Development studies is the multi-disciplinary branch of social science which addresses issues of concern to developing nations. Terms like SOSE (Studies of Society & the Environment) not only refer to social sciences but also studies of the environment. ... A developing country is a country with low average income compared to the world average. ...

The emergence of development studies as an academic discipline in the second half of the twentieth century is in large part due to increasing concern about economic prospects for the third world after decolonisation. While it originally emerged as a branch of economics, development economics, it has become an increasingly inter- and multi-disciplinary subject, encompassing politics, history, woman studies, sociology, geography, social anthropology and international relations. For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ... Decolonization generally refers to a movement following the Second World War in which the various European colonies of the world were granted independence. ... Buyers bargain for good prices while sellers put forth their best front in Chichicastenango Market, Guatemala. ... Development economics is a branch of economics that deals with the study of macroeconomic causes of long term economic growth, and microeconomica; the incentive issues of individual households and firms, especially in developing countries. ... Politics, sometimes defined as the art and science of government[1], is a process by which collective decisions are made within groups. ... For other senses of this word, see history (disambiguation). ... Womens studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to topics concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. ... Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... Cultural anthropology, also called social anthropology or socio-cultural anthropology, is one of four commonly recognized fields of anthropology, the holistic study of humanity. ... International Relations (IR), a branch of political science, is the study of foreign affairs of and relations among states within the international system, including the roles of states, inter-governmental organizations (IGOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and multinational corporations (MNCs). ...

Development studies is offered as a specialised Master's degree in a number of universities, and, less commonly, as an undergraduate degree.

Students of development studies often choose careers in international organisations such as United Nations, non-governmental organisations, the World Bank, and research centres. United Nations - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an organization which is not a part of a government. ... Logo of the World Bank The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD, in Romance languages: BIRD), better known as the World Bank, is an international organization whose original mission was to finance the reconstruction of nations devastated by WWII. Now, its mission has expanded to fight poverty by means...

The era of modern development is commonly deemed to have commenced with the inauguration speech of Harry S. Truman in 1949. In Point Four of his speech, with reference to Latin America and other poor nations, he said that "for the first time in history, humanity possess[ed] the knowledge and skill to relieve the suffering of these people." ^[1]. But for the purposes of development studies, also the former development experiences of western countries are of high relevancy.

Despite the orthodox view of Development as relating to the process of increasing the relative and absolute wealth of LDCs, usually through notions of increased output of either industrial or agricultural goods, many academics, e.g. Gilbert Rist and Stefan Andreasson, dispute that Development has any meaning within this context. They contend that Development of LDCs to the wealth levels of the richer OECD nations, using extractive production and trading processes similar to those of OECD nations, is untenable because of the ecological and environmental damage which would ensue.^[2] The argument for a completely new paradigm of Development has validity for many observers and academics.

Famous development academics

• Samir Amin
• Paul Brebsich
• Hernando De Soto
• Andre Gunder Frank
• Gunnar Myrdal
• Jeffrey Sachs
• Amartya Sen
• Joseph Stiglitz
• Hans Singer
• Arturo Escobar

Samir Amin is an Egyptian political author, born in 1931. ... Hernando de Soto is a: Spanish explorer. ... Andre Gunder Frank (Berlin, February 24, 1929 – Luxembourg, April 23, 2005) was a Marxian German economic historian and sociologist who was one of the founders of the Dependency theory in the 1960s. ... Gunnar Myrdal (December 6, 1898 – May 17, 1987) was a Swedish economist and politician. ... Jeffrey Sachs Jeffrey David Sachs (born November 5, 1954 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American economist known for his work as an economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Asia, and Africa. ... Amartya Sen Amartya Kumar Sen CH (Hon) (born November 3, 1933 in India), is an economist and a winner of the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences (sometimes referred to informally as the Nobel Prize for Economics) for his work on famine, human development theory, welfare economics, the underlying... Joseph Stiglitz (born February 9, 1943) is an American economist, author and winner of Nobel Prize for economics ( 2001). ... Sir Hans Wolfgang Singer (born 29 November 1910, died in Brighton, UK 26 February 2006) was a development economist best known for the Singer-Prebisch thesis, which states that the terms of trade move against producers of primary products. ...

See also

• Colonization
• Dependency theory
• Development criticism
• Modernization theory
• Industrialization
• Human security

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Colonialism. ... International Relations Theory Realism Liberalism Idealism Neoconservatism Institutionalism Functionalism Marxism Critical theory Isolationism Dependency theory is the body of social science theories by various intellectuals, both from the Third World and the First World, that create a worldview which suggests that the wealthy nations of the world need a peripheral... Modernization theory is a socio-economic theory, sometimes known as (or as being encompassed within) developmet theory, which highlights the positive role played by the developed world in modernizing and facilitating sustainable development in underdeveloped nations, often contrasted with dependency theory. ... Human Security refers to an emerging paradigm for understanding global vulnerabilities whose proponents believe that the world requires a more comprehensive notion of security, one that marries the traditionally separate fields of development studies and strategic studies and links the traditionally opposing principles of human rights and sovereignty. ...

External links

• United Nations Research Institute for Social Development
• Institute for Development Studies
• Overseas Development Institute
• Development Studies Association
• The World Bank
• Globalization and Health
• German Development Institute / Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE)
• Governance Focus issues in governance worldwide, in English & Español

1. ^ Rist, G., The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith
2. ^ Andreasson, S., Accumulation and Growth to What End?