Reflections on six decades of the concept of development:Evaluation and future research
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: The concept of development has undergone significant changes over the past half a century. Many scholars and practitioners have defined the concept differently based on their philosophy, purpose, context and time. This study reviews the evolution of development approaches and focus since the 1950s. The study explores current thinking and discussions on the concept and further presents an evaluation of the concept of development as well as future research priorities. The paper adopts a secondary data analysis technique by reviewing and analyzing both old and current knowledge in published literature. Over 60 publications were reviewed and analyzed for this study. The paper asserts that, in order to understand and apply the concept to different geographical regions, development should be understood as a relative rather than an absolute concept. It shows the iterative process of the concept and further establishes the importance of human wellbeing in the development discourse.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2747792200