Kumous, reformi ja evaluaatio

Kehitysmaatutkimuksen muutoksen tarkastelua modernisaatiosta vallan diskurssiin

Authors

• Timo Kyllönen

Abstract

The article deals with the paradigmatic change in the study of developing countries. Mainstream study of these countries — i.e. analyses of modernization, problems of social order, new political economy and interdependence — is seen to have moved towards narrower policy-oriented and problem-solving approaches. This is also the case sometimes with different criticisms of these mainstream studies, although, on the other hand, the study of developing countries itself gives an opportunity for criticism of social sciences as a whole. That is the case, above all, with the study of dependence, neo-marxism and alternative theories of development. As a compromise between the narrowing and widening of research there exists an idea of convergence concerning the problems of the state in developing countries. At the end of the article the discussion dealing with the power and control inherent in the discourse on the study of developing countries is examined