Development and Cooperation

Criticising the western model of development



By Aram Ziai and Cord Jakobeit

In the 1970s, Ivan Illich formulated a criticism of the industrial society and the modern age which is also relevant for the developing countries. He pointed out the impossibility of generalising the western development model and called for an alternative way of satisfying needs. His ideas are today taken on board in particular in the "post-development approaches", whose champions radically demarcate themselves from conventional thinking on development.