Reconstructing Development Theory

E A BRETT is Senior Visiting Fellow, Development Studies Institute, LSE and formerly Visiting Professor, School of Humanities and Social Science, Witwatersrand University, South Africa.

• PrefaceIntroduction Reconstructing Development Theory for the 21st CenturyPART I: THE NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT THEORYThe Crisis in Development TheoryTheAnalytical Assumptionsof Development TheoryEvolutionary Institutional Change and Developmental TransitionsPART II: THE LIBERAL INSTITUTIONAL PLURALIST CONSENSUSMarket Societies, Open Systems and Institutional PluralismState Regulation, Democratic Politics and Accountable GovernancePolitics and Public ManagementThe Nature andOrganisation of CapitalistFirmsThe Nature and Role ofSolidaristic OrganizationsPART III: BEYOND LIBERAL PLURALISM: RECONSTRUCTING DEVELOPMENT THEORYThe Political Economy of Structural ChangeDevelopmental Transitions: Learning from HistoryExplaining Blocked DevelopmentThe Social Theory of Developmental TransformationsBuilding Strong StatesBuilding Capitalist EconomiesConclusion: Theory, Agency and Developmental Transitions.

'This work is a remarkable intellectual achievement, synthesizing sociological, economic and political grand theory with global history over the last couple of centuries, and applying the result to a persuasive reconstruction of development analysis.' - M. Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA 'By reasserting the centrality of development theory to understanding and, more importantly, countering the current dismal realities of global poverty and inequality, this breathtakingly erudite book constitutes a much-needed antidote to the superficiality of much that is currently written about development policy and practice.' - David Lewis, London School of Economics. 'In this ambitious and persuasive tour de force, Teddy Brett offers a new synthetic paradigm that transcends the limits of both structuralist and neo-liberal theory. It gives new life to development theory and is an important contribution to the revitalization of development studies.' Edward Webster, University of the Witwatersrand '[C]lear, insightful, and innovative - [this book] will certainly spark several debates... [and] will surely appeal to Latin American audiences.' - Francisco Gutierrez Sanin, Universidad Nacional de Colombia 'Since its inception, development theory has constantly searched for one 'master' concept to explain both development and underdevelopment. Such concepts have, however, flattened out the historically shaped experiences of different countries. This work, focussing as it does on specific contexts and trajectories, makes an invaluable contribution to the debate, and guides it in another direction.' - Neera Chandhoke, University of Delhi