Abstract

'Development management' is an idea that blends the seemingly innocuous claims of managerialism with notions of modernity and utopian ideals of 'third world' progress. This book views both phenomena as problematic and modernizing interventions. In doing so, it overturns and reclaims such ideas as participation, community, governance, NGOs, and civil society. The contributors argue that the practices of development are often threaded together by the language of managerialism - reports, logframe, encounters with the boss - yet all of these serve to further development's disengagement from the mundane. In voicing such concerns about the way development is going, and about the encroachment of managerialism, The New Development Management will breathe fresh life into post-development debates.
Sadhvi Dar is Lecturer in Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics at Queen Mary, University of London. She holds a degree in Psychology and received her PhD in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge. She has worked in the development sector in India and the UK and is involved in a number of development projects in London. Bill Cooke is Professor of Management and Society at Lancaster University Management School. Previously he worked at the Institute for Development Policy and Management, Manchester School of Management, and Manchester Business School, all within what is now the University of Manchester, and at Teesside University. He is co-editor, with Uma Kothari, of Participation: The New Tyranny? (Zed 2001).
'This critical treatment of development management is a sorely needed and very persuasive intervention. Dar and Cooke remind us that development management is never simply a technical matter, but comes with its own historical baggage, perennially entangled in complex sets of unequal power relations. The everyday tools of the trade will never seem the same again.' Samuel Hickey, University of Manchester 'Critical thinking on the intersection between development and management studies is a rarity. From amongst those engaged in such thinking, the leading light and the rising star have combined forces to edit this outstanding collection. It should provoke debate amongst academics in both fields, as well as amongst development practitioners and policy makers, and will no doubt become a classic statement of what is at stake in the immensely complex and hugely important politics concealed within the apparently innocuous term "development management".' Christopher Grey, University of Warwick. 'This is an impressive collection that provides a much-needed critical perspective on contemporary discourses of development. Provocative but rigorous, this book will add new insights to the debate on development management.' Bobby Banerjee, University of Western Sydney 'An excellent book that brings together two disparate bodies of thinking: critical management studies (CMS) and critical development studies (CDS) ... This book thus fills a lacuna in engaging these literatures, ...The editors do a remarkable job in bringing together noted scholars in both fields ... Highly recommended for scholars and practitioners in development and management, and anyone engaging in studying, researching, or working with 'Third World Others' in the fields of geography, anthropology, sociology, and related fields.' Environment and Planning C: government and policy