| ID | 101491 |
| Title Proper | Consumerism-development-security nexus |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Pupavac, Vanessa |
| Publication | 2010. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Critics of global governance have been influenced by Foucault's analysis of modern total institutions disciplining both the mind and the body. However, Foucauldian biopolitics may present global governance too smoothly. This article takes critiques arguing that consumer capitalism's divorce from industrial production encourages romantic understandings of global problems and applies them to development aspects of the development-security nexus. It discusses three influential economists each of whose work is emblematic of consumer capitalism's international development vision at particular historical junctures. The article outlines how Rostow's The Stages of Economic Growth, arising during the postwar economic growth boom, envisages developing countries becoming consumer societies at the highest stage of development, but also anticipates consumer society's romantic critiques of modernity. It next examines Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful and his Buddhist economics, arising in the post-Bretton Woods crisis period, as symptomatic of re-emerging romantic critiques of society. Finally, it discusses Sen's human development approach as a market romance illustrating consumer capitalism's individual-orientated development strategies. The article concludes that the contemporary development romance addresses neither people's basic needs nor their aspirations, and it problematizes global governance's ability to secure and govern populations. |
| `In' analytical Note | Security Dialogue Vol. 41, No. 6; Dec 2010: p691-713 |
| Journal Source | Security Dialogue Vol: 41 No 6 |
| Key Words | Human Security ; Human Development ; Global Governance ; Consumer Capitalism ; Peace ; modernization |