How has development thinking and practice shaped our world? The answer lies in four interconnected phenomena—colonialism, the development era, the neoliberal globalization project, and sustainable development—according to Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 7th Edition, (Sage Publications, 2021), written by Philip McMichael, professor emeritus in the Department of Global Development, and Heloise Weber, senior lecturer in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland.
In a virtual Chats in the Stacks book talk hosted by Cornell University's Mann Library in November 2021, McMichael discusses “the development paradox” that underlies the dominant economic models of our day. Powerful nation-states may aim toward progress and prosperity, yet their policies and governance also produce crises that threaten the health and well-being of millions of urban-dwellers and rural cultures. McMichael also explores the possibilities of a world with more just social, ecological, and political relations.
