The Companion to Development Studies

Citation

Dauncey, E., Desai, V., & Potter, R. B. (Eds.). (2024). The Companion to Development Studies (4th ed.). Routledge.

Chapter Summary

This is an edited reference text of 98 chapters in nine sections, about 590 pages, by international contributors. Earlier editions were edited by Vandana Desai and Robert Potter; Potter (1950–2014) died before this one, and Emil Dauncey joins as an editor. The publisher describes the chapters as succinct and designed to give accessible discussions of core issues, emerging trends and key debates, and says the book is supported by online tutorial guides, key-concept videos and a filmography. Because it is a compendium, the guide below groups chapters by section.

Chapters 1–13: Theories and their Contentions

The opening section opens with Robert Potter's overview, "Theories, strategies and ideologies of development", and then runs through the main schools: dependency theories (Chapters 3–4, including the New World Group of Caribbean scholars), world-systems theory, neoliberalism, "Development as Freedom", postcolonialism, postmodernism and post-development. The section also includes chapters on the impasse in development studies, on culture and development, on development as "change" versus "intention", and on development ethics.

Chapters 14–24: Histories and Discourses of Development

Places development in time and language: a global-historical context, heritage, the changing language of development, representing poverty, the Global North and Global South, the shift to global development, the Enlightenment and modernity, the Washington and post-Washington Consensus, measures beyond GDP, global economic inequality and the legacies of colonialism and enslavement, and conflict politics as developmentalism.

Chapters 25–36: Actors and Institutions

Covers nationalism, China–Africa relations, civil society and civic space, NGOs, philanthropy and private foundations, for-profit consultants and contractors, corporate social responsibility, gender and ethical consumerism, environmental defenders and social movements, religion, social capital and the question of a legal right to development.

Chapters 37–45: Identities and Practices

Children, youth, ageing and poverty, disability, sexualities, gender and empowerment, a critique of feminism from the South, identities and intersectionality, and a chapter on Covid-19 and inequalities as a "K-shaped crisis".

Chapters 46–57: People and the Planet

Sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals, transformations to sustainability, climate misinformation, Indigenous ontologies, water insecurity, the blue economy, fisheries, famine, renewable energy, climate adaptation and global environmental justice.

Chapters 58–71: The Economics of Development

Growth, aid and aid conditionality, trade liberalisation, the knowledge-based economy and digital divisions of labour, new institutional economics, consumption, work in cities of the South, the global land rush, migration, the measurement of poverty, behavioural economics and financialisation.

Chapters 72–79: Conflict, Violence and Peace

Fragile states, resource wars, gender and conflict, violence against women and girls, trafficking and modern slavery, cities and crime, policing and peace-building partnerships and human security.

Chapters 80–87: The Changing Landscape of Development

Mainly urban and land themes: urban bias, comparative urbanism, land as fictitious capital, land grabs, gentrification, slums and modernity, urban health and infrastructures.

Chapters 88–98: Approaches to Policy and Practice

Aid management approaches, participatory development, cash transfers and HIV prevention, social protection, universal basic income, social work in Nigeria, technological innovation, ICT4D, decolonising global health, non-communicable diseases and vocational education and training.

Key Concepts

Sections One to Three

• Development theories: modernisation-era ideas, dependency, world-systems, neoliberal, post-development and capability-based approaches placed side by side.
• Washington Consensus: the market-oriented policy agenda and its post-Washington revision.
• Global North and Global South: the labels used to describe unequal development.
• Civil society and NGOs: non-state actors in development.

Sections Four to Nine

• Intersectionality and empowerment: how gender, age, disability and sexuality shape development outcomes.
• Sustainable Development Goals: the global framework for people and planet.
• Land grabs and the global land rush: contests over rural land.
• Fragile states and human security: conflict and its development consequences.
• Social protection and cash transfers: policy tools covered in the final section.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Breadth in one volume. Ninety-eight chapters in nine sections span theory, history, institutions, identities, environment, economics, conflict, urban change and policy.
• Short chapters by specialists. Each chapter is a self-contained entry on a single concept or issue, so a reader can look up a topic without reading the book through.
• Current topics. The contents include Covid-19 inequality, the Sustainable Development Goals, ICT4D, the blue economy and decolonising global health.
• Teaching supports. The publisher lists online tutorial guides, key-concept videos and a filmography.

Limitations

• Summaries rather than sustained arguments. The publisher calls the chapters "easy to use summaries", which is useful as a map but cannot give the depth of a monograph on any one topic.
• Uneven coverage by nature. With contributions from many authors, chapters differ in approach and some topics (for example the Caribbean-focused dependency chapter, or social work in Nigeria) are local case studies placed beside general concepts.
• Size. At about 590 pages it is a reference to dip into; it is not a book to read in sequence.

Where It Fits in the Course

Within the course's reading list this is the reference volume. Willis's Theories and Practices of Development is a concise textbook on the main theoretical traditions and is the better first read; Potter and colleagues' Geographies of Development is a geography-led introduction. Sen's Development as Freedom and Sachs's The Age of Sustainable Development are single-author arguments, and the Companion has a chapter on the former (Chapter 7). Sheppard and colleagues' A World of Difference is a substantial geographical text treating development as a contested idea.

Use the Companion after one of the textbooks, to follow up a concept or to read a short specialist account of a topic that the textbook mentions briefly.

How to Use This Book

For students who already have an introductory course in development studies, human geography or a related social science. It is best used as a reference and a starting point for essays and research projects.

A practical plan:

• Start with Chapter 1 by Robert Potter for an overview of the theories, then Section Two for histories and discourses.
• Read by topic: choose the chapters in Sections Three to Nine that match your course or essay.
• Use the online materials the publisher lists to structure tutorials.