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Samir Amin and Beyond

April 2, 2019April 2, 2019 Ingrid Harvold KvangravenLeave a comment

By Ushehwedu聽Kufakurinani, Ingrid Harvold聽Kvangraven and Maria聽Dyveke聽Styve

When the sad news came of Samir Amin鈥檚 passing on August 12th, 2018, a plethora of beautiful obituaries were published in his memory (see for example聽,听,听听辞谤听). These have made it more than evident not only how important his scholarship and work through the World Social Forum聽is, but also what an extraordinary person he was. We never had the privilege of meeting Samir Amin in person, but he was very kind to grant us an interview over Skype for an聽聽we put together in 2017 on the contemporary relevance of dependency theory (since published by the聽). Now we wish to unpack his contributions to our understanding of political economy and uneven development, and explore how his ideas have been interpreted and聽adopted in different contexts,听and their relevance today.

Historicising the Aid Debate: South Korea as a Successful Aid Recipient

November 12, 2018November 12, 2018 Farwa Sial4 Comments

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鈥楾he principal enemy is orthodoxy: to use the same recipe, administer the same therapy, to resolve the most various types of problems; never to admit complexity and try to reduce it as much as possible, while ignoring that things are always more complicated in reality.
Albert O. Hirschman (1998:110)

It鈥檚 clear from last week鈥檚 blog posts by Duncan Green that he is tired of academic critique against aid which have not been translated into concrete solutions (see and ). However, the problem with his approach to addressing very complex problems is that it leads to reductive debates which are more symptomatic of the problem than constructive ways of finding solutions. Following Pablo Yanguas鈥� of research approaches I thought of taking a step back and analyzing the case of a successful aid recipient, South Korea. 聽I do this in hope of moving away from the 鈥榣iterature鈥� – which Duncan finds overbearing – as well as getting away from the linearity of the contemporary monitoring and evaluation approach used by the aid sector. Read More »

Why I refuse to rethink development 鈥� again (and again, and again鈥�)

September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 juliaschneberg2 Comments

Image result for rethinking This summer I attended several academic conferences, and while I was initially extremely enthusiastic to be given the chance to put my work out for discussion, exchange with and learn from colleagues, by early autumn I am fatigued and disenchanted.

Maybe the reason for this is that several of these events where claiming to be 鈥渞ethinking development鈥�, yet by the end I fail to recognize what was essentially new in the arguments exchanged and the discussions led and what will move us forward.

The root of my discontent is that while everyone continuously debated 鈥渄evelopment鈥� and attempted to 鈥渞ethink鈥� it, not once it was clarified what the (minimum) common denominator of the 鈥渄evelopment鈥� to be rethought would be. Were we talking about intervention, projects, stakeholders, cooperation? Were we rethinking technical modes of intervention? Ways of studying or researching? Or were we questioning the roots of persistent inequalities, the sources of poverty and the causes of injustices (e.g. the legacy of colonialism, global capitalism and our imperial mode of living)?

An Alternative Economics Summer Reading List

July 1, 2018July 1, 2018 Carolina Alves10 Comments

by Carolina Alves, , and Ingrid H. Kvangraven

This is a response list to recommending Economics books of 2018 for summer reading. While there are many good books listed, we were struck by the consistent monism in his choices, as the books are all by scholars based in either the UK or the US, 12/13 of the authors are men and most of them come from the same theoretical tradition. Such lists perpetuate the strong white male – and mainstream – biases in our field (the recent list by suffers from the same biases).

To counter these biases, and with the purpose of broadening our field to become more inclusive of diverse approaches and perspectives, we have put together an alternative list. We deliberately chose books by scholars approaching Economics with alternative theoretical frameworks and by scholars from groups that tend to be excluded from the field, namely women, people of color, and scholars from the Global South. We recognize that no one is exempt from biases, which is why we are providing an explanation for the motivation behind our selection. Due to institutional and language barriers we were unable to include as many scholars from the Global South as we would have liked. For example, we would love to read the new book by Laura Carvalho, but we are still waiting for the English translation. We hope you enjoy it and welcome more suggestions in the comments section.

Marx鈥檚 Birthday and the Dismal Science: A Few Observations

May 29, 2018 Carolina Alves3 Comments

by Carolina Alves and Ingrid H. Kvangraven

With 2017 marking the 150th anniversary of and 2018 marking the bicentennial of the birth of Karl Marx, it is not a surprise that the number of events and exhibitions celebrating Marx’s work and exploring the significance of Marxism in the world today have gone through the roof. A little sample,,, and (see also The Guardian鈥檚 of exhibitions, books 鈥� and pub crawls)! And it would be unfair to not mention the British Library鈥檚 offered last summer, which aimed to develop ideas for events and activities that would engage the public and research communities with Marx鈥檚 life and his wider legacy (with a brilliant emphasis on – a writer and political activist in her own right). Some of the results can be seen,, and.

Of course, Friedrich Engels鈥� far-reaching contributions have not been ignored ( and ); and neither should contributions, who, like Mary Burns, have never been a[1] and, before falling in love with the Jewish romantic rebel, was a woman interested in French socialism and German romanticism, engaged in an early feminist views on women鈥檚 equality, and committed to the struggle for the working-class (influenced by her father). Hence, Jenny鈥檚 possible allusion that Marx was 鈥淕oethe鈥檚 Wilhelm Meister and Schiller鈥檚 Karl von Moor, and he would be Shelley鈥檚 Prometheus, chained to a precipice because he dared to challenge a tyrannical god鈥� (, p. 20).

Putting aside this rich line-up of events, what has caught our attention is the equal proliferation of pieces celebrating Marx鈥檚 birthday, for the better or for the worse. From misleading and derogatory articles such as the published by The Economist to educational short pieces such as Cooper鈥檚, it is difficult to not wonder about the reasons behind such opposing views. Similarly, it is difficult to resist the temptation to add a little contribution to the debate. So here we are.

We will not dwell on Marx鈥檚 contributions and current relevance, which has been done effectively by so many academics, political activists and journalists. Neither will we unpack and discuss the issues with value-laden opinions on Marx鈥檚 economic theory, and simple-minded association of Marx鈥檚 political ideas with historical events of the 20th century. We will, however, for the sake of being one more blog post on Marx鈥檚 200th birthday, reiterate and explore Marx鈥檚 work鈥檚 undeniable and vital influence in contemporary thought, politics and political practice. Further, and perhaps the main inspiration that led us to write this blog post, we wish to add some more thoughts on Marx鈥檚 influence (or lack thereof) 聽in modern times, namely the effects of the marginalization of his ideas in the field of Economics.Read More »

Critical Development Economics Resources

October 5, 2016February 5, 2017 黑料社区5 Comments

Where do critical development economists publish their articles and blog posts? Where can you read critical research on development economics? What kind of textbooks do critical development economists teach from? Here is a preliminary list of journals, blogs, and textbooks (but please send any additions you might have!).

Female Economists and the Blogosphere – Do We Dare Mention Sexism?

August 12, 2016August 12, 2016 Carolina Alves3 Comments

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I recently read Claudia Sahm鈥檚 on why there are very few female economists in the blogosphere. As a blogger herself, as someone who is active on Twitter, and as a follower of approximately eighty blogs, she states with no hesitation: 鈥淚t’s true, very few female economists blog. Period.鈥� For her, three hypotheses may explain this absence: women with opinions are not well received, women are busy with other forms of service, and women underestimate what they would contribute by blogging. But aren’t these actually manifestations of a deeper issue?

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