Abstract
Underdevelopment is a bastard historical concept. The word hints that some desirable thing that is going to happen has not yet happened. Behind the concept there is clearly a historical vision, but it is not made clear which one that is. While this lack of specification gives the concept of development remarkable catholicity, it also makes the concept difficult to use in a consistent way. The recent preference for ‘developing’ over ‘underdeveloped’ as the appropriate adjective introduces a calculated element of euphemism and confusion between a handicap that can be overcome and a handicap that is currently being overcome. The vagueness of the historical vision of the future is now supplemented by blindness about the present. The hurrah takes place whether or not the game is being played.
Taken from R.F. Dernberger (ed.): Chinese Development Experience in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press, 1980), 19–34.
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Sen, A. (1991). Economic Development: Objectives and Obstacles. In: Martin, K. (eds) Strategies of Economic Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-12625-5_3
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