies: The evolution of an idea (Jane Parpart, Henry Veltmeyer)
- : Section 1: Bring History Back In: Rolling back the canvas of time (Kari Polanyi Levitt)
- : History from a critical development perspective (Isaac Saney)
- : Reorienting history (Alain Gresh)
- : Section 2: Thinking Critically About Development: Theories of development: A critical economic perspective (James Cypher)
- : Development theory from a Latin American perspective (Cristóbal Kay)
- : Critical development theory (Ronaldo Munck)
- : Section 3: A System in Crisis: Contemporary capitalism: Development in an era of neoliberal globalization (Guillermo Foladori, Rail Delgado Wise)
- : Globalization, imperialism and development (James Petras)
- : Critical Globalization Studies: Globalization, poverty and development (Barry Gills)
- : The global collapse (Walden Bello)
- : Section 4: The International Dimension: International relations in development (Timothy Shaw, Henry Veltmeyer)
- : The United Nations and development (Krishna Ahooja-Patel)
- : Multilateral organizations in the new (neoleiberal) world order (Walden Bello)
- : The international policy framework (Manfred Bielefeld)
- : Aid, debt and trade: In the vortex of capitalist development (Luciano Vasapollo)
- : Section 5: The centrality of class in critical development studies (Berch Berberoglu)
- : Power and development: The politics of empire (James Petras)
- : The politics of development (John Harriss)
- : War and development (Michael Clow)
- : Section 6: The Poverty Problematic: The World Bank: Development, poverty, hegemony (David Moore)
- : The inequality predicament (Henry Veltmeyer)
- : The poverty problematic (John Harriss)
- : Section 7: Towards a New Paradigm: Social capital and local development (Henry Veltmeyer)
- : The Sustainable livelihoods approach: A CDS Perspective (A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi)
- : Human development in theory and practice (Joseph Tharamangalam, Ananya Mukherjee Reed)
- : Section 8: Power and Development: Class and Gender Matters: Critical social analysis and development (Anthony O’Malley)
- : Gender, empowerment and development (Jane Parpart)
- : Engendering the economy: Implications for critical development thinking and practice (Fiona Macphail)
- : Section 9: Culture, Knowldedge and Education For Development: The cultural matrix of development and change (Aradhana Parmar)
- : Knowledge and technology for development (Alexander Borda-Rodriguez, Sam Lanfranco)
- : Education and development (Gary Malcolm)
- : Section 10: Agrarian Transformation and Rural Development: Critical rural development studies (Haroon Akram-Lodhi)
- : Rural development from a Latin American perspective (Cristóbal Kay)
- : Contemporary land policies and land struggles (Saturnino [Jun] Borras, Jr.)
- : Section 11: Capitalism, Labour and Development: Labour, class and capitalism (Rosalind Boyd)
- : Migration and development: Labour in the global economy (Raúl Delgado Wise, Humberto Márquez Covarrubias)
- : Urban development in the global south (Charmain Levy)
- : Section 12: Nature, Energy and Development: Mainstream sustainable development (Darcy Victor Tetreault)
- : Sustainability in the social sciences: A Critical Perspective (David Barkin)
- : Political ecology: Environmentalism for a change (Anthony O’Malley and Michael Clow)
- : Energy and development: oil on troubled waters (John Saxe-Fernandez)
- : Section 13: Development on the Margins: Developing Africa (Dennis Canterbury)
- : Development and change in Latin American and the Caribbean (Fernando I. Leiva)
- : Development and change in Asia (Jos Mooij)
- : China’s re-emergence: A critical development perspective (Paul Bowles)
- : Socialism and development (Jeffery R. Webber)
- : Pathways of progressive social change and alternative development (Henry Veltmeyer)

