Deconstructing Development: The Use of Power and Pity in the International Development Discourse

Abstract

This study examines how power operates within international development discourse and investigates its effects on development organizations and on individuals-donors and recipients of aid alike. It analyzes the narratives pertaining to Afghanistan that are (re)produced by five different types of development actors: a donor state, a recipient state, an international financial institution, an international organization, and a non-governmental organization. I argue that the operation of multiple, interrelated types of power has both ideational and material effects which manifestindevelopment policies, programs, and projects. I demonstrate how these types of power operate discursively through a Politics of Pity which (re)creates and perpetuates hierarchical, coconstituted relationships between and among these actors, andwhich (re)constitutes the identities and abilities of actors. © 2011 International Studies Association.