The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power

wolfgang sachs

In this pioneering collection, some of the world’s most eminent critics of development review the key concepts of the development discourse in the post-war era.

Each essay examines one concept from a historical and anthropological point of view and highlights its particular bias. Exposing their historical obsolescence and intellectual sterility, the authors call for a bidding farewell to the whole Eurocentric development idea. This is urgently needed, they argue, in order to liberate people’s minds - in both North and South - for bold responses to the environmental and ethical challenges now confronting humanity.

These essays are an invitation to experts, grassroots movements and students of development to recognize the tainted glasses they put on whenever they participate in the development discourse.

Genres nonfictioneconomicssocial sciencephilosophysociologypolitical sciencetheorypolitics

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1991

This edition

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover
Published: January 2, 1992 by Zed Books
ISBN: 9781856490436
ASIN: 1856490432
Language: English

About the author

wolfgang sachs

Wolfgang Sachs (born 25 November 1946) is a researcher, writer and university teacher in the field of environment, development, and globalization.
He studied sociology and Catholic theology in Munich, Tübingen and Berkeley. He holds a master degree in sociology (1971), a master degree in theology (1972) and a PhD in social sciences (1975).
After a period (1975–1984) as Assistant Professor at the Technical University of Berlin he joined the Society for International Development in Rome as a co-editor of the journal Development. 1987–1990 he was Visiting Professor at Pennsylvania State University and 1990–1993 Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities in Essen.
In 1992 he edited and co-authored the volume The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power (London: Zed Books), by now a 'classic' in (Post-)Development Studies, which has been translated into a dozen languages. A new edition, including a new preface, was published in 2010.
Since 1993 Sachs has worked at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, and Energy In Germany, since 2009 as head of the Berlin Office. He served also as chairman of Greenpeace Germany from 1993 to 2001, and as a lead author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 1999 to 2001. On behalf of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Berlin, he chaired two international civil society expert panels, one to draft a memorandum for the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002 (The Jo'burg Memo) and the other (also on behalf of Misereor) to carry out a Dialogue / Report on multilateral trade rules for sustainable markets in agriculture (Slow Trade – Sound Farming, 2007). He is also Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the annual fair "Terra Futura" in Florence, Italy a Curator of the annual "Toblach Talks" in Toblach, Italy, and a co-organizer of the annual "Spiekeroog Climate Talks" on the island of Spiekeroog, Germany. Sachs is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of ATTAC.
Furthermore, he is the principal author of Fair Future: Resource Conflicts, Security and Global Justice and Sustainable Germany in a Globalized World, both major studies produced by the Wuppertal Institute. Sachs is also a member of the Club of Rome, a lecturer at Schumacher College and a Honorary Professor at the University of Kassel, Germany.