Oswalso de Reviero. The Myth of Development: The Non-Viable Economies of the 21st Century. London, U.K.: Zed Books. 2001. 224 pages. £20.99.

Abstract

Since the early 1990s, a new stream of developmental thinking started getting momentum, questioning and refuting the supposedly undisputed developmental counseling, pursued by all nations and practiced for more than four decades. This critique of development, usually referred to as ‘post-structuralism’ or ‘post-development’, assesses the genesis of the developmental ideas in post-war era and also questions the desirability and prospects of the development in the contemporary world. In the era of intellectual combat of developmental ideas, Oswaldo De Reviero’s “The Myth of Development” is significant and thought provoking addition to the PostStructuralist literature. De Riviero has tended to deconstruct the developmental ideas and identify the factors that the developmental thinking and practices entail and have been contributing to the impoverishment of the countries.