Revisiting Development in the Twenty-First Century

An overview of the way in which the idea of development has evolved is followed by the analysis of actual development (and misdevelopment) from 1945 onward, focusing on the golden age of capitalism, the rise and fall of real socialism and the neoliberal counter-reform. Sitting on the ruins of failed paradigms, we are condemned to invent new ones for the twenty-first century, based on the concept of three-win developmentâsocial, environmental and economic. Some signposts for a research agenda are outlined with an emphasis on mixed economies with a strong, yet regulated market sector and a significant presence of the developmental state, whose responsibility is bound to increase. The futures of development will also depend on the turn taken by globalization and our capacity to reshape the international system. Development studies ought to be revived by revisiting the history of the development idea and analyzing in a comparative setting the development/misdevelopment paths pursued by different countries.