Tomáš Profant
Development is often accepted as an unquestioned goal of our societies. We
just want to be developed. Critical discussion on this topic is almost entirely
absent from the public debate in the Czech Republic. Global Politics hopes to
draw your attention to an approach that does not fit the mainstream thinking.
Promising young scholars from the Vienna University treat topics such as
sustainable development, colonial continuities, microfinance or the Zapatista
movement in Chiapas. Their unorthodox ideas are worth a thought for students who
seek more than just the usual „aid or… čtěte více
9. 7. 2011, rubrika Redakce
Katrin Kohler
Within the framework of this paper I explicate the basic elements of
colonial as well as development discourse. Although we can identify an obvious
rupture line between colonialism and the era of development, I demonstrate that
the colonial heritage structures development discourse in various ways. While
there have been some significant changes on the rhetoric level, basic colonial
concepts still prevail such as a dichotomic and hierarchical worldview, the
evolutionary paradigm with the West as its benchmark, the idea of ‘white’
expertise etc. These often racialised assumptions… čtěte více
9. 7. 2011, rubrika Články
Eric Pfeifer
The aim of this paper is to establish reasons for the inclusion of certain
elements in the sustainable development discourse as well as its exclusionary
systems making for the “blind spots”. The question to be answered is: What
effects and implications does the order of the sustainable development discourse
have on the political sphere? What perspectives open up for tackling
environmental issues? Which perspectives fade away or disappear?
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9. 7. 2011, rubrika Články
Andrea Visotchnig
Microcredits – and microfinance in general – have recently been hyped
as a means to overcome poverty. However, the actual outcomes of this instrument
often differ from the intended ones. Moreover, the concept is a highly
problematic one when looked at it from a post-development perspective. Some of
its shortcomings, though, could be overcome by hybridizing microfinance with the
post-development concept of a language of a diverse economy.
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9. 7. 2011, rubrika Články
Christiane Loper
In the last years as a student of International Development, my naive
understanding of helping ‚the others‘ and my idea of the whole development
business was completely disillusioned. To be critical about development and
about what people mean when they use the term ‚development‘ became natural
and unavoidable. Therefore the topic of Post-Development seems somehow to be a
summary of my study. Everything deconstructed – but what next? It seems
important to me to look deeper at Post Development and its critique.
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9. 7. 2011, rubrika Články
Alexandra Heis
The reason why I have chosen this particular topic is a personal one: as a
young mother, I have decided not to have my baby immunized because I have not
been sufficiently convinced of a vaccination importance for diseases which have
been, at least in Europe, eliminated for decades. In addition, the pediatrics’
reactions to my choice left me more than stumbled. Not only were they shocked,
but more so they began to treat me and my son in an unfriendly manner.
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9. 7. 2011, rubrika Články
Josefine Bingemer
Many aspects of post-development thinking can be found in the Zapatist
movement; especially their way of thinking about the economy outside of standard
capitalist realms and the emphasis they put on the preservation of their
culture. Mixing indigenous beliefs and knowledge with modern achievements (like
in the health sector) is what Escobar had in mind when he wrote about hybrid
cultures.
čtěte více
8. 7. 2011, rubrika Články
