The Future of Development: A Radical Manifesto

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.