Grand Developmentalism: A Critical Appraisal of Millennium Development Goals

Abstract

Following C. Wright Mills’ notion of conceptual fetishism, the paper articulated ‘’grand developmentalism’’ as a framework to critically interrogate the conception and formulation of the Millennium Development Goals vis-à-vis its failures or marginal progress in the global south. Through this perspective, it is argued that grand developmentalism is the generalise way in which development issues are conceived, defined, formulated and problematized without taking into consideration problems and questions posed by the empirical world in the contexts and settings where it is to be applied. In grand developmentalism, the problems of development are narrowly or generally conceived and superficially defined in a way that has nothing to do with actual/real problem facing the people of the developing countries. In this sense, the goals, targets and indicators articulated in the MDGs are conceived, defined and formulated are in sharp contrast to real world situation or reflect a true picture of what is on ground in respective countries of the global south. This therefore makes the MDGs a form of grand developmentalism and thus make its attainment difficult especially in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).The paper further delves into the current discussion on post-2015 development agenda vis-à-vis proposed sustainable development goals (SDGs) and argued that the proposed development agenda is nothing but an embellishment of grand developmentalism. The paper concludes that the ideas and practices of global sustainable development that would come after 2015 should be developed in relations to the complexities of development issues in the global south and not on abstract agendas and strategies that are constituted in universalistic frames.