Synopses & Reviews
'... a tour de force, at once comprehensive, authoritative, accessible and impressively up-to-date. As a broad and balanced introduction for students, teachers and others concerned to understand the major issues in development, it would be difficult to beat and is to be highly recommended. Going far beyond the bounds of geography it covers the range of relevant disciplines as only geographers can. It is much more than a textbook. It is a treasure house of information and insight concerning contemporary issues in development.'
Professor Robert Chambers, Institute of Development Studies, Universityof Sussex
'
an excellent course book for both under-graduates and graduates, and well-endowed with teaching and learning techniques.
It has high ambitions in scope and depth and fulfils them handsomely. As a course text, it must dominate the field.'
Professor Piers Blaikie, Emeritus Professor, Schoolof DevelopmentStudies, Universityof East Anglia.
'Geographies of Development: An Introduction to Development Studies
reflects its intended interdisciplinary appeal, while remaining faithful to its explication of spatial imperatives and impresses of often complex processes. The authors provide carefully balanced and accessible surveys of the respective terrains, conceptual and empirical, highlighting areas of consensus and dissention. The scope of coverage is impressive.'
Professor David Simon, Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, Universityof London
Geographies of Development: An Introduction to Development Studies remains a core, balanced and comprehensive introductory textbook for students of Development Studies, Development Geography and related fields. Its holistic approach encourages critical engagement by integrating theory alongside practice and related key topics throughout the text. It demonstrates informatively that ideas concerning development have been many and varied and highly contested varying from time to time and from place to place.
New to this Third Edition
- Improved colour layout and organisation improves access to key concepts, topics and themes.
- New in-chapter features Key Ideas and Key Thinkers, Critical Reflections, plus Case Studies and Key Points all encourage critical engagement with material from both scholarly and popular sources.
- A concluding account that examines development studies in its wider interdisciplinary context.
- Extended coverage of pressing subjects such as the nature and definition of development, progress with the Millennium Development Goals, new approaches to development theory, alternative development, post-colonialism, anti-globalisation and anti-development, poverty reduction strategies, the changing digital divide, global industrial change, migration and transnationalism, food miles and re-localisation, global warming and water resources management.
- Fully updated throughout to reflect the most recent developments.
- Richly illustrated with new diagrams, graphs, photographs and tables.
Robert B. Potter is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Reading. Tony Binns is Professor of Geography at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Jennifer A. Elliott is Principal Lecturer in Geography at the University of Brighton. The late David Smith was Professor of Economic Geography at the University of Liverpool. All the authors have considerable teaching and research experience in this area.
Cover illustration by Matthew Richardson, based on an original sketch by Rob Potter.
Synopsis
Geographies of Development second edition
Robert B. Potter
Tony Binns
Jennifer A. Elliott,
David Smith
Geographies of Development
is an established, innovative and comprehensive introductory textbook for undergraduate students of Development Geography, Development Studies and related fields. A pioneer of the holistic approach, it encourages critical engagement by integrating key topics throughout the text, such as development ideology, globalisation, modernity, gender, ethnicity, tourism, resources, development aid, land degradation and environmental sustainability. It argues lucidly, convincingly and informatively that ideas concerning development have been many and varied, and have been highly contested, varying from time to time and from place to place.
Key features
Integrates theory, practice and illustration to bring the subject alive and encourage a balanced and considered overview of ‘development' Accessible layout of material, illustrated by numerous diagrams, graphs, photographs and tables, aids understanding of the subject Each chapter includes boxed case studies, key concepts summaries, suggestions for further reading and topics for discussionNew to this edition
New material and case studies drawn from scholarly and popular sources to encourage a critical approach and to increase contemporary relevance, as in Part 1 ‘Conceptualising Development'- Fully updated to reflect the most recent developments in theory (anti-development, post-development, post-colonialism and post-structuralism) and practice (anti-capitalism, anti-globalisation, TNCs, critiques of the WTO, arguments for the relocation of production, GM crops and agricultural change)
- New coverage of key concepts such as social capital, civil society and participatory development
- Extended coverage of the World Bank, IMF, neo-liberal policies and Poverty Reduction Strategies
- New coverage of poverty and debt reduction, the Millennium development goals, global warming and GM crops and linkages between urban and rural areas
‘a text I would recommend highly for an introductory course in development studies'
Economic Geography
‘a truly multidisciplinary resource that will likely satisfy students with an interest in development' Journal of Rural Studies
Robert B. Potter is Professor of Human Geography at the University of Reading. Tony Binns is Reader in Geography at the University of Sussex. Jennifer A. Elliott is Principal Lecturer in Geography at the University of Brighton. The late David Smith was Professor of Economic Geography at the University if Liverpool. All of the authors have considerable teaching experience in this are and collectively bring first-hand research expertise from North, West and Southern Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Caribbean and South America.
Cover illustration by Matthew Richardson
Based on an original sketch by Rob Potter
Synopsis
This clear and concise text encourages critical engagement by integrating theory alongside practice and remains a core, balanced and comprehensive introductory textbook for students of Development Studies, Development Geography and related fields.
Table of Contents
Contents
List of boxes
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgements
Introduction
PART I CONCEPTUALISING DEVELOPMENT: MEANINGS OF DEVELOPMENT
1. Questioning development
Overview: from ‘development' to ‘anti-development'
The meaning of the word ‘development'
Thinking about development
Critiques of development: Eurocentrism, populist stances, anti-development and post-modernity
Spatialising development: the Third World/Developing World/Global South
Rich and poor worlds: relative poverty and inequalities at the global scale
Concluding issues: geography, development and ‘distant others'
Further reading
Websites
2. Understanding colonialism
Introduction
Phases of colonialism
Legacies of colonialism
Further reading
3. Theories and strategies of development
Introduction
Theories, strategies and ideologies of development
Classical-traditional approaches: early views from the developed world
Historical approaches: empirical perspectives on change and development
Radical dependency approaches: the Third World answers back?
Alternative, bottom-up approaches: perspectives on ‘another' development
Development theory, modernity and post-modernity: concluding remarks
Further reading
Websites
4. Globalisation, development and underdevelopment
What does globalisation mean?
Globalisation and development: for and against/solution or problem?
Global transformations: a shrinking world or a more unequal world?
Globalisation and the information society: the digital divide and an unequal world
Economic aspects of globalisation: industrialisation, TNCs, world cities and global shifts
Economic change and global divergence
Global convergence? Perspectives on cultural globalisation
Political aspects of globalisation: the anti-globalisation and anti-capitalist movements
Concluding comments: globalisation and unequal development
Further reading
Websites
PART II DEVELOPMENT IN PRACTICE: COMPONENTS OF DEVELOPMENT
5. People in the development process
People-centred development
Population and resources: a demographic time bomb?
Population distribution
Population dynamics
The demographic transition
Population policies
Population structure
Quality of life
Conclusion
Further reading
Websites
6. Resources and the environment
Introduction
The importance of resources in development
Resource constraints and the development process
Environmental impacts of development
The search for sustainable resource management
Further reading
Websites
7. Institutions of development
Introduction
The rise of global governance
The role of the state
Civil society, NGOs and development
Further reading
Websites
PART III SPACES AND DEVELOPMENT: PLACES AND DEVELOPMENT
8. Movements and flows
Introduction: unravelling complexities
Movements and flows in the ‘real world'
People on the move
Communications and transport
North and South: an interdependent world
World trade: the changing scene
Developing countries and the debt crisis
Further reading
Websites
9. Urban spaces
Urbanisation and development: an overview
Urbanisation in the contemporary Third World
Causes of repaid urbanisation in the Third World
City systems and development: questions of urban primacy, regional inequalities and unequal development
Urban and regional planning in Third World countries
Rural-urban interrelations in developing countries
Inside Third World cities
Final comments: urban management for sustainable urbanisation
Further reading
Websites
10. Rural spaces
Rural spaces in development
Principal systems of production
Approaches to agricultural and rural development
Towards better understanding of rural spaces
Further reading
Websites
Bibliography
Index