Development Beyond Neoliberalism? Governance, Poverty Reduction and Political Economy

Extract

Development Beyond Neoliberalism? Governance, Poverty Reduction and Political Economy, David Craig and Doug Porter, London and New York: Routledge, 2006, pp. xii, 340.

In their collaboratively written book Development Beyond Neoliberalism? Governance, Poverty Reduction and Political Economy, David Craig and Doug Porter set out to make sense of recent changes in the liberal development project and, in doing so, chart the emergence of good governance and poverty reduction strategies (PRSs), two of the guiding principles of the post-Washington consensus. Both authors have been participants in many of the events examined, empirically resting their arguments on participatory observation in four countries while theoretically drawing on governmentality studies. The main focus of the book is development's shift towards institution building, decentralized governance and poverty reduction, which is part of the larger move from the Washington to the post-Washington consensus.