Abstract:
In one of his unforgettable quotes, George Bernard Shaw said: “The worst sin towards our
fellow creatures is not to hate them but to be indifferent to them: that’s the essence of
humanity” (Shaw 1906). In this book, The Future of Development: A Radical Manifesto,
the authors display a fervent concern to the agonies of the marginalized people in the South,
or the developing world, who have suffered—rather than benefited—from decades-long
concerted efforts for development by the North.
The Future of Development: A Radical Manifesto by Gustavo Esteva, Salvatore Babones
and Philipp Babcicky is a burst of anger, a rebellion against the status quo regarding the
current development approach, and a meticulous diagnosis of illnesses that developing—and
in many cases the developed—countries suffer from as a result of the current conceptualization
and route of development that started post WWII. The authors end their book with a dream
of a better world that could potentially result from an alternative path for development.
